Academics

Foreign policy is among the things that the Internet has revolutionized. No longer is diplomacy confined to oak-paneled rooms and gilded corridors. This change, as New York Times reporter Mark Landler noted, "happened so fast that it left the foreign policy establishment gasping to catch up". This course
examines how foreign policy and international affairs are being shaped in the age of the Internet. Topics include democracy versus censorship, conflict, climate change and the environment, big data and privacy, global economics and the movement of capital. Among the questions we will explore are:
• What is the changing nature of power? Are there actors?
• How is the concept of the nation-state changing?
• What constitutes world order in this new era?
• How have the Internet, the mobile phone, and other technologies changed the conduct of foreign affairs?

As part of the United Nations Decade for Gender Equality, UN Women and partners launched the Global Equality Forum in 2021 which seeks to be an inflection point in the path to global gender equality. But what do we mean by “gender equality” and why are still so far from achieving the unmet potential of the groundbreaking international articulations of women’s rights and gender equality from the 1990s? This course will critically assess the concepts of gender equality, gender mainstreaming, and gender justice and their application to international policy questions. Through case studies, we will explore a range of issues including how the bodies of women and gender non-conforming people are used to advance authoritarian agendas; the neglected role of the care economy; sexual and reproductive rights and justice; and often contested definitions of feminist foreign policy.

We sense something is breaking. The international order that surrounds us—ostensibly global, liberal, and open—is under attack both from within and without. According to its defenders, this open order and its institutions have for the past seventy years made the world more liberal, just, and peaceful. The order’s critics say it has unjustly imposed Eurocentric ideologies across the globe, upending local values, subjugating working classes, and ushering in a dystopic neofeudalism ruled by a technocratic elite. This is the international story of our time. How can we take our bearings in it? We will try—by examining what contemporary international order is, and how liberal modes of ordering have concretely shaped the international relations of today. What is (liberal) international organization and global governance? What are the major institutions? The major issues? We start with a brief tour of some major don’t-miss-it sights of liberal internationalism before proceeding to concrete international institutions by topic or “regime”: the UN-centred postwar order, regional organizations, humanitarianism and human rights, the nuclear politics and nonproliferation, global health, the environment, cities, and the future.

Peacebuilding is a term widely cited as the objective of external assistance to fragile and/or conflict affected states as well as of civil society actors and political leaders in a broader range of countries. Widespread use applied to disparate countries and circumstances and by many different actors raises numerous core questions: What does peacebuilding mean, what does it entail, and who is involved? Can militaries be peacebuilders? Political leaders, civil society organizations, religious leaders, international organizations? Is peacebuilding the exclusive purview of local and national actors or can external actors play a role? The answers depend upon how one defines the concept. As more and more entities claim to be peacebuilders, with accompanying demands for scarce resources and status, understanding peacebuilding and its historical record is far from an academic exercise. The course will begin with a discussion of what Peacebuilding is: its objective(s), components, and actors, both domestic and foreign. To sharpen our understanding, foundational sessions will include consideration of whether peacebuilding is distinct from peacekeeping, peacemaking, conflict resolution, reconciliation, stabilization and
reconstruction, statebuilding and strengthening fragile states, or if they are all essentially the same with slightly different nomenclature and emphases. We will pursue answers to these and other questions through a deep analysis of case studies.

Social media has transformed into profit-driven platforms that monetize user data by selling it to the marketers. Despite this, many individuals have attempted to leverage these platforms for social change. In recent years, social and political movements have effectively utilized social media as a tool for advancement. This course will explore the various aspects of social media activism. Theoretical concepts by Manuel Castells, Christian Fuchs, and Zeynep Tufekci will be explored. Following a contextual exploration of movements in pre-social media eras, the class will analyze major movements such as the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, #MeToo, and #BlackLivesMatter. Discussion will also focus on issues and challenges related to digital activism, including platform capitalism, disinformation, alt-right populism, censorship in digital media and the collaboration between platforms and governments. Additionally, the course will delve into the future of social media activism. The work will include several minute papers as well as a research project.

