Global Affairs

Courses

GLBL 504b, International Economics  Peter Schott

Introduction to conceptual tools useful for understanding the strategic choices made by countries, firms, and unions in a globalized world. Prerequisite: two terms of introductory economics.
MW 9am-10:15am

GLBL 510a, Humanitarian Aid from Dunant to Today: Understanding the Origins of the Modern Humanitarian System  Nathaniel Raymond

The international community is now responding to an unprecedented level of complex humanitarian disasters, primarily the result of civilian displacement caused by protracted armed conflicts. This seminar explores both the critical historical moments that forged modern humanitarian practice and the current trends and challenges that may affect the future of disaster assistance. The goal is to equip students with a holistic and applied understanding of how the humanitarian system operates and the core geopolitical dynamics that shape it. Beginning with Henri Dunant, the birth of the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the early sources of international humanitarian law, the course follows the evolution of humanitarian aid provision from the nineteenth century to the present. Particular foci of reading and class discussion include the Biafra crisis and the Ethiopian famine of the 1980s, the role of the Rwanda genocide in launching a series of humanitarian reforms, and the ongoing impacts of the European migrant crisis. Students are expected to track specific ongoing humanitarian emergencies as part of preparation for class discussion, complete weekly readings, and write and present a capstone paper on an individually identified topic.
T 9:25am-11:15am

GLBL 511b, Biography and Diplomacy  George Packer

This course focuses on the career of the late American diplomat Richard Holbrooke. Using the instructor’s forthcoming book, Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century, students study different approaches to the writing of biography and to the practice of diplomacy. Excerpts from other works—history, biography, autobiography, government documents—provide context for the various chapters of Holbrooke’s career, from Vietnam to Afghanistan.
Th 1:30pm-3:20pm

GLBL 525b, War, Peace, and the (Post) Modern State  Isaiah Wilson

This seminar addresses the dramatic—some claim “revolutionary”—changes in the global security environment since the end of the Cold War and their impacts on the dynamics of war, peace, and nation-state development. The course reexamines the interplay of war and peace during the era of the modern nation-state, with particular attention to the last two decades of this era. We also focus on what constitutes war and peace during the era, the relationship between the two concepts, the potential causes and characteristics of war and peace, and finally, the myths, misnomers, and outright mistakes embedded in this modern-era concept of war and peace. We then present the story of war and peace as it has played out during the contemporary modern period and survey the perils, paradoxes, and promises of U.S./Western (modern system) intervention focusing particular attention on three cases: the Balkan “Wars” and Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Iraq War, the Conflict in Afghanistan. We then think beyond modern war and peace and the crisis within the “Western” way of war and peace. Finally, we explore some of the new scholarly works and innovative approaches to the modern-era crisis in war, peace, and the state (i.e., the paradox)—as well as develop, discuss, and collectively challenge our own ideas and theories of war, peace, and the state in the postmodern era.
F 1:30pm-3:20pm

GLBL 526b, Economic Strategy for Doing Business in Developing Countries  Kevin Donovan

This course examines economic strategies for nonprofit and for-profit organizations and firms operating in the developing world. The first half of the course focuses on conducting business in environments with weak or deficient institutions, including corruption, political instability, lack of contract enforceability, and poor investor protection. The course primarily uses quantitative economic and game theoretic analysis to examine these issues, and we draw heavily on microeconomic analysis taught in the first year (or in undergraduate intermediate-level economics courses). The second half explores the role of nonprofits, NGOs, and multilateral institutions in the process of development. We study credit market failures and the gap filled by micro-credit institutions. We learn some strategies to evaluate the desirability and success of development projects in social marketing, poverty reduction, and microfinance. We use the tools of economics to analyze contentious international policy issues such as natural resource exploitation, the free trade of goods including environmental goods (e.g., waste and pollution), intellectual property protection, and labor rights.
MW 8:30am-9:50am

GLBL 527b, Measuring Well-being: Concepts and Application  Murray Leibbrandt

This course has two objectives. First, it introduces the conceptual literature on the measurement of well-being (inequality, poverty, social mobility), working through a book on the issue by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen and undertaking readings that focus more specifically on each of these three dimensions of well-being. This approach introduces measures of each of these dimensions in a way that links them to their conceptual foundations. In line with contemporary practice, discussion includes both money measures (income and expenditures) and multidimensional measures (such as education, health, and access to services). With this understanding of the measures in place, the second objective is to take students into the computer lab to make use of household survey data and the statistical package Stata to measure well-being and assess policy. The quantitative work in classes and labs focuses on South Africa. However, the course has applicability to any country with good survey data. Students are introduced to the broad range of data sets available to them at Yale and write a term paper using a non-South African data set of their choice to analyze a dimension of well-being. This is a structured exercise, starting with a proposal, moving to a draft, and then a final hand-in. Prerequisites: familiarity with basic econometric/statistical methods through multivariate linear regression, and experience with Stata.
W 9:25am-11:15am

