Courses
This course, which satisfies the gateway requirement for the major in International Studies, introduces students to the study of politics and political life in the world, with a particular focus on the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa. Throughout the course, we will analyze the sources of order and disorder in modern states, addressing a series of questions, such as: why did nation-states form? What makes a state a nation? Why are some states democracies while others are not? How do people organize to fight oppression? Why does conflict sometimes turn violent? What are the causes of ethnic war? Drawing on a mix of classic works and contemporary scholarship, we will discuss the answers that scholars have formulated to address these and other questions, paying special attention to research design and the quality of argumentation. This course also counts as a 100-level course in comparative politics required for political science majors.
Area: Social and Behavioral Sciences
Are you planning to do a research project for your independent study class, or preparing for a grant application, or working on a big research project for a research intensive class or graduation thesis, or just wishing to improve your research skills? If so, this course is for you! Through weekly two hour sessions over ten weeks, you will receive systematic training on major research tools, resources and techniques useful for any research project in international studies, political science, and other social science subjects. By the end of the course, you will be able to come up with a viable research topic, and complete a research statement that includes an abstract, problem statement and literature review based on in-depth research utilizing tools and techniques covered in the course. The skills you learn through the course will prepare you for any future research projects and advanced studies.
Over the past three decades, East Asia has been the most dynamic region in the world. East Asia has a remarkable record of high and sustained economic growth. From 1965 to 1990, the twenty-three economies of East Asia grew faster than all other regions of the world mostly thanks to the ‘miraculous growth’ of Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand; these eight countries, in fact, have grown roughly three times as fast as Latin America and South Asia, five times faster than Sub-Saharan Africa, and significantly outperformed the industrial economies and the oil-rich Middle East and North Africa regions. Poverty levels have plummeted and human-development indicators have improved across the region. The course is divided into three parts to allow students to develop expertise in one or more countries and/or policy arenas, while also cultivating a broad grasp of the region and the distinct challenges of “fast-paced, sustained economic growth.” Part I will introduce the subject, consider the origins of Asian economic development, and analyse the common economic variables behind the region’s success. It will look at the East Asian Crisis and will consider its lessons and assess whether or not East Asian countries have learned them. While the course will show that there are many common ingredients to the success of the region’s economies, it will also show that each country is different, and that differences could be, at times, quite stark. Hence, Part II will focus on the development experiences of individual countries, with a special emphasis on the ASEAN economies, NIEs, Japan and China. Finally, Part III will consider various topics of special interest to Asia, including trends toward greater regional economic cooperation, both in the real and financial/monetary sectors, and issues related to poverty, migration, and inclusiveness in the region.
Area: Social and Behavioral Sciences
This class provides an introduction to contemporary African politics. Africa is diverse, and its political landscape is rapidly changing. Dramatic events that have occurred in just over half a century in Africa, including but not limited to decolonization, the end of the Cold War, rapid democratization, urbanization, the youth bulge, conflicts, and most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic, etc. has significantly shaped the nature of state and society with implications for political outcomes in present-day Africa. This course unfolds in four parts. In part one, we examine Africa's recent political history focusing on how pre-colonial politics, slave trade, colonialism, and decolonization politics impact modern African states. Part two then examines the social forces that shape contemporary politics across the continent. These include ethnic groups, religion, gender, and civil society. With an understanding of these social forces, we then move on to part three, which will explore dynamics and structures that mediates these social forces, including democracy, development, social movements, and international relations. The final part examines Africa's critical issues and opportunities, including conflict, the youth bulge, regionalism/AfCFTA, climate change, gender (in)equality and women's empowerment, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Area: Social and Behavioral Sciences
International migration has emerged as one of most politically salient and contentious issues in the politics of advanced democracies. However, while the economic, political, and social impact of large immigrant inflows has prompted much debate and analysis in developed countries, the effects of emigration and diasporas on the source country are poorly understood. This seminar examines the economic and political challenges and opportunities of international migration and diasporas on countries of origin and policy options to address them.The seminar will examine a range of issues. Is the phenomenon of greater import in the current (and future) context than it has historically been and if so, why? How do selection characteristics of international migrants and reasons for leaving affect the country of origin? Why do diasporas differ in the forms of engagement with the country of origin? What explains the massive increases in financial remittances sent by immigrants to their countries of origin and what are their effects? The seminar will also examine non-pecuniary or “social” remittances, which reshape individual preferences and social norms and thereby influence economic, political, and social change. What are the human capital effects of international migration, ranging from the “brain-drain” of limited human capital to “brain-gain” effects arising from diasporic networks? How does the “long-distance” nationalism of diasporas that support more polarizing political parties and groups engaged in conflict affect international security? Finally, we will examine policies in both receiving and sending countries and how they affect outcomes in their countries as well as of migrants themselves. Are international agreements on migration feasible or will rising nationalism ensure that unilateral policies and bilateral arrangements prevail?