This course is designed for students who are just embarking on their MA studies in the Bard College Global Studies program. It aims to provide a gentle introduction to the tools that will help students successfully plan, execute and write up a thesis on an international relations topic.

Completion of the Capstone Project is required to fulfill degree requirements. Situated within the academic field of Global Studies, the Capstone Project should link theory and practice in a reflexive, question-driven manner. Capstone Projects are developed with the support of the Spring semester Capstone Course and in consultation with an academic advisor at Bard College. 

The course explores the history, complexity and changing nature of diplomacy as a component of international politics.  Students will gain an understanding of the goals, constraints and structures of diplomacy: diplomatic corps, embassies, consulates, aid missions, attaches, envoys and the use of non-traditional diplomats.  They will then examine the evolution of those components and contexts to include public diplomacy, cyber diplomacy, diplomacy in combat zones and the use of international development as a foreign policy tool.  Using selected diplomatic crises as case studies, students will analyze the roles played by different government agencies, militaries, international & regional organizations, the media, public interest groups, private foundations, contractors, commercial interests, educational institutions, and law enforcement officials. Students will explore how nations communicate with each other in the 21st century (formally and informally) and will use in-class simulations, guest speakers and other selected activities (when possible). This course will enhance students’ understanding of international relations, foreign policy formulation and implementation, and diplomatic history. 

This course explores how the UN system has evolved in the last two decades, through the prism of its response to one of the biggest transnational challenges of our time: migration. With over 250 million migrants, record numbers of forcibly displaced, and the immigration legacy of most nation-states shaping their politics, demographics, and cultural trends, the mobility of people has put the intergovernmental system to the test. This course also studies the contemporary responses to mobility at various levels of government—city, state, and region—with a particular focus on the 2015 refugee crises and onward. It covers concrete examples through case studies, and students are asked to develop their own approaches to address specific challenges (e.g., applying effective integration techniques for migrants in New York City; raising awareness of the rights of trafficked persons in Southeast Europe; ensuring effective protection for refugees in situations where their legal status is not recognized in Australia). To the extent possible, senior experts from within the UN system and international community (e.g., UNODC, IOM, UNHCR, World Bank, USAID) are also invited to share their insights and experiences in addressing the challenges of global mobility. The objectives of the course are to gain a solid understanding of migration politics, and relevant normative and institutional frameworks; exercise analytical and problem-solving skills by assessing a specific migration challenge and proposing options for how to address it; and practicing synthesizing information and delivering convincing commendations.

This course explores how nuclear weapons and technologies have shaped and continue to shape international relations. We begin with the science underpinning the World War 2 race to build, and use, a superweapon. We will then examine contemporary conceptions of nuclear strategy, security, proliferation, and deterrence alongside key debates and important criticisms. Throughout, we will pay attention not only to orthodox arguments about nuclear weapons, but unorthodox ones: critical accounts that highlight the importance of culture, ethics, and the atomic subaltern to the nuclear order.

The course focuses on exploring public policy processes in a global perspective, addressing debates surrounding the various forces that shape governance throughout the policy process. By the end of the course students should become familiar with the background and main concepts specific to public policy and global governance, as well as the main academic debates surrounding them. Students will become familiar with concepts such as the policy cycle and its stages, global public goods, organizations that influence the policy process, stakeholders, and the role of civil society in global policymaking. The course will also introduce critical policy concepts such as policy paradigms and engage critically with definitions of policy problems.

This course will examine environmental issues within the framework of global justice. Climate change and other environmental issues disproportionately impacts vulnerable and marginalized  communities around the world, raising questions about equality, justice, rights, and moral  responsibility—both individual and collective. We will consider a range of issues that raise  moral and political questions about our duties to both the human and non-human world (e.g., climate refugees, future generations, animals, species, & ecosystems). We will also draw on  various theoretical frameworks, including feminism approaches (both eco-feminism & care  ethics) and indigenous perspectives on land and nature. Throughout the course, we will explore  these theoretical concepts by applying them to a series of case studies from around the world.

