Graduate Courses

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European, Russian & Eurasian Studies

IAFF 311 Colloquium: Europe & Eurasia
Overview of contemporary Europe and Eurasia, with exposure to various analytical approaches. Required for first-year EES students; open to other MA candidates with the instructor's permission

IAFF 318 Hist & Politics of Modern Scan
The course considers aspects of the history of the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden), focusing particularly on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as background for a detailed discussion of modern political institutions, political parties and electoral systems, social and economic models, foreign and security policies, and contemporary political issues in those countries.

IAFF 318 Turkey's Place in Europe
This course is designed to explore the historical, social and geopolitical significance of the Turkish Republic as the bridge between the Occident and the Orient. The ways in which Turkey has conflated the major components of Islamic and Western values will be examined. The social constructs that are essential in the making of the Turkish identity such as nationalism, religion, culture and ethnicity will be examined in depth within a historical continuum throughout the course of the semester. An overview of the Turkish reigns, their contributions to the Islamic civilization, will set the foundation for discussion of the rise of modern Turkey. The focus will be on enhancing student's ability to analyze some of the contemporary issues pertinent to security, civil society, nature of governance in Turkey, today. The dynamics that shape the Turkish political tradition, institutions of democracy, sine qua nons of the state's westernization project will be explored in that process. The overarching goal of the course is to attempt to respond to some of the questions germane to Turkey in current international politics and test the validity of the argument that propounds a 'European' Turkey. Tackling this test will have two phases: we will first examine, if Turkey can be rendered the potential role model to the Muslim world that avers Islam's compatibility with democracy. In the second phase, we will evaluate if Europe is prepared to accommodate a Muslim Turkey with a visceral Islamic cultural heritage.