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Bulletin Archive

This archived information is dated to the 2008-09 academic year only and may no longer be current.

For currently applicable policies and information, see the current Stanford Bulletin.

Graduate courses in International Policy Studies

Primarily for graduate students; undergraduates may enroll with consent of instructor.

IPS 201. Managing Global Complexity

(Same as POLISCI 312S.) The value of major theories and concepts in international relations for understanding and addressing global policy issues. Country case study with policy challenges such as development, democracy promotion, proliferation, and terrorism; the challenge of creating coherent policies that do not run at cross purposes. Case study of a policy challenge that cuts across academic disciplines and policy specializations to provide the opportunity to bring together skills and policy perspectives.

3 units, Spr (Krasner, S; Stedman, S)

IPS 202. Topics in International Macroeconomics

Topics: standard theories of open economy macroeconomics, exchange rate and stabilization policies, the economics of monetary unification and the European Monetary Union, and emerging markets financial and currency crises.

5 units, Aut (Aturupane, C)

IPS 203. Issues in International Economics

Topics in international trade and international trade policy: trade and growth, regionalism versus multilateralism, the political economy of trade policy, trade and labor, trade and the environment, and trade policies for developing and transition economies. Prerequisite: ECON 165.

5 units, Win (Aturupane, C)

IPS 204A. Microeconomics

(Same as PUBLPOL 201A.) Microeconomic concepts relevant to decision making. Topics include: competitive market clearing, price discrimination; general equilibrium; risk aversion and sharing, capital market theory, Nash equilibrium; welfare analysis; public choice; externalities and public goods; hidden information and market signaling; moral hazard and incentives; auction theory; game theory; oligopoly; reputation and credibility.

4 units, Aut (Bulow, J)

IPS 204B. Cost-Benefit Analysis and Evaluation

(Same as PUBLPOL 201B.) Ex ante and ex post evaluation of projects and policies, value of life calculations, and welfare evaluation of public and private decisions. Welfare measures; tradeoffs between efficiency and equity. Second best. Behavioral economics: psychological mechanisms behind static choice, intertemporal choice, choice under risk and uncertainty, choice in social situations, and hedonics. Statistical decision theory. Use of incentives in implementing policies. Relationship between microeconomic analysis and public policy making. Economic rationales for policy interventions. Economic models of politics and application to policy making. Relationship of income distribution to policy choice.

4 units, Spr (Kessler, D)

IPS 205A. Principles of Research Design and Analysis: Methods

(Same as PUBLPOL 203A.) Statistical background and introduction to regression. Topics include hypothesis testing, linear regression, nearest-neighbors regression, and other statistical concepts. Hands-on empirical analysis using popular statistical packages. Goal is to analyze empirical studies, conduct empirical research, and to crossexamine or work with statistical experts.

2 units, Aut (Hensler, D)

IPS 205B. Principles of Research Design and Analysis: Tools

(Same as PUBLPOL 203B.) (Same as LAW 366.) Descriptive statistics. Regression analysis. Hypothesis testing. Analysis of variance. Heteroskedasticity, serial correlation, errors in variables, simultaneous equations. The construction and use of models for analyzing economic and social phenomena. Bayesian analysis. Univariate and bivariate analysis. Simple regression model. Multiple regression model. Inference and heteroskedasticity. Linear probability model. Instrumental variables. Maximum likelihood methods. Measurement of social and political attitudes and ideologies. Statistical analysis of large data sets.

4 units, Win (Strnad, J)

IPS 205C. Foundations of Statistical Inference

(Same as PUBLPOL 203C.) (Same as LAW 362.) Statistical background and introduction to regression. Topics include hypothesis testing, linear regression, nearest-neighbors regression, and other statistical concepts. Hands-on empirical analysis via computer exercises using statistical packages; how to analyze empirical studies, conduct empirical research, and cross-examine or work with statistical experts.