The election of Donald Trump and his “America First” approach to foreign policy ignited fierce  debates among scholars and policy-makers alike about the future of the liberal international  order. Created after the Second World War and led by the United States, this order is embedded  in a dense web of international institutions and agreements that aim to promote the values of  liberal democracy, market liberalization, respect for human rights and interstate  cooperation. Suddenly, with the rise of illiberal democracies, the global pandemic, and the return of  great power rivalry, this order has been thrown into crisis. Can the liberal international order  withstand these challenges from within and without? This course critically examines the ways in  which the international system has been ordered over space and time so as to better understand this contemporary moment. We begin by considering predominant theoretical and conceptual  accounts of international order. What is an international order? How do hegemonic actors use  power to order the system? What conditions produce order in the system and how? How do  international orders (re)produce the power and values of leading states? Then, we compare the  current international order to those of the past. What factors shape the durability of an  international order? What is distinctive about the post-World War II international order and how  has it changed over time? How important is American leadership to the stability of the current  international system? The course concludes by thinking about contemporary challenges to the  liberal international led order, the durability and desirability of American global leadership and  the implication of the rise of new great powers.

How do institutional settings, professional cultures, social milieus and disciplines impact upon  practices of decision-making, identity formation and self-making? What are the everyday  mechanisms through which we come to embody the figures of the ‘academic’, the ‘expert’, the  ‘diplomat’, the ‘policymaker’, the ‘NGO worker,’ the ‘activist’, the ‘soldier’, the ‘immigration  officer’ or any other professional role? How do we internalize the codes of professional conduct  and their informal enactment, such as official discourses of ‘leadership’, ‘excellence’,  ‘entrepreneurship,’ ‘representation,’ ‘social justice’ but also that of suspicion, competition,  privilege, violence or conformity? What happens when rules, codes, ethical standards are bent,  broken or negated? Yet what are, where are the spaces of resistance, creativity, subversion, that  of acting, thinking, being otherwise? Ultimately, what might it mean to (re)claim ownership  over our formation as actors, knowing subjects and persons in those multiple realities that we not  only participate in but also co-create? Drawing on insights from international political sociology  and critical theory, this course traces trajectories of ‘becoming’ in, through and despite academic  and organizational logics at various sites of global politics. It maps out the processes, pressures  and stakes of identity politics associated with professional activity and social movements, as well  as the practices, possibilities and implications of risk-taking, negotiation, protest, and being ‘unprofessional’.

As part of the United Nations Decade for Gender Equality, UN Women and partners launched the Global Equality Forum in 2021, which seeks to be an inflection point in the path to global gender equality. But what do we mean by “gender equality” and why are we still so far from achieving the unmet potential of the groundbreaking international articulations of women’s rights and gender equality from the 1990s? This course will critically assess the concepts of gender equality, gender mainstreaming, and gender justice and their application to international policy questions. Through case studies, we will explore a range of issues including how the bodies of women and gender non-conforming people are used to advance authoritarian agendas; the neglected role of the care economy; sexual and reproductive rights and justice including period equality; and the politics of family formation across borders, such as commercial gestational surrogacy and adoption. We will also examine the strategies and tools used to advance gender justice including the roles of social justice movements, human rights frameworks, and accountability mechanisms.

