ELECTIVE COURSES

ICP/LAS 208.1 - Politics of Human Rights

Human rights are an essential part of the modern states and adherence to the human rights norms and the way they are interpreted and practiced are inexorably politicized.

This course engages students to discuss political aspects of human rights and looks at these aspects from various perspectives.

The course is divided in two general sections – one, dealing with conceptual issues and another, dealing with various thematic issues that highlight political aspects of human rights worldwide.

ICP 208 - Normative Order and Change in Fiction

Societies are shaped and changed by, among other things, norms which emerge, evolve, and dissipate. Norms, understood as socially proper behavior, constitute the order of a society, but they are changing, often in a contested manner.

The politics of establishing a normative order implies that the appropriateness of behavior is promoted through sanctions. Globalization adds more contention to the norms dynamics among various actors within and across countries.

Much of that is studied well in scholarly literature as well as in literary texts and media (films). Norms can be studied and depicted in academic literature well as through fictional literature/films.

The course objective is to introduce students to concepts of norms dynamics and enable them to apply these concepts in understanding societal changes through fictional literature/films.

This course uses literature and films as a way to understand norms and how they emerge, evolve, and spread. Students besides literary works would have as assigned readings scholarly texts on norms. Students would use their own readings/films to illustrate any topic discussed in the course.

During the course, each student will write a review of a film/book which illustrates norm dynamics (and publish it in the public domain) and will write a genealogy of a norm based on an empirical study (interviews).

Besides, that students in groups would be moderating sessions (where they would be in roles of moderators and presenters) in the last few weeks of the course for which they would suggest readings.

ICP 209.1 - International Organizations

Why do international organizations exist? What role do they play in solving global problems? Traditional international relations theories characterize the international system as anarchic and focus on interactions between nation-states.

Since WWII, international organizations have become more prominent players in the international system. Debate continues in academic and policy communities over why international organizations exist, whether they matter in global politics, and when they can help alleviate global problems.

Both in their practical and theoretical aspects, international organizations (IOs) are a dynamic and increasingly important element in the functioning of modern world politics. The goal of this course is that students develop a theoretical as well as practical understanding of international organizations (IOs) and the global problems they attempt to address.

Upon completion of the course, students should be able to articulate the leading explanations within political science for why IOs exist, controversies surrounding IOs in the context of international relations theory, why they are thought to help solve global problems, and the major challenges IOs face in meeting their objectives.

Students should also be able to apply theoretical arguments from the IR literature to several specific cases.

ICP 210 - Diplomatic History

This course provides students with a survey of international relations history with a focus on European diplomacy. The main aim of this course is to deliver the historical background of current affairs in international relations. With a broad introduction to European history, students are provided an in-depth explanation of the historical development of ideas, institutions, regulations, systems, and actors of international relations.

In this course, the modern history of the European civilizations and nations are examined and discussed by referring to the interactions between nations and their impact on the shaping of the current international relations, systems, beliefs, institutions, economic ties, and diplomacy. The course, therefore, focuses on the diplomatic interactions and the social, economic, political, and cultural contexts in which they take place. 

Topic covered includes The Thirty Years’ War and The Peace of Westphalia, The Great Powers, The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, The Congress of Vienna, The Concert of Europe System, The Unifications of Italy and Germany, World War I and II, The Russian Revolution, The Rise of Communism and Fascism, The Cold War, Decolonization, Fall of Berlin Wall, Dissolution of the Soviet Union, and Post-Cold War period to the present.

Diplomatic history focuses on nations, states, politics, decision-makers and their interactions and conflicts through the ages. It is the study of international relations between states or across state boundaries and is one of the most important forms of history. Modern diplomacy is a variable field of actors, objectives, resources and strategies of international politics. 

The course, thus, offers an overview as well as deepened perspectives on the roles and forms of diplomacy in the contemporary international system. At the end of the course, the significant periods, events, and historical diplomatic perspectives will be covered, and the most important details of each will be discussed.

On completion of the course, students will be able to analyze the system of international relations from the past to present with a historical perspective. 

