See here for a two-page summary of all of my "final course evaluations" (FCEs) from Fall 2016 through Spring 2023.
Introduction to Political Science (84-101), Carnegie Mellon University (offered one time)
This course teaches the foundational concepts necessary to understand and participate in politics. It is important to those who want to study political science and international relations as a discipline, but also to those who just want frameworks for understanding governance, power, and advancing the common good. Beginning with an examination of the modern state, it addresses fundamental questions such as: What is sovereignty? How do we distinguish democratic rule, authoritarianism, and totalitarianism? When did socialism, communism, fascism, and liberalism emerge, and what do they mean? How does secular government differ from theocracy? Why are the concepts of national self-determination and spheres of influence clashing today? What are the causes of wars and revolutions? What are global norms and international law? And how can we use our understanding of power and governance to build a better world? Throughout the course, students are exposed to how political scientists think and argue about politics.
Note: This course is part of the Dietrich College gen-ed curriculum ("Disciplinary Perspectives: Social Science" category).
Syllabi: Fall 2025
International Relations (84-226), Carnegie Mellon University (offered three times)
This course introduces students to the essentials of international relations (IR) and enables students to examine the causes of war and peace, the role of state and non-state actors in world politics, the forces that shape international law and international political economy, and current challenges to geopolitics, human rights, the environment, and human security. The course has three units, each beginning with four lectures/textbook chapters and followed by a “deeper dive” day (e.g. active learning / seminar discussion on supplemental readings), a day of student debates on contemporary world politics, a book club meeting where student groups read and discuss a new IR book beyond the textbook, and an exam. Through the course, students are equipped to understand trends/news in world politics.
Note: This course is part of the Dietrich College gen-ed curriculum ("Disciplinary Perspectives: Social Science" category).
Note 2: This course replaces a more theory-centric introductory course "Theories of International Relations" that I taught in Fall 2021 and Fall 2022.
Syllabi: Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Spring 2026
Nonviolent Conflict and Revolution (84-322/622), Carnegie Mellon University (offered eight times)
How can everyday people promote justice, equality, and democracy? Throughout history, many looked to armed struggle and revolutionary violence. But over the last century, nonviolent “people power” movements – from Gandhi’s salt march to the Arab Spring to Black Lives Matter – have been forces for social and political change. What are the causes, strategies, tactics, dynamics, and consequences of nonviolent conflict, and how do these differ from violent or armed conflict? When and how do unarmed “people power” campaigns win policy concessions or topple authoritarian regimes? This course addresses these questions and in the process engages contending theories of power, revolution, and insurgency. The course introduces students to key concepts, theories, strategies, historical patterns, and landmark case studies of successful and failed nonviolent revolutions.
Note: This course is part of the Dietrich College gen-ed curriculum ("Perspectives on Justice and Injustice" category).
Syllabi: Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Spring 2026
Diplomacy and Statecraft (84-362/662), Carnegie Mellon University (offered nine times)
Diplomacy and statecraft are the driving forces behind foreign policy and international politics. Students are first introduced to the concepts, theories, and history of international negotiation and modern diplomacy. Students examine key historical cases and profile modern diplomatic leaders. Finally, the class surveys ongoing diplomatic challenges related to engaging rogue regimes, major power relations with Russia and China, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, human rights promotion, and climate change. Both in the classroom and in writing, students are encouraged to think, act, and write like diplomats and to appreciate diplomacy as a vocation. Throughout the course, students build skills in foreign policy memo writing, participate in diplomatic role-playing simulations, build cultural intelligence, and connect diplomatic trend lines with today’s international headlines.
Note: This course is part of the Dietrich College gen-ed curriculum ("Intercultural and Global Inquiry" category).
Syllabi: Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Fall 2025
International Human Rights (84-303A), Carnegie Mellon University (offered two times)
This mini-course surveys the causes of human rights violations around the world and the internal and external forces that combat them. The course begins by asking how political scientists conceptualize and measure human rights; we also review the origins and evolution of the international human rights movement and debates over whether human rights are (or should be) universal. We then survey the correlates of human rights abuses and review what progress has been made towards global forecast models of genocide and mass killing. We then examine forces & actors that attempt to promote human rights and assess the efficacy of international human rights law, international human rights NGOs, and human rights diplomacy. The course concludes by surveying the geopolitics of human rights, the U.S.’ recent human rights record, and the future of human rights globally. By the end of this course, you should come away with an appreciation for the ongoing struggle to achieve the global aspirations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Syllabus: Spring 2023, Spring 2025
The Future of Democracy (84-324/624), Carnegie Mellon University (offered four times)
After the Cold War, Francis Fukuyama famously argued that humanity had reached the “end of history” insofar as liberal democracy had become the last viable form of government. Yet today, illiberal democracies and dictatorships persist, the world has witnessed the return of authoritarian great powers led by China and Russia, and populist movements challenge liberal democracies around the world. What is the future of democracy around the world, and how can we know? This course surveys the causes of historical rise (and fall) of democracy, the methods and pitfalls of democracy promotion, and a variety of challenges to democracy -- such as nationalism, polarization, and misinformation. By the end, students will be expected to write an intelligence memo and give an oral presentation on the future of democracy in a particular region or country.
Note: This course is part of the Dietrich College gen-ed curriculum ("Contextual Thinking" category).
