POLISCI 116/316 / IntPol 222 / HIS 105F
Global Futures: History, Statecraft, Systems
Professors: Stephen Kotkin and Condoleezza Rice
TAs: Norman Joshua, Jonathan Roll, Lucian Staiano-Daniels
Winter 2025
Where does the future come from? It comes from the past, of course – but how? What are the key drivers of continuity or change, and how can we trace those drivers going forward, too? What are the roles of contingency, chance, and choice, versus long-term underlying structure? How can people, from whatever walk of life, identify and utilize levers of power to try to shift the larger system? What is a system, and how do systems behave? To answer these questions and analyze how today’s world came into being and where it might be headed, this course explores geopolitics and geoeconomics, institutions and technologies, citizenship and leadership. We examine how our world works to understand the limits but also the possibilities of individual and collective agency, the phenomenon of perverse and unintended consequences, and ultimately, the nature of power. Our goal is to investigate not just how to conceive of a smart policy, but how its implementation might unfold. In sum, this course aims to combine strategic analysis and tactical agility.
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POLISCI [COURSE # TBD]
Comparative Development of Asia and Latin America
Instructor: Dian Zhong, PhD
Spring 2025
This course will explore the comparative development of Asia and Latin America, taking an especially close look at China and Brazil in an attempt to bring historical insights to counter present-day biases and avoid dichotomous labeling. Exploration of the many parallels and contrasts between the regions will prove fruitful to explore. Students will gain historical knowledge and comparative perspectives on emerging regions through focused readings, in-depth discussions, case studies, simulated policy debates, and collective production of country development briefs. This course will cultivate informed critical thinkers capable of analyzing and proposing solutions to real-world development challenges.
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POLISCI 210
The Revisionists: Chinese and Russian Politics and Foreign Policy
Professor Joseph Torigian
Spring 2025
Former Secretary of Defense James Mattis described China and Russia as "revisionist powers," signaling that, after years of focus on the Middle East and terrorism, great power politics once again sit at the center of U.S. foreign policy. But how have the political elite in these two countries thought about their security in the broadest sense? This course explores how leaders in Beijing and Moscow have historically sought to defend themselves against other competitors from within the regime, their own people, and other great powers. Drawing on international relations and comparative politics, the course applies political science theories to better understand how powerful actors in China and Russia behaved similarly or differently during crucial historical moments.
During this course, students will learn the promises and pitfalls of comparing two countries with strong similarities but also significant differences. Why did the two major revolutions of the twentieth century occur in China and Russia? How did Mao Zedong and Josef Stalin translate violence, cult of personality, and strategic maneuvering into political power? Why was it that they also presided over major famines? Why did China and Russia see such different outcomes to reforms in the 1980s? What kind of authoritarianism do they impose on their population today? How have Beijing and Russia dealt with their ethnic and religious minorities? Why do they diverge with regards to nuclear weapons postures? How do these countries turn ideology and religion into political instruments? What is the role of individual leaders? How did Washington come to label China and Russia “revisionists,” and should Washington worry about developing close bilateral relations between Beijing and Moscow?
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HISTORY 256B, POLISCI 246
Immigration and Citizenship: The American Experience
Instructor: Cody Nager, PhD
Autumn 2024
Who should reside within the United States? How should new arrivals be incorporated into American society and the body politic? Who should be excluded and why? These questions have been debated by American politicians and the public since the nation's founding. This course examines how Americans thought and fought about selecting which immigrants should join the nation and how United States immigration and citizenship policy developed from the colonial period through the present. We will consider how migration patterns, immigrant incorporation, and state and federal regulations were shaped as the United States' relationship with the broader world shifted, social norms changed, industrial capitalism developed, and government power expanded.
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