PS

These courses can be fulfilled through Pitt-Recognized or Exchanges. 

In this course students will have the opportunity to take a close look at the cooperation and governance framework in the transatlantic partnership. The course will take students to different sites in Washington, D.C. and Brussels to explore a number of issue-areas, including the impact of the current U.S. administration’s trade and tariff policy on transatlantic relations, and the most recent defense talks within NATO. It will also explore how forces like Brexit and the refuge crisis are testing the sustainability of the EU, and examine the populist and nationalist political movements challenging liberal democracy on both sides of the Atlantic.
Students will be responsible for readings, participation in the talks and q&a at the site visits, participation during the lecture/seminar hours at the hotels, and a final paper.

In this 3-credit course, you will learn the policy process, particularly as it relates to environmental policy-making. You will gain a familiarity with a variety of environmental polcy issues that are important to both Wyoming and Western Pennsylvania. You will have the opportunity to meet with several guest lecturers and ask them questions. You will develop a conection between space, land and the environment, our political attitueds and ourselves. The objective is that you will be able to understand and unpack the different writing items that are utilized in the policy process. You will create their own original policy writing materials that can be used as writing samples. At the end of this course the students will create a professional portfolio of their writing examples. 

This course explores the benefits and pitfalls of diversity in American national politics, the politics of other nations, and the politics of everyday life. Students will read and discuss some of the top research on questions and issues surrounding diversity and will have the opportunity to conduct original research on the topic. Students will also learn valuable skills they will be able to bring to bear as they enter today’s diverse workplaces. 

This course will utilize multi-disciplinary theories, methods and perspectives as we consider the historic conflicts in the Aegean region.  The Twentieth century conflicts in the Dodecanese Islands, the Cyprus Issue, the European Union candidacies of Greece, Turkey and Cyprus, and today’s hot conflicts over resources – like offshore drilling rights, continental shelf issues, and natural gas issues will take center stage.  We will identify the roots of the conflicts, the contested narratives from the respective communities, social movements who both fueled conflict and fought for peace in these Aegean (and in some cases, Balkan) countries.  In this respect, we will utilize historical, political, economic, social movement, and cultural sociological theories and methods.  Most noteworthy will be the introduction of Conflict Resolution theories and methods.

This course examines the government and politics of Australia and Australian engagement in Asia. It will do so by surveying similarities with and differences from the North American democratic model and by examining Australia’s substantial and abiding interests in the Asian region. By the end of the course, students will be aware of the magnitude of the influence that the Asia Pacific region has had on Australian foreign policy. Comparisons with the United States of America will be encouraged.

Where and what is Europe? Who are the Europeans? What is Europe's future? "Europe" has been a cultural idea that European elites have struggled to impose on the chaotic diversity of their continent. How has the concept "European" been defined historically, and in relation to whom? This interdisciplinary course addresses these fundamental questions of politics, geography and identity by tracing the history of "Europe" as a political concept and the cultural, political and economic factors that have shaped modern European countries. Such issues have been brought into close focus by the implications of European integration, destabilising assumptions about the territorial extent of Europe and the scales at which government, sovereignty and citizenship should operate. This course outlines the contemporary structures of the European Union and also investigates the various processes that have made Europe such a distinctive, dynamic and highly varied region. It also examines the historical roots of current tensions between - and within - the nation-states of Europe, such as ethnic nationalism, the legacy of imperialism and the politics of remembrance, and demonstrates how they continue to shape European politics today.