Area: Social and Behavioral Sciences
Writing Intensive
We are on the cusp of a new era of contention in global politics. For decades, politicians and experts assumed that global information networks like the Internet had an inherently liberal bias, and would weaken autocratic regimes like China and Russia. Now, we are discovering that authoritarian countries can use technology too. The result is increased clashes over information technology between democratic countries and non-democratic countries, and among democratic countries too. All of them find themselves sharing the same global networks, and fighting over how these networks ought to work. In this course, we'll debate the conflict between different informational world orders promoted by the US, Europe and China. We will examine when information technology helps strengthen democracy, and when it benefits autocracies instead. We'll explore how information markets work, and work through the logic of political fights over artificial intelligence and surveillance.
Area: Social and Behavioral Sciences
Global environmental deterioration is a major threat to human wellbeing. How do governments cooperate to address international environmental problems? Why is the global environmental regime structured as it is? Can international agreements and organizations solve global environmental problems? These are the primary questions addressed in this seminar. Among other topics, we cover research on global climate cooperation, the relationship between trade liberalization and the environment, North South negotiations on environmental agreements, environmental activism, and the problem of energy poverty in non-OECD countries.The seminar also provides students with an opportunity to conduct original research. In addition to weekly readings and discussion, the students write a final paper for the class based on empirical research on global environmental governance. Students also participate in a simulation of global climate negotiations under the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
Area: Social and Behavioral Sciences
Writing Intensive
India is the world’s largest democracy and its second most populous country. This course introduces core issues in the study of modern Indian politics. The class is organized around the following topics: we trace India's journey to Independence; the consolidation of democracy in the early decades; the relationship between the state and the economy; the state’s institutional architecture; how political parties and electoral campaigns operate; the threats posed by corruption, criminality and dynastic politics; the role of caste and religion in shaping politics; the political and economic consequences of economic liberalization; elections; and the recent rise of right-wing hindutva in the country. The focus is on building knowledge and understanding of the Indian case. But we will also consider to what extent India’s experience is reflective of more general theories of politics, and how they might change because of what India can teach us. Class sessions will be interactive, with plenty of opportunity for group discussion. The reading list is diverse and draws from political science, sociology, history, and anthropology.
Area: Social and Behavioral Sciences
Writing Intensive
Since its independence, India has been the world’s second largest country and largest democracy, but a poor country as well. However, as India celebrates its 75th anniversary of independence, its population is projected to surpass China as the world’s most populous country during 2023, with a sixth of the world’s population. And while India is likely to emerge as the third largest economy by the end of this decade, riding on the back of nearly four decades of middling-to-strong economic growth, its democracy is increasingly stressed. But India faces many challenges. While some are chronic, others are growing. Many of these – political, economic and institutional – are internal and have been shaped by India’s multiple social cleavages, inequalities and policy choices. Others are more external, stemming from the geopolitics of its neighborhood or the long-term challenges of climate change. The devastation wrought by COVID has further exacerbated some of these challenges. The seminar will examine the principal challenges facing India—political and institutional; democracy and nationalism; economic growth; poverty and inequality; urbanization; natural resources and climate change; and geopolitical—and policy options to address them.
Area: Social and Behavioral Sciences
Writing Intensive
This course examines modern warfare from the Second World War to the present. It takes a broad historical perspective. Strategic decision-making, technological change, experiences of the soldier, different concepts of warfare, and the effect of war on societies and the effect of societies upon war will be examined. Students will be introduced to critical texts and key primary source documents. The course will start with the Second World War. It will then go on to the nuclear revolution, the Korean War, and the early Cold War. From there, the subject matter will turn to examine people’s war, focusing on Mao and the Chinese Civil War and then Vietnam. Next, the Arab-Israeli conflicts will be discussed before moving on to the strategic environment of the post-Cold War world and the long war against “terrorism” in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere. Finally, the course will look at recent technological change, clashes, and new players. Throughout, special attention will be paid to non-Western views and experience of war. The five main questions of the class will be: • How has the nature of warfare changed between 1939 and today? What is the nature of war today? What kind of war is possible today?• How has technology changed warfare?• What are the experiences of people, both soldiers and civilians, in war?• How has warfare affected societies and culture? How have societies and culture affected war?• How has warfare affected domestic and international political change?
Area: Social and Behavioral Sciences
East Asia’s “miracle growth” has not gone hand in hand with a decisive move toward democracy. The course explores the reasons why democratization proceeds slowly in East Asia, and seems to be essentially decoupled from the region’s fast-paced economic growth. The course is divided into three parts. Part I introduces the specifics of East Asia’s economic development strategies as well as key concepts of democracy, authoritarianism and military rule and the tensions between these theories and the East Asian experience. Part II will focus on the economic and political development experiences of Korea, Indonesia and Myanmar in light of what discussed in Part I. Finally, Part III presents lessons emerging from the comparison of Korea’s, Indonesia’s and Myanmar’s economic and political developmental trajectories.