Footage of mushrooms growing out of school walls circulated after the 2014 discovery of  disease-causing organisms in the drinking supply of Flint, Michigan. Photographs of two- headed  Iraqi babies circulated with captions about their mothers’ exposure to unidentified toxic  chemicals following the U.S. led invasion of Iraq. Widespread calls to close nuclear facilities in  Maryland, New York, Virginia and New Jersey, remind us that we live exposed to nuclear  leakage, usually without knowing it. These moments raise questions about the production of  expert and embodied knowledge and the forms of evidence that count in claims-making about  exposure to toxic materials. They also raise questions about the wider socio-cultural effects of  wastes and other materials framed as pollutants. Toxicity and contamination are generally  thought of as corrosive, damaging and destructive of human health and natural environments.  But they are also generative, or worlding. Drawing on anthropological works as well as work by  novelists, historians, and philosophers, this course investigates what toxicity and contamination  make possible—and thinkable—by exploring controversies around exposure to toxicity and  contamination, especially in the period between Hiroshima and Flint. We will be concerned as  much with how lives are made livable in what seem like unlivable conditions, and also with how  the contours of the livable are themselves reimagined in the face of exposure.

Statistics have helped to shed new light on important public health crises that have shaped societies over the past century. Using real-life case studies, students will learn how public health workers use statistics to identify the root causes of epidemics, even when these may be initially veiled by social constructs and long-standing prejudices. Examples include the ongoing HIV/AIDS pandemic, which exposed discrimination based on race and sexual orientation in mainstream medical practices; and the 2011 E. coli global outbreak, which revealed the weaknesses and the inequalities of our food safety network. Students will also explore the need for more robust global strategies to act in the best interest of all human health in an increasingly connected world. In the process, students will learn how to identify questions that can be assessed using statistics and how to use statistical tools, which can also be applied to other quantitative fields. No previous statistical or programming coursework is expected and we only use open-access software.

Populist movements, rising states, and revisionist leaders have increasingly challenged the legitimacy of the existing world order and Western powers’ position at the top of it. These challenges raise questions not only about the viability and desirability of the current world order but also about order, as such: What is international order? How do international orders function? And if we now live in a “liberal world order,” what are the fundamental alternatives?

This course raises these questions by critically examining historical international orders and the expanding body of theory scholars use to understand them. After discussing and debating key visions of order, students embark on a “grand tour” of mechanisms of order: anarchy and the balance of power, hierarchy and hegemonic stability, empire and imperialism. In the second half of the course we examine concrete world orders: medieval Christendom, the 19th-century concert system, and the Sinocentric East Asia “tribute” system. We conclude by returning to the contemporary postwar order and its future. Throughout, we ask questions centered on the core themes of order, legitimacy, and power: How does a given order structure power relations? Who, if anyone, rules it? How are international orders established, and why do they decline? Who benefits from a given order, and who doesn’t?

The course surveys scholarly and policy debates of contemporary international intervention and statebuilding. It is organized along two dimensions. First, it examines the concept and practices of intervention and statebuilding from liberal, postliberal, and decolonization perspectives. This is to understand the assumptions and the politics of diverse conceptual and normative standpoints, the policies that derive from them, as well as the contradictions and trade-offs that remain. Second, the course surveys relations among different actors involved in the intervention and statebuilding projects and thus examines the intersection between local, transnational, and global politics. This involves the analysis of practices by international interveners, local actors, as well as transnational experts, and policy and civil society advocacy. In effect, students learn about the field as a heterogeneous space of contestation. Learning about and practicing these diverse registers of politics and writing, including but not limited to scholarly, policy, and advocacy genres, helps students to clarify and develop individual interests while appreciating different styles and positions.

This course provides an advanced introduction to international relations concepts and theories. The purpose of the course is to give students an in-depth and critical understanding of the vastness of the IR archive of canonical (major) and noncanonical (minor, emergent) knowledges, vocabularies, and intellectual resources that are available to make world politics thinkable and doable, and to problematize it in different ways. After covering “representatives” of the main “languages” and concepts that constitute the canon in the study of world politics (constructivist, liberal, realist, feminist + historical materialist IR), the course  turns toward minor and emerging alternative approaches: new materialism, normalization + government at a distance, the affect turn in IR, the everyday politics of IR, and mundane forms of rebellion against states of inequality. The course ends with deliberations on the future of the state.