Academics

The Academic Program

Classes at BGIA are small—fewer than 16 students per class—and provide each student an intimate learning environment.

Seminars are based on student discussion, research, and writing; they meet in the late afternoon and early evening to accommodate daytime internships.

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Courses

Courses cover a breadth of international fields including:

• Ethics in International Affairs
• Global Public Health
• Human Rights Law
• International Political Economy
• Micro-credit Lending
• The Spread of Democracy
• Trends in Terrorism and Counter-terrorism
• The United Nations
• Writing on International Affairs

Courses for Fall 2008

Core Seminar on International Affairs
Carter Page
The Core Seminar provides an academic framework for students to explore issues of global affairs and to contextualize their internship experiences. The goal is to familiarize students with key issues in world affairs, introduce them to some of the primary actors and how they operate (NGOs, policy wonks, private researchers), and help them bridge the divide between their academic work and their pre-professional experiences. It is structured in two parts: 1) major topics in global affairs; and 2) research and writing related to students’ specific internships. This format serves as a bridge between BGIA’s formal and non-formal educational program, challenging students to develop skills in critical thinking, analytical reasoning, and written and oral expression. Thursdays 6:30-9:00PM

International Human Rights: Sources and Applications
Alan Sussman
The language of rights, since the 17th century, has played a pivotal role in political discourse, and since the end of the Second World War has assumed an increasingly important position in international law as well. Rights are normally invoked to assert fundamental claims of human dignity or liberty which impose limits upon social and governmental power and control. But upon what authority do rights exist? This is the principal question to be addressed in this course, which will be approached from political, philosophical and legal perspectives. In charting the transformation of natural law to natural rights and human rights, we will read a number of essential works by Cicero, Grotius, Locke, Constant, and Kant, modern observers including Dworkin, Sen, and Meron, and foundational documents such as the United States Bill of Rights, the French Declaration of the Rights of Man, the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal. In the latter part of the course we will read and discuss recent decisions issued by international courts concerning matters of torture, rape, and crimes against humanity and consider the complex relationship among individual responsibilities, obligations of the state and the status of rights in international law. Wednesdays 4:00-6:20PM

Power, War and Terror in International Affairs
Scott Silverstone
From the Peloponnesian War among the Greek city-states in the 5th century B.C., to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the terrorist attacks of 9/11, and America's invasion of Iraq in 2003, power has remained a central feature of world politics, motivating the behavior of states and nonstate actors alike. Yet the character and distribution of power has changed dramatically since the rise of the modern state system in the 17th century. For nearly two decades now, American primacy has defined the global power structure. This fact is an historic anomaly; at no time in history has any one state amassed the degree of military, economic, and political power the United States now enjoys. In fact, contemporary American foreign policy is premised on the assertion that the United States must sustain its primacy against any potential challengers for the indefinite future. This course explores the character of power and war in this era of American hegemony. We will examine the vigorous debates over the objectives of American power, unilateralism versus multilateralism as rival approaches to exercising power, debates over what military power can actually achieve, and the potential for a global backlash against the United States. Among other specific issues this course will address is the rise of China and India and the implications for global security and economic issues; rogue states and nuclear proliferation; the preventive war option to address shifting threats; the political and strategic future of the Middle East; terrorism as an alternative form of the power struggle and as a type of asymmetric warfare waged by nonstate actors; the continuing problem of humanitarian crises, failed states and intervention in the post-9/11 world; and the changing nature of global energy politics as an acute security issue. Thursdays 4:00-6:20PM

Realism Reconsidered: Ethics and International Relations
Joel Rosenthal
Thucydides punctuates his history of the Peloponnesian war with the quote of the Athenian generals, ‘The strong do what they will, the weak do what they must.’ In the twentieth century, this sentiment is echoed by the great realists, Hans Morganthau and Henry Kissinger, who argued that power and interest were the guideposts for foreign policy. What values guide us as we make choices about the use of force, resolving conflict, promoting human rights, encouraging democracy and participating in international organizations. This course will examine competing claims of morality, reason and power in contemporary international relations. Mondays 4:00-6:20PM (held at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs)

