AS.470 ( Government)

This course provides an in-depth examination of how the effects of climate change could impact national security, international relations, and global stability. Students will begin by examining and discussing the current body of academic literature. As the semester progresses, students will learn and practice how to use cross-disciplinary resources and tools to envision potential relationships between climate change effects and security outcomes.

This course offers an overview of power and politics through the study of the government of the United States. All governments combine coercion and legitimacy. In a stable and legitimate system of government, coercion is hardly noticed. Government comes to be seen as a source of benefits. The purpose of the course is to look behind institutions, practices, and benefits to appreciate how, for what, and for whom we are governed. We shall examine some of the major institutions of American government, some of America's political processes, and some of the key forces competing for power in the U.S. to see how decisions in the areas of economic, social and foreign policy are reached. This is a core course of the Government Program but is open to all students.

This course introduces students to the basic concepts of global security studies, including theories of international relations, perception and misperception, theories of foreign policy, the varying concepts of security, and the elements of national power. It also includes a brief introduction to social movement theory. It applies these conceptual tools to selected security issues.

This course will investigate the impact that digital technology has had on the institution of the American presidency. The adoption of the internet in the 21st century, both as a tool and as an information distribution mechanism, has had an astonishing impact on the Office of the Presidency. This course is designed to have students operationalize theoretical concepts and apply them to real world situations. Students will engage with scholarly research, analytical arguments, and real-time case studies on the effective use of social media in all aspects of the presidency: campaigning, public debate, electoral processes, and democracy more broadly. In that spirit, we will examine how the first president of the social media age, Taught by a member of the first White House Office of Digital Strategy, the primary objective of this course is to provide students will the tools and skills to be informed consumers of political social media, as well as to equip them to participate in the political digital conversation.

In the wake of the financial crisis, bank bailouts, and stimulus plans, the relationship between American economic power and national security is especially salient. In this course, students investigate core topics in international political economy, analyzing the security implications of each. Topics include trade relations, international finance, monetary relations, poverty, and development. (Core course for the MA in Global Security Studies. Recommended elective for MA in Public Management)

This course provides an overview of the manifold challenges and opportunities for United States security in the current disordered and changing world. It aims to help students assess why events occur and what policies are developed in response. In that endeavor, the course has three major objectives. First, the course will review the major perspectives on, and debates about, U.S. security and the institutions through which policy is made and executed. Second, the course will review some U.S. security issues through scholarly, policy, political, and historical lenses. Third, the course will help students write for both policy and academic audiences. This course is not open to students who have had 470.606 American National Security.

This course is designed to introduce students to the public policymaking process, to the basics of policy analysis, and to the substance of some of today’s major policy debates. The first half of the course focuses on establishing a framework in which to analyze public policy formulation within the United States. The class also reviews the tools for developing and implementing policy. The second half of the course turns to policy analysis of some critical contemporary issues. Building on earlier readings, we will study current debates in economic/tax policy, education, health care, social security, and national security. (Core requirement for the MA in Public Management. Elective option for Government. Analytics students)

This course will assist leaders in identifying their personal approach to leadership; provide tips on motivating staff by building trusting relationships and shoring up their credibility; suggest influence and persuasion strategies that leaders need to employ when working with bosses, colleagues, direct reports, and critical stakeholders, including funding agencies; develop strategies to build effective work teams; and consider approaches to monitor organizational performance in an ongoing fashion.

This course provide an overview of the principal areas important to the study of terrorism. The course offers a variety of academic, policy, and operational models, theories, approaches, and concepts regarding the definitions of terrorism, the nature and functioning of various terrorist groups across the globe, and a variety of domestic and international governmental operational and policy responses. Through this exploration, students will be able to identify patterns of behavior of both terrorist groups and governmental responses, and will also be able to identify gaps, and principal areas of improvements in how we understand, and respond to this important security challenge.

This seminar will examine the political support for bureaucracy, how bureaucracy functions in contemporary government and society, and selected current controversies over the purpose and reach of bureaucracy. How does bureaucracy enhance or frustrate liberal democratic ideals? We will take up case studies involving current political issues, such as civil rights enforcement, the war on terror, the role of regulatory agencies, judicial policymaking, relevant student experiences, and the instructor's own experience in various federal and state agencies.

The theory and practice of speechwriting are the focus of our study of the great political speeches of all time and especially those of the American political tradition. We will examine the content, structure, and purpose of high rhetoric ranging from Pericles to Solzhenitsyn, from Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and Franklin D. Roosevelt to contemporary politicians. Based on their knowledge of the best models, students will draft and deliver their own speeches.

It is easy, in this age of reactive 24-hour news, to believe that ideas no longer matter in politics. But ideas are the currency of politics, and are central to both campaigning and governing. What candidates stand for matters, and the best policy is the best politics. This class will discuss the critical role ideas play in our American political system. It will examine how ideas define candidates and governments, shape political strategies, and form campaign communications. But, most importantly, it will discuss how campaigning on ideas leads to successful governing. While compromise and negotiation are often derided as weaknesses in today’s political system, we will examine how these techniques have been used to implement policy ideas and further political strategy. From the practical perspective of the instructor’s own legislative and political experience, the class will take up case studies involving the interplay between politics and ideas in recent history in areas such as budget reform, national security, tax reform, crime prevention, trade, and poverty. Through these case studies, we will look at how and why policy ideas succeeded or failed through the lens of elections, political communications, and their positive impact on the public.

Americans traditionally have viewed the courts as—in the words of a constitutional scholar—"the least dangerous branch of government." They are seen as reflectors, not agents, of change. But in an age of government downsizing, the role of the courts bears renewed examination. Students explore the historical and philosophical roots for the notion that American courts, and whether the lawyers who appear before them, can and should make law and policy, and the alternatives to this function. Students consider prominent areas of public policy that have been shaped by the courts, such as civil rights, family and domestic law, environmental and safety regulation, and the regulation of business and commerce.This course counts towards the Legal Studies Concentration.

This course examines the role of race and ethnicity in U.S. national politics focusing on political development, political behavior, and public policy. Treated as both a persistent “dilemma” and as central to U.S. national identity, race and representation questions have been pivotal in American political development from the Founding to the present. Tracing that development over time, this course focuses, too, on how race-based differences manifest in differences in voting, public opinion, and other behavioral aspects of politics as well as the ways that racial attitudes have been embedded in public policies and reinforced by their implementation.

This course considers the historical and contemporary relationship between money and government. In what ways do moneyed interests have distinctive influences on American politics? Does this threaten the vibrancy of our representative democracy? Are recent controversies over campaign finance reform and lobbying reform signs that American government is in trouble? This course is reading, writing, and discussion intensive, and we consider the large academic literature on this subject, as well as the reflections of journalists and political practitioners. Election law and regulations on money in politics are always changing, and so part of the course is designed to give students tools at tracking these developments. The overall goal of the course is to foster an understanding of the money/politics relationship in ways that facilitate the evaluation of American democracy.

Nonprofit organizations in the United States are tightly bound with federal tax and state fiduciary regulatory requirements, requiring nonprofit leaders to familiarize themselves with tax rules and regulations critical to their operations. Given 501 (c) 3 organizations are exempt from federal and state taxes, they must understand the potential risks to maintaining this status, while ensuring financial transparency to the public. This course is an interactive and engaging nonprofit law class for the non-lawyer to familiarize themselves with the various types of legal issues related to nonprofit management. Students will gain exposure to the overall legal issues that concern a nonprofit, such as maintaining federal tax-exempt status, the misclassification of employees, or risks of lobbying and political activity, among others. In addition, students will learn strategies to stay in compliance with various federal and state regulations. Nonprofit organizations are founded for charitable, philanthropic, and advocacy purposes, to support the public at large, which means they must apply for, maintain, and safeguard their eligibility to serve as 501(c) entities by the IRS. This course will provide insight on the best legal practices while ensuring nonprofit organizations stay in compliance with federal regulations.

This course covers the ways in which analytics are being used in the healthcare industry. Topics include data collection opportunities created by the ACA and other laws, the use of analytics to prevent fraud, the use of predictive modeling based on medical records, the insurance industry's increasing use of data and the ethical issues raised by these practices. Prerequisites: none required (470.681 Probability and Statistics recommended)

The goal of this course is to prepare future nonprofit leaders and board members with the international resource development and marketing fundamentals that help every nonprofit thrive. The course focuses on how to create and nurture an organizational culture where everyone on the staff and board understands, embraces, and acts on his or her role in developing strategic relationships with funders, potential funders, and media professionals. You will gain an understanding of the process, the metrics that drive the process, and the milestone markers that lead to success. You will explore how to develop a board and/or cadre of volunteers who give generously, share expertise freely, connect you to the right government officials and media leaders, and invite others to join them. Data-driven decision-making and all aspects of fund development, marketing, and communications will be woven throughout the course. Led by an internationally recognized practitioner, consultant, and master teacher, the course will use scenarios, discussion, social media, audio, and video clips so that you will walk away with the knowledge you need to secure private and government funding and social capital as a CEO, senior staff member, board chair, or member, and the confidence to do it all well. Elective course for the Certificate in Nonprofit Management.

This course focuses on financial aspects of public sector organizations and institutions. The objectives of this course include helping students (1) learn the basics of public sector accounting and the construction of their financial reports, (2) become more intelligent users of the financial statements of public sector organizations such as sovereign, state, and municipal institutions, and (3) better understand the factors that affect the financial condition and financial performance of such entities. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p> More specifically, the course focuses on (1) the financial reporting concepts and standards that are applicable to public sector organizations; (2) ratios and other summary indicators used by analysts to evaluate the financial condition and financial performance of public sector and nonprofit organizations; (3) the analysis and interpretation of financial statements of selected public sector organizations; (4) fundamental finance principles; and 5) basic principles of budget formulation. <o:p></o:p></span></p>

The political scientist James McGregor Burns said “one of the most universal cravings of our time is a hunger for compelling and creative leadership.” Today, the craving for sound leadership is felt even more keenly than before, but examples of excellence in leadership are scarce. With both populism and authoritarianism on the rise globally and polarization at high levels domestically, it has become especially urgent to understand what true democratic leadership entails – both its power and its limits. This course will expose students to leadership models in America, starting with the founders and the conditions they set for future democratic leaders. In addition to examples of political leadership, students will study leadership in the area of social reform. Students will assess these models through primary readings, biographies, lectures, and film depictions. The course will help students to identify which models of creative leadership may be helpful in addressing current problems of contemporary politics

This class will examine the role of Congress in the making of American foreign policy. In particular, this class will discuss the role of Congress in war powers, economic sanctions, human rights advocacy, the approval of international agreements including treaties, international affairs budgets and spending, investigations and oversight of the conduct of foreign policy by the executive branch as well as the impact of Congress on the general direction of American foreign policies and priorities. Special attention will be given to the role of Congress in U.S. policy toward Iran over the past few decades, the use of military force in Iraq and Syria, the role of the legislative branch in U.S policy toward China and Taiwan and the promotion of human rights as a component of American foreign policy. The class will seek to examine the specific actions of Congress on these matters, and their causes and consequences. The class will use books, articles and original source material from committee deliberations and floor action. As we examine these topics, we will come back to larger themes – the balance of power between the executive and legislative branches, the impact of partisan and bureaucratic politics, and the changing role of the United States on the world stage. All this will be discussed with a mind to the role of foreign policy practitioners.

