GLBL 5004a, Writing Persuasively for Policy and Politics  David Morse

The primary objective is to equip students with the knowledge and skills needed to write persuasively as policy professionals. This semester-long course is divided into three units: the policy memo; the argumentative essay; and the speech. For the policy memo, students choose a policy topic of their own, then carry out every step of the policy analysis process, from defining, framing, and analyzing the problem to identifying and evaluating possible solutions, to building a case for recommendations. For the policy-focused essay, students identify practical rhetorical strategies to argue persuasively about their chosen policy topic in the public domain. Students practice deploying both emotional and rational appeals while confronting difficult normative questions about how to write persuasively without manipulating readers or devolving into spin. Finally, for the speech, students study a variety of noteworthy speeches that have had a real-world impact.  Drawing on these insights, students craft their own speech. At the end of the semester, students have the option to present their speeches orally to the Jackson community. Students have the choice to take the course for a grade or Sat/Unsat. Priority is given to Jackson graduate students. In general, students are admitted based on the order in which they apply. Note: this course combines elements of two previous courses offered by the Jackson Writing Program: GLBL 5000, Professional Public Policy Writing, and GLBL 5001, Disinformation and the Craft of Ethical Persuasion.
Th 1:30pm-3:20pm

GLBL 5005a, Fundamentals of Economics for Global Affairs  Jim Levinsohn and Ardina Hasanbasri

This course covers key economic theories/models used for the analysis of micro- and macroeconomic policy issues. We spend half the course covering microeconomics topics such consumer and producer choices, effects of market intervention, market competition, and issues with public goods. In the second half, we move to the larger (macro) economic picture and discuss topics such as measures of economic growth, inflation, the labor market, and the financial market. The course emphasizes training economic intuition and providing space for students to explore how these economic concepts relate to policy issues of their interest. The course also provides the economic background necessary to enroll in the Global Economics core GLBL 5010, taken in the spring term.
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm

GLBL 5015a, Negotiations  Barry Nalebuff and Daylian Cain

This half-semester course presents a principled approach to negotiation, one based on game theory. The key insight is to recognize what is at stake in a negotiation—the unique value created by an agreement—what we call the “pie.” This lens changes the way students understand power and fairness in negotiation. It helps make students more creative and effective negotiators. The course provides several opportunities for students to practice skill via case studies and get feedback on what students did well and where they might improve.  ½ Course cr
W 3:30pm-6pm

GLBL 5020a, Applied Methods of Analysis  Justin Thomas

This course is an introduction to statistics and their application in public policy and global affairs research. It consists of two weekly class sessions in addition to a discussion section. The discussion section is used to cover problems encountered in the lectures and written assignments, as well as to develop statistical computing skills. Throughout the term we cover issues related to data collection (including surveys, sampling, and weighted data), data description (graphical and numerical techniques for summarizing data), probability and probability distributions, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, measures of association, and regression analysis. The course assumes no prior knowledge of statistics and no mathematical knowledge beyond calculus. Graded only, sat/unsat option is not permissible. 
MW 1pm-2:15pm

GLBL 5040a, Comparative Politics for Global Affairs  Jennifer Gandhi

Economics can tell us with increasing precision what policies maximize growth, welfare, and productivity. But how are policies actually made? Why are so many poor policies adopted and good ones foregone? In this course students investigate how government organization and the structure of political competition shape the conditions for better and worse economic policy making across a range of economic policies including macroeconomic policy, corporate and financial regulation, industrial policy, and trade. Students consider these policy areas in democratic and nondemocratic regimes, and in developed and developing countries. Graded only, sat/unsat option is not permissible. 
MW 2:30pm-3:45pm

GLBL 5050a, Introduction to Python for Global Affairs  William King

In the second decade of the twenty-first century, “big data” analytics and techniques have fundamentally transformed policy decisions both in the United States and throughout the globe. NGOs, NPOs, political campaigns, think tanks, and government agencies more and more recruit policy analysts with the necessary skills to embrace novel, data-driven approaches to policy creation and evaluation. This course is designed to help students meet this growing demand. It is an introductory course in Python programming and data analysis for policy students with no prior coding experience. Unlike massive introductory classes, this course is deliberately small, designed to provide the necessary support for humanists to make a smooth and nurturing transition to "tech humanists." Ultimately, students should be comfortable using what they’ve learned in further Yale courses in programming and statistics, or in research and policy after leaving Yale. They should know enough to productively collaborate on projects with engineers, understand the potential of such work, have sufficient background to expand their skills with more advanced classes, and perform rudimentary data analyses and make policy recommendations based on these analyses.
Th 6pm-7:50pm

