What are the causes of war between states? What conditions help make peace more likely? Is the international distribution of economic assets just? Why is it so difficult to increase the amount of cooperation between states? What role can non-states actors play in international politics? These are just some of the questions considered in this course.

How do we understand the fall of Apartheid in South Africa, the rise of Islamic Fundamentalism in Iran, the troubles of Russia's post-Communist regime, and China's attempt to blend communism with capitalism? This course provides students with the tools to understand these and other questions about how politics works around the globe. The study of comparative politics focuses on the basic foundations of political life and how these institutions differ in form and power around the world.

This course examines ancient Athenian political philosophy and applies the questions raised in those texts to contemporary political challenges. In light of the ideas, words, and deeds of thinkers from ancient Greece, students ask themselves: 'how shall we live, and what shall we do in our time?' Thinkers studied typically include Homer, Thucydides, Aristotle, and Plato. The course also explores Greek satire and tragedy.

Despite the centrality of human rights in multilateral institutions, many aspects of international human rights -- as defined by international law -- are controversial, and their implementation at global and domestic levels remains incomplete. This is a survey course on human rights that analyzes the gap between human rights in theory and human rights in practice. Students explore the following questions: What are global human rights? Can we identify patterns of human rights violations, particularly for marginalized groups?

What are the political and economic implications of natural resource endowments? Why is international cooperation on natural resource governance and, especially, climate change so difficult? This course addresses these and other pressing questions through a broad overview of the politics of natural resources. The course begins by examining how oil and other minerals influence political and economic development, and why mineral rich countries appear more likely to engage in war and conflict.

This course offers an intellectual history of the evolution of the interdisciplinary research program concerned with issues of economic development, exploitation and political change. Working in the field of comparative political economy, students examine the classical theories of eighteenth and nineteenth century political economy and political sociology (Smith, Marx, Spencer, Durkheim, Weber), post-WWII neo-classical theories of modernization and development, and theoretical approaches at the global level in the wake of the collapse of the dominant modernization paradigm.

In her landmark work on feminism and international politics, Cynthia Enloe encourages scholars to ask, "Where are the women?" when trying to understand international relations. This course introduces students to feminist analysis of international relations by engaging both theoretical and practical questions about women's experiences in the world. From a foundation of ethics, the course builds to address the place of gendered analysis in international relations issue areas such as security, political economy, and migration.

The course examines the intersection of environmental issues with politics and policy-making on a global as well as a local scale. It explores international structures and efforts to deal with environmental problems, a wide range of particular environmental challenges such as climate change and conservation, and the different experiences of individual countries in trying to use and manage their natural resources.

This course interrogates intersectionality as an approach to the study of politics. Students will study the history and theory of intersectionality and will engage current debates about the application, benefits, and limitations of the intersectional method. In the second part of the semester, students will undertake an archival, group-based research project as a way to test the intersectional method.

How do emerging democracies confront violent pasts while constructing the political institutions for a stable future? Does the need to heal society outweigh individuals' claims to justice for human rights abuses? In this course students examine the choices post-conflict societies have made and continue to confront throughout Latin America. The region has often been characterized by civil war, autocratic government, and grave human rights violations.