Economic thinking provides an important set of tools for almost every aspect of public policymaking. This course aims to offer students a basic understanding of economics and its importance in public policymaking. The first half of the course will offer students an understanding of microeconomic and macroeconomic theory, including a discussion of when markets can work to achieve policy goals and when “market failures” call for government intervention. The second half of the class will use these economic tools and theories in order to survey several specific policy areas, including health policy, tax policy, and the national debt. (Core course for the MA in Public Management This course counts toward the Economic Security concentration (GSS). Elective option for Government Analytics students.)

The South Asian region, with its complex historical context, a large and diverse population, and contested national borders, especially between nuclearized countries, poses some of the toughest security challenges facing the world. This course highlights salient security challenges in South Asia, and draws out their implications for U.S. strategic interests. It examines the sources and implications of the rivalry between nuclearized India and Pakistan, and how it fuels Sino-Indian security competition. Attention is drawn to the sources of militancy in India, and to the threats to international and regional security arising from the conflict in Afghanistan. The Sri Lankan Tamil Tiger insurgency and its eventual defeat in 2009 are also discussed, alongside the rising Islamist militancy threats in Bangladeshi, and the history of Maoist insurgency in Nepal. Finally, some of the climate-based threats to which no South Asian country is immune will also be discussed.

Transnational organized crime often is not well understood because crime is most often conceptualized as a domestic legal concern. However, transnational organized crime is more than that. It is crime ordered into complex clandestine networks that operates transnationally with little regard for the borders of states. The gravity of the problem lies not only in the increasing complexity of these organizations, but more importantly, with the serious challenge they pose in their ability to penetrate and operate with relative impunity in several states simultaneously. These illegal enterprises not only threaten aspects of state sovereignty and security that traditionally have been taken for granted, but they prove the permeability of national borders and the vulnerability of state institutions. This course will examine a variety of transnational organized criminal groups, their modus operandi, and their illicit activities. It also will focus on some domestic organized crime groups both to provide a depth of understanding of the operations of organized criminal activity in different countries, as well as to show how international groups can make inroads into domestic markets if they cooperate with local groups.

This course examines how states and non-state actors use propaganda and disinformation campaigns across the continuum of conflict. Students will gain a detailed understanding of the strategic goals, objectives, and tactics that comprise information warfare campaigns. The course will examine a variety of case studies to include German propaganda during World War II, Russian active measures during the Cold War, extremist propaganda, and modern grey zone disinformation activities. The detailed exploration of these rich historical examples will also help students become more-astute consumers of social science information, big-data analytics, and open source intelligence.

Conflict is part of organizational life. People in public sector agencies and nonprofit and for-profit organizations disagree over the meaning of regulations, the use of financial resources, office space, leave time, and many other issues. Managers must have the ability to diagnose disputes and to negotiate effectively to resolve conflicts. This course provides the theoretical background and conceptual framework needed for successful negotiation and mediation. Through presentations and discussions students become familiar with the tools necessary for conflict resolution in their agencies and organizations. Analysis of a party's interests, identification of the necessary style, awareness of communication skills, and planning and feedback are part of the process of becoming an accomplished negotiator.

This course focuses on transnational security issues and considers how many of these myriad challenges constitute threats to global peace and security. The combined effects of issues such as drug, weapons, and human trafficking, piracy, terrorism, infectious diseases, and deliberate environmental destruction, along with such critical enablers as corruption, and money movements, are not strangers on the world stage. What is new is their global reach and destructive potential. As a result, these issues have made policy makers consider different conceptions of security and, at times, to move beyond sole considerations of state sovereignty into the realm of human security. Not only are transnational security issues varied in nature and scope, but their effects often are obscured by the fact that many are nascent with gradual and long-term consequences. Further, while some transnational issues may not constitute direct threats to global security, they may threaten the world economy, and quality of life of its citizens. Still others compound and reinforce each other, generating mutations of the original threats. This course will examine a small number of these transnational security issues and relevant policy-making efforts.

<p> Lobbying is a Constitutional right guaranteed under the First Amendment. It's also big business in Washington, DC, as more than $4 billion was spent on these efforts in 2015. In fact, for many, the term “lobbying” conjures up an image of a shady character passing a cash-filled envelope to an elected official.</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p> The stereotype of lobbyists as greedy predators of the political system detracts from the efforts made by the tens of thousands of people, from lobbyists and concerned citizens alike, who come to Washington every year to exercise their “Right to Petition” the government to make it more responsive and accountable to the people. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p> This applied course provides students with a practical understanding of how to lobby Congress and the Executive Branch. The course also teaches students about “advocacy” efforts where unregistered public affairs firms employ campaign-styled tactics to persuade decision-makers to support their client’s positions. <o:p></o:p></span></p>

In this course students will develop expertise in using the tools necessary to collect, analyze, and visualize large amounts of text. The course begins with a hands-on introduction to the programming concepts necessary to collect and process textual data. The course then proceeds to cover key statistical concepts in machine learning and statistics that are used to analyze text as data. Throughout the course, students will develop a research project that culminates in the display of results from a large-scale textual analysis. Prerequisite: 470.681 Probability and Statistics.

Much of international politics in the last century can be described as a conflict between liberal democracy and its modern critics. During this period the values and political structures of liberal democracy have been extended to more parts of the world than ever before. Yet the same era also saw the emergence of powerful challengers to liberal democracy from both the right and the left. The resulting clash of ideologies defined such conflicts as World War II and the Cold War. In this course we will survey the intellectual roots of Fascism, National Socialism, and Communism. We will also examine the question of Islam and democracy looking at both its proponents and its radical critics in the Islamic world. Among those whose writings we will examine are Karl Marx, V.I. Lenin, Benito Mussolini, Carl Schmitt, Charles Maurras, Syed Qutb, Ali Shariati, Muktedar Khan, and Ruhollah Khomeini.This course counts towards the Security Studies concentration.

The federal budget process is an enormously complex mixture of administrative routines and mechanisms designed to bias decisions, avoid blame, or reduce conflict. This course explores the structures of federal budgeting in terms of its varied goals and in the context of the wider governing process. The course will review the budgetary process in both the executive and congressional branching, as well as the interaction of those two systems. In order to gain understanding of the difficult policy choices and political pressures policymakers face, students will be asked to do a simulation of a budget process within the executive branch. The role of entitlements, scoring issues, and tax policy will be examined in the context of the debate over budget policy. The course will start with a short primer on finance theory. (Recommended elective for MA in Public Management. Elective option for Government Analytics students.)

This course examines enduring issues in political theory – including poverty, inequality, opportunity, citizenship, compassion, obligation, justice, and the role of government, markets, and charity - and their expression in contemporary social policy. The course provides foundations for understanding the theoretical and political dimensions of social policy - and the implications for policy solutions.

The 2020 presidential election will be based largely on how well voters think the incumbent Donald Trump has handled his first term in office. Trump will be seeking re-election with a pandemic that has killed over 100,000 Americans and with the largest number of Americans unemployed since our Great Depression. In addition, the question of racial justice has become an issue of paramount importance to this election. Trump is a master of distraction and should never be counted out as he has all the advantages of the presidency, while his opponent, former Vice-President Joe Biden will need a large Democratic and Independent voter turnout to win the White House. In short, 2020 is a truly unique and historic election. The class will discuss both sides' campaign and media strategies-both social media and traditional media- to win the White House. Will Biden be able to put the Obama coalition together again? Will Trump's base come out in large enough numbers to help him win again? Is America ready for a return to normalcy after the chaotic first term of Trump? Our lively, interactive class will explore all these questions and closely follow the campaign to its conclusion and look at the winning candidate after the November election.

The separation of powers is America’s most profound and useful political contribution to the world. Studying its principles, development, and decay is a requirement for understanding American politics and is as well a potential benefit to students of aspiring democracies throughout the world. For the separation of powers enables self-government, putting democratic principles of equality and liberty into practice while moderating the powers of majorities.We will study the principles and practice of the separation of powers by examining how each elected branch of government protects its rights, while checking the rights of others. The separation of powers can be said to have produced a more just and moderate democratic form of government, but it has also occasioned the complaint that it has produced gridlock and incompetence. To investigate the strengths and drawbacks of the separation of powers, we will pay close attention to the classic texts advocating the separation of powers, such as The Federalist Papers; the great changes in American politics effected by the Civil War, the Progressive movement, and the New Deal; and the domestic and foreign policy debates in recent administrations. Special attention will be paid to the seminal opinions of the unelected branch of American government, the Supreme Court. The course will note in particular the contemporary challenges to the separation of powers, evidenced in the rise of the administrative state, the expanding powers of courts, and the growth of party government. We will also note instances of how parliamentary and presidential governments throughout the world might benefit from separation of powers principles.

Who knew health care was so complicated.” These words remind us that despite decades of work, health policy wonks continue to debate what should come next in health care reform. This course introduces students to the policies and issues surrounding health care in the United States. During the semester the course will review the history of the incremental path to health care coverage since President Truman first called for universal health care in 1947. This will include enactment of Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). In addition, we will discuss in detail the various reform proposals currently under consideration and analyze their strengths and weaknesses. Finally, we will study how the current U.S health care system is organized, financed, and governed.

Corruption is ubiquitous. It is a universal phenomenon that has always been around and that can be found almost anywhere. Recent years have seen much focus on the relationship between it and democratic governance. Indeed corruption and politics more generally, are inextricably and universally entwined. In this seminar we will take an in-depth look at the relationship between the two. We will ask: What is Corruption? Is it always the same thing everywhere, or does it vary depending on context or place? Do pork barrel politics and political clientelism count as corruption? What are the implications of corruption? Is it necessarily always a bad thing or can it be beneficial? Is the corruption experienced in developed countries qualitatively different from that in developing ones such that democracy suffers more in developing countries? We will seek to answer these and other questions by taking a critical look at the politics of corruption. We will look at the origins, extent, character and significance of corruption from both a developed and developing country perspective. We will cover various theories relating to corruption as well as look at a number of empirical cases.

