How do countries and non-state actors cooperate on issues that transcend international borders? What are the unique opportunities and challenges to addressing global issues in international organizations, especially the United Nations (UN)? In this course, we will examine the historical foundations of the UN, the structure of the UN, and the nature of representation in the United Nations. We will analyze the conditions under which the UN is likely to succeed or fail at addressing a range of security, economic and social, and human rights issues. To facilitate this analysis, we will examine historical and contemporary UN work to address climate change, conflict, humanitarian assistance, and human rights. This class is part of a Model United Nations program at Washington University in St.Louis, which will travel to the National Model United Nations conference in New York in the spring. It is the first course in a two-course series. Students must complete both the fall and the spring course with a B or better to be eligible for the New York conference team. Students may also take this course without choosing to continue to the conference.

How do United Nations (UN) institutions work with Member States, regional organizations, non-state actors, and other parts of the UN system to tackle complex global issues? Why do states take different positions on global issues based on their foreign policy and domestic political interests? In this course, we will answer these questions in specific cases based on the country assignment WashU receives from the National Model UN conference, which will vary each year to offer opportunities to learn about global policy from diverse perspectives. To facilitate this analysis, students will create collective resources on the political structures, key issues and allies, and diplomatic positions of our Model UN team’s assigned country. Then, students will conduct research on two global issues relevant to their assigned UN committee, including the nature of the issue, ongoing ways the international community works on this issue, and the assigned country’s positions on future solutions. In this applied course, students will combine secondary literature reviews with primary source research using documents and data from international and regional organizations. This course is the second in a 2-part course on the United Nations. Part of this course is participation in the National Model United Nations conference in New York.

In the last decade, the number of people who are forcibly displaced has more than doubled, and today the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that 117.3 million people are forcibly displaced. Among this group, people face distinct legal, social, economic, and political challenges according to their status as refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced persons, and others who do not fit these categories. In this course, we will examine the political conditions that forcibly displace people across and within countries, including persecution, conflict, and environmental disasters exacerbated by climate change, as well as their experiences of seeking refuge. How do international, state, local, and non-governmental institutions cooperate to manage the needs of forcibly displaced persons? In what ways do political pressures create opportunities for and barriers to effective policies to address refugee issues? How do these structural challenges affect forcibly displaced persons, and what strategies do advocates use to improve the human rights of these populations? Throughout the course, we will bear in mind the interconnectedness of macro-level policy-making and micro-level issues that affect the daily lives of individual humans experiencing forced displacement.

Across Europe and beyond, parties on the far right have become a substantial force in contemporary politics. Some analysts have raised questions about these parties’ ties to fascism, as characterized regimes such as Mussolini’s Italy, Franco’s Spain, and Hitler’s Germany. How do today’s far right actors compare to those of the past, and what can we learn from the comparison of the present moment to history? In this class, we will study both the extreme and radical right in Europe over time through the lens of three cases: Italy, Spain, and Germany. We will analyze both the conditions for popular support (demand) and political opportunity structures (supply) that allow(ed) far right actors to gain and maintain authority. We will also assess the strategies of these actors through themes of race and migration, security and foreign policy, gender, and religion. As we develop this discussion, you will conduct further research into a single topic that interests you, in the course cases or another case of your choice. Since an essential element of far right politics is the rejection of either the liberal elements of democracy (e.g. minority rights) or the principles of democracy entirely (including the electoral process), you will present your research through a creative medium aimed at a public audience. The goal of this project is promoting civic engagement, which is a key element of healthy democratic society.