Social Research & Public Policy (SRPP-UH)

The "Arab World" is often lumped into one homogeneous category, which conceals the diversity found within this broad region. Keeping this in mind, this course will examine the unfolding of the "development project" in the postcolonial period and up to our present day in various Arab nation states. Beginning with an excerpt from the Arab Human Development Report, students will take a critical look at how development is defined and measured. Culture and religion have often been invoked as the major obstacles to development in the Arab World. This course will engage with this discourse as through exploring faces of modern day colonialism. What are the new tools and institutions of this new colonialism? How has this affected development and social struggle? The class will be organized around themes and corresponding case studies. Students will engage the idea of "development" in areas of education, economics, natural resources, women's rights, and social welfare. Students will also examine home-grown counter movements, focusing on youth efforts of organizing.

Birds are essential markers of environmental change. Because they ignore geopolitical boundaries, they serve as key connections among disparate regions. They also play vital local roles, reinforcing cultural norms, and serve as magnificent exemplars of the natural world through their myriad adaptations. However, they are also at risk in different parts of the world, ranging from high mountain areas to flat, dry habitats, to island environments. Additionally, some species of birds exist in all three ecosystems (such as the Red-Vented Bulbul, the House Sparrow, the Common Myna, and others), and we will look at how environment has shaped these species' respective life histories. It will also give us a chance to revel in the sheer beauty of the region's birdlife. This class, based in Abu Dhabi, will examine the intersections of avian culture with fragile ecosystems - not just environmental ones, but cultural ecosystems as well, involving cultures that have been marginalized or otherwise deemed problematic in some way. Through readings, discussions, and local field trips in the UAE, students will interrogate the notion that birds can drive urban and rural dynamics, including water use, climate change, cultural practices, and local ecology. Note: Pending feasible international travel conditions this course will include a regional academic seminar to Nepal.

This course will delve into the definitions, histories, and emerging theories of diversity, equity, otherness, difference, inclusion, tolerance, bias, belonging, transformation, and identity formation. We will consider what these terms mean and their increasing prominence across countries/nations over the last 15 years. By engaging with various texts from different intellectual traditions, such as philosophy, cultural anthropology, political science, history, art, sociology, and economics, students will explore the following questions: How do they relate to nation, language, identity? What, where, when, how, and who "counts" as "diverse", or "different"? If NYU ABU Dhabi is one of the most "diverse campuses" globally, why is this important, and what might we learn? How might competing notions of diversity exist simultaneously? And how is "diversity" imagined in different national, political, social, and environmental contexts? In doing so, students will gain a nuanced understanding of the contrasting and emerging definitions of diversity, inclusion, and bias, their practical policy implications.

How can we understand experiences of forced migration and politics that try to define, manage, and control refugees? We answer this question by examining the US as a country of forced migration rather than as "a nation of immigrants" which implies that people moved there voluntarily, and the UAE as a country that has received many forced migrants without legally calling them such. Students will engage basic conceptual debates about who is a refugee by examine experiences across the globe. Are economic migrants who move to meet basic levels of subsistence “refugees”? How should we conceive of other kinds of forced migrants, such as those fleeing climate change, natural disasters, or domestic violence? Participants will examine flight from countries of conflict, mass hosting in the developing countries of the Global South, resettlement in the rich democracies of the Global North, asylum-seeking, and diasporic engagement, and return. We will learn how refugees are embedded in a world system of control and humanitarian protection in which policymaking in one context is strongly shaped by actors elsewhere. Through interviews with UNHCR officials, participants will learn how these influences are expressed on the ground.

The overarching goals of this course are to introduce students to (1) the great variation in children's development in 21st century global society and (2) how public (government) and private (family, non-governmental and business) sector policies affect children's health, education and economic well-being in low-middle-and high-income countries. Students will learn how to critically examine historical trends in demography, economics and politics that influence child development; understand the role of science and of participatory/democratic processes in increasing the effectiveness of programs and policies affecting children; and analyze political/cultural/communications challenges to improving programs and policies for children. Each student will propose policy changes in a particular country chosen by the student that could dramatically improve the well-being of children.

Entrepreneurship is the principal source of economic development, technological innovation, and creation of wealth and jobs in market economies. This course is concern with entrepreneurship, with a special emphasis on the recent work by sociologists and sociologically-oriented organizational theorist that investigates central questions in entrepreneurship. Throughout the semester, we will understand various ways in which the social sciences have provided theoretical insights into entrepreneurial behavior in its broader social, institutional, technological and cross-national contexts. Furthermore, we will also understand entrepreneurship from more practical view by utilizing case studies. Additionally, we will explore timely important topics related to entrepreneurship, and identify sources of data / information during the last few classes.