Russia plays a key role in most international issues and openly campaigns to realign the international system away from what it sees as American domination. This course considers the substance and process of Russian national security policy. It acquaints students with the main instruments and mechanisms available to Russian leaders to advance the country’s national interests and key policy priorities. The course considers how Russia formulates and conducts its national security policy, the history that informs it, the political culture that sustain it, the ideas and interests that drive it, and the people and institutions responsible for it. The course addresses Russia’s role in key global and regional issues and its relations with major powers. It places special emphasis on the wars in Ukraine and Syria, Russian concepts of information war, and on Russian military reform.

This course considers the evolution of the presidency from its creation by the founders who had “their fingers crossed” while contemplating an executive agent for the emerging government, to its contemporary massive presence in our political system. The class also examines the interactions of the president with the other branches of government—Congress and the Courts—as well as the dynamics and management challenges presented within the executive branch itself. The course focuses on the leadership attributes of effective presidents, as well as aspects of personality or “character” that influence presidential performance. Finally the class focuses on the power and influence exerted by the presidency in domestic public policy and in foreign affairs. Students will be encouraged to develop their own ideas of what makes a great president ion the 21st century.

This course is a seminar-based overview of the role of energy in national security. Using a range of U.S. and non-U.S. case studies, students will review the roles of energy in grand strategy, the role of energy in conflict, and, finally, as a logistical enabler of military operations.

The relationship between religion and politics in the American context is one of peculiar complexity in the American context. This course has 3 main objectives: 1) to examine in general terms the role of religion in American public and political life as reflected in the debates concerning the use of religious symbolism and discourse in the public sphere; 2) to analyze how religiously informed moral argument has helped to shape public debate on key issues of public policy including the issues of civil rights, abortion, war and peace, and economic policy; and 3) to provide the necessary historical and philosophical context to help understand the present day intersection of religion and politics, and to see how previous generations of Americans approached similar problems.

This course will explore some of the most contested and controversial aspects in contemporary security studies. There are a number of contentious and wide-ranging debates around ideas like radicalization not least concerning its definition, causes, and effects. This course will also prompt you to consider broader issues, such as whether there is a causal link between extremism and violent extremism? Why do some radicalized individuals to embrace terrorism, when other don’t? And should security officials concern themselves with radicalization, or only with its violent offshoots? This course will unpack many of these debates, exploring academic and theoretical literature surrounding the issues of radicalization, recruitment, and deradicalization in modern terrorist networks. It will focus primarily on cases in Europe and the United States, while also exploring new phenomena such as homegrown, self-starter, and lone wolf terrorism.

This course explores the political struggles that emerge from the U.S. constitutional system. During the course, we will read contemporary and classic cases in U.S. constitutional law in light of constitutional and political theory. Course discussions will focus on the law as well as the related policy, political, and societal implications of constitutional interpretation. Through paying particular attention to recent decisions and issues before the Court, the course will explore the roles and powers of the branches of federal government, separation of powers, federalism, and the commerce clause. It will also cover individual rights, due process, equal protection, and religious freedoms.

With the passage of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act, all federal agencies are now required to make data accessible to the public and to implement specific plans for developing statistical evidence to inform policymaking. This course will examine the ways in which evidence and expertise are now being used for policy development and assessment. Specific topics will include cost-benefit analysis, cost effectiveness analysis, contingent valuation, forecasting and the communication of statistical evidence. In addition, the course will explore the interplay between political decisionmakers, experts and citizens in the evidence-based policymaking process.

The multiple crises plaguing the world today make evident the mutual inter-dependence and vulnerability of people and nations. The idea of human security has gained increasing significance within this increasingly complex and interconnected world. Human security places emphasis on the security needs of individual citizens, rather than being preoccupied by traditional, state-centric conceptions of security. It takes into account the impact of security threats such as economic crises, pandemics, and climate change on the lives of individuals within and across national boundaries. The course thus draws attention to alternative interpretations of what constitute security threats and how to contend with the underlying causes of volatility and human insecurity that prevail around the world.

This non-technical course introduces the foundational aspects of cybersecurity policy including basic technical principles of networks and their security, principles of strategy and policy, current governance mechanisms for global information infrastructures, and current strategies and policies for cybersecurity for the public and private sectors. It covers current cybersecurity issues, cyber deterrence and conflict, an inventory and description of state and non-state cyber actors, and the nexus between the public and private sectors. The course assumes little to no exposure to technical and policy aspects of cybersecurity.

In this hands-on course, we’ll help you understand the fundamentals of securing funds from institutional donors. As a staff or board leader of a non-profit, understanding the ins and outs of raising funds for priority projects and capacity building from government agencies, corporations and foundations will add to your toolkit for moving your organization forward. We’ll cover how this aspect of fundraising fits into your overall fundraising strategy and plan. We’ll help you identify the right potential funders for important projects, learn how to land capacity-building funds you can use to grow and sustain your organization, cover the basics of relationship-building with institutional decision-makers, help you use data to build credibility with funders, create pitch-perfect corporate presentations and dive into the process of writing winning proposals and applications. Finally, we’ll cover fulfillment and stewardship. Elective course for the Certificate in Nonprofit Management.

Machine learning (ML) and, more broadly, artificial intelligence can now be used to perform complex tasks in data science and social science. This course introduces students to a variety of these machine learning techniques. Students will learn the fundamentals of statistical software used for ML, develop an understanding of how ML works, and will then implement these techniques. Further, students will learn how to select an appropriate ML tool depending on the dataset they have and the question to be answered. Prerequisite (one of the following): 470.681 Probability and Statistics, or 470.854 Fundamentals of Quantitative Methods, or experience with R or Python statistical programming and instructor permission.

Overuse is not the only problem with the maxim that American “politics stop at the water’s edge.” The slogan has simply never been true. American foreign policy has always been a result not just of the crises and opportunities the nation has faced but its unique politics and policy processes. American national interests are determined through the democratic processes established by the Constitution and other legislation and affected by the politics that drive the nation’s elections, its conversations and its foreign policies. These politics and processes have been remarkably consistent since the founding even as the nation’s interests have grown significantly. A better understanding of both the politics and processes of American foreign policy will help students appreciate how the country’s policies are made today and will be made in the future.

This course reviews the mathematical principles that are fundamental to quantitative analysis. The course covers functions, probability theory, integral and derivative calculus and matrix algebra.

Risk management has always been in the vanguard of data analytics because risk measurement is a critical element in calculating risk/return tradeoffs. This course will examine both qualitative and quantitative analytical methods commonly used in risk management. Qualitative tools include impact/likelihood analysis; event and fault trees; threats, vulnerability, and consequences (TVC); and failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA). However, a key lesson in risk management is that what gets measured gets managed. As a result, a major part of the course will focus on quantitative tools, including modeling and stochastic simulations. We will use the @Risk software to build realistic risk models, including one in assessing project management risks. The objective of the course is to equip students with practical tools they can apply in risk-based decision making.Prerequisites: 470.681 Probability and Statistics; working knowledge of Excel

This course instructs students in various visualization techniques and software, including R, Tableau, and vector graphics software (e.g., Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape). Students will learn how to ask interesting questions about politics; identify data that can be used to answer those questions; collect, clean and document the data; explore and analyze the data with statistical and graphical techniques; and create compelling, informative and accurate visualizations and present these visualizations to educated audiences. Prerequisite: 470.681 Probability and Statistics

Drawing on the social movement literature, this course examines the emergence of irregular armed groups and their decisions to use violence. It explains how social movements turnviolent, how violence dictates their nature, and what this nature can tell us in terms of group strengths and weaknesses. It provides the students with the analytical tools needed to distinguish between terrorism, insurgency, and crime – by focusing and understanding group strategies, behavior, and capabilities. Students will thus be familiarized with the theory on armed group formation and evolution – but the course goes further, by counterposing such theory to the complexities of practice through the consideration of key case studies. The course ends with an overview of state strategies intended to counter a wide variety of threats. Particular attention is paid to the notion of operational art and lines of effort to underline the potential and meaning of counterterrorism and counterinsurgency.

This course will help students develop graduate writing and research skills. Through the rich scholarship of past and present social movements and civic engagement initiatives, students will gain an in-depth overview of the fundamentals of academic writing, style, and composition. They will learn how to compose a strong research-based argument, thesis statement, supporting paragraphs and conclusion using credible resources with the proper use of citations. These skills will help strengthen their ability to write, synthesize and argue at a graduate level. In the third week of the term, students will identify their own independent research topic, and in the latter part of the term, they will shape it into a research question, learn how to engage in critical inquiry using Hopkins’ library resources, and through a writing process broken into scaffolded steps, will formulate an original argument in a cumulative paper. Through learning modules that focus on early social movements like the Women’s Suffrage Movement, Civil Rights Movement, Environmental Movement, the White Power Movement, and more contemporary movements like “Me Too”, “Black Lives Matter”, and Climate Justice, students can explore and analyze how well the United States has realized its democratic ideals and obligations while improving upon their research, writing, and critical thinking skills. The course is intended for those enrolled in one of the Center for Advanced Governmental Studies (CAGS) graduate programs and for other Advanced Academic Program (AAP) students with the permission of their advisor.

This course introduces students to the fundamentals of statistical analysis as well as the R programming language and RStudio environment. Students will learn the building blocks of descriptive and causal inference, including summary statistics, survey sampling, measurement, hypothesis testing, linear regression and probability theory. Students will also learn how to create data visualizations in R, including times series plots, scatter plots and bar graphs. In addition, students will focus on interpreting statistical findings and presenting results in a compelling manner. By the end of the course, students will be able to conduct a statistical analysis to answer a meaningful policy question and will be prepared to take more advanced methods courses. Prerequisites: none

The goal of this course is a comprehensive examination of social enterprises- organizations that, broadly speaking, “apply commercial strategies to maximize improvements in human and environmental well-being”. Social enterprises are a relatively new, 21st century phenomenon, and are typically referred to as hybrids of nonprofits and for-profits. While they are similar to nonprofits in that their missions and social and/or environmental objectives drive their very existence, social enterprises can have different structures than traditional 501©3s- some much more complex, legally and otherwise. Throughout the course we will learn about the various types of social enterprises that exist, comparing US models to models operating internationally, and analyze their pros and cons, challenges and opportunities. We will also explore how social enterprises challenge traditional business and nonprofit paradigms, what role social enterprises have come to play in international development, and finally, how to go about developing your own social enterprise. Elective course for the Certificate in Nonprofit Management.