The course aims to provide historical knowledge on diplomatic relations. Over the course of the semester; 

1. Students will be able to describe large themes over a long span of diplomatic history. 
2. Students will be able to identify the historical continuity and changes observed in the relations between the actors and institutions of national and international politics. 
3. Students will be able to compare diplomatic issues of different periods while deploying historical argument and critical thinking. 

ICP/IBL 210 - Cybersecurity and Society: Digital Threats to Law and Politics

What does the increased access to the Internet provide us nowadays? On a yearly basis, the number of people using the Internet increases and allows more than half of the world's population to be exposed to it, which also creates its own problems and threats.

The countries reacting to these threats adopt various policies and rules to address the challenges as well as to react to the various offenses.

Cybercriminals are causing substantial harm to individuals or businesses, the current interdisciplinary course (cross-listed) is to look at various issues around cybercrime and cybersecurity.

ICP 211.1 - Political Geography and Geopolitics

In the narrowest sense, the study of geopolitics is the relationship between geography and politics, exclusively played out by states. This rather historical understanding of geopolitics has in recent times widened to include new actors and new interpretations.

In fact, geopolitics has become so ubiquitous that, according to Google, the term appeared over 350.000 times in the news in 2022; out of which almost 100.000 in the month of August alone.

Geopolitics has thus become part of our everyday jargon, which makes understanding of this multifaceted framework indispensable, both for the students of International Relations as well as non- experts.

This course will serve as an introduction to geopolitics and does not require any previous knowledge of political science or current affairs.

MC/ICP 212 - Political Communication

In this course we will discover how, why, and when humans claim, lose, or share power through symbolic exchanges. We will pay special attention to the mass media and its role in democratic processes.

We will learn about the influences of the mass media, theories of media framing, the nature of news, recent trends and changes (rise of the Internet, social media, and partisan media), public opinion, perception, and culture.

Three main topics will be discussed in significant details during the semester: Political Campaign Communication, Mass Media and Content, and Communication in Political Processes.

The course aims to enrich students’ understanding and critical perspective on the political nature of events happening around them and their representation in the media.

ICP 276 - China in Eurasia

In less than twenty years, China has moved from being a marginal actor in Eurasia to the one that is now at the heart of Eurasian affairs.

China’s engagement with the region has initially been centered on securing enough oil and gas for its rapidly growing economy. In the last decade, however, China has significantly expanded the areas of cooperation to include a variety of diverse sectors, spanning from digital economy, public safety, and cultural centers to vaccine development, and agriculture standards.

In doing so, China has managed to re-shape the landmass between Ukraine and Kazakhstan in ways almost unseen before.

This introductory course will map the evolution of China’s role in Eurasia, while at the same time explain Beijing’s motivations and how they are perceived in the region.

ICP/ECO 276 - Political Economy of Natural Resource-Led Development

This course is targeted towards students interested in how natural resources underground influence political and economic activities above the ground and how natural resources can be transformed into development and prosperity. The first part of the course familiarizes students with key concepts and issues around political economy, development, and natural resources. It aims at answering the following questions:

• What is the political economy and what is the political economy of natural resources?
• What is development and how do we measure it?
• What is corruption, its causes and consequences?
• What are institutions and how do they influence economic development?

This is important basic information to know well before getting into the discussion of resource curse and natural resource-led development. The second part will focus on natural resource countries and their characteristics, such as resource abundance/dependency and associated challenges, such as resource curse. It will cover how natural resources affect development and what policy options exist to manage revenues from natural resources. The final part will be devoted to working in teams on case studies of selected resource-rich countries. Using acquired knowledge, students will prepare presentations on selected resource-rich countries.

ICP 292 - Nationalism and Ethnic Politics

This course will cover the relationship between the overlapping and interrelated concepts of ethnicity, nationalism, and race. It will focus on the dynamics involved in transforming ethnic categories into national or racial ones.

Throughout the course, we will examine the cultural basis of ethnicity, the political claims upon territory by nationalists, and the essential and primordial definitions of racial groups created and enforced by the state.

Among the topics that will be covered in this examination are the creation and survival of national Diasporas, ethnic cleansing and genocide, and the construction of modern nation-states.

