NEW COURSES (Spring 2026)
|
GLOB1-GC 2630 Special Topics: Democracy and Technology (Concentration Course for Gender, International Development and Humanitarian Assistance) Instructor: Jens Rudbeck Artificial intelligence, blockchain, social media platforms, and digital surveillance tools are redefining democratic governance in the 21st century. This course explores how digital technologies are influencing the policymaking process, regime change, law enforcement, and public service delivery across the world. While the digital revolution has shown significant potential for expanding political and civil rights, it is also clear that it comes with a risk of increased surveillance, misinformation, social polarization, and a concentration of political power in the hands of those who control the technology. The course also critically discusses how the digital infrastructure divide – a divide that runs along lines of identity, income, and geography – affects citizens’ access to democratic participation, government accountability, and regime form. By the end of the course, students will have a comprehensive understanding of how technology and democracy intersect, be able to assess opportunities and threats of digital governance, and gain hands-on experience designing solutions that support more inclusive and accountable democracies. |
GLOB1-GC2630.002 Special Topics: Launching and Scaling an Impact Fund(Concentration Course for Global Economy) Instructor: Joelle Birge The United Nations Development Programme estimates that 4 trillion dollars of additional investment is needed to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Closing this financing gap will require successful creation, scaling, and managing of new impact investment funds. This course provides practical knowledge on how to launch, scale and manage a global impact investing fund. Students will learn the essential components of fund structure and operations, which will equip them to launch their own fund, to work at an emerging impact fund, or to finance impact funds through working at Development Finance Institutions and other capital allocators. Learning will be interactive and will include case studies, group activities, guest lectures from impact investing practitioners, discussion of readings, individual assignments, and a practical final project, in which students will design a new impact fund and pitch their ideas to a panel of impact investors. Students will learn how to solve the world’s most pressing problems through impact investing and will leave the class prepared to contribute new ideas to the impact investing ecosystem. |
GLOB1-GC3002 US China Negotiations(Concentration Course for International Relations) Instructor: David Sacks The U.S.-China relationship is the most important bilateral relationship in the world. How these two countries – the world’s two largest economies – interact with one another and navigate this increasingly contentious relationship will in many ways determine the complexion of the world for decades to come. In this course, students will learn about the history of modern U.S.-China relations and the key areas of friction, from Taiwan to the South China Sea, the war in Ukraine, and the brewing battle for technological supremacy. Students will also evaluate potential areas of cooperation between these two major powers. Classes will not only look at the history of these issues, but will also discuss the latest developments in this rapidly changing relationship. Students will come away with a framework to think about the trajectory of U.S.-China relations and make sense of the daily headlines. |
|
GSCC1-GC2500 Special Topics: Cyber Soft Power: Influence & Security in the Digital Era (MSGSCC) Instructor: Shaoyu Yuan Cyber Soft Power examines how digital platforms function not only as communication tools but as instruments of political influence, cultural projection, and security risk. We analyze social media, video games, generative AI, and cloud infrastructure to see how technologies are weaponized to shape perception, build national images, and control information flows. As democracies and authoritarian regimes adapt foreign policy to the networked terrain, we trace where soft influence meets cybersecurity, data governance, and infrastructure politics. Why do apps like TikTok spark national-security hearings? How can a game make players fall in love with a culture? How do autocracies use AI to fortify control? What happens when the cloud becomes geopolitical? |
|
GSCC1-GC2500 Special Topics: Data Science for Global Affairs (Concentration Course for MSGSCC, Global Economy, Data Analytics Specialization) Instructor: Eleonore Fournier-Tombs In this class, students will learn the fundamentals of data science, and how to apply them in a global affairs context. The course will cover the theoretical background and context of data science and allow students to become familiar with the basics of the data lifecycle, including data collection and storage, descriptive analytics and predictive modelling, project implementation and results reporting. Students will learn the basics of Python, using Jupyter Notebook or a similar interface, and will explore the machine learning Python packages, with a focus on scikit learn for machine learning and matplot lib for visualisations. Assignments will focus on global affairs use cases, such as geopolitical alliances, global risk, humanitarian and conflict modelling. The objective of the course is to provide students with a data science with Python foundation, which they will then be able to apply in various policy contexts. No prior experience in coding or Python is required. |