Teaching
Current Courses
GLIS 102 Global Studies
Past Courses
CIVIL WARS
This course examines modern civil wars, focusing on the causes, conduct, and consequences of these conflicts. The goal of this class is to better understand how civil wars begin and progress so we can ultimately work to end or prevent this type of violence. Emphasis will be placed on applying research and theory within the field of political science to contemporary cases of civil war such as Afghanistan, Columbia, Iraq, Nigeria, Syria, and Ukraine. Syllabus
TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Over the last thirty years we have seen a rapid increase in the push for accountability following political transitions and violent conflict as a means of reckoning with gross violations of individual human rights. This seminar is designed as a survey of the existing justice options following armed conflict. In addition to cataloguing the range of different mechanisms that can and have been used to address human rights violations, we discuss the main debates and obstacles surrounding their use.
POLITICS OF AFRICA
This course surveys the origins and dimensions of contemporary issues within the sub-Saharan African post-Colonial state. Focusing on both theoretical work and case studies, students will learn about the politics of the African continent and the people who inhabit it.
STATE REPRESSION AND HUMAN RIGHTS (GRAD)
States and their governments protect our human rights and paradoxically are the main source of the violation of those rights. This course will review and advance the existing literature on the complex and often violent relationship between state power and challenges to that power with a specific focus on when and how states choose to violate individual human rights. We will focus on the theoretical and methodological study of state repression as well as specific types of repression such as protest policing, torture, and mass killing.
CONTENTIOUS POLITICS (GRAD)
Contentious politics is one of the core sub-fields of political science, encompassing International Relations, Comparative Politics and American Politics. This course presents an introduction to contentious politics through a survey of the main concepts, theoretical debates, and methodological approaches in the sub-field. Broad themes that guide this course include, power and resistance to power, why men (and women) rebel and the logic of collective action and political violence.
