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International and Comparative Politics

 

We live in a rapidly changing world where the interaction between different political actors impacts our lives. The complex relationships between the national and international, the local and global, the corporate and civil offer exciting new challenges to students of politics, economics and public policy.

 

We prepare students of diverse nationalities to become world citizens, ready to assume the responsibilities of civic and political leadership in the 21st century. Through a variety of program initiatives, we foster an interactive, interdisciplinary learning environment where conversations on the nature and practice of politics occur across the academy. Within the Division, the major in International and Comparative Politics provides a sophisticated understanding of the allocation of ideas and resources across nations and societies, a study which is reinforced by dynamic new minors in International Law and in Environmental Policy.

 

The possibility of a four or five-year BA-MA degree encourages our students to build on their undergraduate learning experience by specializing at the graduate level in International Affairs, Public Policy, or one of the combined Masters degrees or the dual French certificate program with the Sorbonne.

 

Student Learning Outcomes

 

Students with a degree in International and Comparative Politics will manifest intellectual autonomy, imagination and openness to new experiences, and the flexibility to think across disciplines in a rigorous fashion. They will reflect on the evolution of political and international relations theory, and apply that theory to the practice of good citizenship – in government, in an international institution, an NGO or the corporate world.

 
 
 
 

 
 

 

 

Paul J. Godt
Professor Emeritus
BA, Bowdoin College.
MA, PhD, New School for Social Research.

 

 
Requirements for the Major in  INTERNATIONAL AND COMPARATIVE POLITICS
 

 

FirstBridge
8 FirstBridge courses change every year.
 

GENERAL EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS
Up to 8 EN 110 College Writing, EN 220 Writing and Criticism
Up to 22 French through FR 235 and FrenchBridge
4 Historical and Cross-Cultural Understandings
4 Social Experience and Organization
4 from either of the above two categories
Up to 8 Scientific and Mathematical Investigations
 

CORE
Required

(36 credits)
 

PO 111 Foundations of Modern Politics or
PO 107 Critical Junctures in Politics
PO/PL 203 Political Philosophy
PO 215 Comparative Politics
PO 231 World Politics
PO 250 Political Analysis
PO 351 Global Political Economy
PO/HI 354 20th Century Diplomatic History
PO 361 International Law
PO 490 Senior Seminar
 

TRACKS
Select three electives within one track or select any three electives in consultation with an ICP advisor
(12 credits)

 

 

World Politics Track
PO 212 Introduction to
Political Geography
and Geopolitics
(formerly PO 112)
PO 300 Topics (if topic is
appropriate)
PO 332 International
Institutions
PO 333 International Politics
of the Environment
PO 335 Waters of the Globe
PO 343 European Security:
NATO, the EU and Russia
PO/HI 346 American Foreign
Policy
PO 352 Global Hotspots and
Conflict Resolution
PO/HI 360 War and Peace
PO/CM 371 Representing
International Politics
PO 372 Politics of the Middle
East
PL/PO 376 Philosophical and
Political Modernity
PO 378 War on Terrorism and
Origins of Violence
PL/PO 321 Thinking the
World: Cosmopolitanism
and its Critics

 

European and US Politics Track
PO 210 European Politics
PO 300 Topics (if topic is
appropriate)
PO 316 Ideas of Europe
PO 326 The Politics of
European Integration
PO 334 Comparative Public
Policy
PO 343 European Security:
NATO, the EU and Russia
PO 345 Politics in Russia
PO/HI 346 American Foreign
Policy
PO 350 European Union Law
PO 353 Politics in France
PO 357 Politics in Central and
Eastern Europe
PO 369 Democracy and
Social Change

 

Development and Human Rights Track
PO/GS 205 The Political
Economy of Developing
Countries
PO 300 Topics (if topic
is appropriate)
PO 306 Politics of Latin
America
PO 322 Politics in Africa
PO/GS 324 Politics of Human
Rights
PO 327 Politics in China
PO 329 International
Relations in Asia
PO 333 International Politics
of the Environment
PO 335 Waters of the Globe
PO 341 International Human
Rights Law
PO 352 Global Hotspots and
Conflict Resolution
PO 369 Democracy and
Social Change
PO/CM 371 Representing
International Politics
PO 372 Politics of the Middle
East

 

Plus GENERAL ELECTIVES to total 128 credits

 

 
 
 

 

Comparative Political Communications

Environmental Policy

International Law

Politics

 
 

 
 

 
 
 
 

 

 