This course examines the process of drafting legislation and the consequences of legislative language in the implementation and adjudication of federal policies. Focusing on the various stages of the legislative process, this course considers the expert and political sources of the legislative language in the U.S. Congress and the importance of language in coalition-building for policy passage. Examining the interactions of Congress with the other branches of government, the course also considers how presidents, the executive branch, and the judiciary interpret statutory language.

Change is perennial in national security and military affairs, but knowing how, why, and when to embrace change is both difficult and vital. Strategies and tactics may be outdated, new ideas may be resisted, and science and technology continue to change our world faster than we can optimize. The paradox deepens with context: innovation in peacetime has one logic while innovation in war has another. This course unravels the nature of change in military affairs through four themes: ideas, materials, human capital and structure, and, appreciation of the enemy. The course explores these themes through a series of case studies from around the world. Topics include civilian development/military application of science and technology; learning from failure and success (including from other nations); institutional reactions to change; procurement and the role of industry; and, the impact and limitations of individual “champions” of change.

Bridging the divide between political science theories of policymaking and the actual workings of the policy process in the institutions of national government, this course examines the individual contributions of each of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government as well as the interactions and struggles between those branches. How do these various institutions set the policy agenda, develop and deliberate policy alternatives, make authoritative policy decisions, and implement those decisions? In what ways are the interactions between these institutions best considered conflict or cooperation? Also, how do outside actors and institutions -- the media, interest groups, public opinion, parties and campaigns -- affect policymaking in these various institutional settings? Drawing on the Constitutional design and historical development of these institutions as well as contemporary practice, this course examines the purposes, processes, and outcomes of policymaking from an institutional perspective.

This course provides an overview of the role of both national and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in processes of development, humanitarian response, and the promotion of human rights and active citizenship. The last decade has been one of rapid change in which NGO relationships with government, the private sector, and donors has been in a state of flux, with unprecedented challenges raised about the legitimacy and effectiveness of NGO actors. The course will look at how systemic changes the evolution of transnational advocacy, the aid effectiveness process, the emergence of new development actors from countries (such as India, China and Brazil) to the primacy of the private sector has influenced NGOs. Elective course for the Certificate in Nonprofit Management.

This course examines how states (primarily the United States) and other political entities harness military capabilities to pursue of policy objectives. It exposes students to levels of strategy—grand strategy, strategy, operations, and tactics—in a national security context. The course will then focus on the practical implications and unique characteristics of military strategy. Students will critically examine topics such as civil-military relations, land warfare, naval warfare, theories of airpower, insurgency and counterinsurgency, and nuclear warfare. The goal is to understand the embedded assumptions of the various theories, the characteristics of the military capabilities animated by them, and, through discussion and case studies, the strengths and limitations of each.

This course uses the comparative method to look at the varieties of democracies that exist today. In the course, we will ask what is democracy, how do we measure it, and how does it vary across space and time? We will look at how democracy manifests in different constitutional forms e.g. parliamentary versus presidential. We will examine how different electoral and party systems influence variation in outcome within the set of democracies, and how social cleavages interact with, and are molded by, these systems. Further, we will use the answers to these questions to explore the issue of democratic consolidation and to ask why some countries become and stay democratic, while others do not. Case studies will be drawn from Europe, Latin America and Asia.

This course introduces students to big data management systems such as the Hadoop system, MongoDB, Amazon AWS, and Microsoft Azure. The course covers the basics of the Apache Hadoop platform and Hadoop ecosystem; the Hadoop distributed file system (HDFS); MapReduce; common big data tools such as Pig (a procedural data processing language for Hadoop parallel computation), Hive (a declarative SQL-like language to handle Hadoop jobs), HBase (the most popular NoSQL database), and YARN. MongoDB is a popular NoSQL database that handles documents in a free schema design, which gives the developer great flexibility to store and use data. We cover aspects of the cloud computing model with respect to virtualization, multitenancy, privacy, security, and cloud data management. <p>Prerequisite: 470.763 Database Management Systems<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>Technology Requirements:A 64-bit computer with a chip that supports virtualization (set via BIOS)Windows Operating System 7, 8, or 10At least 8 Gb of Physical RAMOracle VirtualBox version 4.2 (free)Please be in touch with the instructor with questions about the technology requirements.<o:p></o:p></span></p>

(The purpose of the class is to help equip students to operate effectively in both the public and private sectors. The class will cover three major topics: (1) an overview of managing public and private organizations, with special attention to their differing missions, capabilities, and environments; (2) a survey of important relationships between the public and private sectors; and (3) the need for improved coordination between the public and private sectors to achieve important public purposes. Students will be encouraged to make the course an interactive one and to share their personal knowledge in the context of the issues discussed. Students will be expected to complete a significant paper on a relevant topic approved by the instructor. (Core course for the MA in Public Management and the MA in Government/MBA program)

This course will seek to give students a deeper understanding of where the idea of American exceptionalism comes from and what its implications are for America, both domestically and abroad. Students will gain this understanding from reading classic works in the area that trace America’s political development, starting with its Puritan heritage. Early American works will be studied from this period, along with Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America. Seminal works of modern political science scholarship on this question will also be assigned, including works from Seymour Martin Lipset, Louis Hartz, Daniel Boorstin, and others. The course will then extrapolate from these historic roots to contemporary issues of America’s foreign policy and rationale for its foreign interventions. The course will conclude with questions of America’s standing in the world, which has in recent years, declined and seek to understand why this is so and what it means for the future understanding of American exceptionalism.

Data are everywhere, and many elected officials and government managers understand they need it. But how can they use it to solve problems and shape policy? What is the best way to make decisions based on a data analysis? How can they communicate those decisions, and the rationale behind them, to employees, citizens, and stakeholders? This course will provide students with an experiential learning opportunity based on real-world scenarios. Students will each take on a role (mayor, police commissioner, human capital director, budget director, public works director, public health director) and participate in a simulated public policy scenario. Working in small groups, students will apply a practical performance analytics process to develop solutions to address governmental challenges. Students will begin by studying foundational concepts and techniques of data collection, analytics, and decision support. They will also learn how to navigate multiple interests, asymmetrical information, and competing political agendas as they make difficult decisions about resource allocation and public policy. Along the way, they will learn how to turn insights into action by effectively communicating the results of analysis to busy executives and decision makers at all levels of the organization. Prerequisites: none required (470.681 Probability and Statistics recommended)

Congress is the First Branch, “the People’s Branch,” and one of the most powerful legislatures the world has ever known. At this moment in history, however, the people do not assess the institution favorably and political scientists and pundits have declared it the “broken branch.” Is Congress “broken” or merely reflective of our political times? In an era of “unorthodox lawmaking” is a return to “regular order” and “textbook lawmaking” realistic or a fantasy? This course will discuss these questions in the context of the evolving nature of Congress as an institution. The class will examine the institutional development of Congress and explore changes in its representative and legislative functions, as well as constitutional responsibility of holding the “power of the purse.” Congress remains a dynamic institution and it behooves citizens to understand its complexity and centrality to governance in the U.S.

This class applies data analytic skills to the urban context, analyzing urban problems and datasets. Students will develop the statistical skills to complete data-driven analytical projects using data from city agencies, federal census data, and other sources, including NGOs that work with cities. We will examine a variety of data sets and research projects both historical and contemporary that examine urban problems from a quantitative perspective. Over the course of the term, each student will work on a real-world urban data problem, developing the project from start to finish, including identifying the issue, developing the research project, gathering data, analyzing the data, and producing a finished research paper. Prerequisite: 470.681 Probability and Statistics

This class examines the phenomenon of irregular warfare—of insurgencies and counterinsurgencies in particular—through a historical lens. The course will give you students insight into the origins, objectives, strategies, and tactics of irregular wars, as well as the principles of counterinsurgency theory and practice. Through the course, you will analyze current irregular wars, understand what caused them and whether they are likely to be successful or unsuccessful, and see how they can be combated.

Learning the basics of Python empowers analysts to retrieve and leverage data in new ways. After covering the fundamentals of syntax, students learn how to read, create and edit data files using Python. Building on that knowledge, students interact with online resources through bulk data APIs and web scraping. Finally, students will use the data they collect to develop an original analysis. Prerequisite: 470.681 Probability and Statistics

Data-driven decision-making in public policy often investigates the causes of problems and the effects of policies. However, causal identification is extremely difficult, and the application of statistical processes can often be misleading. This class focuses on assessing whether an observed relationship in data supports causal inference. The course builds on the foundation from Probability and Statistics and provides a more rigorous and faster-paced survey of statistics, regression modeling, and research design. Specific topics include measures of fit, generalized linear models, interaction terms, model specification, and common econometric tools like instrumental variables or difference in difference designs. The goal of the course is to use quantitative data in an applied manner to address meaningful research questions.

This course builds upon the concepts taught in 470.709 Quantitative Methods. Students will learn how to construct and evaluate advanced regression models. Topics include experimental data, instrumental variables, panel data, matching and multiple imputation. In addition, you will learn how to use Latex, which is a document preparation system that allows you to incorporate mathematical language, tables and figures into a document in a user-friendly manner. Latex is also incredibly useful for managing references and preparing professional slide presentations. As a culminating project, students will critically evaluate a scholarly article that uses methods covered in the course. Prerequisite: 470.709 Quantitative Methods

War practitioners, policy makers, and security studies scholars study asymmetric warfare to understand why poorly armed insurgents effectively resist and even defeat technologically advanced and materially stronger armies. This course studies a perfect asymmetry in nonviolent warfare where unarmed ordinary people are able to effectively challenge and eventually defeat a fully armed, resource-rich regimes. In fact, historically, nonviolent movements have been twice as effective against violent regimes as armed insurgencies. This course will consider skills of organized populations in inter-state and intra-state conflicts, including anti-dictatorship, anti-occupation, anti-corruption, anti-violence struggles and analyze how disciplined civilians use nonviolent strategies and tactics to galvanize large and diverse participation, place their violent opponents in dilemma, make repression backfire and cause defections among adversaries' pillars of support.

This course covers the politics of Latin America from 1945 to the present. It is designed to introduce students to the academic study of contemporary Latin American politics. Students are required to apply comparative methods of analysis to contrast regimes and political phenomena beyond governments. Students are expected to compare the institutions, policies and development models of different governments and regimes, as well as the ideology, program, organizational structure and support base of different social movements and political parties. These comparisons enable students to explore both similarity and difference. Students may identify broad commonalities in the politics of a region that shares many cultural features and important structural constraints. However, they should also be aware of distinctions; including the important differences between Central America, the Andean region and the Southern Cone, as well as significant variations between neighboring states.