2 units, Aut (Strnad, J)

IPS 206A. Politics and Collective Action

(Same as POLISCI 331S, PUBLPOL 204A.) Classic theories for why collective action problems occur and how they can be solved. Politics of aggregating individual decisions into collective action, including voting, social protest, and competing goals and tactics of officials, bureaucrats, interest groups, and other stakeholders. Economic, distributive, and moral frameworks for evaluating collective action processes and outcomes. Applicable to collective action problems in any realm, but focus is on practical examples from environmental management.

4 units, Spr (Oleson, K)

IPS 206B. Organizations

(Same as PUBLPOL 204B.) Policy reform and organizational resistance. Organizations include government and other bureaucracies such as not-for-profit schools, universities, hospitals, international organizations, political parties, and agencies. Hubris and policy making, including pathologies of decision making and planning, abuse of intelligence, biased information, overselling to publics, lack of knowledge about context, and unintended consequences.

4 units, Spr (Stedman, S; Eden, L)

IPS 207. Governance, Growth, and Development

The role of governance in the growth and development experience across countries emphasizing the economies of corruption. The concept and measurement of governance. Theory and evidence on the impact of governance, and relationships between it and growth, development, investment, human capital, and outcomes such as poverty and income inequality. The cultural, economic, and political determinants of governance; policy implications. Prerequisites: ECON 50 and 102B.

5 units, Spr (Aturupane, C)

IPS 207A. Judgment and Decision Making

(Same as PUBLPOL 205A.) (Same as LAW 333.) Theories and research on heuristics and biases in human inference, judgment, and decision making. Experimental and theoretical work in prospect theory emphasizing loss and risk aversion. Support theory. Challenges that psychology offers to the rationalist expected utility model; attempts to meet this challenge through integration with modern behavioral economics. Decision making biases and phenomena of special relevance to public policy such as group polarization, group think, and collective action.

4 units, Win (Brest, P)

IPS 207B. Public Policy and Social Psychology: Implications and Applications

(Same as PSYCH 216, PUBLPOL 205B.) Theories, insights, and concerns of social psychology relevant to how people perceive issues, events, and each other, and links between beliefs and individual and collective behavior. Topics include: situationist and subjectivist traditions of applied and theoretical social psychology; social comparison, dissonance, and attribution theories; social identity, stereotyping, racism, and sources of intergroup conflict and misunderstanding; challenges to universality assumptions regarding human motivation, emotion, and perception of self and others; the problem of producing individual and collective changes in norms and behavior.

4 units, Spr (Ross, L)

IPS 208. Justice

(Same as ETHICSOC 171, PHIL 171, PHIL 271, POLISCI 136S, PUBLPOL 207.) Focus is on the ideal of a just society, and the place of liberty and equality in it, in light of contemporary theories of justice and political controversies. Topics include protecting religious liberty, financing schools and elections, regulating markets, assuring access to health care, and providing affirmative action and group rights. Issues of global justice including human rights and global inequality.

4-5 units, Aut (Cohen, J)

IPS 209. Practicum

(Same as PUBLPOL 209.) Applied policy exercises in various fields. Multidisciplinary student teams apply skills to a contemporary problem in a major policy exercise with a public sector client such as a government agency. Problem analysis, interaction with the client and experts, and presentations. Emphasis is on effective written and oral communication to lay audiences of recommendations based on policy analysis.

5 units, Aut (Sprague, M; Oleson, K), Win (Sprague, M; Oleson, K)

IPS 210. The Politics of International Humanitarian Action

The relationship between humanitarianism and politics in international responses to civil conflicts and forced displacement. Focus is on policy dilemmas and choices, and the consequences of action or inaction. Case studies include northern Iraq (Kurdistan), Bosnia, Rwanda, Kosovo, and Darfur.

