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Our modern lifestyles cannot be achieved or sustained without international relations. Inter- national relations affect the products you buy, the stability of where you live, and the rights that you hold. Moreover, tackling the world’s most pressing problems, such as climate change, terrorism, and civil conflict, requires working with actors outside our country. This class demon- strates how international relations affect our daily lives, often in puzzling ways. The goal is to explore questions and puzzles in international politics, including: If war is so costly, why do countries fight? If trade is economically efficient, why do countries sometimes restrict trade? If everyone values the earth’s resources, why is global cooperation over the environment so hard to achieve?

We investigate these and other questions by identifying the interests, interactions, and institutions that lead to global outcomes. Actors have particular interests, but when they interact with others, they may end up with outcomes that do not reflect their interests. Global actors also work under institutions and rules that constrain and change their behavior. By exploring the behavior that results from interests, interactions, and institutions, we explain today’s events and make predictions about the future. By the semester’s end, you will understand a variety of political problems facing the world today. You will also have an appreciation for how much more there is to learn about international relations.

Can international law change how countries behave? If so, how? People have strong opinions about the effectiveness of international law. Some say that international law changes how countries act, and that countries will even do what’s not in their interest so that they can honor international law. Others say that countries only act in their own interest, and that international law has little ability to meaningfully change how countries behave. Who’s right? Understanding the power and limits of international law is important as countries seek global solutions to pressing problems such as climate change. Grappling with questions about international law also gets us thinking about deeper questions of human nature and global society. Can individuals sometimes forgo their own interests to follow rules, norms, and principles that benefit humankind? Or, are we so self-interested that cooperation is impossible?

This class introduces you to the study of international law. You will learn about and read legal decisions made by domestic and international courts and legal bodies. From these decisions, you will identify the legal principles that govern global cooperation on issues such as human rights and the use of force. You will apply these principles to assess the legality of historical and ongoing events in the world. By semester’s end, you will understand the power and limits of international law. You will also gain experience in reading legal decisions and understanding their implications for domestic and international politics.

This class will challenge you with some difficult questions, such as: is it legal for countries to ban headscarves to foster secularism and religious freedom? Must countries give individuals who have committed heinous crimes the right to meet with their local consulate or embassy? Can international law have any power if there are no global police to enforce it? By continually grappling with challenging questions, this class will stretch your analytical abilities and ask you to confront your own moral and ethical code. You will emerge from this class a stronger thinker.

Can countries cooperate in an anarchic world? If so, how? This course explores a particular type of cooperation: the formation and use of international institutions. We explore the decisions of states to design and commit to international organizations, the effects of such organizations, and the limits of institutional power. We also explore how states cooperate on specific issues such as human rights and the environment. By the end of the semester, you will be able to explain when and why countries cooperate, and how institutional order emerges in an anarchic world. Exploring international organizations not only tells us a great deal about global politics, it provides insight into human nature. We ask if human beings can work together to provide collective goods through institutions, or if self-interests are too strong to foster institutional cooperation.

We explore the development of institutions from the perspective of strategic choice. Strategic choice is a simple yet powerful way of looking at the world. It assumes that actors are pur- poseful, and that they make decisions by anticipating what other actors will do. This simple assumption can explain a number of global phenomena, from the formation of institutions to the decision of institutions to address particular problems. However, strategic choice is not the only way of looking at the world. We will explore the limits of strategic choice, particularly in explaining the dysfunctional behavior of institutions.

We also investigate the methodological challenges in determining the effect of international in- stitutions. Throughout the semester we will rigorously analyze the research methods used to assess how institutions change behavior. We will devote one week in particular to discussing how we infer the causal effect of institutions, focusing on experimental research.

Why do people use violence to pursue political goals? When asked this question, most people give straightforward answers such as “people will always fight for their religion.” But consider this: violence is costly, it often does not result in the desired political outcome, and people have a number of choices besides violence for pursuing their political goals. Further, why do states respond violently to dissident movements? This is particularly puzzling once we think about the costs of repression relative to political concessions. The unfortunate result of political violence is often civil conflict, which imposes enormous political, monetary, and human costs. Why can’t actors reach the outcome they will inevitably reach after a conflict ends, but without the pain and suffering of fighting?

This class explores the conditions under which political actors use violence, and the conditions that lead to civil conflict. We approach questions of conflict behavior and political violence from the perspective of strategic choice. Strategic choice explains conflict not as an accident, but as the deliberate result of choices by actors. The choice of conflict is not made because actors are inherently aggressive and war-mongering. Actors want to reach their preferred outcome without fighting, but various obstacles stand in the way. We discover how those obstacles render actors unable to reach and commit to peaceful agreements.

Studying conflict and violence not only tells us a great deal about global politics, it provides insight into the human condition. While we may believe that violence is part of being human, strategic choice tells us that human interests alone do not lead to conflict. It takes two sides to make a war. Understanding how conflict results from human interaction allows us to begin to devise the right prescriptions and policies to produce peace. We study various types of international intervention and civilian strategies to get a sense of if and how actors can work to mitigate the bargaining obstacles behind political violence and civil conflict.