Why do groups renounce their capacity to act? Why for instance did the United States Congress relinquish its constitutional right to declare war to the benefit of President Bush in October 2002? How can we explain that unions, parties and civic associations fail to engage in collective action when faced with policies directly threatening their interests and survival? Whether they are explicit or not, abdications punctuate and structure the realm of politics. They condition power relationships, patterns of inequalities and regime change. This course will gauge the significance and the scope of abdication in politics, review possible explanations, investigate paradigmatic cases (e.g., August 1789 in France, March 1933 in Germany, November 1976 in Spain, 1989 in Eastern Europe), and draw the implications of this analysis for our understanding of group behavior and decision-making.

Philanthropy Today: How Organized Money Fuels Innovation, Institutions and Movements: Why do people give? What does philanthropy engender? Philanthropy is one of the most powerful sectors in the world, shaping health systems, arts and culture, higher education, human rights and numerous other public and private institutions and goods in many countries. But to many, these influential institutions and donors, like George Soros, Bill Gates and a growing number of newly-philanthropic tech billionaires, seem opaque and often unaccountable. This course will explore the ancient roots of philanthropy, the creation of foundations in the modern era, their social impact, and their local context, including the legal and tax regimes which give rise to them. It will also delve into emerging trends, debates, practices and controversies, illuminated by case studies, talks with philanthropic leaders, site visits and intensive, ongoing exercise that will enable students to identify an area of philanthropic interest and need, choose an organization, and design a process for making an actual grant. This course will be offered in January-Term 2025.

The Himalayas: Geopolitics and Ecology of Melting Mountains: The Himalayas are home to 15,000 glaciers that provide a lifeline for more than 2.5 billion people. While these mountains span geographic boundaries across India, Nepal, China, Bhutan, and Pakistan, sovereign states have sought to territorialize the land, the water, the air, the ecosystems, and the people. The climate crisis has exacerbated regional tensions because as the Himalayas melt and their water sources diminish, a race to secure access to fresh water is quickly turning into competition. This course offers a fresh narrative frame for understanding the Himalayan water crisis. Glaciers, lakes, rivers, groundwater, and weather patterns constitute integral parts of the region’s intricate and holistic system of water generated, blocked, and moved through these mountains. The class will examine how the region’s complex water issues are not adequately captured by statist IR theorizations. It will emphasize the roles played by diverse local cultures, regional geopolitics, ecologies, and scientific analyses of earth systems to better understand what constitutes a lifeline for a third of humanity. This course includes a regional academic seminar to Nepal. This course will be offered in January-Term 2025.

This course introduces students to foundational texts and theories within migration studies, engaging with the work of key migration scholars who have helped shape and extend our understanding of why and how international migration occurs. For the first half of the course, students will explore a different theoretical question relating to international migration each week e.g. Why do people leave their home countries? Who actually makes the migration decision? Through these questions, students will explore the role played by individual-level factors, households, networks, industry actors, and governments in shaping the migration processes. During the second half of the course, students will be exposed to questions about the post-migration experience and migrants’ impacts on their sending and receiving countries/communities. The literature on select categories of migrants (e.g. trafficking victims, refugees/asylum seekers, undocumented migrants, highly skilled migrants, lifestyle migrants, etc.) will also be introduced to students, giving them an opportunity to understand the specific issues faced by each migrant sub-population pre- and post-migration.

In this seminar, students will come to understand the diverse and dynamic roles that religious and cultural Islam can play in contemporary societies, especially those in the "Middle East" and North Africa. After critically examining what might be meant by Islam and Muslims in the first place, students will use social scientific case studies to investigate how Islam does (or does not) come to matter in various sectors of society, including government and the state, the legal system, politics and social movements, gender relations, sexuality, education, the economy, popular culture, and everyday life. By the end of this course, students will be able to critically analyze the ways that religious and cultural Islam can impact society and social life. Each student will be expected to complete a final research project exploring the core questions posed by the course.

Language, Religion, and Ethnicity: What is language? Where is language? What are religion and ethnicity and how are they connected to language? The seminar offers a linguistic view of religion and ethnicity and looks into the sociolinguistic history, society, and culture of the United States and the Arab world. We will consider the great diversity of communicative systems we encounter both as a source of enrichment for individuals and for the nation as a whole. Students will be introduced to basic concepts of linguistics with an emphasis on descriptive linguistics and sociolinguistics, examining the relationship between language and religion, language and nationalism, language and power, language and ethnicity, language and gender, language and space (with emphasis on Linguistic Landscape), and language and education. In the course we will conduct faculty-guided fieldworks, possibly in Ras Al-Khaimah (investigating the local Shihhi dialect) and in Sharjah (exploration of Language and Heritage) and several Community-based Learning (CBL) Engagements, such as Linguistic Landscape study of selected neighborhoods in Abu Dhabi; in-depth guided visit of the Abrahamic Family House; deep discussions and interactions with "Half Emiratis" and more. This course will be offered in January-Term 2025.