This class will examine the history of national political conventions from its earliest days to current time, culminating with conventions this summer in Milwaukee and Charlotte. With winner-take-all primaries a thing of the past we could very likely see a brokered convention in Milwaukee for the Democrats this summer. Will Sanders try to change the convention rules if denied the nomination. Will Biden get the support of the superdelegates? Will Mayor Pete and Mayor Bloomberg still be competitive? Will Senators Klobuchar and Warren rally at the convention? In addition, the class will look at the likely "lovefest" convention the Republicans will hold in Charlotte in August. Will there be any disputes on the GOP platform on issues from immigration to health care? We will hold mock GOP and Democratic Conventions in class and discuss the up to the minute political news the first part of each class. We will discuss the role of social media (Trump's tweets) and current events as they arise in real-time in this lively and interactive class!

This course examines domestic terrorism in the homeland with an emphasis on white nationalist movements and anarchist-related groups such as Antifa. We will analyze ways these groups advance their political, ideological, and social agendas through violence and criminal activity in violation of both federal and state laws. Students will also be exposed to other domestic terrorism groups such as eco-terrorists, animal rights, black identity extremists, and sovereign citizen groups. The readings and videos will include a variety of diverse and opposing viewpoints; and utilize case studies such as the Charlottesville Unite the Right Rally in 2017 and the plot to kill the Michigan Governor in 2020. We will also analyze First Amendment and Fourth Amendment protected activities in civil protests and social media platforms in conjunction with these groups’ activities. Last, we will address lone-wolf terrorism and whether a federal domestic terrorism law should be enacted to counter future terrorist actions.

Federalism the division of power and sovereignty between a central authority and local governments has emerged as one of the most important themes of contemporary Western politics in both the United States and Europe. For the United States the division of power between the Federal and State governments lies at the very heart of the American Constitution. At the same time disputes over the precise balance of Federal and State power has been a major fault line in American politics since Federalists and anti-Federalists at the time of the founding. For Europe the destruction of two World Wars showed the destructive side of nationalism and acted as an impetus to leverage Europe’s common history and cultural inheritance to forge a supranational political and economic union dedicated to peace and prosperity. Since the end of the Cold War and the Treaty of Maastricht the process of European integration has speeded up rapidly resulting in a common European currency as well as common legal and political institutions. At the same time concerns about the perceived loss of sovereignty, national identity, and democratic accountability have led in some places to backlashes against Brussels and resurgent nationalism. There is also the broader question of the European Union’s goals and identity is it principally an economic union or is it a super-state in the making? In this course we will explore Federalism in its institutional, legal, philosophical, and historical aspects in both America and Europe.

President Biden and former President Trump are not on the ballot this November but they are the two elephants in the room as voters go to the polls this year.Will Biden's fading poll numbers and Trump's Big Lie on the 2020 election and endorsements impact the midterms? This interactive class will be taking place during the middle of the midterm campaign and class will focus on House, Senate and Governor's races. From abortion to gun control to inflation to immigration to Ukraine we will discuss and analyze the key issues of the midterm election. The course will also focus on the role social media and mainstream media play and the effectiveness of candidate's paid advertising in getting their message out to voters. From the issues and the candidates on the campaign trail to use of media and messaging to the vote and beyond the class will be discussing history as it is happening!

Many of the ideas which shape today´s world- democracy, liberalism, conservatism, capitalism, socialism, nationalism - have their roots in a "great conversation" (Robert Hutchins) that spans some 25 centuries from ancient Greece until today. The conversation motivating the Western tradition has included a set of perennial questions such as: Who ought to rule - and how do we decide? What is the purpose of politics? What is the best form of constitution? What makes political authority legitimate? What is political justice? What is citizenship? This course is intended as a broad survey of some the most influential political thinkers in the intellectual tradition of Europe and America. Among the many who will be examined are : Thucydides, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Voltaire, Baron de Montesquieu, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant, Adam Smith, Thomas Jefferson, Edmund Burke, Friedrich Nietzsche, G.W.F. Hegel, Karl Marx, John Stuart Mill, Leo Strauss, and Hannah Arendt.

As China's role on the international stage continues to grow, how will its behavior change the world? Beijing has long espoused a principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other states, but as China’s overseas presence and interests grow, how is it adjusting its approach to global challenges and influencing the interests of other states? Students will put themselves into the position of national security leaders in China, in the United States, and in third countries to explore a range of national interests, priorities, objectives, strategies, and policy tools.

This course will explore contemporary issues in education policy, with a focus on the evolving relationships between federal, state, and local governments in guiding America’s schools. Topics will include the successes and failures of the soon-to-be-reauthorized federal No Child Left Behind Act, debates over the wisdom of national academic standards, the legal environment for public school finance, the growing role of nongovernmental organizations like Teach for America and national charter school networks in public education, collective bargaining in education, and the political dynamics of education reform. The course will include group discussions and papers in which students will be required to select and defend specific policy positions in the areas discussed. (Recommended elective for MA in Public Management)

The goal of this course is to convey the history, size and impact of the nonprofit sector while providing the fundamentals of nonprofit formation and management. In the United States, nonprofits are intertwined with our country's legal and tax systems, delivery of basic human services, and social, educational, health, environmental, equity issues and far more. Today, successful nonprofits require strong management systems, including management of finances, human resources, information technology, marketing, performance measures and other operational needs. The course will help the student understand the current thinking on best practices in managing and improving nonprofit organizations and appreciate the interplay of environmental and organizational factors that influence managerial decision-making. This course uses a simulation pedagogy that engages students in actively conceptualizing and building fictional nonprofit organizations. This is a core course for the nonprofit management program.

This course addresses the legal, policy and cultural issues that challenge the government and its citizens in the increasingly complex technical environment of privacy. We will examine the challenges in balancing the need for information and data against the evolving landscape of individual privacy rights. The course will examine privacy at all levels: by analyzing the shifting views of individual privacy by citizens as well as the technological challenges in both protecting and analyzing personal information for government use. Using case studies and hypotheticals, we will discuss the issue of transparency in the government use and retention of data. The cases will range from Facebook to healthcare.gov to sunshine laws to national security uses of information. We will trace the development of legal and policy measures relevant to privacy concerns and envision future solutions needed in an era of great technological innovation including the use of big data.Prerequisite: none

We're living in a capital city the founders wouldn't even recognize. In recent years the Capitol itself has been outfitted with state of the art green screens, fiber optic cables, minutely pixelated cameras and new, polished studios where politicians of all stripes roll out proposals that are instantly disseminated to their supporters on multiple mediums, including in email blasts begging for campaign contributions. After a brief exploration of the history of political communications, the course will quickly pivot into a real-time examination and training session for surviving - even thriving - in the contemporary world of communications. The course will instill in students the dire need to stay focused on good policy. While students will leave equipped with the tools that will enable them to thrive in this hyper-partisan atmosphere, the hope of the course is to help Hopkins students stand out as policy focused experts in this soundbite-dominated era. The instructor is a veteran congressional reporter who is offering to bring students enrolled in his course with him to attend press conferences and/or hearings, to witness key votes from the press galleries overlooking the House and Senate floors and to study how reporters and politicians interact inside the marble halls of the Capitol. Students will be offered a front row seat to witness the contemporary congressional communications apparatus in person (some students may not be able to take time off work to accompany the professor to the Capitol, which is fine because they can catch up on those events later on C-SPAN, though students are encouraged to shadow him on the Hill for at least one day during the semester, though some may opt for spending more than one day with him). The main focus is on training students to be communications experts in this new, digital world. Students will have one main project during the semester that will require them to develop their own messaging campaign simultaneously on multiple mediums that's focused on one of the hot button issues being debated at the Capitol during the course

This course focuses on organizational leadership strategies and the role of ethics within nonprofit and nongovernmental work specifically. A wide scope of ethical issues relevant to nonprofit and nongovernmental work will be reviewed, analyzed and discussed. NPOs/NGOs operate under specific ethical guidelines in order to ensure accountability to the public and their many stakeholders. This course will focus on ethical behavior within organizations and explore instances of when prominent NGO leaders and organizations have been situated to face ethical dilemmas. The course will cover a wide scope of management models, techniques, and organizational values and goals. It will also review the impact that various leadership styles have had on organizations through the study of case studies and what has amounted to optimal leadership effectiveness. In addition to learning strategies to lead high performance organizations ethically. This course will combine theory, practical applications, and technical skills that will strengthen their ability to be strong leaders. Core course for the MA in NGO Management.

Quickly accelerating changes in the ways we get our news are compelling newsmakers and journalists alike to rethink their craft, and their relationships with their audiences, with repercussions for policy, politics and public discourse. This course will examine how innovations – like social networking, mobile platforms, behavioral targeting, etc --are providing journalists and political leaders with new ways to interact with citizens. It will look at how the rapid migration of consumers to the web is leading news organizations of all types to rethink how they organize, pay for and think about themselves. Students in this course will use real time news developments in the nation’s capital as a laboratory for observing the evolving ways news sources and reporters and the public interact. Questions to be considered include whether this digitized and networked environment has implications for the pace and character of changes in public policy. The course will invite practitioners in journalism and politics who are dealing with these developments daily to share their sense of where all this is leading. This course counts towards the Political Communication Concentration.

Data analytics are an essential part of program and policy evaluation. Policymakers increasingly rely upon analytics when making critical policy decisions. In this course, students will conduct a variety of policy focused data analyses using R. Students will utilize a variety of descriptive and inferential data analysis techniques to inform the design and execution of a policy. Students will utilize data-driven analysis to produce policy memoranda in a variety of domains relevant to today’s practitioners. A good understanding of basic economics and statistics, and an understanding of American government institutions and programs, will be necessary for a student to participate effectively in the class discussions and complete the assignments. Please contact the instructor with any questions.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>Prerequisite: 470.681 Statistics and Political Analysis<o:p></o:p></span></p>

This course explores technological and data-driven solutions for policy challenges. This includes developments within government, such as the new types of leadership provided by Chief Innovation or Chief Data Officers, the trend toward digitalization of services, and the movement toward open data. It also covers innovation by citizens through the civictechnology movement. Civic tech initiatives have been used to extend and improve services, increase efficiency, design applications for citizen engagement, and improve communication across a variety of policy domains. The course also covers the concept of smart cities and how it can be understood as both new applications of technology (such as sensors and smart infrastructure), and the strategic use of data. For the course project, students will evaluate a policy initiative using city open data, policy research, an analysis of political culture within which the initiative would be implemented, and the technology that could be used for the initiative. Some familiarity with R programming language and theRStudio environment is helpful. Prerequisite (one of the following): 470.768 Programming and Data Management; or experience with statistical programming and instructor permission.