Trends in Terrorism and Counterterrorism
Tom Parker
This course charts the rise of international terrorism and examines State responses to this evolving threat. Seminars will consider case studies drawn from Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The course aims to give students a deeper understanding of the circumstances that motivate terrorist groups and the means and methods available to States seeking to contain or defeat them. Tuesdays 7:00-9:20PM

Reporting on International Affairs
Michael Moran
This course will put a heavy emphasis on reporting, writing and developing the sensibilities needed for success as an international news correspondent. We will focus heavily on the techniques of the craft, always in the context of contemporary world events and the realities of modern English-language media. A series of lecturers, and a visit to one of New York City's great newsrooms, will be included during the semester. This is not a course for purists, but rather a broad look at a varied, complex discipline. We will examine briefly many of the topics an international journalist will confront today. We also will touch upon the broadcast and Internet skills that no journalist who strives to be in interesting places at interesting times can afford to ignore in this modern world. Tuesdays 4:00-6:20PM

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Click here for a listing of past courses offered.

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The Core Seminar on Globalization and International Affairs

All students are required to take the Core Seminar on Globalization and International Affairs, which provides an academic framework for students to contextualize their professional internship experiences. During the Core Seminar, students explore specific themes in international affairs, while developing skills in critical thinking, analytical reasoning, and written and oral expression. The seminar includes core texts on globalization; lectures with foreign affairs experts; detailed assessments and multi-media presentations of internship organizations; and the submission of an article for publication in BardPolitik. In all, students submit approximately 25 pages of written work.

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Faculty

Faculty have come from Bard College, Brown University, Columbia School of Journalism, the Columbia School of International Public Affairs (SIPA), New York University, the United States Military Academy, Yale University, The New York Times, Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, Council on Foreign Relations, Doctors Without Borders, the United Nations Development Program, and Newsweek International, among others.

• Andrew Nagorski, Senior Editor, Newsweek International
• Julie Becker, Faculty, BGIA Program Senior Director, Country and Regional Programs, International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI).
• Kate Bourne, Vice President, Programs, International Women's Health Coalition.
• Barbara Crossette, Former United Nations Bureau Chief, The New York Times
• Mayada El-Zoghbi, Founding Partner of Banyan Global, Adjunct Professor, Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs
• Omar Encarnacion, Associate Professor of Political Studies, Bard College
• Jeff Madrick, Editor of Challenge Magazine, a contributing economics columnist at The New York Times, professor at Cooper Union and New School University
• Mike Moran, Executive Editor, Council on Foreign Relations website, Former Correspondent of the BBC, MSNBC, and Radio Free Europe.
• Tom Parker, Executive Director, Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, Yale University; Former UK Special Advisor on Transitional Justice, and Head of the Crimes Against Humanity Investigation Unit, Coalition Provisional Authority; currently a Fellow in the Department of Political Science, Brown University.
• Joel Rosenthal, President, Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs, Adjunct Professor of Politics, New York University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
• Scott Silverstone, Associate Professor of international relations at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point.
• Alan Sussman, Visiting Associate Professor of Philosophy, Bard College.
• Joelle Tanguy, Former US Executive Director, Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontiers), Managing Directorof the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS (GBC).
• Timothy Waters, Former Visiting Professor of Law, University of Mississippi, former Visiting Scholar and Visiting Fellow at Harvard Law School; Consultant on legal system reform for the Open Society Institute, UNDP, and the Latvian Ministry of Justice; Consultant on discrimination against minorities for Human Rights Watch; Researcher, the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.
• Roy Williams, Director and CEO, Center for Humanitarian Cooperation; former head of United States Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance

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Credit and Transcripts

Transcripts for the program are issued by the Registrar's Office of Bard College. Bard operates on the semester system, and each course, including the Core Seminar, earns four credits. Students are expected to enroll on a full-time basis.

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BGIA Academic Calendar

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