This course will delve into the definitions, histories and emerging theories of "diversity", "otherness", "difference", "tolerance" and identity formation (national, local, personal). Recently new laws and regulations in Europe have emerged, as well new "diversity" pledges in the US - it is argued that key to our global futures is "diversification", but what does this mean? What/Who "counts" as "diverse", "different"? NYU Abu Dhabi is one of the most "diverse campuses" in the world? What might we learn, or how might this be important in higher education? How might competing notions of "diversity" and "tolerance" exist simultaneously and how might "diversity" be imagined in different national contexts? During the course, we will read and explore a variety of materials from different intellectual traditions including, but not limited to the work of philosophers, cultural anthropologists, political scientists, historians, artists, sociologists, and economists who have given consideration to both the conceptual questions posed, as well as the practical implications. Finally, we will consider the connections to the commitment to the Charter for Toleration in the UAE.

This course introduces the key concepts and theoretical approaches in the sociological study of crime and deviance. The objective of the class is not to provide a mass of hard facts about crime and deviance, but to make students familiar with different ways of viewing and explaining crime and deviance and to develop a critical, analytical perspective and an ability to use concepts and theories from the criminological tradition to frame arguments about crime-related issues from a sociological perspective.

Birthing Inequity: Teenage Pregnancy and Covid-19 Public Health Measures in Uganda: How do social, economic, and health disparities contribute to and exacerbate various vulnerabilities among youth, such as teenage pregnancy? What are the most effective strategies for addressing these systemic inequalities through interventions and policy reform? This course explores the intricate relationship between teenage pregnancy - a condition impacting 16 million girls aged 15-19 annually - and systemic inequalities. Through reviewing existing research, conducting content analyses, and studying case examples from both slum-urban and rural contexts (in Uganda), students will learn how these inequalities are perpetuated across generations and societal structures. They will examine potential interventions in areas such as social and economic development, family dynamics, socio-cultural norms of silence, blame, and shame, and the roles of community and male gatekeepers in building a sustainable societal response. The course includes site visits to (Namuwongo Slums, Teenage Centers, Cultural Heritages) and interactive seminars led by faculty from Uganda and Abu Dhabi, culminating in students preparing a final report that addresses ongoing risks and protective factors while suggesting strategies for effective interventions. This course includes a regional academic seminar to Uganda. This course will be offered in June-Term 2025.

This course is designed to provide a survey of gender in politics and policies around the world. The course is divided into three modules. First module provides an overview of access to formal political power. This module discusses women's participation in politics, the history of suffrage, and role of quotas in politics. It also discusses the role of activists and social movements in highlighting gender-based policy agendas. The second module focuses on some major issues of public policy which are related to gender including reproductive and gender affirming healthcare; work and employment; gender based violence; education and global economy. Final module focuses more specifically on different regions of the world to discuss the specific challenges in creating gender equity resulting from geopolitical and historical specificities.

Beyond breathtaking football goals and powerful basketball dunks, sport is a vital lens for analyzing theories and frameworks bound to nationalism, economic development, gender and racial inequalities. Utilizing historical, sociological and anthropological methods this course examines key issues that reveal the sociopolitical conflicts of the past, and perhaps distinct challenges our communities will face in our capitalist world. From the development of cricket and identity formation in British colonial territories to the questions of labor, stadium development and urban planning, sport should be understood beyond masculine bravado, violence and the joy and agony of competition. It is a serious vehicle for conceptualizing and investigating the triumphs and limitations of our society and its complicated history. In what ways does sports reify concepts of race and gender? How do governments use sport and sport tourism to regenerate urban spaces? Reading critical sport studies texts from Asian, European and American scholarly perspectives, in addition to local excursions, this course illuminates the significance of sport in shaping culture and politics in our global society.

The course offers a practical introduction to the theoretical and methodological issues of participatory action research, an approach to qualitative research that involves those being studied in the design and conduct of the research as well as the translation of its findings toward social change. It is frequently used in schools of education and public health to provide a more inclusive way of doing research with marginalized populations. Students will have hands-on experience in carrying out participatory action research with neurodiverse and autistic individuals in the UAE (people of determination) through collaborative research design, reciprocal interviewing, and participant observation.