This course will provide an overview of current issues in the cyber realm, focusing on policy and conflict from a U.S. and international perspective. We will begin with an understanding of the power inherent in cyberspace and consider the policy issues facing the civilian, military, intelligence and private business sectors in dealing with offensive and defensive cyber activity. Through the use of case studies, we will examine previous and ongoing cyber conflicts to understand their impacts on international relations. We will analyze the roles of several different types of cyber actors including state actors, non-state actors such as criminal and terror groups and private sector/business responses. This course will also examine the issue of cyber deterrence, and the unique aspects of offensive and defensive cyber activities by all cyber actors. A technical background is not required and basic aspects of cyber operations will be discussed and demonstrated as part of the introductory class sessions.

This course introduces current theories and controversies concerning political campaigns and elections in the United States. We take advantage of the fact that the class meets during the "invisible primary" of the 2016 presidential campaign, and students are expected to follow journalistic accounts closely. The course is split into two major parts. First, we consider the style and structure of American campaigns. For example, we ask how campaigns have changed in the last fifty years, especially concerning the role of parties, the presence of incumbency advantage, and the role of money. In addition, we consider why candidates decide to run, how they position themselves on important issues, and how they design their campaign messages. We also cover the importance of campaign polling, and the tricky task of forecasting election outcomes. Second, we explore the impact of campaigns on voters. For example, we ask whether campaigns ever convince voters to change their opinion, or whether demographic and socioeconomic factors explain most political behavior. The goal of the course is to review the importance of elections in American politics, and to provide the tools to make normative judgments about the health of American democracy.

Many government agencies engage in data mining to detect unforeseen patterns and advanced analytics (such as classification techniques) to predict future outcomes. In this course, students will utilize IBM SPSS Modeler to investigate patterns and derive predictions in policy areas such as fraud, healthcare, fundraising, human resource and others. In addition, students will build segmentation models using clustering techniques in an applied manner. Integration with other statistical tools and visualization options will also be discussed.Prerequisite: 470.681 Probability and Statistics; Recommended: 470.709 Quantitative Methods

Since World War II, American trade policy has been implemented through agreements with a growing array of foreign governments to encourage global economic integration by lowering barriers to international trade. The course will begin with a look at the foundation of this approach to trade policy at the end of World War II and the relationship the Roosevelt and Truman administrations saw between integration and security policy. It will then introduce students to the American trade regime of the early 21st century and the WTO, and examine the ways the U.S. governments has adapted this regime to regional challenges arising from relationships with Japan, China, and the Muslim world, and to policy issues, like resource dependence, sanctions and export controls. The course will have a midterm exam on America’s trade regime and the concepts that have shaped it, and a final paper, in which students will examine an issue of their choice in depth. (Recommended elective for MA in Public Management)

The course examines how terrorist groups finance their operations. It also explores current policy approaches to curb financial support to terrorists through the application of U.S. and international sanctions, in particular how multilateral fora, such as the United Nations and the Financial Action Task Force, disrupt and deter terrorist financing. At the completion of this course, students will have a better understanding of the key tools, including law enforcement, diplomacy, and intelligence, that are used to counter terrorists’ financial networks and activities. Through this course, students will develop proficiency in a series of analytic methods used to study terrorist financing and counter financing. Students will use structured analytic tools such as weighted ranking methods, scenario trees, causal flow diagramming, hypothesis testing, and utility analysis, as well as game theory and logic to form analytic judgments. Prior coursework or professional experience in intelligence, (counter) terrorism, or finance recommended.

This course will provide the analytical and contextual skills required to understand the current political and security situation of Iran. After laying out the context of the Iranian Revolution through a brief examination of the Pahlavi years, the course then weaves together Iran’s political, military, diplomatic, social, economic development during the turbulent years between Iran’s 1978-1979 revolution and the 2015 nuclear agreement—covering a time period of roughly 1941 to the present day. This course covers three main inter-related topics: the history and development of the modern Iranian state; the interaction between state and society in modern Iran; and Iran’s diplomatic history in the 20th and 21st centuries. The course concludes with a discussion of Iran’s present-day foreign, security, and defense structures and processes.

This course examines the “fusion” of information gathering and sharing between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the 79 fusion centers in a Post-9/11 World. We will address federal, state, and international law enforcement jurisdictional issues, the balancing of privacy/civil liberties with information collection/dissemination, and overall assistance to state/local authorities during critical incidents. Students will address broad public policy and perception implications inherent in law enforcement activities. Students will also analyze and discuss case studies such as the Las Vegas Concert, the Orlando Night Club, and the San Bernardino shootings to illustrate the need for timely fusion of information between federal and state law enforcement. The readings and videos will include a variety of diverse and opposing viewpoints relative to law enforcement with practicums and simulations to allow debate in “real-world” situations. An important objective is to determine ways to improve upon the current law enforcement landscape and generate possible solutions to ensure seamless and timely information sharing while safeguarding individual rights.

You can see yourself now – taking the oath of office, giving speeches, and making critical decisions impacting thousands or millions of people. But how do you get there? This class provides a practical guide for students who are interested in exploring a run for elected office. Students will learn how to assess if and when they are ready to run, which office to run for, and most importantly, develop the critical skills needed as a candidate to wage and win a contested campaign. These skills include writing a campaign plan and budget, hiring staff and consultants, learning how to fundraise, and working with the media. This class dispels the myth that only those independently wealthy can serve in office by giving students a real understanding of what it takes to run and win.

This course examines U.S. policy responses to the changing political and security landscape of the Middle East. Bringing together historical events, primary sources and secondary literature and contextual analysis, this course provides the analytical skills required to develop a sophisticated understanding of the current political and security situation in the Middle East. Students will engage key topics in modern Middle Eastern politics and security, including the origins of Islam, Arab nationalism and its rise to prominence, the Arab-Israeli and Palestinian-Israeli conflicts, the internal/external struggles against Western imperialism, the competition among Arab states for regional dominance, the Cold War the Middle East, America’s relations with Iran and Iraq, the oil economy of the Gulf, the challenge minorities pose to the region, the rise of Islamic radicalism, the Arab Spring, and the rise and fall of the Islamic State.

This course will provide an overview on project management as it pertains to nonprofit work. The course will teach students how to manage the five aspects of project management: project initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and evaluation, and closure. Students will learn the full project cycle from start to finish, drawing on actual examples of projects funded by a diverse range of donors, public and private organizations, and foundations. The course will also utilize templates relevant to project management for students to use as a resource in the field. The class will touch on issues relevant to project management such as project scope, objectives, stakeholders, planning, financial tracking, grants compliance, and closing. Elective course towards the Project Management, Evaluation and Leadership track for the Masters in NGO Management.

This course examines the phenomenon of modern warfare through both a theoretical and historical lens. It will provide insight into the definitions, origins, objectives, strategies, and tactics of modern conflict. Throughout the course you will analyze recent and ongoing conventional, irregular, and hybrid wars and understand what caused them, how they were conducted, and why they ended the way they did. Through a combination of lecture and online discussion, students will analyze these conflicts from a variety of perspectives to include state security and military forces, insurgents, criminals, and terrorists.

Analytics inform the decision-making process, strategizing, and forecasting of modern American campaigns. This course focuses on the role that analytics play in campaigns and elections in America. Campaign strategists, policy analysts, and social scientists leverage data from voter rolls, consumption and public opinion polls to make better choices. This course surveys the theoretical and empirical literature in American electoral politics to examine how campaigns and political organizations are using field experiments, microtargeting, and public opinion polling to tackle the challenges of getting out the vote and increasing registration and voting rates. Other topics covered include voting behavior, public opinion, partisanship, and campaign finance. Students will gain a rich understanding of how analytics has become a key component of the electoral process. Students will also gain experience analyzing data through simulations and data analysis exercises. Prerequisites: 470.681 Probability and Statistics

This course examines the factors that promote stability and change in American politics. Broad in historical scope, this course considers the development of the American state and its institutions as well as the continuities and complexities of American political culture by analyzing key moments of institution-building and policy change from the American Founding to the present. Key questions include: What explains the character of the American state? What are the consequences of the American state and its policies? Is America “exceptional” in these and other regards? What roles and functions do political institutions perform? What roles do culture, ideas, and rhetoric play in social, political, and economic life? How have these various roles and functions changed over time?

This course provides students with a strong foundation in database architecture and database management systems. Students will evaluate the principles and methodologies of database design and techniques for database application development. Students will also examine the current trends in modern database technologies such as Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS), NoSQL Databases Cloud Databases, and Graph Databases.Prerequisite: none

This course is a comprehensive examination of all aspects of designing questionnaires, conducting survey research, and analyzing survey data. The class will cover question construction, measurement, sampling, weighting, response quality, scale and index construction, IRBs, ethics, integrity and quality control, modes of data collection (including telephone, mail, face to face and focus groups), post collection processing and quantitative analysis of data (including chi-square and ANOVA), as well as report writing fundamentals. The class culminates by fielding a survey of student created questions and writing an executive summary of the survey with a paper discussing the research findings.Prerequisite: 470.681 Probability and Statistics

What makes some countries grow while others do not? What accounts for successful economic development versus stagnation? As these questions become ever more relevant in an increasingly globalized world, this course offers an introduction to the topic. The class will provide an overview of the main classic and current theories of economic development. It will then go on to explore specific current issues in development, including: development aid, role of international organizations, sustainable development, corruption, institution building and regime type. Specific case studies will be examined including China and India, the East Asian 'tigers', development failures in Africa and mixed outcomes in Latin America.

This course describes the principal challenges facing the making of American Defense Policy and explains previous and current policies declared and practiced to meet them. The course is designed to inform students on the most pressing defense issues confronting the United States, and to present them a framework for defense policy analysis. It emphasizes understanding those defense policies, analyzing them, and considering and weighing alternative approaches to achieving national objectives of deterrence and defense. The course fosters an understanding of the array of U.S. military capabilities providing plausible responses to the use of military power in support of U.S. foreign policy objectives. It examines those policies in the areas of nuclear, conventional, and irregular forces, and weighs alternatives in shaping the size and structure of those forces to meet national objectives.