5 units, Aut (Morris, E)

IPS 211. The Transition from War to Peace: Peacebuilding Strategies

How to find sustainable solutions to intractable internal conflicts that lead to peace settlements. How institutions such as the UN, regional organizations, and international financial agencies attempt to support a peace process. Case studies include Bosnia, East Timor, Kosovo, Burundi, Liberia, and Afghanistan.

5 units, Win (Morris, E)

IPS 219. The Role of Intelligence in U.S. Foreign Policy

How intelligence supports U.S. national security and foreign policies. How it has been used by U.S. presidents to become what it is today; organizational strengths and weaknesses; how it is monitored and held accountable to the goals of a democratic society; and successes and failures. Current intelligence analyses and national intelligence estimates are produced in support of simulated policy deliberations.

5 units, Aut (Hansen, K)

IPS 220. The United States, Europe, and the World

Different approaches toward sovereignty, the debate on unilateralism and multilateralism, and hard and soft power. Case studies on Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and Iran.The transatlantic security relationship focusing on nonproliferation, the fight against terrorism, democracy building, the development of a EU foreign and security policy and European Defense Force, the changing role of NATO, and Russia and the Balkans. U.S.-EU trade, investment, and economic issues. Global governance topics include the world trading system, global warming, and the International Criminal Court.

5 units, Spr (Staff)

IPS 221A. Globalization and Its Discontents: An Introduction to International Political Economy

What is globalization? Its impacts on different countries and population including those that multilateral organizations such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and World Trade Organization have on the economic policies of member states and the functioning of the global economy. Topics include: political economy of trade; exchange rate policy; the liberalization of trade and finance; the global move to openness; development, debt and aid; and the role of international organizations.

5 units, Win (Gould, E)

IPS 221B. Citizenship and Immigration

How people define and delineate nations. How states define their citizens. Different models of citizenship. Historical and political review of immigration in the U. S., W. Europe, Asia, and Australia. Political and economic effects of immigration. The economic impact of immigration, refugees and asylum seekers, public opinion, nationalist parties, and immigrant rights.

5 units, Spr (Staff)

IPS 222. Economic Development

General theories of economic development with focus on development policies. Topics include: agriculture, industrialization, role of financial development, income distribution, human resource development, international relations, and economic aid.

5 units, Spr (Staff)

IPS 230. Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law

(Same as INTNLREL 114D, POLISCI 114D, POLISCI 314D.) Links among the establishment of democracy, economic growth, and the rule of law. How democratic, economically developed states arise. How the rule of law can be established where it has been historically absent. Variations in how such systems function and the consequences of institutional forms and choices. How democratic systems have arisen in different parts of the world. Available policy instruments used in international democracy, rule of law, and development promotion efforts.

5 units, Aut (Stoner-Weiss, K; McFaul, M)

IPS 231. Law, Democracy, and Development

(Same as LAW 302.) How do growing efforts of national agencies, multilateral development organizations, and NGOs foster economic growth, the rule of law, and democracy around the globe? The relationship between regime type and peace and prosperity by drawing on international legal scholarship, democratization studies, international relations theory, and development economics. Actual and potential international efforts at state building, development aid, and democracy promotion.

3 units, Aut (Staff)

IPS 232. Law and Policy of the European Union

(Same as LAW 539.) European legal and institutional integration, the nature and sources of EU law, the evolution of the single market, and the building of a supranational judicial system. General principles of EU law, the scope of Community powers and their application in the national legal systems of the member states, EU legislation and adjudication, the four freedoms of the single market, corporate and competition policy, and human rights law. U.S.-EU trade and anti-trust issues, cooperation in defense, development assistance, promotion of democracy, and relations in the context of the new challenges to global governance.

4 units, Win (Morningstar, R; Magen, A)

IPS 241. International Security in a Changing World

(Same as POLISCI 114S.) The major international and regional security problems in the modern world. Interdisciplinary faculty lecture on the political and technical issues involved in nuclear proliferation, terrorism and homeland security, civil wars and insurgencies, and future great power rivalries.