The course offers a practical introduction to the theoretical and methodological issues of ethnographic field research. The course offers students hands-on experience to carry out ethnographic field research, conduct in-depth interviews and carry out participant observations.

How do sports reflect, reveal or shape major social, economic and political values or changes? Can sports be used to bridge or widen divides? Can sports be used as a lab to test social science theories? A growing body of work tackles these questions. Scholars are recognizing the important role sports plays in people's individual and social lives and the way sports provides a venue where debates and conflicts are played out. Researchers, NGOs and governments are using sports to build relationships among individuals from different groups in an attempt to foster understanding, empathy and cooperation. At the same time, researchers are beginning to use sports data to test social science theories. The rapid growth in computing resources combined with readily available performance and event data has resulted in a burst of work across fields such as political science, sociology, economics and psychology. In part 1, we use a variety of case studies to explore how sports can offer a lens through which to study society and, more specifically, politics. Part 2 puts sports data to use in testing social science theories of identity, trust, and prejudice, among others. Our focus will be on how sports is used to bridge ethnic and religious divides and the role of sports in building understanding between traditionally rival groups in Israel and Palestine. The J-Term 2024 section of this course will be held in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

This course serves as an introduction to qualitative research methods with a focus on interviewing. Students will discuss a range of interview-based research methods. In qualitative research, researchers often have a significant impact on the lives of study participants and are in turn changed by the experience of fieldwork. This carries with it some weighty responsibilities and introduces unique issues of ethics and data interpretation. Students will deal systematically with these issues and with the procedures of research design, transcribing interviews, coding and analyzing data, and finally writing up the research in a coherent paper. Students will have extensive opportunity to learn through doing. One goal of the course is to get students to practice and hone their craft.

In every society, people are assigned to one sex (male or female) at birth based on their anatomy, and this classification affects how they are expected to behave as gendered individuals (men/women/trans) and the opportunities and constraints they confront. However, how gender is organized varies between societies and subgroups in societies and across time. This means that genders and gendered traits are products of social practices and institutions. This course draws from sociology and other social sciences, to help students understand the social forces that create gender ideologies, differences between men's and women's social roles, and inequality between men's and women's access to power and money.

The course offers an overview of the causes and consequences of social inequality. Topics in this course include: the concepts, theories, and measures of inequality; race, gender, and other caste systems; social mobility and social change; institutional support for stratification, including family, schooling, and work; political power and role of elites; and comparative patterns of inequality, including capitalist, socialist, and post-socialist societies.

This course critically examines theories and case studies of religious social movements with a special focus on Islamist social movements in the Middle East. The course will begin by introducing students to the theories of social movements, highlighting the different repertoires movements adopt based on the political and cultural contexts in which they are embedded. It will then move on to exploring the role of Islam in local and global social movements. The course will turn to empirical cases of Islamist movements, analyzing their characteristics in relation to topics such as nationalism, colonialism, human rights, inequality, civil society, Sufism, and the role of women. Students will compare Islamist movements from a wide variety of countries in the region, including Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Lebanon, Palestine, Saudi Arabia as well as transnational and jihadi movements. The class will end with a discussion of the popular upheavals in the region commonly referred to under the rubric of the Arab Spring.

This course introduces students to the role of public policies in different domains of family life adopting a cross-national comparative perspective. It will consider family domains such as fertility, marriage, housework, childrearing, migration, elderly care, etc., and discuss recent scholarship and policy reports (from OECD, UNICEF, World Bank, etc.) problematizing: i) how/why families are changing around the world, and ii) how different policies sustain or hinder some of these changes. The nature of the course is dynamic, interactive, and applied to concrete case studies of policies that have been designed and implemented in different parts of the world, including childcare subsidies, family planning programs, child labor provisions, income assistance for single parents, changes in age at marriage laws, LGBTQ+ rights, parental leave provisions, housing assistance, etc. In doing so, the course emphasizes change, culture, the polity, and the economy as key contextual variables in shaping the relationship between families and family policies throughout the world. Lectures will strike a 50-50 balance between policies implemented in high-income and low- and middle-income societies.

The spectacular development of Gulf cities in the second half of the 20th century was accompanied by great demographic and social change. This course, conceived as an introduction to the field of Gulf studies, explores the transformations of Gulf urban societies in the modern and contemporary periods, as well as their social, political, and urban consequences. With a critical approach to both official historical narratives and dominant analytical paradigms such as the rentier state theory, we will rely on social history and anthropology to explore social processes at the scale of the city. We will contrast the production of space through urban planning and its institutional actors with the way city-dwellers appropriate and shape the materiality of urban space in their daily lives, from street corners to upscale shopping malls. We will explore the linguistic, ethnic, and religious diversity of Gulf cities' inhabitants - both nationals and foreign residents - through looking at historical and contemporary migrations and the complex questions they raise in terms of belonging and citizenship. From there, we will examine how social change has affected gender roles and brought about transformations in marriage and family life which have become a major topic of concern for governments.