ICP 293 - Social and Political History of Afghanistan

The social and political events of modern and contemporary Afghanistan can be said to have been critical in influencing regional and global history. Examples of the seminal role of Afghanistan in history-making can be found in: The invasion and defeat of the Soviet army in the 1980s (which hastened the fall of the Soviet Union and end of the Cold War), fall of the Mujahidin-led government, rise of the Taliban, state repression, and harboring of the Al-Qaida terrorists, the 9/11 incidence and quagmire scenario for the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force.

Commencing with a few sessions on ancient history of Afghanistan and Afghanistan’s exposure to the armies and civilizations of the Greek Alexander the Great, the Arabs and Islam, Mongols, and the British, this course will largely concentrate on the history of Afghanistan’s past 90 years, with the era of the reign of the last monarch, Zahir Shah, and the series of coups, counter-coups, political repression, and finally foreign invasions (of the Soviets and the American and its Western allies).

The course will explore the modern history of Afghanistan from the prisms of national, regional and international levels of analysis. It will convey and synthesize country specific knowledge and writings with broader global and theoretical social scientific literature. It will also link the importance of historical events to present realities.

The course will combine lectures with classroom discussions, simulations (by way of a two-day Crisis Game), the viewing of documentaries, and a guest lecture by Afghanistan’s diplomatic mission to Kyrgyzstan. Grading will be based on completion of a book review, two mid-term assignments, attendance, and evaluation of active student participation.

ICP 300 - Politics of Truth

The aim of this course is to understand the functions and effects of truth on politics. We will try to answer questions: can truth be used as a weapon to gain political power and influence? What political forces shape the ways we speak the truth?

What role does truth play in democracies given a need for truth and a lack of certainty?

This course is especially interesting during this post-truth era, and we will definitely talk about that! Although, we'll start with thinkers like Foucault, Kant, Plato and Aristotle.

ICP 302 - Global Political Economy: Welfare and Development

As we live in a globalizing and increasingly interdependent world, understanding of the roles and behavior of markets, states, institutions, and civil society is vitally important.

The course focuses on the political foundations and consequences of the contemporary world economy, focusing on development and welfare. While globalization can be a force for social and economic development, it also presents several risks to human security and well-being, ranging from national-level job losses and financial contagion to global emissions. The course introduces comparative research and debates on varieties of market economies.

It focuses on approaches that seek to conceptualize different models of capitalism in advanced and peripheral capitalist countries and investigates the relative role of institutions and international organizations.

In this course, we will analyze developments in political economy from a range of theoretical approaches.

ICP/SOC 303 - Global Citizenship

Given the interdependent and interconnected nature of our world, the global is already everywhere. Highly networked 21st Century has been contesting the classical notion of citizenship, while questioning whether membership in a specific community and to particular geographical area is still relevant.

Now it is a time to discuss inclusive and comprehensive citizenship that goes beyond specific location and community belonging, towards an active participation in global social, political, cultural and ecological processes. Central Asia is not an exception; regional tendencies have been widely intersecting with proliferation of global developments.

The interdisciplinary course will introduce classical and contemporary literature and case studies on citizenship and globalization with an emphasis on Central Asia.

It will extend students' analytical and research skills as they strive to apply global citizenship ideas on local settings of everyday reality, and understand how people interact and cooperate in increasingly stratified and diverse political, social, economic and cultural contexts without notions of geographical boundaries.

The course content will cover global and local issues and perspectives, and should include but not limited to such topics as globalization, glocalization, citizenship and fundamental human rights, political mechanisms to globalization, migration, global social stratification, social justice, sustainable economic and environmental development, and civic responsibility enactment.

ICP 305 - Democracy and Authoritarianism in Comparative Perspective

The course intends to provide an advanced overview of the theoretical and empirical works focusing on the comparative analysis of modern political regimes. This notably involves tracing why and how democracy emerges and survives in some countries and not others and understanding authoritarian breakdowns, as exemplified recently by the ‘Arab Spring’.

A particular emphasis will be placed on the critical evaluation of socio-economic and cultural theories of democracy, internal operation and performance of both democratic and authoritarian regimes and potential consequences of regime types for governance, economic growth and policy-making.