5 units, Win (Blacker, C; Crenshaw, M)

IPS 243. The History, Science, Technology, and Politics of Missile Defense

The science and engineering of anti-ballistic missile defense systems in the context of political decisions, including the ABM Treaty, Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, and current policy debates.

3-5 units, Spr (Holloway, D; Postol, T)

IPS 244. U.S. Policy toward Northeast Asia

Case study approach to the study of contemporary U.S. policy towards Japan, Korea, and China. Historical evolution of U.S. foreign policy and the impact of issues such as democratization, human rights, trade, security relations, military modernization, and rising nationalism on U.S. policy. Case studies include U.S.-Japan trade tensions, anti-Americanism in Korea, and cross-straits relations between China and Taiwan.

5 units, Win (Armacost, M)

IPS 250. International Conflict: Management and Resolution

(Same as POLISCI 210R, POLISCI 310R.) (Same as LAW 656) Interdisciplinary. Theoretical insights and practical experience in resolving inter-group and international conflicts. Sources include social psychology, political science, game theory, and international law. Personal, strategic, and structural barriers to solutions. How to develop a vision of a mutually bearable shared future, trust in the enemy, and acceptance of loss that a negotiated settlement may produce. Spoilers who seek to sabotage agreements. Advantages and disadvantages of unilateral versus reciprocal measures. Themes from the Stanford Center of International Conflict and Negotiation (SCICN). Prerequisite for undergraduates: consent of instructor.

5 units, Win (Weiner, A; Holloway, D)

IPS 260. Halving World Hunger by 2015: A Feasible Goal?

5 units, not given this year

IPS 261. Pathways Out of Rural Poverty

(Same as EARTHSYS 152, EARTHSYS 252, ECON 155B.) Determinants of rural poverty and historical pathways that have led the rural poor out of it. Policy perspectives: the macro level concerning overall economic growth and structural transformation; the sectoral level focusing on the role of agriculture in poverty reduction; and the household level focusing on individual characteristics and asset holdings, including human capital. The impact of globalization on pathways out of poverty and on agriculture and structural transformation in developing countries. Prerequisite: ECON 106 or 118 or EARTHSYS 180.

5 units, Spr (Timmer, C)

IPS 262. Contemporary Issues in Nuclear Energy Policy

Current nuclear energy trends related to economic growth and carbon-free energy production to reduce global warming. Topics include: trends, promise, and perils; environment; proliferation; and international security. Policy considerations for nuclear safety and safeguards, environmentally responsible management from raw uranium to spent fuel, international security and nonproliferation, economic competition with other energy sources, domestic and foreign politics, and international law and treaties. International guest expert lecturers.

5 units, Win (Staff)

IPS 263. Energy Cooperation in the Western Hemisphere

(Same as EARTHSYS 132, EARTHSYS 232.) Current political dynamics in major western hemisphere fossil fuel producers in N. America, the Andean region, the Southern Cone of S. America, and Trinidad and Tobago. The potential for developing sustainable alternative energy resources in the western hemisphere for export particularly biofuels, and its impact on agricultural policy, environmental protection, and food prices. The feasibility of creating regional energy security rings such as the proposed N. American Energy Security and Prosperity Partnership.

4 units, Spr (O'Keefe, T)

IPS 299. Directed Reading

IPS students only. May be repeated for credit.

1-5 units, Aut (Staff), Win (Staff), Spr (Staff), Sum (Staff)

IPS 300. Public Policy Colloquium

Presentations of techniques and applications of policy analysis by students, faculty, and guests, including policy analysis practitioners. May be repeated for credit.

1 unit, Aut (Stedman, S)

IPS 314S. Decision Making in U.S. Foreign Policy

(Same as POLISCI 314S.) Priority to IPS students. Formal and informal processes involved in U.S. foreign policy decision making. The formation, conduct, and implementation of policy, emphasizing the role of the President and executive branch agencies. Theoretical and analytical perspectives; case studies.

5 units, Spr (Blacker, C)

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