On May 18, Hall Gardner was interviewed by Deutsche Welle on the “European Bailout Protection Act” that is currently being introduced in the House of Representatives  by Republicans. On May 19, Gardner spoke on the subject, "Immigration, la guerre contre la drogue et l'escalade de la crise américano-mexicaine" based on Chapter 9 of his book, Averting Global War (New York : Palgrave, 2010) at the Forum du Futur conference, "Les relations entre les Etats-Unis et l'Amérique latine : une nouvelle donne?" held at France-Amériques. His article, "Afghanistan: An Ever Widening War?" was published in Géostrategiques (No. 27, 2ème trimestre, La Géostratégie de l'Afghanistan).  On May 21, Professor Gardner was invited by Mikhail Gorbachev to participate in the first meeting of the New Policy Forum, held in Luxembourg, as a member of the advisory board. The New Policy Forum aims to bring together current political leaders, veterans of international politics, intellectuals and civil society representatives in a common effort to develop new ideas and new policies for the XXI century (see: http://gorbachev.crmm.ru).

[AUP - Posted 17 June 2010]

 
 

Oleg Kobtzeff was interviewed on Radio France International about the legacy of the May 1968 movements in France. On May 13 he appeared on France 2 television discussing the geography of the Arctic regions in European Russia and its populations (and will be interviewed on France 2 again on June 6). 

[AUP - Posted 17 June 2010]

 
 

Douglas Yates was interviewed on CNBC to discuss Sarkozy's mid-term evaluation (May 3) and the European perspective on the new British Conservative government of Cameron and Clegg (May 13).  He was also interviewed on RFI to discuss the failure of power-sharing talks in Madagascar (May 2).  Professor Yates presented a paper, "Port-Gentil: From Forestry Capital to Oil Capital" at the University of Houston (May 20-22) with support of a grant by the National Science Foundation.

[AUP - Posted 17 June 2010]

 
 

On March 22, Steven Ekovich appeared on the popular morning radio show "Les matins de France Culture" to discuss passage of the health care reform bill in the US. On March 23 he appeared on the Moroccan TV station Media 1 Sat to discuss US relations with Israel. On March 27 Ekovich was cited on French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s trip to Washington and New York in an Associated Press story that was published in several hundred US newspapers and news services as well as the international press in English. On March 30 he appeared on France 24 to discuss President Sarkozy’s trip to Washington and New York. On April 10 Professor Ekovich gave a talk at a conference in Ljubljana, Slovenia, organized by the European Research Group on the Military and Society (ERGOMAS). On April 15 he was interviewed for a special weekly news report telecast by France 24 on President Obama and the Arab-Israeli conflict. On the same day he was interviewed on President Obama’s nuclear strategy on the Moroccan TV station Media 1 Sat.  On April 17 Ekovich organized and led a conference at AUP on “The Crisis in Afghanistan.”  H also published “La Destruction Atomique d’Hiroshima et de Nagasaki: Incertitudes Historiques et Dilemmes Éthiques” in Géostratégiques (1er Trimestre 2010, No. 26, click here to download).

[AUP - Posted 6 May 2010]

 
 

Hall Gardner spoke on "Obama's Foreign Policy: Surmounting Nightmarish Scenarios?" as the first speaker of the Spring 2010 Baden-Württemberg Seminar of the Heidelberg Center for American Studies, in cooperation with the program, "Formations of the Global" at the University of Mannheim, held at the Mannheimer Palace, on April 22. On March 1 he spoke at Kuwait University with the French Ambassador to Kuwait, Mr. Jean-René Gehan, on the subject, “France’s Return to NATO’s Command - With Vital Interests in the Gulf.”  A new edition of his book, Averting Global War: Regional Challenges, Overextension, and Options for American Strategy (New York: Palgrave, 2010) has just been published.

[AUP - Posted 6 May 2010]

 
 

Peter Hägel was the moderator of an international conference on "Managing Global Governance," organized by the German Development Institute and InWent, in Bonn (Germany) on April 14.

[AUP - Posted 6 May 2010]

 
 

In April, Oleg Kobtzeff was interviewed on Radio Algérie International about international issues; he was asked by Nicolas Miletitch, former Editor in Chief of the AFP news agency, to replace him to present his documentary "L'histoire secrète de l'Archipel du Goulag" and represent him during the debate that followed as part of the series of events celebrating the official Franco-Russian year in France and surrounding the exhibit "L'Archipel des Solovki, Veilleuse du Grand Nord" in Rueil-Malmaison (more than 90 people attending on a weekday).

[AUP - Posted 6 May 2010]

 
 
 
 

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