GLBL 5065a, Intro to AI: From Turing to ChatGPT  William King

The purpose of this course is to provide students with a comprehensive introduction to Artificial Intelligence including a history of general AI (from Turing and “the test” through the “AI winter” to present); the possibility and fears of an AI that could supplant humanity and the sceptics who mock those fears as irrational; and the current, more narrow definitions and technical applications of what is referred to as AI including deep learning, neural networks and machine learning. From these building blocks, students consider certain applications of AI to national defense, climate change, and government policies with an eye to the tension between technological capability and ethical imperatives. The goal of this course is for students to emerge first and foremost, with a more advanced tech literacy, if not fluency and to possess a strong AI- and machine-learning working vocabulary. Further, students learn how to effectively differentiate AI from ML, myth from reality, and rational fear from speculative science fiction.
Th 3pm-4:50pm

GLBL 5095a, Introduction to Special Operations  Christopher Fussell

For nearly twenty years, the world has seen the role, funding, and employment of U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) increase in ways that might seem unrecognizable to previous generations of civilian and military leaders. As the world transitions from two decades of SOF-heavy conflict into Great Power Competition among nation states, an understanding of the SOF community’s history, evolution, and future will be critical for those trying to navigate national security questions in the decades to come. This course looks specifically at historic utilization of these forces and at post-9/11 expansion of authorities, funding, and mission-sets; and it considers what their proper role and function may look like moving forward. Students gain a foundational understanding of a relatively small component of the U.S. military with an outsized strategic position on the global stage.
W 5:30pm-7:20pm

GLBL 6115a, Topics in Computer Science and Global Affairs  Joan Feigenbaum and Ted Wittenstein

This course focuses on “socio-technical” problems in computing and international relations. These are problems that cannot be solved through technological progress alone but rather require legal, political, or cultural progress as well.  Examples include but are not limited to cyber espionage, disinformation, ransomware attacks, and intellectual-property theft. This course is offered jointly by the SEAS Computer Science Department and the Jackson School of Global Affairs. It is addressed to graduate students who are interested in socio-technical issues but whose undergraduate course work may not have addressed them; it is designed to bring these students rapidly to the point at which they can do research on socio-technical problems. Prerequisites: Basics of cryptography and computer security (CPSC 467), networks (CPSC 433), and databases (CPSC 437) helpful but not required.
W 3:30pm-5:20pm

GLBL 6285a, China's Challenge to the Global Economic Order  Hanscom Smith

In the decades after 1979, China's adherence to key tenets of the U.S.-backed liberal international economic system enabled it to achieve middle income status. After the 2008-9 global financial crisis, however, weaknesses in the U.S. model combined with China's own sustained growth increased Beijing's confidence in an alternative, state-oriented model that increasingly underpins China's foreign economic engagement. This course examines the Global Security and Belt and Road initiatives, trade, investment, and development policies, international organization advocacy, business practices, and other aspects of China's growing international economic footprint. These factors are analyzed from the perspective of China's internal dynamics, competition with the United States, and overall foreign policy goals, and are evaluated for their impact on the prevailing global economic order. The course is taught by a practitioner who spent over a decade managing U.S. Government economic policy in and on China.
T 1:30pm-3:20pm

GLBL 6535a, Social Innovation Starter  Teresa Chahine

This course is a primer for practicing social innovation. We define social innovation as finding a novel solution to a complex social problem that is more effective, efficient, sustainable, or just than existing solutions; disrupts the status quo; and creates value on a societal rather than individual level. Yet before we innovate, we must research and reflect on root causes, available alternatives, stakeholders, resources, and existing systems and also take into consideration different pathways to social change, under different societal structures and belief systems. Over the course of thie semester, we read and discuss the textbook Social Entrepreneurship: Building Impact Step by Step, which provides a ten-stage framework for creating social change. This includes cases from different sectors including education, environment, health, nutritional justice, women’s socioeconomic empowerment, social financing and investing, financial inclusion, and ecosystem entrepreneurship. Students are invited to critique the book’s framework and adapt it to topics of their choice. Jackson students may elect to follow up on this course with an independent study and/or summer internship with a partner organization of their choice to implement their ideas. This may include creating new programs or products, reaching new populations, measuring the impact of existing work, creating new communications tools for existing work, or other challenges. Students in non-Jackson programs are also welcome to register for this course; there are no prerequisites.
T 1pm-3pm

