Today's most pressing problems do not stop at national borders. Meeting these challenges requires a range of state and non-state actors to work together. In this course, students gain familiarity with key actors in the global system and how they approach today's most intractable problems, including violent conflict, human rights, non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, migration, trade, climate change and global health. How do countries, international organizations, multinational corporations and nongovernmental organizations find ways to cooperate when their interests and capabilities sometimes differ drastically? What barriers exist that impede such cooperation?

Schedule of Classes

Introduces major concepts, debates and challenges in international security policy. Some of today's problems have existed in various forms for centuries, such as potential conflicts between great powers, violence by governments against their own people and by terrorist organizations, and the disruptive effects of powerful new technology. Some are more recent, such as nuclear deterrence and nonproliferation, humanitarian crises and human security. And others, including cyber security, drones and climate change, are the leading edge of future security challenges. Fundamental questions about how to make the world safer will be a major theme of this course. 

Schedule of Classes