International Relations

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  • GRS IR 603: Economics for Global Policy
    Surveys key economic theories, trends, tools, and debates that affect international affairs. Thematic focus includes: stability and growth, global inequality, and global climate change. Covers theory and history, statistical analysis, case studies, and political economy applications.
  • GRS IR 604: Negotiation and Diplomacy
    Investigates building blocks and challenges of diplomacy, with special emphasis on negotiation. Addresses history, legal underpinnings, infrastructure, and practice of diplomacy. Provides a foundation in principles and practice of negotiation, with focus on dynamics of diplomatic negotiations, using hands-on exercises.
  • GRS IR 605: Global Policy Analysis
    Investigates how public policy is made and implemented at global level, as well as global impacts on local policy. Surveys academic literature and case studies in environment, development, and public health. Ends with team project on real-world policy problem.
  • GRS IR 606: Global Economic & Development Policy
    Introduces international affairs practitioners to statistical reasoning through hands-on practice using real social, political and policy data. Covers key principles and methods of multivariate statistics for public policy analysis. Addresses interactions between quantitative reasoning, international policy analysis, and decision making. This course cannot be taken for credit in addition to the course with the same title that was previously numbered GRS IR 704.
  • GRS IR 626: NGOs and the Practice of Development
    Examines roles and methods of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in social change and international development. Reviews theory and practice of NGOs in development, NGO strategies, and internal management. Students will engage directly with international development NGOs. Effective Spring 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry II, The Individual in Community, Critical Thinking.
    • The Individual in Community
    • Social Inquiry II
    • Critical Thinking
  • GRS IR 630: Money, Guns, and Power
    (Meets with CAS PO 569.) What is the relationship between money and war? This course explores the relationship between money, guns, and power through the lens of American and European military spending and through larger theoretical conversations on the concept of power.
  • GRS IR 653: Forced Migration and Human Trafficking: Virtual Policy Incubator
    Causes and impact of forced migration and human trafficking. Role of conflict and state formation; emergence of international human rights and domestic asylum laws; role of international organizations, private sector and security forces in both combating and enabling human trafficking.
  • GRS IR 661: American Grand Strategy
    Traces the United States' engagement in world affairs by evaluating U.S. grand strategy - its theory of how to 'create' security for itself in an often-threatening world. Using history and theory, identifies changes in U.S. strategy and evaluates policies today. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry II, Writing-Intensive Course.
    • Social Inquiry II
    • Writing-Intensive Course
  • GRS IR 680: Political Economy of Human Development
    Examines human development in low- and middle-income countries from applied economics perspective. Topics include: (1) economic growth, inequality, and poverty; (2) health, nutrition, and education; (3) agriculture, environment, and resource management; and (4) social and political factors in economic development. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry II, Quantitative Reasoning II, Critical Thinking.
    • Quantitative Reasoning II
    • Social Inquiry II
    • Critical Thinking
  • GRS IR 700: Topics in International Relations
    Examines various aspects of international relations. Topics vary. Topic for Fall 2019: Section B1: Leadership and Cultural Change in Large Organizations. Analyzes the determinants of successful leadership in large organizations, with particular focus on how to transform dysfunctional organizational cultures. Using case studies from US military and large corporations, addresses how to identify root causes of problems and impediments to change.
  • GRS IR 703: International Security
    Introduces core concepts of international security, including deterrence, balance of power theory, alliance politics, arms races, asymmetric warfare, and non-traditional security concerns such as terrorism. Topics are considered from both a theoretical basis and in historical and contemporary context.
  • GRS IR 706: The Iranian Revolution and Its Impact on the Middle East
    This course examines the Islamic Revolution in Iran and its impact on the Middle East. The first third of the seminar focuses on Iran and, subsequently, the Iran/Iraq war. Lebanon, the Persian Gulf, and Israel will be studied as they are affected by Iran's upheavals.
  • GRS IR 713: Latin America Past and Present
    The interdisciplinary study of Latin America through history, from pre- colonial indigenous times to contemporary achievements and challenges, including culture and the arts, archaeology, society, politics, and international affairs.
  • GRS IR 718: International Migration and Diaspora in World Politics
    Explores how the movement of people across borders is reshaping world politics. Impacts of migration on the economy, domestic politics, regional integration, national identity, and the institution of the sovereign nation state. Historical perspectives and contemporary case studies.
  • GRS IR 723: Seminar: The Political Economy of Advanced Industrialized Societies
    Meets with CAS PO 528. Surveys forces contributing to national differences in social and economic policy; identifies current challenges to state sovereignty, such as globalization and immigration; and examines how nations from different welfare state regimes are coping with these threats to the nation state.
  • GRS IR 728: Scientific Assessments of Environmental Issues: Process and Evaluation
    A seminar on the history, practice, and evaluation of scientific assessments of environmental issues. Examples include stratospheric ozone, climate change, and biodiversity. Assessments are examined as scientific communications challenges and criteria for their success or failure are discussed. Also offered as GRS GE 710.
  • GRS IR 732: Public Diplomacy
    Public diplomacy is the principal way in which states engage with overseas publics. The course examines the principles, functions, and practices of public diplomacy, as well as how they are affected by technological and political change.
  • GRS IR 759: Understanding Global Money
    Financial globalization through the lens of the operation of the private global money market, its connection to local public money systems, and how these connections differ between center and periphery.
  • GRS IR 778: Problems of Strategic Intelligence
    Explores major aspects of strategic intelligence; interrelationship of intelligence and other aspects of foreign policy; performance of U.S. intelligence community; and intelligence as a tool in the formulation of foreign policy.
  • GRS IR 780: CIA's National Clandestine Service
    The National Clandestine Service spends 15% of the US Intelligence budget but receives 95% of public and private scrutiny. Examines the unique legal mandate and culture of the clandestine service: espionage, covert operations, counterintelligence, and special operations.

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