Steven Philip Kramer is an Adjunct Professor at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). His research interests include Government, Intellectual and Cultural History with a regional focus on Europe and in particular France and French foreign relations. He serves as the Professor of Grand Strategy at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, National Defense University in Washington, DC, where he has served since 1992.
Dr. Kramer served as the Policy Advisor to the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs from 1996-2002. Dr. Kramer has taught Contemporary European history and government at the University of New Mexico and Georgetown University, served as a Council of Foreign Relations Fellow in the U.S. Department of State, and directed the Face to Face program of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He has been the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships including the John J. McCloy Distinguished Fellowship in Residence at the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies and a fellowship at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University.
His books include Does France still Count: The French Role in the New Europe (Praeger/CSIS 1994), Trouble in Paradise? Europe in the 21st Century (NDU Press 1996) coauthored with Professor Irene Kyriakopoulos, and Socialism in Western Europe: The Experience of a Generation (Westview Press 1984) and a biography of the cineaste Abel Gance. Professor Kramer received his BA in History from Brandeis University and his PhD from Princeton University.
Spring 2017
France and Germany have been the engines of Europe since at least the 1970s. The course will focus on contemporary French and German politics, including both the political context but also the economic and social context and a number of key policy areas including economic, social, foreign and security policies. The student will come away from the course with an understanding of the key factors shaping public policy formulation in these two key European countries and an ability to analyze developments in the broad European arena.