Electives
The Hertog Global Strategy Initiative electives are open to program participants and individuals with an interest our course topics. You do not need to apply through this site to take our electives.
Please apply through Columbia University summer sessions. Current students at Columbia can learn more here. Visiting students are also welcome to enroll, and can include undergraduates, graduate students, postbaccalaureates, and qualified high school students. Any questions about elective admissions and enrollment should be directed at: ce-info@columbia.edu or 212-854-9666.
Application Deadline: May 10, 2012
A History of Religious and Political Violence
Session 1: May 21-June 29
Instructor: Zachariah Mampilly
Course Number: HIST S4948D
Schedule: MWF, 2 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Four Credit Points
Tuition: $5,568
This course examines the history of religious violence around the world. Drawing on History, Political Science, Anthropology and Sociology as well as primary documents and media accounts, the course will explore the intellectual and historical sources of religious violence covering a wide variety of violent political actions. Among other subjects, the course will cover fundamentalism, religious insurgencies, millenarian movements, terrorism, martyrdom and suicide bombing, and other forms of religiously motivated political violence including pogroms and state sponsored massacres, drawing on a wide variety of cases including Al Qaeda, the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda, India’s Vishwa Hindu Parishad, and Buddhist nationalism in Sri Lanka. Rather than bracketing religious violence, the course will seek to explore its relationship to other forms of violent politics.
When is the world ending? A brief history of the Apocalypse
Session 1: May 21-June 29
Instructor: Maria Ana T. Valdez
Course Number: HIST S3942D
Schedule: MW, 6 p.m. – 9:10 p.m.
Three Credit Points
Tuition: $4,176
Have your heard that the Mayan have forecast that the world will come to an end in December 2012? Remember all the agitation back in 1999? How many times in the last few months, or even days, have you heard the word ‘antichrist’? How often have you heard that the apocalypse is about to take place?
In this course we will review the history of apocalyptic thought, expressions, and movements from their origins in the ancient world to their influence on the creation of today’s apocalyptic expressions. Students will have the opportunity to explore apparent threatening ideas concerning apocalyptic thought while analyzing some of its contemporary forms in movies, newspaper news, blogs, or pamphlets.
U.S. Foreign Relations, 1890-1990
Session 2: July 2-August 10
Instructor: Mario Del Pero
Course Number: HIST S3491Q
Schedule: TR, 10 a.m. – 1:10 p.m.
Three Credit Points
Tuition: $4,176
Nearly every country feels America’s political, economic, and cultural influence. After all, the U.S. currently maintains more than 700 military bases in all corners of the globe. Many have called it the world’s last remaining empire. For good or for ill(and sometimes both), America dominates international affairs. But it has not always been this way. Nor was it inevitable.
This course explores the rise of American power since 1890. It looks at how and why the United States became a global power, why it became involved in certain wars and not others, and how it has influenced the rest of the world. Students will learn about the many factors shaping U.S. policy—not just presidents and diplomats, but also NGOs, businesses, intellectuals, and popular culture. By exploring the history of American foreign relations, students will also examine key problems of international politics—such as humanitarian intervention, global cooperation, non-state actors, and imperialism—that remain important to citizens today.