This course introduces students to statistical programming. Computer programming languages are important tools for performing data analytics, statistics, machine learning, data visualization, and much more. By the end of this course, students will understand fundamental programming concepts that apply to all programming languages. These concepts include variables, functions, loops, data structures, and data types. The course will also cover the use of these tools to solve challenging data problems that students may encounter in their academic or professional careers. Note: The course overlaps a small amount with 470.681 Probability and Statistics, but this course focuses much more heavily on the fundamentals of programming. No prerequisite.

Data science is a methodology for extracting insights from data. This course is an introduction to the concepts and tools that are used in data science with an emphasis on their application to public policy questions. The course covers some advanced data mining and machine learning processes including classification and decision trees, random forests, cluster analysis, and outlier detection, while also providing you with training in the basics of data management and data exploration. All of the work in the course will be conducted to prepare you to proficiently conduct predictive analytics in a real-world setting. Some familiarity with R programming language and the RStudio environment is necessary. Prerequisite: 470.681 Probability and Statistics

This course will introduce students to today’s most pressing public policy issues, with an emphasis on writing to achieve impact. Public policy professionals must be familiar with a variety of key issues and be able to effectively make a case for a position. This course will examine such topic areas as health care, energy/environment, fiscal policy, international trade, and education and identify core issues and the politics that characterize each of these policy areas. As part of our study, students will learn the art of writing policy memos, issue briefs, op-eds and speeches. When you complete the course successfully, you will be able to demonstrate a basic understanding of five public policy issues through various forms of writing. You will be able to effectively and succinctly write policy memos, issue briefs, op-eds, blogs and speeches, addressing a specified audience, clearly identifying the problem, and making a case for a position or solution.

<p>This course will address the practical applications of artificial intelligence particularly in the realms of policy and governance. AI and data science are transformational technologies that hold the promise of improving lives and society at large. While excitement about AI and its applications is growing, its adoption is anything but straightforward. The successful application of AI to lower risk, better understand customers and automate decision making requires a deep knowledge of the right use cases where AI can lead to breakthrough innovations. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p>This course will provide students with the opportunity to investigate multiple AI use cases and evaluate their merit. In addition, students will select a specific use case, develop reference architecture and determine an appropriate implementation strategy. The course will culminate in the development and delivery of a lab-to-market strategy for their selected use case.No prerequisite. <o:p></o:p></span></p>

This course examines the nexus of energy, natural resources, and the environment with conflict, war, terrorism, crime, development, diplomacy, politics, and technology. Students critically examine the ways that increased competition for environmental and energy resources, strained resources, and changing conditions can threaten national security. The course also examines how such threats may be mitigated.(Core course for the MA in Global Security Studies)

470.774 Nonprofit Governance & Executive Leadership: Students will advance their understanding of self-governing nonprofit organizations by focusing on nonprofit boards' expectations, challenges, and opportunities and their executive leadership. This course covers the primary responsibilities of nonprofit boards according to law, custom, and best practices, and it includes ethical concepts, public attitudes, and contemporary legislative and regulatory issues. The course explores theories of effective governance and executive leadership. It examines how ethical considerations relate to perceptions of excellence and shape how staff and volunteer leaders manage people and money. In the discussions, there will be opportunities to explore the roles of boards in the context of the nonprofit environment. This is a core course for the MA in Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Management and Certificate in Nonprofit Management.

"Warfare" today is often ambiguous, constant, and non-violent: a combination of low intensity conflict and struggles over information via cyberspace, especially over "narratives" that sway public opinion. Warfare has always included these elements, but our adversaries today fight and stay in this early stage of cyberspace operations, information operations, and limited or no kinetic conflict, careful never to escalate to state-on-state violence. This course will examine how "non-kinetic" warfare (information operations, cyberspace operations, non-violent resistance) takes place today. Students will learn how the control and manipulation of information shapes national security and creates new political realities. Focus will be on Russian hybrid warfare and "information confrontation," Chinese weaponization of business and cyberspace and "coercive gradualism," and terrorist's use of the internet.

Nationalism and democracy have been two of the most significant forces shaping the contemporary world. The sense of nationality has provided peoples with a strong sense of shared belonging based around the ideas of a common language, land, and heritage. It has sometimes fuelled the demand for collective freedom and democratic self-determination. At the same time it has been a volatile force generating conflicts within and between nations across the globe. In Europe, the effort at forging a common European identity must confront the challenge of resurgent nationalism in traditional countries like Britain, France, and Austria. Meanwhile traditional states like Britain and Spain must themselves confront secessionist nationalism in Scotland, Catalonia, and elsewhere. The modern Middle East has been shaped in part by the conflicting goals of two major nationalist movements - Arab nationalism and Zionism. In Asia, nationalism is emerging as a dominant theme as countries like China and India rise to political and military power. In spite of economic globalization and the development of international laws and institutions, it is pivotal to understand nationalism if we are to understand world politics today.

This course explores the phenomenon of terrorism and its nexus with technology. Beginning with an emphasis on terrorist group factors most likely to influence terrorists' perceptions and attitudes towards extant and emerging technologies, the course subsequently investigates cases of terrorist use, and noteworthy non-use, of various technologies. Students also receive a broad understanding of the evolution of technology with an emphasis on current and imminent technologies of acute security concern, including weapons of mass destruction, cyber, robotics, and nanotechnologies. The course then addresses counterterrorism technologies and potential terrorist response actions for overcoming such security efforts. Students operationalize all of these elements in the final phases of the course when engaging in Red Team exercises designed to demonstrate which types of terrorists are most likely to pursue certain types of technologies, the role of tacit versus explicit knowledge, likelihood of successful adoption, targeting options, and potential counterterrorism measures. Please note that students do not need to possess a technical background or prior knowledge of terrorism to succeed in this course.

This course will introduce computational modeling and demonstrate how it is used in the policy and national security realms. Specifically, the course will focus on agent-based modeling, which is a commonly-used approach to build computer models to better understand proposed policies and political behavior. Agent-based models consist of a number of diverse "agents,'’ which can be individuals, groups, firms, states, etc. These agents behave according to behavioral rules determined by the researcher. The interactions with each other and their environment at the micro-level can produce emergent patterns at the macro-level. These models have been used to understand a diverse range of policy issues including voting behavior, international conflict, segregation, health policy, economic markets, ethnic conflict, and a variety of other policy issues. The course will consist of two parts: First, we will examine the theoretical perspective of computational modeling. Second, you will be introduced to a software platform that is commonly used to develop computational, and, in particular agent-based modeling. No prerequisite

This course provides insights into how to utilize shared cloud computing resources through a service provider. These resources can be storage space, software as a service, or compute servers. This is a hands-on course in which students will access a variety of cloud services and work with different cloud providers such as Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon. Students will set up virtual servers, work with cloud file storage, learn about a variety of cloud collaboration options, and much more. This practical course will help students make the transition to working in the cloud from any device, anywhere, anytime. All areas of the public sector, such as education, healthcare and law enforcement, increasingly use cloud computing both to deliver information to clients and share information within and across agencies. No prerequisite

Students gain the foundational knowledge behind WMD (both weapons of mass destruction and weapons of mass disruption) and about how these weapons threaten U.S. homeland security. Weapons of mass destruction traditionally include nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, while weapons of mass disruption include radiological weapons, such as "dirty bombs." In addition, the course covers the technology behind three WMD delivery vehicles: ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicles. In assessing each WMD threat, the course first examines the science and technology for each type of weapon and then applies this theory to real world threats emanating from state and non-state actors. Students apply this knowledge by engaging in red team exercises to identify options for preventing and reducing vulnerabilities from WMD. Please note that students do not have to have prior technical knowledge about WMD issues to succeed in this course.

Since 1945, eight states have tested nuclear weapons, and perhaps two dozen others have started -- and stopped nuclear weapons programs. This course considers why some countries pursue nuclear weapons and why others forgo them, an issue that bedevils both policymakers, who concerned about the spread of weapons of mass destruction, and political scientists, who attempt to explain and predict it. The class will delve into past and present examples, discussing and evaluating theories of why states pursue such weapons, the technologies that make it possible, and the policy tools available to prevent it. We will also draw on the parallel efforts to control chemical weapons, biological weapons, and ballistic missiles.

The course explores issues of financial management in state and local government, mostly in the United States. Students will study the political economics of property, sales, and income taxation. Non-tax revenue sources such as lotteries and user fees will also be explored. Other financial management strategies and techniques will be assessed as well, and they may include intergovernmental grants, project-based finance, capital project finance, municipal debt valuation, and local economic development. The course is designed for students who desire a practical overview of real-world challenges at the state and local level.

This course provides an overview on the tools, resources, and training needed to measure the impact of an organization’s programs and projects. M&E plans help nonprofits to determine if they are meeting their intended results, goals and objectives towards their overall mission. Designing a strong M&E system is critical to identifying realistic indicators, tracking an organization’s measurable results; providing programmatic progress; providing accountability to donors; and determining opportunities for growth. The intended results of a strong M&E plan are to enable nonprofits to demonstrate that they are achieving their missions—thus increasing their credibility among beneficiaries and strengthening their appeal to donors. This course will teach students how to develop a strong M&E plan that meets donor, organizational, and/or programmatic needs. Based on M&E results, students will learn how to improve program implementation and achieve greater outcomes. Students will learn to design an M&E plan and the ability to effectively communicate programmatic data to their stakeholders.

Since the end of the Cold War the world has seen a scourge of civil conflicts emerging across the globe, such as in Bosnia, Rwanda, Darfur, DRC, South Sudan, and now Syria, global conflicts have put enormous pressure on intergovernmental bodies and governments. Whether too slow to respond, afflicted by political restraints or hindered by bureaucracy, the restrictions on international agencies and governments have often placed NGOs at the fore of response. Partnering with both national governments, military, and international agencies, NGOs have gained recognition for their role in diplomacy, conflict resolution, and peacebuilding. NGOs have gained a prominent role at helping to defuse, mitigate, and prevent conflicts strengthening their influence and recognition. This course will provide an overview on the role that international organizations and civil society (including community based organizations) can have in conflict or post-conflict torn countries. Students will learn how to build strategic partnerships when working with local organizations and NGOs. Elective course for the Certificate in Nonprofit Management.

The widespread diagnosis of American politics is that it is “broken.” But what is wrong with American politics? And what, if anything, can be done to fix it? This course will examine the current problems in American politics from a historical, theoretical, and comparative perspective, and explore possible reforms that might make American politics function better.

This course exams the interpretation of constitutional powers and rights under conditions of heightened national security. We will consider the Supreme Court's role in constitutional interpretation, and the balance of power among the three branches. The course will also examine the tension between security and liberty during a time of war. Topics covered during this semester will include military tribunals, unitary theory of the executive, congressional oversight, war-making power, intelligence authorities, and treatment of detainees.