GLBL 529a / WGSS 529a, Sexuality, Gender, Health, and Human Rights  Alice Miller

This course explores the application of human rights perspectives and practices to issues in regard to sexuality and health. Through reading, interactive discussion, paper presentation, and occasional outside speakers, students learn the tools and implications of applying rights and law to a range of sexuality and health-related topics. The overall goal is twofold: to engage students in the world of global sexual health and rights policy making as a field of social justice and public health action; and to introduce them to conceptual tools that can inform advocacy and policy formation and evaluation. Class participation, short reaction papers, and a final paper are required.
Th 9:25am-11:15am

GLBL 533b / PLSC 747b, The Political Economy of Reform in China  Adam Liu

This class seeks to explain how politics and the evolution of political institutions help explain the patterns and outcomes of major economic reforms in a single-party authoritarian state. While the focus is on China, important themes in political economy are drawn and discussed.
Th 1:30pm-3:20pm

GLBL 536b, Human Rights: Theories and Practices  Thania Sanchez

The aim of this seminar is to engage in the normative and empirical evaluation of human rights promotion efforts by NGOs, international organizations, and states. We discuss current theories and debates about how human rights work. On the empirical front we discuss the efficacy of tools used to promote human rights, such as advocacy campaigns, naming and shaming, mass mobilization, sanctions, aid and development, and law and courts. Some of the areas of human rights under discussion include civil and political rights, genocide and crimes against humanity, refugee rights, and women’s rights.
M 3:30pm-5:20pm

GLBL 537a, Reporting and Writing on War and Humanitarian Disasters  Janine di Giovanni

This course examines how to identify, interview, and document human rights violations in the field. It is aimed at students who want to work as journalists, advocates, or policy makers, and at those who want to work as practitioners during a conflict or humanitarian crisis or under extreme circumstances. The instructor brings twenty-five years as a field reporter in war zones into the classroom: the goal is to make the learning functional. The course teaches students how to compile their findings in the form of reports and articles for newspapers and magazines as well as advocacy letters, op-eds, and blogs. We develop skills for “crunching” talking points for presentations and briefing papers. Each week focuses on a theme and links it to a geographical conflict. Students emerge with practical research, writing, and presentation skills when dealing with sensitive human rights material—for instance, victims’ evidence.
Th 11:25am-1:15pm

GLBL 543b, Practicum in Data Analysis Using Stata  Justin Thomas

This course provides students with practical hands-on instruction in the analysis of survey data using the statistical package Stata. It serves as a bridge between the theory of statistics/econometrics and the practice of social science research. Throughout the term students learn to investigate a variety of policy and management issues using data from the United States as well as several developing countries. The course assumes no prior knowledge of the statistical package Stata. Prerequisites: graduate course in statistics and permission of the instructor.
W 2:40pm-5:10pm

GLBL 552a, Asia Now: Human Rights, Globalization, Cultural Conflicts  Jing Tsu

This course examines contemporary and global issues in Asia (east, southeast, northeast, south), in a historical and interdisciplinary context that includes international law, policy debates, cultural issues, security, military history, media, science and technology, and cyber warfare.
Th 1:30pm-3:20pm

GLBL 558a, History and Theories of Global Development  Daniel Steinmetz Jenkins

This course offers a history of development thought from its origins in the Enlightenment to our present neoliberal age. It also provides a thematic approach to key concepts that have come to play a defining role in theories of global development. Topics to be discussed include globalization, postindustrialism, sustainability, security, etc.
Th 1:30pm-3:20pm

GLBL 559a, Evolution of Central Banking  Rakesh Mohan

Changes in the contours of policy making by central banks since the turn of the twentieth century. Theoretical and policy perspectives as well as empirical debates in central banking. The recurrence of financial crises in market economies. Monetary policies that led to economic stability in the period prior to the collapse of 2007–2008. Changes in monetary policies since the great financial crisis.
M 3:30pm-5:20pm

GLBL 560a, Religion and Global Politics since 1989  Daniel Steinmetz Jenkins

This course examines the increasing influence that religion has had on global politics since the end of the Cold War. It attempts to narrate the rise and the fall of secular governance since 1989 in such places as central Europe, Russia, India, Turkey, and elsewhere. Concepts to be discussed include populism, traditionalism, post-secularism, religious freedom, etc.
Th 9:25am-11:15am

GLBL 562b, Technical Capacities for Intelligence Gathering and U.S. Foreign Policy  Nathaniel Raymond

