Course Description: This course will serve as a broad introduction to international relations topics and research. The course will be framed around a series of questions or topics, including (butnot limited to) the following:-Is there an order to the international system? If so, what are the determinants of that order?-Why do wars occur? If war is costly in terms of lives and resources, when and why do governments fail to solve their differences by other means?-How has globalization changed the landscape of international politics? What aspects of globalization are most important for understanding contemporary trends in national andinternational politics?-What role do international institutions and international law play in facilitating cooperation and order in the international system?The course will analyze these questions through the lens of modern social scientific approaches,meaning we will spend time thinking rigorously about theoretical relationships and evidence-based approaches to adjudicating between multiple explanations. In that vein, students will be exposed to common research strategies employed by modern international relations scholars, ranging from qualitative historical and case study accounts to statistical analysis to experimental methods. Likewise, students will be exposed to a variety of theoretical approaches, including formal models of interstate interactions (i.e. game theory), psychological explanations of foreign policy-making, and ideational or sociological approaches to understanding the international system

Behavioral Science and Social Change

Our society is beset by major problems that are primarily behavioral, not technical, in nature, ranging from political divisiveness, to inadequate attention to climate change, to failure to comply with public health advice, to massive student disengagement and academic underperformance that threatens the future of the global economy. Over the last two decades, the social and behavioral sciences--e.g. psychology, economics, sociology--have transformed the way that policymakers and practitioners think about how to solve the most pressing challenges facing society. This class will involve a hands-on and deep dive into two major traditions of research--the "wise intervention" research, coming out of social psychology, and the "nudge" tradition, coming out of behavioral economics. Students will read and discuss authoritative reviews and original empirical articles and will discuss the practical, philosophical, and ethical questions that arise from the application of behavioral science in the real world. Students will create intervention materials in teams, supported by TAs, and will present their intervention ideas as final projects. 

Required Texts: 

Nudge, Thaler & Sunstein, https://www.amazon.com/Nudge-Improving-Decisions-Health-Happiness/dp/014311526X

Handbook of Wise Interventions, https://www.guilford.com/books/Handbook-of-Wise-Interventions/Walton-Crum/9781462543830/editors