In addition to evidence-based and substantive arguments, the subject matters of the course will be concurrently investigated based on so-called game-theoretical models, an analytic tool employed extensively throughout the main assigned textbook in order to explain the strategic behavior of political actors. This presumes the existence of coordination problems facing contending political actors and explaining particular political outcomes, such as successful democratic transitions or regime stability.

Given the difficulties of designing acceptable approaches to exploring political regimes, the course will further delve into the methodological issues and approaches associated with conceptualizing and classifying different regime types, including so-called ‘hybrid regimes’ combining both democratic and authoritarian elements.

This will be preceded by an introductory discussion of research designs commonly used in the sub-field of comparative politics.

ICP/GDS 305 - Politics of Nationalism

Nationalism is a pervasive element of politics across continents and is not waning with the advent of democratization. National liberation movements and separatism, the rise of far right parties in established democracies, ethnic conflicts are just a few examples of how nationalism manifests itself. Politics of nationalism emerges when one’s longing for group identification is used for another’s desire for power.

This course is a part of the wider Bard-network initiative to study nationalism both theoretically and empirically.

The course would be based on studying major works on nationalism through assigned readings (to be posted on e-course), writing online notebooks as shared (with peers from other countries) texts to develop joint understanding, and on a visual image analysis at the beginning and at the end of a semester.

Students would also take short quizzes at the end of each section and would write a final paper. A particular and important element of the course would be students’ engagement with their peers from other universities.

The goal of the course is to introduce students to concepts and theories of nationalism and enable them to apply these concepts.

ICP 309 - Development Aid and Politics

The course is aimed at giving an overview of political aspects of the foreign aid. It will cover this through discussion how political processes affect aid depending on donors’ mandate, status, a geopolitical situation, etc.

A considerable part of the course would cover issues of interrelation between recipient/donor country’s political situation and development aid.

The course would be heavily based on practical cases which would supplement some theoretical overview of what constitutes development and its political aspects.

Within the course students are expected to write on paper (a policy paper) which would be submitted in two successive parts – initially a draft of the problem description and later a full policy paper with analysis of various solutions.

Students would also prepare a short (12 min) presentation about the ongoing issue related to development (a case) and also write a short description of the case to be sent to the classmates before the presentation. Besides that, students are expected to participate actively in class discussions.

ICP 324.1 - Politics of Middle East

How did the contemporary Middle East find its internal borders? What is the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict and why has it continued for so long? What was the basis of the 1953 coup in Iran and how is it related to the 1979 revolution in that country? Why did Iran and Iraq wage an eight-year gruesome war in the 1980s?

What was the basis of Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990? Why did the “Arab Spring” of 2011 mostly fizzle? How have regime changes in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya affected the populations of those countries and the region at large? What about the ongoing atrocious war in Syria? Who are its actors, why are they fighting and what are the war’s consequences?

What is the role of Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Western powers in the Yemen war? What happened in Turkey with its July 2016 attempted coup? Is oil an impediment to or a catalyst for democratization in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)? What have been the roles of external powers in the MENA region?

This course attempts to answer these and similar questions by exposing students to concepts, theories, and debates on the region through critical perspectives of viewing nationalism, conflict, religion, ethnicity, political turmoil, and war.

Students will be exposed to a series of case studies and literature, and by choosing their paper themes and book review selection, they have the opportunity to focus on a particular concept or country of their preference.

ICP 326.1 - Federal Systems: EU, USA, and India

The course analyzes federalism based on the case studies of three very different federal systems, namely the EU, the US and India.

The United States with its bottom-up development is counted to be a traditional federal system. India is a relatively recent state with a mixture of British democracy and symmetrical federal system, which was initiated top-down.

The EU is not a state as the former two, but it is an example of the federation creation process, where the member states (nations) are the motivating forces of the integration.

These cases demonstrate that federalism is a tool for managing various diversities, such as ethnic, religious, geographic, social, national etc.

Federalism seems to be the only model that promoted the establishment of democracy in each of these cases.

ICP 335 - Electoral Politics

A conventional view amongst scholars of comparative politics holds that elections perform a range of functions typically associated with promoting the core principles of democratic governance, such as political participation, accountability and legitimacy.

