This course introduces students to subversion, an age-old and routinely used yet understudied instrument of power. As geopolitical competition intensifies, there are widespread and growing fears of hybrid threats, cyberwarfare, and disinformation campaigns. Many argue these are novel threats empowered by disruptive technological change that will revolutionize security competition. In this seminar, we will take a step back and look at the big picture to clarify the nature of these threats, identify their strategic heritage, and assess their impact. As we will see, these supposedly new threats are all different sides of the same subversive coin. States have long used shadowy means to interfere in each other’s affairs and gain advantages in the shadow of hard power politics—the discipline of International Relations has just never studied these systematically. In the absence of scientific examination, myth, and speculation have taken hold.

This class takes a different route by systematically analyzing the nature of subversion as an instrument of power, its mechanism of action, and its strategic value. Drawing on a wide range of historic and contemporary case studies, we will examine how states have used the diverse tools of subversion to achieve strategic goals. We will identify both the opportunities and challenges that subversion brings, different strategies of subversion and their strategic scope. Building on this groundwork, we will examine how new technologies change these characteristics. This journey will lead us from the Cold War’s spy games to today’s intensifying Cyber Conflict and the rise of Artificial Intelligence. To that end, we will examine several major cyber operations in detail. Three of these discussions will be led by leading threat intelligence experts who were personally involved in the analysis.

The course is a lecture-seminar, meaning each session starts with a short lecture to summarize the key points and debates in the reading. Next, we will explore these debates in an open discussion. For each session, a set of discussion questions will be uploaded to Canvas in advance to help you prepare.

An introduction to the major principles, concepts, actors, and theories of the international system and their application to current issues in world affairs.

Under the direct supervision of one or more faculty members, graduate students will complete an original research design and execute that study.

Explores the processes and problems of political and economic integration in the European Union, the world's largest trading bloc.

A comparative analysis of the politics and major institutions of the countries of contemporary Western Europe.

Examination of the economic and political dynamics that influence how regulations governing technology are adopted around the world.

As satellites orbit the Earth hundreds or thousands of kilometers above our heads, they quietly play a critical role in our daily lives, the global economy, and military power. To study space policy is to interrogate the decision-making processes for the civil, commercial, and military uses of outer space from the dawn of the space age to the modern day, spanning issues of international coordination, sustainability, and security in the domain. Through this course, students will learn about the diverse factors that have historically shaped space policy thinking, from the original rationales for spaceflight, to the birth of the commercial space industry, to the development of international systems that promote long-term stability in a rapidly densifying environment. 

By engaging with the debates and decisions that have shaped global space activities, students will gain an appreciation for the role of space technologies in global society, the critical challenges facing this domain, and the intricate politics driving contemporary space policy in both the United States and around the world.