Area: Humanities
Enrollment is at the discretion of the instructor and space in the course is limited. To apply, email a one-page resume, one-page personal statement on why you want to take the class including how it contributes to your professional interests, and a writing sample of less than ten pages to KissingerCenter@jhu.edu by the end of the day on Sunday, November 6, 2022. This course is an initiative of the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at Johns Hopkins SAIS. It will expose exceptional undergraduate students to the study of American grand strategy and world order. The course will explore critical themes and issues in U.S. foreign policy today, from climate change to the challenge of an assertive China. It will also explore the way that historical knowledge can inform effective grand strategy. Students will have the opportunity to meet with current and former policymakers who have worked on these issues in real time. The course will meet 9 times at Homewood and 4 times at the SAIS campus in Washington, D.C.; transportation between Homewood campus and SAIS will be provided.
Area: Humanities, Social and Behavioral Sciences
At the heart of the study of politics is a question about who gets what and when. Consequently, inequality features as a central theme in the discipline. Scholars have studied how inequality shapes democratization, redistribution, voting behavior, and how the institutions of welfare and taxation in turn shape inequality. More recently, scholars have started to pay attention to how inequality across and within ethnicities, races, and gender may matter to political outcomes. The centrality of inequality is reflected in the significant increase in quantity and quality of research on this subject over the past two decades. This seminar is designed to provide you with a critical overview of the field, both theoretically and empirically. We will briefly review the normative foundations and conceptual complexities involved in the study of inequality. Measures of inequality vary in their analytical properties, and it is important to choose the right one. We will review the main issues when measuring inequality. We will then proceed thematically. We will examine the political, and institutional foundations of income inequality and also its effects on institutional development, political participation and voting choice. Next, we examine the individual-level determinants of economic and political preferences, and how inequality intersects with race and gender. We end with a discussion of the social effects of inequality and what constraints exist to addressing inequality.
Area: Social and Behavioral Sciences
Writing Intensive
This seminar is intended as a capstone intellectual experience for seniors and advanced juniors majoring in international studies. The course presumes some background in economics, comparative politics, and international relations. This course will hone your analytical and writing skills by exposing you to theoretically advanced forms of political economy argument in a “proposition-opposition” format. The seminar is organized around a series of thematic pairings, covering such political economy themes like free trade vs. protectionism, free market capitalism vs. socialism, democratic erosion vs. autocratic strength, hegemonic stability vs. US abdication of power, or whether the current populist wave has mainly economic or mostly cultural roots. Each segment will deal with a specific topic area. Our discussions will involve in-depth interrogations of the arguments of these ‘pro-con’ authors.
Area: Social and Behavioral Sciences
Writing Intensive
The world’s countries—low, middle and high-income alike—face numerous health challenges, many shaped by processes connected to globalization. We are presently amidst one of the greatest global health challenges of the past century—the COVID-19 pandemic. But there are others that persist, including combating the HIV/AIDS pandemic, addressing non-communicable diseases, expanding health coverage and ensuring effective global governance for health. This course will examine these and other issues with an emphasis on facilitating your understanding and critical analysis of central issues in global health policy, and examining the role you can play to address health conditions—particularly those that affect disadvantaged populations.
Area: Social and Behavioral Sciences
Writing Intensive
This course provides a basis for understanding the political, economic and security dimensions of Iran’s politics and the country’s role in World politics. It will discuss the Islamic Republic of Iran's complicated political system and its international politics. A significant and geostrategically situated country, Iran is where Islamic ideology first attained power in form a major social revolution. The unfolding of that revolution has shaped the Middle East, and has posed one of the most important challenges to American foreign policy. As a revolutionary Islamic State Iran experienced a unique path to development and state-building. This course will introduce the students to the main ideological currents and political trends in Iranian politics. It will discuss the structure of its theocracy, and the working of its politics and economy. The course will also examine Iran’s foreign policy posture, with focus on U.S.-Iran relations, quest for nuclear power, and Iran's regional policy.
Area: Social and Behavioral Sciences
For students undertaking internships that focus on international fields or topics. Students wishing to enroll in this course must consult with the International Studies Program before submitting an Independent Study Request in SIS.
Prerequisite(s): You must request Independent Academic Work using the Independent Academic Work form found in Student Self-Service: Registration, Online Forms.
For students undertaking research projects that focus on international fields or topics. Students wishing to enroll in this course must consult with the International Studies Program before submitting an Independent Study Request in SIS.
Prerequisite(s): You must request Independent Academic Work using the Independent Academic Work form found in Student Self-Service: Registration, Online Forms.
For students undertaking independent study projects that focus on international fields or topics. Students wishing to enroll in this course must consult with the International Studies Program before submitting an Independent Study Request in SIS.
Prerequisite(s): You must request Independent Academic Work using the Independent Academic Work form found in Student Self-Service: Registration, Online Forms.
Approval Required.
Prerequisite(s): You must request Independent Academic Work using the Independent Academic Work form found in Student Self-Service: Registration, Online Forms.