Central to this view is an assumption that holding credible elections is further contingent upon the observance of other fundamental principles of democracy, including freedom of expression, association, assembly and rule of law, that could extend beyond political participation.

Meanwhile, as compellingly evidenced across both established and emerging democracies, the manner in which elections are conducted could have far-reaching political consequences, providing a conducive groundwork for examining the dynamics of political competition and broader quality of democratic governance.

With this premise in mind, the course intends to cover a broad spectrum of select issues in electoral studies holding both theoretical and practical implications. The first half of the course will therefore provide a broad overview of the different types of electoral systems and their potential consequences for party system configurations, campaign and voting strategies (to be examined alongside concurrent theoretical explanations of voting behavior), policy performance and the dynamics of political competition.

The other half will explore a range of contemporary issues and trending developments in electoral politics from empirical and comparative perspectives with a particular emphasis on examining observable patterns across post-Soviet countries.

ICP 340 - Contemporary Social and Political History of Iran

This course provides an overview of primarily contemporary social and political history of Iran; but it also touches on the Qajar dynasty (1796-1925) and discusses the foundations of the 1906 Constitutional Revolution.

Students become familiar with the Pahlavi era (1925-1979), while looking into the dynamics of Iranian society starting with the rule of Reza Shah (1925-1941), his forced abdication during WWII, followed by the reign of his son, Muhammad Reza Shah (1941-1979), the nationalization of oil under the premiership of Muhammad Mosaddeq, the 1953 coup, the 1970s rapid economic development, and the monarchy’s political monopolization and suppression of descent.

A key focus of the course will be the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the pre- and post-Revolutionary era and the rise of Ayatullah Ruhullah Khomeini, in addition to Iran’s international relations, war with Iraq, competition with rival Saudi Arabia, and enmity with Israel.

The course will further discuss Iran’s long-standing feud with the United States including the problematic 2015 nuclear agreement, its attempted rescinding by U.S. President Donald Trump and ensuing sanctions and war rhetoric.

Finally, the course will analyze political descent, including the Green Movement (2009) and the causes behind the widespread early-2018 demonstrations. In addition, it will discuss issues of political economy, elections, patriarchy and women’s rights, religion, the environment, and potential scenarios for the future of Iran.

ICP 342 - Civic Engagement: Global Trends and Development of Civil society in Central Asia

Engaged citizens are an ideal of today’s world and one of the major underpinnings of democracy. Learning what is civic engagement and how it comes is the purpose of this course.

This is a Bard network course which discusses theoretic, practical aspects of civic engagement.

The course explores the concept historically, but mostly concentrates on its meaning for the 21st century.

Civic engagement would be studied from various perspectives and at different levels of interaction with the government. It would consist of discussing assigned literature and would entail a number of guest lectures and site visits.

Besides that, one of the assignments is a practical exercise and that course is very orienting for students to learn civic engagement by practice. The goal of the course is to introduce students to concepts and practices of civic engagement.

ICP 344 - Foreign Policy of Central Asian States

Foreign Policy of Central Asian States (FPCA) is a unique course developed to understand the tendencies of foreign policies on five Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The course will regard Central Asia`s role in the contemporary system of international relations and provide in-depth information both on regional problems and individual foreign policy priorities and techniques of each state of Central Asia.

An important focus will be given to the external factors in terms of the influence of so-called “great powers” in the matters of Central Asia.

The course would require an understanding of the contexts, pressures and constraints with which foreign policy-makers have to deal and the ability to engage in comparative analysis without losing a sense of historical context.

ICP 391 - Political Leadership

In this course, we will focus on ways of thinking about political leadership, its “origins”, and analytical and methodological approaches to study it.

We will discuss leaders below and beyond the national level, various leadership styles, discover the agent-structure debate, democratic and non-democratic leaderships, and what it means and takes to be a “great” political leader.

In the new media age it is highly important to stay up to date with recent scholarship on leaders and the public, because of personification of political decisions and actions.

We will talk about famous leaders in history, current national leaders, and the implications of studying political leadership for the public and scientific purposes.