GLBL 6610a, Artificial Intelligence, Emerging Technologies, and National Power I  Ted Wittenstein

This two-term course, featuring guest scholars and practitioners from across the university, examines how artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to alter the fundamental building blocks of world order. Machines capable of sophisticated information processing, towards the frontier of autonomy, pose tremendous opportunities for economic growth and societal well-being. Yet the potential risks also are extraordinary.  How can we build AI systems that are reliable, transparent, safe, scalable, and aligned with human values? Following an introduction to AI and survey of current research challenges, the seminar focuses on seven core areas where AI and emergent technologies already pose significant security concerns: (1) lethal autonomous weapons and the nature of conflict, (2) disinformation and the future of democracy, (3) competition and conflict in U.S.-China relations, (4) AI ethics and safety, (5) AI governance, (6) nanotechnology and quantum computing, and (7) outer-space development. For each of these sub-units, the goal is to equip aspiring leaders with requisite technical fluency, and to bridge the divide across the law, technology, and policy communities at Yale.
Th 1:30pm-3:20pm

GLBL 6620a, Macroeconomics and Security policy: tools and constraints  Marnix Amand

This course provides students with a non-technical but rigorous understanding of how economics impacts policy and security issues. Given the increasingly integrated nature of trade networks and global financial markets, industrial, monetary and financial policy choices in the US have security implications abroad. These policy choices can play a destabilizing role, fueling global imbalances and/or triggering crises in emerging economies but also (still) offer unique levers of power to the US through extraterritorial regulatory influence and various forms of sanctions. Understanding international macroeconomics is therefore relevant for a development, foreign policy, or security practitioner. The class will build up the necessary theory and background knowledge to understand the current state of play and focus on possible near-term evolutions. This class has no prerequisites and does not expect students to have an economics background, uses minimal math and is geared towards MPP and MAS students. Not offered in 2025.
W 9:25am-11:15am

GLBL 7020a, Negotiating International Agreements: The Case of Climate Change  Susan Biniaz

This class is a practical introduction to the negotiation of international agreements, with a focus on climate change. Through the climate lens, students explore cross-cutting features of international agreements, the process of international negotiations, the development of national positions, advocacy of national positions internationally, and the many ways in which differences among negotiating countries are resolved. The seminar also examines the history and substance of the climate change regime, including, inter alia, the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the 2009 Copenhagen Accord, the 2015 Paris Agreement, and recent developments. There are two mock negotiations.
M 1:30pm-3:20pm

GLBL 7055a, Global Crises Response  Harry Thomas

With a special emphasis on the United States, this course explores how the international community responds to humanitarian crises and military interventions. We examine the roles and responsibilities of members of the diplomatic corps, senior military officials, nongovernmental organizations, and international financial organizations in order to understand the skill sets required for these organizations to be effective. Through readings, discussions, role-play, writing exercises, and other tools, we learn how organizations succeed and sometimes fail in assisting individuals and nations in peril. We examine emerging regional hot spots, with an emphasis on sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. We explore the challenges facing the governments, civil society organizations, and businesses in the aftermath of crises and the impact on citizens. We review the effectiveness of regional organizations like the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and the African Union (AU) in assisting governments rebuild and stabilize their societies. We have several role-playing simulations during which students play the role of an individual or organization responsible for briefing counterparts on key events.
T 1:30pm-3:20pm

GLBL 7075a, National Security Law  Asha Rangappa

This course explores the legal questions raised by historical and contemporary national security issues and policies. Learning the law is not as simple as learning set rules and applying them: there is rarely a “right” or “wrong” answer to a complex legal question. National security law, in particular, is an expanding field of study, with new laws and policies testing the limits of previously understood constitutional and legal boundaries. We therefore focus on how to approach national security questions by understanding the fundamental legal tenets of national security policies, the analyses used by courts and legislatures to confront various intelligence and terrorism issues, and theories of how to balance the interests of national security with civil liberties. Although the course is taught much like a traditional law class with an emphasis on the U.S. Constitution, statutes, regulations, executive orders, and court cases, no previous legal knowledge is expected or required.
W 3:30pm-5:20pm

GLBL 7140a, Development in Crisis  David Engerman

Development assistance has been in a perennial state of crisis since its founding in the aftermath of World War II. This course is taught by a historian of international development and by a practitioner who has run development programs in the field and managed a large development agency. The course engages both with economic theories and with practical case studies of development in action. It examines the different justifications given for development over the past seventy years and the impact of domestic politics on development programs. The course seeks to understand both the forces that have shaped the past and present of development and those that will shape its future.
W 9:25am-11:25am