The acute prevalence of stratification and inequality in contemporary industrial societies presents a particularly pertinent puzzle for social science researchers. On the one hand, there is the expectation that the vestiges of a post-Enlightenment heritage will offer these developed societies the framework to construct a truly egalitarian social and economic order. At the same time, we are trained theoretically to confront the inevitability of stratification, especially in societies motivated by capitalism. In turn, this brings us to an academic dilemma that rests at the very cornerstone of evolved meritocracies: if stratification is inevitable, then is inequality acceptable so long as it is "fairly" achieved? This "fair" justification for inequality is pervasive and most easily accepted: and in turn, problematic. Because so much of current inequality in society can be justified, most social processes do not seem extreme or blatantly unequal until it is too late. But whether or not we recognize these individual micro-processes, inequality and stratification in the developed first world is both extreme and rising.

To many, the state appears as the preeminent nexus of political power in the contemporary world. It controls population movements, it wages war, it hands out rights, it sets the law. Indeed, the random happenstance of being born in a particular country is the greatest determinate of a person's life chances. Yet the nation-state is not all-powerful, nor is it the only way of organizing a polity, as a long history of empire and colonialism demonstrates. This course will unpack the operation of state power and its intersection with society, while also probing the state's limits, contradictions, and alternatives to it. This class will begin by introducing some of the canonical writings of political sociology that set out some preliminaries of the relationship between politics and society. It will then examine the nature of empire and some of its legacies as well as considering the impact of nationalism, citizenship, and the regulation of migration. The second half of the course will turn to social movements as well as the impact of social media on political participation, before ending with a discussion of the rise of populism, neoliberalism and the growth and limits of globalization.

This course introduces students to key areas of contemporary policy concern in the realm of international migration - including immigrant integration, naturalization and citizenship, border control, brain drain, temporary guestworker regimes, refugees, undocumented migration, etc. Adopting a global perspective, it focuses on both the international and domestic policies that deal with migration issues and migrants, and highlights the ongoing difficulties in developing a global migration regime. By the end of this course, students will have acquired a shared vocabulary on the key organizations, treaties, and policy instruments that relate to international migration flows. Students will become familiar with key migration policy debates from sending country, receiving country, and bilateral and multilateral perspectives. Students will also critically engage with the ethics of migration policies and migration management. Finally, the course provides students with the opportunity to suggest migration policy improvements in areas of interest through the in-depth analysis of a migration "problem" of their choosing and the writing of a migration policy report.

Organized crime (or broadly understood 'mafia') means the systematic use of force in market operations. This borders on state power (use of force) and capitalism (money-making). Yet the mafia undermines both institutions. Why? Is it a conspiracy? Deviance? Immigrant subculture? How to study the social issues for which our IRB might never grant permission? The sociological approach would first ask where and when does mafia occur. From the original 'classic' case of Sicily, we extend a theory to understand the varieties of 'violent' entrepreneurs: Chinese triads, Japan's yakudza, Soviet-era vor v zakone, Indian dakoit, South African tsotsi, Latin American narco-cartels, etc. A robust theory must help us to speak meaningfully on policy dilemmas, public concerns, and, of course, films like the Godfather.

Public policy affects our lives in profound ways even when we are not aware of them. What we eat, how we recycle, or when we disclose personal information on the internet are all examples of choices largely determined by public policies. This course is an introduction to public policy, why it is important, and how it involves simultaneous ethical, political, and problem-solving processes. The course introduces students to the ways in which a variety of actors and institutions at the national and transnational levels interactively contribute to public policy. The course is divided into two parts. The first part provides an overview of the basic concepts underlying the public policy process and the second part provides critical perspectives on public policy-making in theory and practice.

Issues such as poverty, inequalities of access to resources as well as social and political institutions, and the maldistribution of opportunities for education, health care, and employment compel governments everywhere to develop social policies that attempt to improve the well-being of individuals and families. They do so through a bundle of programs known as the welfare state. This course aims to provide both an advanced introduction to actually social policy regimes in both the developed as well as the developing welfare states around the world, as well as some of the contemporary policy debates concerning future directions. The class will also pay attention and gain some direct experience in developing concrete social policy proposals aimed at addressing important societal problems.