ICP 393 - Russia and Central Asia

Russia is one of the dominant extra-regional actors in Central Asia. Different factors could be listed to explain this, from Soviet history to geographic proximity, to the nature of economic relations or political and geopolitical dynamics in the region. Yet, the above does not mean Russia-Central Asia relations are predetermined in any particular way.

Domestic societal and political processes, as well as broader regional and international dynamics, shape the nature of Russia-Central Asia engagement. Thus, moving across different “levels” of analysis and disciplinary boundaries will be necessary to develop a comprehensive understanding of the history and dynamics of relations between Russia and Central Asia.

This course seeks to enrich students’ understanding of the dynamic and multi-dimensional nature of Russian-Central Asian relations. What is Russia for Central Asia, and what is Central Asia for Russia? What actors and factors are the most important drivers of the relationship? How can we account for changes and continuities of the relationships?

Through raising these and related questions, students will learn and debate different interpretations of “what, why and how” of Central Asia’s relations with Russia.

ICP/LAW/HR 396 – Democracy in Dark Times

When the Soviet Union and its communist bloc collapsed in 1989-1991, one of the political principles seemed unquestioned: democratic principle. This is a principle of running government where the governed are the source and beneficiary of government. That dominance and appeal of democracy had taken a start well before the communist decline, in what Samuel Huntington had called “the third wave” of democratization, begun in the 1970s in Southern Europe and marching on in subsequent years in different regions.

In the recent decades, in some very recent years especially, that seemingly inexorable spread of democracy has come to a standstill, and many societies thought to be in transition to democracy got stuck in various forms of “hybrid regimes.” In many places, moreover, processes of “de- democratization” or democratic reversal have occurred. While in some places, democracy as such has come to be questioned or rejected, in many other places, undemocratic, troubling tendencies have been occurring alongside verbal allegiance to democracy.

In this context, the co-teachers will put forward this course as an occasion to thoughtfully and critically reflect on the recent developments. “Democracy in dark times” may come with a question mark for some and a fact for others. Regardless of how we view it, the course aims to collectively engage in some readings and discussions of some “what, how, and why” of democracy’s challenges in the past and today.

Under these circumstances, the course emphasizes active, participatory learning principle – unlike conventional courses, here we should deal with a new and evolving theme, and the course intentionally deals with events and processes that are just unfolding and still feature in daily news reports. The idea here is to take such troubling and significant current affairs and put them to critical analysis based on our conceptual and theoretical understanding of democracy. The schedule of the course is designed so as to facilitate such a progression of discussion and analysis.

ICP/HR 403 – International Law and International Relations in a Turbulent World

International Law (IL) and International Relations (IR) have long been considered separate academic enterprises, with their own theoretical orientations and methodologies. However, international lawyers and international relations scholars share overlapping research interests and scholarly agendas.

In fact, practitioners in both fields pursued common interests in the making, interpretation, and enforcement of international law in international relations. This course, therefore, focuses on the relationship between IL and IR as well as their interconnectedness. Although they constitute distinct academic disciplines, the objects of their interest can hardly be analyzed in isolation from each other. We should acknowledge that with no international law there could be no international relations; also, the practice of international politics is a ground that breeds international legal norms.

In this context, the course is designed to explore several international issues, from humanitarian intervention to international dispute resolution to NGOs' participation in global governance. Specific emphasis is given to the use of force and the 21st-century developments, the rights of the individual (human rights, refugee law), the rules of international transactions (law of diplomacy), conflict and disputes (the International Court of Justice), and the law of (sharing) natural resources (sea). Under these circumstances, the course's main aim is not merely to study international legal issues in a political context; however, to integrate the academic disciplines of international law and international relations to understand the “legalization” of international politics. For these reasons, no legal background (general or in public international law) is required. This course is designed explicitly for ICP and HR students to understand international law and international relations with a toolbox of legal and political sources and arguments in world politics. 

By the end of the semester, students will be acquainted with Over the course of the semester, students will be able (1) To describe the use of concepts in international law and international relations. (2) To apply theoretical understanding in international law to the analysis of specific empirical cases in international relations. (3) To analyze a wide range of empirical cases and assumptions in both theoretical arguments and political statements. (4) To be able to confidently work with an interdisciplinary approach in studying contemporary phenomena in international relations.