Syllabi: Spring 2019, Summer 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2024
Civil-Military Relations (84-319/619), Carnegie Mellon University (offered one time)
Why do militaries (people with guns) ever obey civilians (people without guns)? What is the proper role of the armed forces and military officers in a democratic society? When, why, and how do militaries achieve autonomy, battlefield effectiveness, or political rule? Students will confront such questions by surveying theories, cases, and ethical challenges of modern civil-military relations. The first half of the course surveys the theoretical, empirical, and normative literature on problems in civil-military relations, particularly the causes of military loyalty to civilian rule, colonial legacies in civil-military relations, difference in civilian and military mindsets/cultures, the relationship between civil-military relations and battlefield effectiveness, military repression and defection during civilian protests, and the determinants and outcomes of military coups and mutinies. In the second half of the course, the class will survey civil-military relations in selected regions and countries (including the United States, Russia, and China). By the end, students will write an original case study explaining civil-military relations in a particular state.
Syllabus: Summer 2022
Writing for Political Science and Policy (84-250), Carnegie Mellon University (offered one time)
The aim of this course is to equip students with the essential skills necessary to successfully write academic research papers and theses in political science and professional documents such as policy memos, op-eds, political speeches, briefs, and PowerPoint slides. Students thus learn fundamentals of writing for political science and public policy. Key topics include principles of rhetoric, evidence-based argumentation and citation, concision, and framing. Students also learn how to cite properly using citation management software EndNote and construct powerful tables and figures using quantitative datasets. This is a writing-intensive course in which students practice writing, edit peers’ writing, read about how to write, and analyze examples of stellar writing. A final project entails writing a draft senior thesis proposal.
Note: This course is now taught by my brilliant colleague, Associate Professor of the Practice Haleigh Bartos.
Syllabus: Spring 2020
Doctoral dissertation committee member
Charity Jacobs, 2024-25 (societal computing; chair: Kathleen Carley)
Humanities & Social Science Senior Honors Thesis I&II (66-501/502)
Julia Adams, 2018-19
Renee Nikolov, 2021-22
Jiahui He, 2022-23
Maxwell Plottel, 2022-23
International Relations & Politics Graduate Thesis (84-799)
Eunice Oh, 2022-23 (primary advisor)
Ryan Murphy, 2022-23 (secondary advisor)
Jesse Jenkins, 2023-24 (primary advisor)
Collaborative Research in Political Science (84-440/640), Carnegie Mellon University (offered one time as an experimental “capstone” style group research course)
Are you interested in joining an inter-disciplinary, collaborative research team that could eventually lead to publishing a co-authored article in political science? This course invites interested students to join as active participants in one of several ongoing research projects by a political science faculty member. Students will be grouped into small teams of co-authors based on interest and skills. Some students may take the lead with data collection and cleaning, others with writing a literature review or case studies, others still with analyzing and visualizing data. The goal will be to draft a co-authored paper by the end of the semester that may be presented at a conference and, ideally, published in a journal. Students from all backgrounds are welcome, especially those with an interest in politics, history, international relations, or social science applications of statistics, data science, and/or machine learning.
Syllabus: Spring 2023
Dietrich College Freshman-Sophomore Research Training (84-198, 9 units)
Offered 6 times since 2019 (Spring 2019, Spring 2022-2025, Fall 2024)
Mentored 14 students with little to no research experience, an average of 1 RA a semester
Undergraduate Research (84-498, number of units varies)
Offered 16 times (Fall 2016-2020 and 2022-2025, Spring 2017-18, 2020, and 2023-26)
Mentored 44 students across a total of 56 enrollments, an average of ~3 RAs a semester
Director’s Merit Fellowship Course (84-796, 1 unit)
Offered 6 times to four IPS/CMIST graduate student RAs (director’s merit fellows): Jessica Kirkpatrick (Fall 2022), Jesse Jenkins (Spring 2023), Daniel Hayase (Fall 2024-Spring 2025), and Samantha Yu (Fall 2025-Spring 2026)
Graduate Research (84-797, number of units varies)
Offered 3 times to Oliver Bauer for self-coup research (Fall 2024-2025, Spring 2025)
International Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (full-time research internship)
Offered 1 time to CMIST undergraduate student Colin Brown who won a competitive CMU-paid research internship to conduct research on coup plots in Barcelona, Spain, in collaboration with myself and my co-author Abel Escribà-Folch (Summer 2025).
Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (full-time research internship)
Offered 3 times to IPS/CMIST undergraduates who won competitive CMU-paid research internships to conduct research with me over the summer: Jacqueline Puschmann (Summer 2017), Arkadzi Rakach (Summer 2024), and Colin Brown (Summer 2024)
Summer Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship (99-270, number of units varies)
Offered 7 times to 21 undergraduate students to conduct part-time research with me, an average of 3 such RAs per summer through 2024 (Summer 2017-2021, 2023-2024)
Collaborative Research Through Projects (99-520, 9 units, offered three times, specific projects vary by year)
Authoritarian Influence and Democracy: Lessons from around the World, Summer 2024, , led to co-authored blogs with 5 of 15 enrolled students (Mirren Hibbert, Anastasia Kim, Ellie Kim, Noel Overby, and Mary Urso) and 1 working paper (with Joyce Lee)
The History of Self-Coups: An Adventure in Academic Publishing, Summer 2023
Technologies of Rebellion: Collaborative Research in Political Violence, Summer 2022
Independent Study (95-902, Heinz College, 12 units)
Offered 1 time to a MSIT-DBI student to conduct research on coup risk (Summer 2021)
Introduction to International Relations (POL 240), Princeton University (two semesters)
Precept Syllabi: Fall 2012, Spring 2013
Applied Regression Analysis (PUBPOL 569), University of Michigan (one semester)
Evaluation: Fall 2007
Intermediate Microeconomics (ECON 2), University of Michigan Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) Junior Summer Institute (one semester, Summer 2008)
Calculus (MATH 2), University of Michigan Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) Junior Summer Institute (one semester, Summer 2008)