Why did the West grow modern first and what happened to the rest after 1500? How the improbable combination of wars and taxation, revolution and nationalism, industrial weapons and colonialism shaped the modern states in Europe? What did the Middle Eastern rulers do in order to develop and secure their independence? How did the UAE achieve its singular success at present? What could sustain it into the future? This course seeks answers to big questions in a comparative perspective informed by macrohistorical theories. Ultimately, we look for the rightful place of the seven Emirates on this world scale.

This course critically examines how women feature in contemporary debates about employment, development, and nationalism in the context of the Gulf Cooperative Council countries. The course provides a philosophical foundation for debates about women, work, and difference based on feminist theories. Students will explore postcolonial perspectives on feminism and difference, feminist Marxist critiques of capitalism, and feminist Islamist critiques of modernity. The course provides an overview of how women in the Gulf feature in contemporary discourses as participants in "globally competitive" economies, mothers of "future generations of citizens", and symbols of "tradition and culture". The third part of the course addresses public policy and legal frameworks shaping women's work, exploring how different categories of "women" are produced through public policy programs such as workforce nationalization, education policy, social policy, and the interplay of national and international laws governing domestic work, human trafficking, and domestic abuse. The course will host a number of academics, activists, and policymakers.

This course exposes students to recent theories of immigration and their bearing on governmental policies toward immigrant admission and settlement. A central focus of the course is the social processes by which immigration gives rise to ethnic minorities in successive generations. Topics covered in this course include: a) immigrant entrepreneurship and its bearing on successful economic adaptation; b) immigrant transnational organizations and their impact on the development of sending countries and regions; c) the adaptation process of the second generation; d) public ideologies of immigration and their impact on governmental policy.

How do different countries respond to the challenges of poverty and economic inequality? How do they protect workers against the risks of unemployment, accident, illness, disability and old age? This course examines social policy in both advanced post-industrial democracies and the "Global South". The course will consider various ways in which "welfare regimes" have been characterized and classified, particularly with regard to how welfare provision is divided up among state, market and family. The course will explore how social policies originate and change, paying attention to the role of organized interests, state institutions, and partisan politics in these processes. Lastly, the course will examine how contemporary challenges - including globalization, population aging, post-industrialism and women's workforce participation - have pressured and transformed welfare states. In all of these areas, students will pay particular attention to gender: how social policies have been shaped by, reinforced, and redressed gender inequalities.

What role can diplomacy play in solving contemporary problems such as violent conflicts, territorial disputes, and climate change? The course will explore this question by examining the theoretical and practical dimensions of modern diplomacy, focusing on the importance of diplomatic leadership. The course will cover the changing nature of diplomacy over the past century, while concentrating on contemporary diplomatic themes and challenges including: the changing nature of diplomacy in the 21st century; the impact of domestic politics on state diplomacy; the strengths and limits of international organizations; the emergence of influential non-state international actors; changing diplomatic practices such as the widespread use of summits, conferences, and public diplomacy; and, finally, the need for diplomatic leadership to help mediate relations between an ever-growing number of groups and states in a more complex world.

Designing for social impact is complex work. It requires consideration of many stakeholders and factors that could affect outcomes, a deep understanding of people, an ability to see the bigger picture, and conviction despite incomplete information. It also demands the ability to discover, assess, and choose interventions with the potential for impact. In this course, students will learn the process of human-centered, systems design and gain familiarity with integrative tools to tackle complex organizational or societal challenges toward positive impact. Students will reflect on what is a “challenge” and what it means to have “impact” and internalize theory, methods, and processes for human-centered, systems thinking and design. To apply theory to practice, students will be put into teams to undergo a design process to identify a problem and design an initiative, policy intervention, program, product, or enterprise for impact at the local organizational or community level. This course would be of interest to students who aspire to be innovative leaders in social entrepreneurship, nonprofit, philanthropy, government, and social impact fields.

Globally there is no consensus about the nature of addiction: is it a biological problem of neuroreceptors and genetic inheritance? A character problem of poor decision-making and impulsivity? Or a social problem of unemployment and narcotraffic? This course strives for a multifaceted, biosocial understanding of addiction not only as a clinical problem, but also as a cultural symbol that drives global economics, law enforcement, and pharmaceutical development. The course begins with a history of popular and scientific understandings of addiction, from 19th-century Europe, the Americas, Africa, Latin America and Asia, up to contemporary neuroscientific knowledge, before exploring critical social analysis of class, ethnicity/race, and gender in relation to addiction biotechnologies. Asking how these approaches might shape clinical practice, community interventions, and public policy, students will compare drug policies internationally, through ethnographies of addicted people living under those policies.

