Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular semester. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the Student Link for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

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  • CAS IR 531: Intercultural Communication
    Examines communicative problems that arise in contact between people from different cultural backgrounds in everyday life, social service encounters, and business transactions. Uses interdisciplinary approaches to study how verbal and nonverbal presentation, ethnic, gender, and cultural differences affect communication. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, The Individual in Community.
    • The Individual in Community
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • CAS IR 533: Contentious Politics and the Arab Uprisings in the Middle East
    Analyzes divergent outcomes of the Arab uprisings by framing them along historic continuum of domestic, regional, and international political developments. Examines how linkages between regional and international states and actors have affected historical and contemporary statebuilding and transitional outcomes. Effective Spring 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Writing-Intensive Course, Research and Information Literacy.
    • Oral and/or Signed Communication
    • Research and Information Literacy
    • Writing-Intensive Course
  • CAS IR 534: Government and Politics of Contemporary Africa
    Meets with CAS PO 571. Analysis of independent black Africa; factors of continuity and change in modern Africa, problems of political order, ambiguities of independence. Case studies of individual countries selected for additional emphasis on specific issues and problems of developing countries.
  • CAS IR 535: Diplomacy and Statecraft
    Examines the mechanisms and process of diplomacy in historical context, to assess approaches to the implementation of foreign policy, analyze the success and failure of these approaches in different circumstances, and consider wider issues in the application of statecraft.
  • CAS IR 539: History, Policy & Statecraft
    How can we use history to understand the past, contemplate the present, and anticipate the future? How effective is historical analysis to resolve contemporary policy problems? This course connects history with current policy problems to make sense of national statecraft. Effective Summer 1 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing- Intensive Course, Historical Consciousness, Critical Thinking.
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Critical Thinking
    • Writing-Intensive Course
  • CAS IR 542: The Reemergence of Russia
    Russia has reclaimed its status of a superpower. Analyzes the careers of Putin, Yeltsin, Gorbachev and various oligarchs, and challenges such as public health, degraded environment, and organized crime. Examines US-Russian intelligence competition, including claims regarding Moscow's interference in U.S. domestic affairs.
  • CAS IR 543: The Changing Face of Eastern Europe
    Analyzes domestic and foreign policies of Poland, (East) Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Baltic republics, Ukraine, and the Balkans from 1950s to the present. Examines positive and negative outcomes of reforms undertaken in Eastern Europe after fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
  • CAS IR 544: Solving Humanitarian Crises
    Humanitarian crises inflict vast suffering on people, upend economies, and threaten regional stability. This course investigates how diplomacy involving diverse stakeholders and tools can support solutions, even when conflicts evade comprehensive resolution, focusing on the Syrian and Rohingya refugee crises. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Writing-Intensive Course, Ethical Reasoning.
    • Ethical Reasoning
    • Oral and/or Signed Communication
    • Writing-Intensive Course
  • CAS IR 548: Peacekeeping and State-Building
    Examines the challenges facing the United Nations and other international organizations in preventing, containing, and ending armed conflict, as well as their role in creating conditions for reconciliation, transitional justice, institutions building.
  • CAS IR 550: European Integration
    Explores present, past, and potential future of the European Union. Investigates who is in charge and who matters in policymaking and politics. Examines a wide range of EU policies, including economics, security, and trade, and their impact on EU member-states.
  • CAS IR 551: Social Europe: Identity, Citizenship, and the Welfare State
    Meets with CAS PO 536. The past, present and future of "social Europe." Impact of European economic and political integration on national identities, cultures, politics, and citizenship; EU policies such as gender, human rights, migration and discrimination, plus the welfare state.
  • CAS IR 556: Current Intelligence Issues
    Examines U.S. intelligence needs, with an emphasis on preparing for international developments in advance. Addresses issues of transnational terrorism and proliferation in additional to traditional concerns such as rogue states, counterintelligence, organized crime, regional rivals, and rising powers.
  • CAS IR 557: Guerrilla Warfare and Terrorism
    Why do terrorists do what they do? How can their threat by reduced? The course examines the history and evolution of political terrorism, assesses terrorists' motivations and "marketing," and explores risk factors ranging from the global to the personal level. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Writing-Intensive Course, Ethical Reasoning.
    • Ethical Reasoning
    • Oral and/or Signed Communication
    • Writing-Intensive Course
  • CAS IR 558: Mapping Dangerous Online Speech
    Experiential course in which students of international relations and computer science collaborate to map online hate speech. Assesses causes of hate speech, dynamics of viral content, and approaches to prevent harm. Evaluates attempts to automate identification of hate speech and measure its prevalence. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, The Individual in Community, Teamwork/Collaboration.
    • The Individual in Community
    • Teamwork/Collaboration
    • Writing-Intensive Course
  • CAS IR 559: Leadership and Cultural Change in Large Organizations
    Analyzes the determinants of successful leadership and the importance of diversity in large organizations, with focus on how to transform dysfunctional cultures. Using military and corporate case studies, addresses how to identify root causes of problems and impediments to change. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Ethical Reasoning, Teamwork/Collaboration.
    • Ethical Reasoning
    • Oral and/or Signed Communication
    • Teamwork/Collaboration
  • CAS IR 560: Ethnic Conflict in Global Perspective
    Surveys 20th and 21st century ethno-nationalist movements around the world. Explores how ethnic conflict, including inter-state and civil wars, challenges international peace and security. Addresses both Western and non-Western theories of nations, nationalism, identity and ethnicity to explain group mobilization.
  • CAS IR 561: Religion and International Relations
    Explores the role of religion in contemporary international relations in the context of questions about the common core of modernity. Reviews scholarly and policy literature, and case studies, in order to elucidate religion's intellectual and operational diversity in international relations. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Oral and/or Signed Communication, Critical Thinking.
    • Oral and/or Signed Communication
    • Critical Thinking
    • Writing-Intensive Course
  • CAS IR 563: Religion and Politics across Cultures
    This course examines the changing role of religion and secularism in modern politics, citizenship, and public life. It explores the causes of the global resurgence in religiosity and its implications for democracy, tolerance, and gender equality. It compares the public role of religion in Western liberal democracies with that of other world regions, including the Muslim world, Christianity in the global south, "Confucian" East Asia, India, and Buddhist Southeast Asia. The course asks whether an equitable and inclusive citizenship is possible in an age of deep ethico-religious plurality. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Social Inquiry II.
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Social Inquiry II
  • CAS IR 564: Political Economy of Rising Powers
    Offers historical and comparative examination of industrialization and globalization in the contemporary world. Focusing on rising powers, the course examines different waves of industrialization, immigration, and globalization, as well as the business-state relations in different regions and nations. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Social Inquiry II, Teamwork/Collaboration.
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Social Inquiry II
    • Teamwork/Collaboration
  • CAS IR 566: History of Deportation & Border Security in the Americas
    Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the U.S. has deported over 10 million Latin Americans. Drawing on history, anthropology, sociology, and films, this course explores how certain people--mostly Latin Americans--came to be considered deportable over time. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing- Intensive Course, Ethical Reasoning.
    • Ethical Reasoning
    • Writing-Intensive Course

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