The primary phase of the 2024 presidential will be taking place this spring during our class. We will watch, analyze and discuss in real time the campaign strategies of the diverse field of candidates on the Republican side in the larger context of American electoral politics as well as the Administration and Democratic Party’s responses. The class will be inviting presidential candidates, their senior staffers, and journalists covering the 2024 presidential race and others political analysts to deepen and broaden students' engagement with course material.

From the perspective of a nonprofit leader, this course provides a solid foundation in understanding key financial tools such as audits, financial statements, budgets and tax documents. Using these tools, students will analyze and assess the financial transparency, accountability, and health of various national and international organizations, determine the financial strengths and weaknesses within those organizations, learn how to use that information in the decision-making process, and finally, practice making informed recommendations to organizational leadership. This course is not designed to make students financial experts or practitioners. Instead, it is designed to enlighten students on key financial management concepts that improve their ability to be informed leaders, participants, and donors in the nonprofit sector. Students will also explore the responsibilities and consequences of international nonprofits engaging in activities in the US, as well as implications for US nonprofits operating abroad. This is an elective course for the Certificate in Nonprofit Management.

<p>State politics and policymaking offer a fascinating contrast to the gridlock in Washington that gets all the media attention. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p>This is a particularly timely issue to study as most states gear up for the new legislative session. How are Biden’s policies affecting current debates in statehouses? What impact are the 2020 elections having on policymaking at the state level? How has the Trump presidency affected states? We will explore these questions and more in this class. <o:p></o:p></span></p>

Thesis and Applications of Research is the final course for the MA in Government program. In this course, you’ll complete the research and writing for either your master’s thesis or applications of research paper, which are the culminating projects for the program. This course will cover topics such as how to locate strong sources, write an effective introduction, present evidence, and communicate findings to broad audiences. Throughout the course, you’ll share sections of your work with classmates and provide feedback to others on their work-in-progress.Prerequisites: All other core requirements for the MA in Government program. Thesis students:· 470.602 Government and Politics· 470.850 Research and Thesis I· 470.852 Research and Thesis II or 470.854 Fundamentals of Quantitative Methods or 470.681 Probability and StatisticsApplications of Research Students:· 470.602 Government and Politics· 470.850 Research and Thesis I· Two writing-intensive electives from the approved list

Prerequisite(s): Pre-requisite to RT III (470.800) only after successful completion (B) of Research and Thesis I: MA in Government (470.850) and Research and Thesis II: MA in Government (470.852). Pre-requisites: AS.470.852 AND AS.470.850

The field of security studies, while a relatively recent development as its own subfield, is quite broad, continues to evolve, and draws on multiple disciplines. This course will first introduce students to some theories used in critical approaches to security such as Critical Theory, securitization, interpretive relationalism, poststructuralism, feminist and gender approaches, and postcolonialism. The course will then employ these different lenses to look at central security challenges facing multiple levels of analysis (individual, local, state, regional, international, global). Sample security challenges include identity and insecurity (to include issues of gender, race, and nationality), terrorism and political violence, border security, human trafficking, climate change and the environment, and food security. A key focus of the course is challenging ourselves to not take dominant paradigms and assumptions for granted, and deliberately connect theory with practice, with an overarching goal of minimizing insecurity in academic and practitioner environments.

Independent study involves a student working one-on-one with a faculty member. The project must follow a plan of study and end with a final paper. It must not duplicate any course being offered in the Center for Advanced Governmental Studies. Students interested in an independent study should first consult a faculty member to discuss the project and make sure they are willing to participate should an independent study be approved. Proposals for an independent study should be directed to the student’s program director at least 30 days before the start of the semester. Proposals must provide details of the project, the name of the instructor, and a plan of study. The program director has sole discretion to approve or disapprove the proposal.

Washington, D.C. is the laboratory for anyone studying American government and politics or analyzing the policy making process here. DC Lab: Politics, Policy, and Analytics will give any graduate student in one of the programs of the JHU Center for Advanced Governmental Studies the opportunity to bring theory and practice together through an intensive week of lectures, seminars, and site visits in the nation’s capital. Sessions will include guest speakers from JHU faculty, think tank scholars, and agency officials. The goal is to experience Hopkins in Washington and assess what is observed to better inform each student’s studies of the political process. No prerequisite

(Core course for the MA in Government)The purpose of this core course in the Government Program is for students to refine their thesis topic, develop their research design and complete a working outline for their thesis. Students will begin to research and write their thesis during this class in earnest. The course format is working sessions focused on specific research-oriented tasks. Emphasis will be placed on completing the literature review and methodology sections of the thesis. Students will also complete by semester end a preliminary chapter of their thesis papers and work with the professor to develop a plan for the other two papers that will comprise the portfolio thesis.

This course is the first in the Research Study sequence for the Global Security Studies program. The goals of this course are: 1) to help students be producers of scholarly knowledge, 2) to prepare students for later parts of the research study process, and 3) to prepare students to understand and critique others’ uses of various methods. The first part of the course will address fundamental issues, such as measurement, causation, and inference. The second part of the course will address research design, data collection, and analysis, focusing on specific methodological tools including case study analysis, interviews, content analysis, participant observation, survey research, etc.

Core course for the MA in Government. Please note that 470.854 Fundamentals of Quantitative Methods or 470.681 Probability and Statistics may be substituted for this requirement with permission from the instructor. This directed research course is designed to help students complete the second paper of their thesis portfolio. Students will work closely with the instructor to revise a current paper, turning it into a research paper that 1) is tightly linked to the theme of the student's first paper and overall thesis portfolio; and 2) meets research and writing standards for being included in the thesis portfolio. Class meetings are designed to give guidance on the methods of research and on the clarity and focus of the research question the student is pursuing. Prerequisite: Students must have passed Research and Thesis I.

Historians reclaim, recover, and revise what we know about the past. They enter a dialog with the dead to make sense of our world for the living, knowing full well that their hard-earned results may be overturned with new data, analysis, or insights. Yet questionable or flawed “history” is routinely to justify a range of experiences, policies, and events. In this course, we instill the key skills and analytical framework in which historians use to uncover and recreate the past, taking the journey from question, to research (onsite and online), to argument and revision (and revisionism). The importance of argument, objectivity, personal and temporal bias, evidence, narrative and cultural context are examined in detail, along with case studies of history being used, misused, and abused by historians and other actors.

The main purpose of this class is to train students to be informed consumers of quantitative studies, in addition to teaching the tools of basic statistical work. The emphasis in this class is on application and understanding of existing results, rather than on theory or derivations. The course material will cover basic descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, and data collection. The key learning objective is for students to finish the class with a better understanding of the statistical and econometric results they may encounter, both in papers they read in other classes, as well as in the course of their work. The second key objective is for students to have the skills to employ basic quantitative tools in their own work in the fields of public policy and global security studies. As much as possible, assignments and readings used in class will be drawn from the public policy and security fields. There is no mathematical or statistical pre-requisite for the class. (Core course for the MA in Public Management and the MA in Global Security Studies.)

(Core course for the MA in Global Security Studies). This course is designed for students who have already passed 470.851 Introduction to Qualitative Methods in Social Science and either 470.854 Fundamentals of Quantitative Methods or 470.853 Historical Methods (or 470.709 Quantitative Methods with permission from program director). In this class, students will begin and complete a substantial piece of original research explicitly drawing on research methods they learned in the previous two classes. The research study is expected to be methodologically sound and to make a useful contribution to the issue under study. Class meetings are designed to give guidance in the clarification of issues, collection of data, assembly of various parts, and writing. The class will also prepare students for final defense. Graduation is subject to approval of the research study by the committee. Students should come into the class prepared with a detailed research question. Students may enroll in this course only in their last semester of the MA program.

This is a non-credit course required for students in the MA in Global Security Studies program who have completed all of their course work and have taken 470.855 Research Study Seminar but who are still working on their research study. There is a fee associated with this course.

This is the final required course in the MA in Public Management program, and students can only take the capstone course in their final semester and after having completed all the other core requirements (Students graduating in the summer semester must take the course in the preceding spring semester). In the semester prior to taking the capstone course and conducting the project, students identify a project topic. The adviser for the paper will be the faculty member teaching the course. To complete the course, students must write a 30- to 35-page capstone paper.

This is an ungraded, non-credit course for students finishing the Public Management, Data Analytics and Policy, or Nonprofit Management program. It is for students who have completed all of their program’s required coursework but have not passed their program’s capstone course. Students will work with a faculty member to complete their capstone project. Students may take this continuation course up to two times.

<p>This course is for students who are completing their M.S. in Data Analytics and Policy (formerly M.S. in Government Analytics). The course guides through the process of developing and executing an original data analysis project aimed at addressing an issue related to public policy, politics or governance. Students will formulate an empirical research question and answer that question using a quantitative analysis that makes an original, scholarly contribution. To complete the project, students will use the skills, tools and knowledge they have acquired throughout the program. Students should take this course in their final term (or penultimate term with permission from their advisor). </p><p>Prerequisites: All other core courses </p><li>For M.S. in Data Analytics Students: 470.681 Probability and Statistics, 470.768 Programming and Data Management, 470.709 Quantitative Methods, 470.673 Data Visualization</li><li>For M.S. in Government Analytics Students: 470.681 Probability and Statistics, 470.709 Quantitative Methods, 470.710 Advanced Quantitative Methods, advanced methods course from approved list (see program website) </li></ul>

In this cumulative course, students may select one of the following capstone options a) a research paper that is a deeper dive on some relevant aspect of non-governmental/nonprofit management; b) a project that will contribute to the sector in some capacity, such as a policy paper, or c) a volunteership or immersive experience working with a nonprofit organization (remote options as well). Identifying a specific area of interest will require some forethought and preparation in advance of the class. It is critical that the topic or issue is one that is of profound interest to the student, and/or builds on knowledge acquired throughout the degree. The capstone is not only meant to address an empirical question but nest it within the context of a broader conceptual framework or sector-relevant debate. All capstones must be relevant to the sector, build on present-day questions, issues, or challenges, and possess an “experiential” element. This could be in the form of original data collection, interviews, consultancy, or tackling a real-life problem in a nonprofit/non-governmental organization. The capstone must be presentable and culminate in a 30+ page paper at a graduate-level of writing. Students will dedicate the entire semester to the capstone.

Required for those who have completed all of their course work, including the Research and Thesis class, but are still working on their thesis. Details of this offering will be posted soon.