GLBL 7150a, Managing the Clean Energy Transition: Contemporary Energy and Climate Change Policy Making  Paul Simons

This seminar explores the principal challenges facing key global economies in managing their respective transitions to a clean energy future and the goals of the Paris agreement, while simultaneously meeting their energy security needs and keeping their economies competitive. By the end of the course, students should be familiar with key features of the global energy and climate change architecture, principal challenges facing policy makers around the world in balancing energy and climate goals, and prospects for the development of key fuels and technologies as we advance toward a net zero emissions world. After a solid grounding in energy and climate scenarios, the course explores the role of electricity and renewable energy, energy efficiency, and clean energy technologies in the clean energy transition; corporate and financial sector climate initiatives; economic tools including carbon pricing; and the shifting roles of fossil fuels in the clean energy transition.
F 9:25am-11:15am

GLBL 7165a, Earth System Science for Public Policy  Jessica Seddon

Environmental change is accelerating. Ongoing shifts in temperature, rainfall, storm intensity, seasonal patterns, species ranges and interactions, ecosystem health, and more already represent a profound shift in humans’ “operating environment,” to borrow a phrase from the authors of the planetary boundary’s framework. And the science suggests that the pace will not let up. If anything, we can expect more sudden and irreversible changes—tipping points—that will affect economies, polities, and societies as well as human health and wellbeing. This course seeks to build public policy professionals’ familiarity with policy-relevant aspects of earth system dynamics. It is no substitute for the kind of deeper collaboration between specialists that is needed for effective environmental governance, but it provides a foundation for identifying and framing such partnerships. This is a new and experimental course that attempts to address a gap that the instructor has encountered all too often in her twenty-five years working on the intersection of economics, public policy, and efforts to limit environmental damage. It draws on her interdisciplinary and global network of collaborators to attempt to provide selected depth as well as breadth.
M 3:30pm-5:20pm

GLBL 7280a, Leadership  Christopher Fussell

This course is designed for students wanting to deeply reflect on what it means to be a leader, and to help them prepare for leading others in their future. Amongst the many pressures of the role, leaders affect the lives of those they lead, influence the health of the organization they oversee, and hold an important role in advancing social progress. Many learn these realities through trial and error but are rarely given the time to consider what leadership truly entails and how we, as individual leaders, will handle the challenges that lie ahead.  From heading up a small team to running a major organization, leadership is often an isolating and uncertain position, but is also full of opportunity to positively impact others, and to advance society broadly. Leadership is challenging, exciting, and sometimes terrifying; but most importantly, it is a choice to which one must recommit every day. This course is designed to offer a foundation in the practice of leadership for students who want to take on these challenges in their future. The course is divided into three main sections: historic perspectives on leadership, leadership in context, and personal reflections on leadership. Students finish the semester with a foundational understanding of leadership models throughout history, a range of case studies to refer to in the future, and most importantly, a personal framework that can be applied and expanded throughout their journey and growth as a leader. Students do not leave with all the answers they need to conquer the countless challenges that leaders face, but they instead leave with an understanding of how leaders work, every day, to improve themselves and better the lives of those they lead.
HTBA

GLBL 7290a, Ethical Choices in Public Leadership  Eric Braverman

All public leaders must make choices that challenge their code of ethics. Sometimes, a chance of life or death is literally at stake: how and when should a leader decide to let some people die, or explicitly ask people to die to give others a chance to live? At other times, while life or death may not be at stake, a leader must still decide difficult issues: when to partner with unsavory characters, when to admit failure, when to release information or make choices transparent. The pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and continued instability around the world all make clearer than ever the consequences of decisions in one community that can affect the entire world. This interdisciplinary seminar draws on perspectives from law, management, and public policy in exploring how leaders develop their principles, respond when their principles fail or conflict, and make real-world choices when, in fact, there are no good choices. Both permission of the instructor and application are required. Attendance at first session is mandatory.
F 8:30am-11:15am

GLBL 7535a, Intelligence, Espionage, and American Foreign Policy  Ted Wittenstein

The discipline, theory, and practice of intelligence; the relationship of intelligence to American foreign policy and national security decision-making. Study of the tools available to analyze international affairs and to communicate that analysis to senior policy makers. Case studies of intelligence successes and failures from World War II to the present.
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm