My BYU syllabi are available here…

Course Descriptions:

Introduction to International Relations (Pl Sc 170): This is an introductory course with no prerequisites.  We will learn important concepts relating to international relations, such as sovereignty, power, security, and others.  We will become more cognizant of the history and geography of modern IR, and the resulting perspectives of various nations.  We will investigate the underlying causes of conflict, and examine the evolution of selected modern conflicts.  We will also examine the political economy of underdevelopment.  Through it all, I will challenge you to develop your own opinions, and you will learn how to support those opinions.

Foreign Policy Analysis (Pl Sc 371):Foreign Policy Analysis is a subfield of International Relations.  However, it is very different from most of the IR theory to which you were exposed in 370.  FPA is the theory of the foreign policy decision-maker.  What factors influence how decision makers choose policies?  We will look at variables from a multiplicity of levels: individual, small group, organizational, bureaucratic, domestic political, cultural, economic, and systemic, and then seek to integrate these. [Note: This class used to have a graduate variant, 571, when there was an MA program in the Kennedy Center. Now that variant is no longer available.]

National Security Policy (Pl Sc 377): We will focus on Unitd States national security policy.  After looking conceptually at security, we will trace the historical evolution of US national security strategy since WWII.  Then we will turn our attention to three of the major security debates of the day: US grand strategy in the post-Cold War period, military intervention, and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.  Finally, we will explore security issues that may be important in the future, such as environmental security and the “clash of civilizations.”

The International Political Economy of Women (Pl Sc 472): This class is team-taught with Donna Lee Bowen.  In this class we will investigate how political and economic forces affect the lives of women worldwide, and also how the choices of women affect the larger political and economic destinies of nations.  We will cover such topics as women and development, women and war, women and health/literacy, women and power, women and religion, and numerous others.

Data Collection and Qualitative Methods (Pl Sc 379R): This class is meant to provide political science majors with a set of tools that extends beyond quantitative data analysis. Students will learn about using existing datasets, and about how to collect their own data using techniques such as interviewing, field research, and experimentation. We will also examine qualitative analytic methods such as thematic content analysis, discursive analysis, comparative case studies, natural experiments, and so forth.

The Political Economy of Care (Pl Sc 430/470 Capstone): This class is taught occasionally, and is a capstone seminar which focuses on a neglected issue in political science research: the issue of caring labor, and its effects on national and international affairs. We will begin with concepts from feminist economics, and then examine the underpinnings of societal welfare, with an eye to the evaluation of national policies on the valuation of care.

Readings in Feminist Theory and International Relations (Pl Sc 379R): In this class, we read and reflect upon eight books, including tomes by Sylviane Agacinski, Nancy Folbre, J. Ann Tickner, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Joan Williams, and others. The purpose of this course is to enable students to think more deeply about how the absence of women in our curricula and in our academies affects the field of political science, more specifically international political economy and international relations.

The Research Process in the Social Sciences (IAS 680, with 2-semester colloquium): [This course was last taught in Fall 2001, due to the furlough-by-fiat of the Kennedy Center's MA program.] This is an IAS class, which is taught as “boot camp” for the incoming Kennedy Center’s M.A. students.  In this class, we ask large questions such as how do we know anything?  Can organized humanity develop a logic of empirical inquiry?  What are the common modes of research methodology in the social sciences?  How does one assess the strengths and weaknesses of a research product? The class is accompanied by a 2-semester colloquium; the first semester brings in guest speakers who use important social science methodologies and are able to explain the strengths and weaknesses of these; the second semester entails students presenting the prospectus of their MA thesis.