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Summer Programs

Each summer, the school welcomes visiting students and working professionals to explore the world of international relations through courses and certificate programs. Whether you seek to build professional skills in a graduate certificate, complement an internship, or prepare for graduate school, you will be inspired by world-renowned faculty known for their academic and practical experience and build a network of talented classmates working across sectors and industries.

Summer Courses: June 3-July 26, 2024

Select among in-person or online courses for the schedule that works best for you. All summer courses are worth four graduate credits each, the same as during the academic year, and can be transferred to many of the schools’ degree programs.

Below are examples of past summer course offerings. Summer 2024 confirmed courses will be posted soon.

In-person Courses: June 1-July 18, 2024

Structured for the working professional, in-person courses are small and held in the evenings from approximately 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. Courses meet two times per week, Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday, in a condensed 6.5-week term

Focus areas: States, Markets, and Institutions; Development, Climate, and Sustainability

This course is centered around three main questions: whether business should be concerned about its human rights impacts, the increasing importance of corporate human rights due diligence, and what type of remedy is available for victims of corporate abuse. Students will gain expertise on human rights related business risks and how to advise companies in a transnational business environment through role-playing exercises and case studies like the FIFA 2022 World Cup in Qatar and Apple in China. The course will focus on corporate sustainability, in light of pressures facing business at home and abroad, including their response to issues such as climate change, the COVID pandemic, and systemic racism. The class will address the crucial role of investors, civil society and consumers, and the legal regime in rewarding (and penalizing) businesses that do not take human rights and the environment into account. By the end of the course, students will have gained advocacy writing experience from the point of view of a civil society activist, as well as a corporate change maker, and the opportunity to engage first hand with guest lecturers working on these issues.

Focus Areas: Technology & Culture; China
 
This course examines the American and the Chinese conceptualizations of national security, and their implications on how each nation defines their grand strategies vis-à-vis one another. The first part of the course takes a deep look at the Chinese economic statecraft model, with a specific focus on how the state instrumentalizes commercial actors and foreign direct investment (FDI). Through case studies and guest lectures, the course explores the American response via the work of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). The course will trace CFIUS’ history, situating its role and impact within the interagency process, and diagnosing how this powerful body has accommodated emerging geopolitical threats. The second part of the course considers CFIUS’ role in relation to both research and development and foreign direct investment flows from key competitors. We will look specifically at Chinese FDI and foundational and critical technologies in telecom, biotech, computing, semiconductors, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things.  

Focus areas: Core; Leaderships, Ethics, and Decision-Making
 
Focusing on the major institutions of democratic political systems, such as electoral systems, presidentialism, federalism, and judicial and legal systems, the course aims to familiarize students with a diversity of frameworks to understand contemporary politics within countries. The course will draw upon real world cases to highlight functional issues such as democratic transitions, governance and corruption, and the relationship between development and democracy to explain political phenomena. For example, why did one country experience a successful democratic transition but its neighboring country did not? A central goal for this course is to bridge comparative politics theory with domestic and international politics in practice.
 
Required for the Certificate in International Development.

Focus Area: Security, Strategy, and Statecraft

This course examines the role that intelligence plays in the formation of national security policy. The course explores the forces and events that have shaped U.S. intelligence. It examines the steps involved in producing intelligence from requirements through collection, analysis and the actual making of policy. The role of intelligence in the major intelligence issues facing the United States today will be discussed as well.

Focus area: Core; International Economics

The first class will be held on Thursday, June 8. The final exam date will be moved to Thursday, July 20.

Learn about the basic theory underlying international macroeconomics. Topics include international financial markets and the macroeconomics of open economies; balance of payments and the trade balance; exchange rates and the foreign exchange market; expectations, interest rates and capital flows; monetary and fiscal policy in open economies; exchange rate regimes; and macroeconomic policy in open economies. Basic algebra will be used in this class. This course is a prerequisite to most upper-level economics courses.

Prerequisite: Principles of Macroeconomics

Required for the Certificate in International Economics.

Focus areas: Research Methods

Covers a range of practical tools for development-related information gathering, including for project planning, design and evaluation. Grounded in survey and interview skills, also reviews participatory approaches, rapid appraisal, action research and many other techniques. Gives special attention to methods suitable for low budgets, limited time and nonprofessional management staff. Makes extensive use of real-world cases.