This seminar explores in-depth the impacts that evolving technical capacities for intelligence gathering have had on how U.S. policy makers approach critical foreign policy decisions. Using specific case studies from World War II to the present, such as the role of the U2 spy plane in the Cuban Missile Crisis and the “Curveball” incident preceding the U.S. invasion of Iraq, this class seeks to understand how political decisions are shaped by technical capabilities for information gathering, as well as how the development of these capabilities is shaped by politics. Students learn about how both advancements and setbacks in the fields of IMINT (imagery intelligence), SIGINT (signals intelligence), HUMINT (human intelligence), and ELINT (electronic intelligence) affected the quality and consequences of foreign policy decision-making by U.S. political actors, and how these lessons are relevant in navigating an increasingly technology-reliant U.S. foreign policy apparatus.
T 1:30pm-3:20pm

GLBL 568a, Comparative Corporate Governance  Mariana Pargendler

The business corporation is a central institution in the modern capitalist economy. There are, however, considerable differences in the ways corporations are owned, controlled, and governed around the world. This course compares the corporate laws and governance arrangements of key jurisdictions, with a special focus on the United States, the European Union, and Brazil. We explore the root causes of the observed divergences in corporate governance, as well as their complications for the organization of the economy and society. Themes covered include the distribution of power between shareholders and boards of directors; the protection afforded to minority shareholders, workers, and external constituencies; the complementarities between corporate governance systems and the prevailing economic and social structure; the challenges facing firms in emerging markets; the distinctive features of state-owned enterprises; and the impact of globalization on corporate governance practices. The course enables students to engage critically with key debates in contemporary corporate governance and provide relevant background for those interested in cross-border legal work. Self-scheduled examination or paper option with permission of the instructor.
TTh 10:10am-12pm

GLBL 570a, Negotiating International Agreements: The Case of Climate Change  Susan Biniaz

This seminar is a practical introduction to the negotiation of international agreements, with a focus on climate change. Through the climate lens, students explore the crosscutting features of international agreements, the process of international negotiations, the development of national positions, advocacy of national positions internationally, and the many ways in which differences among negotiating countries are resolved. The seminar also examines the history and substance of the climate change regime, including the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the 2009 Copenhagen Accord, and the 2015 Paris Agreement. The seminar ends with a mock climate-related negotiation.
M 1:30pm-3:20pm

GLBL 573a, Global Resources and the Environment  Chadwick Oliver

Students first learn the global distribution of resources—the amounts, importance, and causes of distribution, and potential changes of soils, water, biodiversity, human societies, energy sources, climates, agriculture, forests and forest products, minerals, and disturbances. They also learn how to analyze and interpret data on global resource distributions. Secondly, they gain an understanding of the value of multiple-country trading of resources. Thirdly, they gain an understanding of the many mechanisms that facilitate such exchanges, including policies and treaties; business, markets, trading partners, and economics; “good will”; social “taboos”; force; news media; philanthropy; skillful negotiations; cultural/social affiliation; technologies; shared infrastructures; and others. Four teaching methods are used: lectures on the different resources and policy mechanisms; analytical exercises for understanding how to use and interpret international data—and its limitations; a class negotiation exercise for learning the uses of international trade; and guest lectures by faculty and meetings with practitioners for learning the facilitation mechanisms. Three hours lecture; possible field trips.
TTh 5:30pm-6:50pm

GLBL 575b, National Security Law  Asha Rangappa

This course explores the legal questions raised by historical and contemporary national security issues and policies. Learning the law is not as simple as learning set rules and applying them: there is rarely a “right” or “wrong” answer to a complex legal question. National security law, in particular, is an expanding field of study, with new laws and policies testing the limits of previously understood constitutional and legal boundaries. We therefore focus on how to approach national security questions by understanding the fundamental legal tenets of national security policies, the analyses used by courts and legislatures to confront various intelligence and terrorism issues, and theories of how to balance the interests of national security with civil liberties. Although the course is taught much like a traditional law class with an emphasis on the U.S. Constitution, statutes, regulations, executive orders, and court cases, no previous legal knowledge is expected or required.
T 3:30pm-5:20pm

GLBL 579a, Global Governance  Yuriy Sergeyev

Examination of global policy problems, the acceleration of interdependence, and the role, potential, and limits of the institutions of global governance to articulate collective interests and to work out cooperative problem-solving arrangements. Consideration of gaps in global governance and controversies between globalization and state sovereignty, universality, and tradition.
W 1:30pm-3:20pm

GLBL 580a, Russian Intelligence, Information Warfare, and Social Media  Asha Rangappa

. This course explores the evolution of information warfare as a national security threat to the United States. Beginning with the KGB’s use of “active measures” during the Cold War, the course looks at how propaganda and disinformation campaigns became central to the Putin regime and how social media has facilitated their expansion and impact OIC), and the African Union (AU) in assisting governments rebuild and stabilize their societies. We have several role-playing simulations during which students play the...