Case Studies from the GCC: Women's rights have been a hypervisible feature of the development of the modern state in the GCC. For example, women's mobility and access to work in desegregated settings in Saudi Arabia are an important and highly publicized part of its recent economic and political reform efforts. In the UAE, the Gender Balance Council was established to design policies that support women's empowerment in coordination with the OECD and UN. How do these top-down empowerment initiatives influence the day-to-day lives of women and men in the GCC? What kinds of femininities and masculinities are reshaped and negotiated in response to these programs? How do the practices and discourses of "state feminism" and "global competitiveness" simultaneously strengthen and obscure important aspects of gender equality? In this course, we investigate how national level policies influence women's career paths in the GCC. We explore how women's entry into the labor market involves navigating a variety of discourses about gender, class, religion, ethnicity, citizenship, and other context specific intersectional identities.

Knowledge Mobilization: Bridging Science, Policy, and Practice in Zambia: How do we use research evidence to create real-world change? Knowledge mobilization is a vital bridge connecting research, policy, and practice that strengthens public policy, enhances services, and improves community outcomes. In this course, you’ll learn the theory and practical applications of knowledge mobilization. But this course is not just about learning; it’s about doing. You’ll collaborate with a diverse range of international development stakeholders, including government representatives, researchers (University of Zambia), non-governmental organizations, international organizations (e.g., UNICEF), service providers (e.g., educators), and community members (e.g., parent advocacy groups, youth groups) in Zambia. Through these collaborations, you’ll create culturally and contextually appropriate knowledge mobilization products such as policy briefs, infographics, community workshops, digital storytelling, social media strategies, and radio programs. By the end of this course, you'll not only understand the importance of knowledge mobilization but also possess the skills to create impactful tools that enhance research uptake and drive meaningful change in communities. This course includes a regional academic seminar to Zambia. This course will be offered in June-Term 2025.

We live in a society of organizations. We are born inside organizations (hospitals), we are educated inside organizations (schools, universities), we work inside organizations (companies, non-profits, government), and when we die, we may be buried by organizations (funeral service firms, religious organizations). Hence, we cannot really understand what drives economic, technological, social, and political change without reference to organizations. In this course, students will endeavor to understand the organizations that comprise society by looking at how they are shaped by their environment and propose solutions to organizational problems arising from external challenges and internal dynamics. This course has two primary units. First, students will learn the organizational decision-making process and organizational structures to understand the concept of organization as an independent entity. Then, students will explore the major organizational theories that guide contemporary understandings of the relationships between organizations and their environments, such as institutional norms, social capital (or networks), and organizational learning and cognition.

In the context of an increasingly polarized global society, this course seeks to train students to mobilize diverse communities together for the greater good through the art of public narrative. Unleashing the power of storytelling, students will articulate their values and explore the ways it can be shared. The course will draw on case studies from historical and contemporary leaders who have achieved success in creating sustainable change, as well as interrogating relevant current affairs as they arise and viewing storytelling through a global lens. Students will develop skills to understand the power of stories more profoundly, how to use them in their own lives and within the frameworks of institutions and organizations. They will be able to identify better social change strategies and the importance of storytelling to enhance effectiveness and emotional connection.

The primary objective of this course is to give students an introduction to key issues in educational policy making, educational planning and implementation, the role of monitoring and evaluation, and policy processes and practices from global, comparative perspectives. At the end of the course, students will be able to think critically about the linkages between research, policymaking, and practice in improving the quality of education in various country contexts, especially those in the Global South. This course introduces students to the case study approach to educational policy analysis, to the sector study assessment of educational systems and the role of organizations (e.g., international organizations, aid agencies, nonprofits), and to evaluation in the field of international development and education. Also, students will have opportunity to either gain hands-on experience with education development project design and planning by writing a policy analysis paper or developing an education project proposal.

Designing for social impact is complex work. It requires consideration of many stakeholders and factors that could affect outcomes, a deep understanding of people, an ability to see the bigger picture, and conviction despite incomplete information. It also demands the ability to discover, assess, and choose interventions with the potential for impact. In this course, students will learn the process of human-centered, systems design and gain familiarity with integrative tools to tackle complex organizational or societal challenges toward positive impact. Students will reflect on what is a “challenge” and what it means to have “impact” and internalize theory, methods, and processes for human-centered, systems thinking and design. To apply theory to practice, students will be put into teams to undergo a design process to identify a problem and design an initiative, policy intervention, program, product, or enterprise for impact at the local organizational or community level. This course would be of interest to students who aspire to be innovative leaders in social entrepreneurship, nonprofit, philanthropy, government, and social impact fields.

