// teaching
‘China in International Affairs’ – Undergraduate Seminar, Department of Political Science
This undergraduate seminar explores China’s contemporary engagement with the world, and in particular with developing countries. To do so, it draws upon historical evidence, empirical cases, and international relations theory. Part I of the course presents students with theoretical tools and historical background on China’s international relations. Part II introduces the domestic political institutions and processes that shape China’s engagement with the world. Part III focuses on China’s overseas political and economic relations, with particular focus on ties with sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and Europe. Part IV explores themes such as sustainability and human rights in China’s international relations. It concludes by asking, does China have a grand strategy in international affairs? If so, what is it, how successful has it been, and how might it develop.
‘Politics and Technology in International Relations’ – Graduate Seminar, Department of Political Science
The disruptive effects of the digital age for politics are incontrovertible, yet they arise out of a longer history of the relationship between technology and politics. This seminar takes a historicized approach to the relationship between technology and politics to understand authority, power, and political contestation in a digital age. The approach avoids presentism and exceptionalizing transformations in our digital age as like never before, while also not underestimating the importance of recent upheavals in changing the actors, logics, and practice of politics and international relations. The seminar focuses primarily on communications technology. It examines its present currents and historical antecedents around selected themes, among them: the relationship between technology and politics; states and bureaucratic authority; security and surveillance; democracy; and great power competition.
‘Politics, Technology, and War’ – Undergraduate Seminar, Department of Political Science
War has been a constant companion in human experience from time immemorial. Some argue that war is inherent in the human condition, or in human nature. Yet today something is different, something has changed. On the back of advances in digital technologies, artificial intelligence (AI), and biotechnology, the nature of war has ostensibly evolved to occupy new spaces using a new toolbox. As a result, war today seems more omnipresent, more intractable, and more dangerous. To paraphrase Carl von Clausewitz, while the nature of war remains constant, its character is eternally changing. This seminar examines this evolution. It merges elements of political theory with diverse disciplinary and empirical perspectives. The course is divided into four segments: (1) introduction and context of contemporary war; (2) differing views of warfare; (3) new conflict domains and media, with particular focus on political and cognitive warfare; and (4) implications for national and multi-lateral policymaking.
‘China-Africa Relations in the 21st Century’ – Graduate Seminar, School of Humanities & Social Sciences
This course provides a comprehensive view of the China-Africa relationship both historically and on the basis of current relations. It is designed to strike a balance between empirical knowledge on the one hand, and theoretical understanding on the other. Empirically, it covers some of the most significant developments and issues in China-Africa relations, notably trade, aid, and investment. Importantly, it looks also at lesser-explored aspects of the relationship with a focus on soft power dynamics, security relations, technology, and culture. Theoretically, it introduces students to the analytical tools, concepts, and approaches needed to make sense of these questions. This course is designed to reflect the diversity of issues and approaches in contemporary China-Africa relations, as well as their challenges and opportunities in the future. View the Syllabus (Spring 2019).