Focus Areas: Europe and Eurasia; Security, Strategy, and Statecraft
 
This course examines Russian foreign and national security policy and has five goals. The first goal is to enable students to make accurate and reliable assessments of the principal actors, main drivers, and structural constraints shaping Russian foreign and national security policy. The second goal is to enable students to make accurate and reliable assessments of Russia’s important relations and key issues with major powers and regions. The third goal is to enable students to determine what policy instruments and institutional mechanisms the Russian decision-makers use to defend Russia’s national interests, to advance Moscow’s strategic objectives, and to realize the Kremlin’s policy priorities in key functional areas. The fourth goal is to enable students to evaluate the accuracy, credibility, and utility of the main Russian open sources available online in the public domain for the policy relevant research and intelligence analysis. The fifth goal is for students to develop critical thinking and writing skills so that they can produce high quality analytical products for various types of consumers, using open-source information.

Focus area: International Economics; Data Analytics

Students will study basic statistical tools for data analysis. Emphasizes facility in problem-solving in statistical inference and two-variable regression and correlation analysis. Presents descriptive statistics, probability and probability distributions and their use in hypothesis testing. Uses computer to solve problems and to reinforce statistical concepts.

This course presents a set of tools for understanding, predicting and formulating policy on international conflict and cooperation. Examining leading schools of international relations theory, including Realism, Liberalism and Constructivism, the course will also survey topics such as alliance formation, nuclear deterrence, imperialism and international institutions. Students will explore the domestic sources of foreign policy, trade, global environmentalism, international law, the integration and disintegration of states, globalization and the future of international relations.

Required for the Certificate in International Studies.

Online Courses: June 3-July 26, 2024

Online Courses are asynchronous learning divided into weekly modules, consisting of pre-recorded lectures, activities, and assignments housed in the Canvas learning management system. While there is no scheduled class time to attend, faculty will schedule weekly live meetings for you to interact with your classmates and synthesize the material reviewed in Canvas. The live sessions are optional and may be recorded for those unable to attend. Assignments and activities, just as with in-person courses, have due dates and deadlines and are administered using Canvas.

Focus area: International Economics; Research Methods

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to econometrics. Develops tools for estimating functional relationships and critically reading empirical studies that use different econometric techniques; presents assumptions of multivariate regression and discusses the most common econometric problems and the potential consequences and remedies; and discusses omitted variables, sample selection, heteroscedasticity, autocorrelation, multicollinearity and use of discrete variables. Introduces students to instrumental variable technique. Uses statistical software in applied exercises.

Prerequisite: Statistics for Data Analysis

Focus area: Development, Climate, and Sustainability

The world of energy and environment is going through a fundamental transition. The global geopolitics of the energy transition are increasingly about major conflicts related to climate change, fossil fuels, and the new energy economy. This course introduces students to the fundamentals of this global transition. It covers a wide range of topics from the functioning of electricity markets to the challenge of climate policy and the management of air pollution. It also introduces a host of key concepts and analytical frameworks that underpin policy analysis in the field, such as notions of collective action and the role of regulatory agencies in monopolistic markets. Students will have an opportunity to sharpen their analytical and writing skills through a series of case studies and policy memos.

Focus areas: Core; International Economics

This course provides an introduction to the study of international trade. The first part of the course will focus on theoretical frameworks designed to understand the drivers and implications of international trade and review empirical applications of these models. The second part of the course will cover distributional consequences of trade policy instruments, arguments for trade protection, and the organization of the world trade system. More advanced topics in microeconomics will be introduced throughout the course.

Prerequisite: Principles of Microeconomics

Required for the Certificate in International Economics.

Focus area: States, Markets and Institutions; Security, Strategy, and Statecraft

Politics affects risk on many levels (e.g., international, national, regional, and local), and is the result of the interaction of many different elements. In this course, we start by examining some basic issues with regard to risk analysis as well as why forecasts often fall short before examining three broad issues: country structural fragility; problems with collective action policymaking; and operational breakdowns. The first looks at how the sociopolitical and institutional dynamics of a country affects its evolution. The second looks at how the policy formulation process works and why it often yields a less than ideal result. The third looks at the challenges of implementation. As such, the class focuses more on the risks that face countries than on how particular risks might impact corporations or NGOs, though the latter is also examined. The two types of risks are related but are not identical (e.g., regulatory changes may be good for a country, but bad for a company or NGO). We conclude by examining how to prioritize and mitigate risk. Each class aims to provide students with a set of frameworks to think about and assess these issues. Students all get a chance to work on case studies to develop their skills.

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Summer Academies

Spend four weeks of your summer exploring international affairs in Bologna, Italy or Washington DC and earn four graduate-level credits. The program is open to undergraduates and recent college graduates.

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