ICP 405.1 - Politics of Kyrgyzstan

This course is planned to be a review of the state of politics in Kyrgyzstan. It is designed to give students a better understanding of Kyrgyz politics, economy, security and foreign policy.

Throughout the course, in exploring diverse topics, a balanced mix of theory, factual information and practical analysis will be exercised.

The goal of this course is not only to give students theoretical information on different subjects in the politics of Kyrgyzstan, but to give students basic knowledge of practical analysis.

It will provide students with methods and instruments of analysis. Students will learn in practice to analyze different political, economic and social issues on the example of the Kyrgyz Republic.

ICP 412.2 - Constitutionalism: Theories and Practices

Constitutionalism: Theories and Practices is an advanced seminar aiming to delve in-depth into the foundations of the idea of a constitutional state and the varieties of practice of the same, turning both to thinkers and theorists of constitutionalism and to empirical researchers and scholars of it.

Constitutionalism is an appealing, promising idea to which many scholars and still more activists and political leaders have been turning. It has been seen as especially relevant and promising as so many societies struggled with internal social conflicts, with authoritarianism and difficulties of democratization, with problems in provision of justice and problems of stable statehood. To so many fundamental challenges of the contemporary world, constitutionalism has been viewed by many as a possible remedy. However, constitutionalism would at best be a very complicated remedy.

This seminar is an attempt to understand that complexity, to see the many debated themes in constitutionalism, and to consider the variety of practical realizations of constitutionalism in modern societies.

The course is divided into two halves: the first concerned mostly with historical and theoretical themes of constitutionalism, and the second featuring a variety of interesting instantiations of constitutionalism.

The idea is, thus, first to consider what the idea consists of when considered in the abstract, the different core elements and institutions implicated in it, the debates about the preferable ways of viewing constitutionalism. With that in hand, to proceed then to consideration of seven contexts in which constitutionalism has been planted, with widely mixed success.

ICP 413 - Political Regimes/Democracy in East Asia

The course is aimed at giving an overview of some classic theories on democratization studies from the perspective of comparative politics.

One of the main research interests of comparative politics is a study of types of political regimes: democracy and autocracy. It conducts comparisons between domestic political systems to make clear reasons for fundamental research questions: why one nation are (consolidated) democracies and others are autocracies.

It provides discussions on explanations of political phenomena among similar and different political regimes.

The course consists of two parts: the first focuses on some classic theories on democratization studies and second gives the cases of political regimes from East Asian countries. 

ICP 428 - International Security Studies

This course is designed to provide ICP students with a basis in contemporary international security studies.

The course is divided into four parts. The first part is introduction – explains aims of course, syllabus, reading materials, grading system. The second part reviews the main paradigms in international relations theory and introduces students to relevant conceptual issues.

The second part deals in-depth with some of the main concepts, theories, and issues in international security studies. Our main focus in this part is theoretical approaches in studying international security, definition and concept of security, traditional and modern security approaches.

The third part of the course deals with case studies of modern security issues, including humanitarian intervention, state failure, ethnic conflict, nuclear proliferation, migration and refugee issues, drug, arms and human trafficking, separatism, human rights issues, extremism and transnational terrorism.

Throughout the course, we will apply different theories to select historical and contemporary cases in order to illustrate how theory can help us make sense of complex, real-world events.

The fourth part of the course will be dedicated to “Path to security” – how to solve security issues by discussing roles of nation states – balance of power, cooperation, game theory, and international institutions and other non-state actors.

ICP 451 – Modern American Politics

This course familiarizes students with the history, trends, and animating social forces which have influenced, and presently influence, modern American politics with an emphasis on the Gilded Age through the present.

Students will explore in-depth the unique history, personalities, and ideas which have informed political disputes, electoral competition, and ultimately public policy.

The course will cover a range of topics, including contemporary debates about race and immigration, to structural and institutional factors shaping the course and conduct of American political life. By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Evaluate and analyze significant turning points in the course of American politics;
• Recognize and describe key institutions, political structures, and ideological frameworks which inform American discourse;
• Offer broad interpretations of the main debates of American political life, including federalism and separation of powers;
• Understand issues of partisanship and polarization and their effects on electoral politics.