Ihave to admit, I am conflicted in the classroom. One half of me is nervous about embracing technology, as my generation (Gen X) was the last to grow up without the assistance of computers in a learning environment. I still remember typing on old typewriters and ancient Brother word processors. I still love the printed page, from the smell of an old book and feel of a daily newspaper in my hand. Doing things the old fashioned way meant I had to process information on my own–and the understanding gained was my own. That’s what I want from my undergraduate students. However, I know they have never known a world without a computer, and there is a cognitive attachment to technology. That means, I must be understanding as much less of a stick in the mud.
I also understand the length of the modern attention span has shrunk, including my own. And while I love an old-school lecture, I believe in active participation in the classroom. No one should be forced to be passive observers of my lecture material, nor of the course readings I assign. Students should be free to interact and engage with information in ways that facilitate understanding and critical thinking that go beyond my own stodgy personal methods. Therefore, I employ a variety of tools, from active learning, in-depth case studies, formal debate, and role playing activities. For example, in my Comparative Politics I course, students must actively think about regime types, while in my Pathways to Peace course, students are encouraged to put themselves in the shoes of conflict parties.
Undergraduate Courses
Pathways to Peace: Case Studies from the East (2019, 2023 – Present)
A renowned peace scholar once said that peace is the absence of violence. Global conflicts are replete with all forms of direct and indirect violence, leaving conflict practitioners with limited options to stem hostilities. This course combines academic theories with practical analytical tools used by field practitioners to stem the flow of hostilities in conflict prone areas. The course begins with a range of theoretical approaches to peace and conflict studies, all of which explore the nature of violence and chart opportunities for interventions and creating sustainable foundations for peace. Second, this class profiles conflicts both past and present, through three case studies: Sri Lanka’s protracted civil war between 1982 and 2006, the current conflict in post-coup Myanmar, and the lingering conflict in Mindanao (Philippines). The final section of the course profiles tangible contributors to peace, through peace or solutions-oriented journalism or the efforts of non-state actors in the promotion of non-violent approaches.
Can We Enforce Human Rights? Understanding and Evaluating Human Rights Enforcement Mechanisms in Asia (2016 – 2023-2025)
A famous law professor once said that “Almost all nations observe almost all principles of international law and almost all of their obligations almost all of the time.” But what happens when they don’t? What systems exist to compel states to uphold their international human rights obligations? This upper-level course will survey the global human rights landscape, from Eastern and Western philosophical and normative underpinnings, as well as a thorough examination of United Nations human rights enforcement mechanisms, including the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). This interdisciplinary course will introduce case studies from broader Asia as evidence of state compliance. Reading and lecture material will come from a variety of academic and legal disciplines as well as reports from major international organizations. The course is challenging, but it is useful for those seeking internships with the United Nations, or looking toward graduate school in the area of international relations, law, or human rights.
Tyrants, Dictators, and Strongmen: Exploring Authoritarian Rule in Asia and the Struggle for Democracy (2017 – Present)
Following the Cold War, a ‘wave’ of democracy spread across the globe. While this was clearly evident in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and many former Soviet satellite states, democracy has had a much more difficult journey in Asia. The continent provides numerous examples of ‘hybrid’ or ‘electoral autocracies’, where a thin veneer of quasi-democratic institutions and multi-party elections masked autocratic manipulation, corruption and severe abuses of power. For example, the emergence of Thaksin Shinawatra in Thailand sparked hopes of democratic expansion, but military-backed coups d’etat have quashed hopes for change. This interdisciplinary course is divided into three distinct parts: Part one provides an analytical framework for discussion by establishing core concepts, regime typologies, and baseline indicators for assessing democratization. Part two explores the role of values, norms, and traditions that have ostensibly have made Asia resistant to liberal democracy, and part three explores essential case studies: China/Hong Kong, Thailand, and the Philippines each of whom struggle with persistent challenges, from historical traumas, legitimacy crises, and populist leadership. This class is aimed at third and fourth-year undergraduate students.
Comparative Politics I (2025 – Present)
Benjamin Franklin, an 18th Century American entrepreneur and Founding Father once said, “A republic, if you can keep it,” meaning that despite all of the work done to create a “perfect” democracy, it still requires the care and attention of all concerned. Can democracy survive the threats and convenience of autocratic behavior, or the threats from apathy or voter interest? The results are often mixed. This interdisciplinary course is divided into three distinct parts, part one will provide an analytical framework for discussion by debating the foundations of democratic state building, through constitutional design. In part two, the course explores judicial, electoral, and institutional challenges through recent case studies in Poland, the United States, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Korea, Thailand and Myanmar. Finally, the course will feature analyses of democratic contexts through group presentations and participation. This course is aimed at first and second-year undergraduate students.
Foreign Policy Analysis: Cases from Southeast Asia (2025 – Present)
What compels states to act as they do? Is it greed, resources, and power, or are there other explanations? International relations theory offers a wide range of reasons for state behavior, but three “realist” strategies are commonly employed by scholars. Using Southeast Asia for three unique case studies, this course explores the state strategies of balancing, accommodation, and hedging. To make things more complicated, it is often that nation states will employ more than one strategy at a time, depending on the nature of the issue (economic, security, political, social, cultural, etc.), the cost or the risk to its national security, and the relative strength and power of the state in question. This course explores the behaviors of Thailand and Cambodia in response to the rise of China and the difficult choices made by states of the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) during the Myanmar crisis, when the Tatmadaw (military) overthrew the democratically-elected government in a coup d’etat. Structurally, this undergraduate foreign policy course is divided into two distinct parts. Part one will provide an analytical framework for discussion by exploring core concepts and theories in foreign policy, while the second part explores essential case studies from Southeast Asia: Thailand, Cambodia-China relations, and ASEAN in the context of the Myanmar crisis, each of which present some contemporary historical context, current geopolitical conditions, and rational actor-based decision making. The class is aimed at second-year undergraduate students.
International Relations II / Introduction to Security Studies (2024 – Present)
Security means many different things to people, such as the freedom to exist without fear of individuals, groups, or even the state itself. But it is not just physical security that concerns people around the world. There are rising concerns over economics, the environment, or the most basic things needed for life itself–food, water and shelter. This course explores the multifaceted and multidimensional topic of security, largely in the Asian context. The course is divided into two distinct parts. Part one provides a philosophical and theoretical view of security as well as an alternative view of security through the modern concept of “human security” and its many dimensions and part two explores several essential regional and country-specific case studies, from Thailand, Cambodia, and Hong Kong. This class is aimed at first and second-year undergraduate students.