International Studies

L39 402 The Meaning of National Security in the 21st Century (3 units)
The 21st century has brought with it new challenges to national security. Standard assumptions about nations and the borders that separate them have been brought into question, and one of the results of this is that the very meaning of national security is undergoing change. Instead of threats to security coming from outside national boundaries, they now often exist within and across borders. This course focuses on contemporary ideas about these issues. It includes a brief overview of current discussions of national security, but it is primarily devoted to examining the conceptual resources we have for making sense of national security in a new world.

L39 4432 Politics of Post-Soviet Countries (Commonwealth of Independent States)
This course is an upper-level undergraduate seminar that explores the unprecedented transition of national identities, political institutions, and economic systems that resulted from the breakdown of communism in Europe. Although sharing a common legacy, the post-communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe and former Soviet Union have evolved into very different polities: some have become well-functioning democracies, while others still maintain only a semi-democratic, if not semi-authoritarian regimes. In this course, we will try to explain these different developmental trajectories. Specifically, the course will explore the role of political institutions, political parties, socio-economic cleavages, voting behavior and citizen participation, political culture, governmental processes, and other topics relevant in post-communist politics. Prerequisites: Intro to Comparative Politics (L32 102) and 1 other comparative politics course or 2 other political science courses.