An exciting question that appears when conducting social science research is how it can be applied beyond academia. In this course, students will engage with research on social hierarchies (race, class, gender, citizenship) in the UAE while exploring what it can look like to benefit the communities this research is about. There have been international efforts by academics to address social hierarchies in various ways, ranging from university public outreach or service-based learning. But the UAE has its own limitations, restrictions and opportunities. What can community-engaged scholarship look like in this context? The class will explore the research that navigates social hierarchies in the UAE. What assumptions does this research challenge (or promote)? How does it allow us to see the complexity of different communities in an often-misrepresented region? More importantly: Can this research be used to benefit the communities it is about? Students will look at examples of applied research conducted in the UAE, whether being applied in communities or informing public policy.

Original research projects are intellectual fun, but they are also a demanding craft. This course prepares you for the challenge of conducting original research. Through a detailed, creative comparison of two seemingly disparate research approaches common in the social sciences—ethnography and digital social science—we will discuss how to find an interesting question, design a way to answer it, and communicate your work. Our comparison will also explore what ethnographic and digital data and analyses can learn from each other, as well as from other common approaches, such as experiments. In addition, we will plan, write, and fine-tune a project proposal by debating and critiquing each other’s ideas during presentations, one-on-one meetings, and class-wide workshops. As a whole, the course provides a strong foundation for senior Capstones, as well as future research projects.

Social networks are the subject of some of the most exciting recent advances in the natural and social sciences. This course provides an introduction to the major discoveries in the field of social networks, particularly advances during the last decade. It also provides students with an introduction to the methods and software used to analyze and visualize social networks. Topics include the small-world puzzle (six degrees of separation), the strength of weak ties, centrality, complexity, thresholds ('tipping points'), and the spread of diseases and fads. Case studies used in the course include topics such as the contagion of suicides, social influence on musical taste, sexual relationships among adolescents, inter-organizational networks, and the network structure of the internet. Course readings are an engaging blend of popular social science texts, journal articles, and scientific papers.

This course covers how to analyze data and test theory from a practical perspective. The course begins with techniques for describing data and then moves to the basics of linear regression, a technique that allows researchers to ask how two variables are related to one another while controlling for other variables. The course explores how regression works as well as things that can go wrong with regression, examining diagnostics, errors and collinearity. The course also examines regression models for some special cases, such as yes/no dependent variables and special cases of data that are clustered, such as students located within the same schools. The course focuses on the interpretation of results, with particular emphasis on visualization to aid understanding of complex statistical models and nonlinear relationships, working with the statistical software R.

How does one 'read the news'? It might be trickier than it sounds. The construction of what becomes 'news', its dissemination and interpretation are complex and inherently contentious social processes. Finding your way in the realm of mass communication, propagandistic conflicts, and public debate requires both theoretical lenses and good practical skills which this course intends to supply.

In the broadest terms, the course's objective is to introduce students to some of the contemporary issues in Africa. These issues will be studied using a historical and sociological perspective. Following an introductory overview, part one of the course examines the scramble for Africa, colonialism and the legacies of colonialism, and the fights for independence. Part two of the course looks at growth, development, and corruption in Africa. The impact of foreign aid on development will be examined. In part three, the class shall explore cultural transformations coming out of Africa. The class will discuss the links between migration and development and African migration and incorporation in diasporas in the Global North. A major theme will be placing African societies in a global context, and throughout the course, the professor will use the continent to illustrate the costs and benefits of globalization for countries in the Global South.

This is an intermediate public policy class. Students will have the opportunity to build on skills introduced at the intro level: memo writing; drafting public policy press releases; preparation for long and short oral presentations; drafting talking points on policy issues, how to best frame policy challenges to explain proposed solutions and defend policy decisions. Students will also be asked to put together full dossiers on specific public policy issues to allow for policy makers to knowledgeably make effective decisions. The course will introduce students to wider theoretical frames and debates as well as crisis management. It will cover a wide range of global policy challenges revolving around issues such as strategic resources, energy, immigration, the climate crisis, health and security using current case studies. Students will explore the politics of policy-making and learn how to maneuver in a competitive policy environment as well as learning how to publicize policies through the maze of media outlets. Select speakers will share challenges and opportunities that they have encountered in the field based on the case studies that will be explored during the course.

An overview of developments in social theory since the 1950s. Theories considered include structural functionalism, hermeneutical approaches, interactionist and phenomenological perspectives, rational choice, network theory, the new institutionalism, and theories of globalization.

During this yearlong course, students develop a research question and design and analyze quantitative or qualitative data sets relevant to social research and/or public policy.

During this yearlong course, students develop a research question and design and analyze quantitative or qualitative data sets relevant to public policy.