Teaching

University of Illinois

International Relations and Domestic Politics (Fall 2023)

Student Population: Undergraduate
Course Description: International relations (IR) scholarship has generally shifted away from purely systemic theories and toward accounts that seek to open up the “black box” of domestic politics. This course explores major perspectives in this move, with a particular focus on how political elites and public opinion affect foreign policy choices and international outcomes. The first portion of the course explores how international events and actors influence domestic politics: What systemic factors make conflict between states more or less likely? The second part examines the role of leaders in shaping how states respond to systemic incentives and constraints: What are the limits of human cognition? When do leaders’ individual characteristics, such as gender, prior experience, and personality, matter for explaining foreign policy? Are groups better at making decisions than individuals? The third part considers the role of the masses in foreign policy: Does the public have coherent views about international affairs? What impact do ideology, partisanship, and values have on public attitudes? To what degree do leaders and the media shape, and find their actions shaped by, the public’s views about foreign policy?

Introduction to International Security (Spring 2024)

U.S. Grand Strategy (Spring 2024)

Student Population: Undergraduate
Course Description: This seminar examines prominent decisions in U.S. foreign policy through various analytical and historical lenses. In the first half of the course, we begin by defining the term “grand strategy,” discussing how it has been used (and misused) by both academics and decision makers, and evaluating the degree of rationality in the process of constructing grand strategy. We then establish the frames of analysis through which scholars and policymakers understand key decisions of war and peace. In the second half of the course, we apply these theories to major U.S. military operations since the dawn of the 20th century, exploring the extent to which these frameworks can help us understand successes and failures in American grand strategy. We investigate the extent to which scholarship can help us learn from these experiences as well the practical strengths and limitations of grand strategy as both a means and an end of states’ foreign policies.

U.S. Grand Strategy (Spring 2023)

U.S. Grand Strategy (Spring 2022)

Introduction to International Politics (Head Teaching Assistant for Kimberley Marten; Fall 2019)

Student Population: Undergraduate
Responsibilities: Organize fellow TAs; hold weekly discussion sessions; grade assignments
Course Description: How can we explain the patterns and evolution of international politics? Why do wars happen? Do states still matter? How do alliances between countries function? How are countries affected by global trade and investment, and in turn how does the political economy of individual countries shape international conflict and cooperation? How do ideas and culture affect international politics? What causes terrorism? Is the proliferation of nuclear weapons a threat to peace, and if so, how should the world respond? Does the United Nations matter? Can there be a globally agreed response to climate change? In this course we will begin to grapple with these questions. We will use theories developed by philosophers, political scientists and policy analysts, and we will examine the historical roots of today’s problems, in order to explain and predict the patterns of international politics and the possibilities for change. Throughout the course, students will be encouraged to choose and develop their own theories to explain events.
Course Evaluations: [Link]

China's Foreign Relations (Teaching Assistant for Thomas Christensen; Spring 2019)

Student Population: Undergraduate
Responsibilities: Teaching Assistant (hold weekly discussion sessions; grade assignments)
Course Description: This course will review and analyze the foreign policy of the People's Republic of China from 1949 to the present. It will examine Beijing's relations with the Soviet Union, the United States, Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Third World during the Cold War, and will discuss Chinese foreign policy in light of the end of the Cold War, changes in the Chinese economy in the reform era, the post-Tiananmen legitimacy crisis in Beijing, and the continuing rise of Chinese power and influence in Asia and beyond.
Course Evaluations: [Link]

War, Peace & Strategy (Teaching Assistant for Richard Betts; Fall 2018

Student Population: Undergraduate and Graduate
Responsibilities: Teaching Assistant (hold weekly discussion sessions; grade assignments)
Course Description: Questions animating this course include: Why is force used in international politics? What causes peace? How do wars, or competitions shaped by the possibility of war, affect international relations and national societies? How can governments best prepare to prevent wars or to win them if they occur? By what standards should resort to force, or strategic and tactical choices in combat, be judged legitimate or immoral? How is mass violence (or crises resolved short of combat) determined by politics, ideology, diplomacy, technology, economics, geography, military plans and tactics, intelligence, or arms control? What are similarities and differences among conflicts between states, within states, and between states and transnational groups (such as terrorists)? How does cybersecurity pervade all dimensions of conflict? How do weapons of mass destruction coerce or deter? Is the world safer or more dangerous since the Cold War? Can war be made obsolete? The course emphasizes problems in the relation between political ends and military means. Students must grapple with the terms of reference in both dimensions. The course emphasizes the epochal upheavals of the 20th Century, and issues in U.S. national security policy.
Course Evaluations: [Link]