Blue Center courses often include practitioner guest speakers or ties to real-world events and governmental efforts. Courses affiliated with the Blue Center include:
GLBL 7828 – Future of NATO
Instructor – Julie Smith
NATO marks its seventy-seventh anniversary facing a set of challenges as profound as any in its history: a land war in Europe, questions about America’s commitment to the alliance, a transatlantic defense industrial base desperately in need of reform, new threats in the cyber, space, and information domains, and a deepening relationship between Russia and China. This seminar asks a deceptively simple question: what is NATO for? Beginning with the founding bargain of 1949 and tracing the alliance’s evolution through the Cold War, post-Cold War transformation, and the upheavals of 2014 and 2022, the seminar builds toward a sustained analysis of the alliance’s future. Students engage with foundational texts, primary source documents, and cutting-edge policy analysis to develop their own assessments of NATO’s trajectory. The course is organized thematically rather than chronologically. Each session anchors in a central debate: enlargement, burden-sharing, expeditionary operations, deterrence and asks what history reveals about the alliance’s current choices. By the final session, students are equipped to analyze NATO’s future with both historical fluency and genuine policy analytical rigor.
GLBL 7116 – Democracy in a Changing World
Instructor: Theresa May
In 1947 Sir Winston Churchill said that democracy was not perfect or all-wise but that “democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the other forms that have been tried . . . ” More than seven decades on, liberal democracy is being tested like never before. Taught by Theresa May, the fifty-fourth prime minister of the United Kingdom, this course explores the evolving concept of democracy in the context of a rapidly changing global landscape. Through case studies, historical analysis, and contemporary political theory, students engage with the complex dynamics that are reshaping democratic governance including issues such as the polarization of politics, the rise of populism, the increasing distrust of institutions, the impact of digital technologies, climate change, and shifting global power dynamics. The course aims to foster critical thinking about how democracy can be both preserved and adapted to meet the demands of the twenty-first century in what is an increasingly uncertain world. Enrollment in the course is by application only.
GLBL 7829 – The Arctic in Global Affairs: A Strategic Laboratory
Instructor: Soley Kaldal
This course examines the Arctic as a focal point of twenty-first-century international relations. Rapid environmental changes are transforming the region from a zone of Arctic exceptionalism and peaceful cooperation into a testing ground for great power competition, systemic risk, and hybrid threats. Students analyze the strategic motives of Arctic and “near-Arctic” states, the legal frameworks forged to stabilize the region, and the consequences of climate change as a structural shock to the global balance. The course argues that the Arctic does not simply generate new geopolitical risks; it reveals how states manage sovereignty, resources, and competition when information is incomplete and institutional coordination is difficult. Rather than treating the Arctic solely as a regional case, the course uses it as a laboratory for understanding modern statecraft. The course proceeds in six stages. First, it examines why the Arctic matters, introducing the region’s growing relevance for global politics, economics, and security. Second, it explores the structural forces reshaping the Arctic, including climate change, technological developments, and shifting geopolitical dynamics. Third, the course turns to the rules that seek to stabilize the region, focusing on legal frameworks, governance mechanisms, and institutional cooperation. Fourth, it analyzes the actors competing within the Arctic, including Arctic and non-Arctic states, alliances, and other stakeholders. Fifth, the course addresses new and emerging threats, such as hybrid challenges, infrastructure vulnerabilities, and strategic competition. Finally, it considers how policymakers decide under uncertainty, applying risk governance concepts and decision-making frameworks to Arctic statecraft. The course material is a combination of academic texts, policy documents, and current reporting. Students gain insights into the history, realities, and future trajectories for the Arctic while developing the analytical tools necessary to interpret Arctic politics, evaluate competing policy frameworks, and assess strategic risk in a rapidly transforming region.
GLBL 2289 – Triumphs of Modern Statecraft
Instructor: Naz El-Khatib
The modern exercise of statecraft takes place against constantly shifting global forces, among them growing great power competition, technology innovation, climate change, and political rifts. Cumulatively, these forces and others disrupt policymakers’ traditional assumptions and demand high-velocity statecraft to thrive in a global context likely to evolve even more rapidly going forward. Are there modern examples of countries that have excelled on a dimension of statecraft against this backdrop? What can aspiring policymakers learn from these cases? These are the central questions of this course. We explore twelve triumphs of modern statecraft—instances when a capable government, innovative corporate ecosystem, and empowered citizenry undertook a project that generated disproportionate national influence. From South Korea’s ascent as a cultural power and Sweden’s corporate overperformance to Ukraine’s new position as a leader in defense innovation and the UAE’s unlikely status as a global crossroads, we assess how countries on six continents have accomplished globally significant breakthroughs. This course is designed for undergraduates interested in global affairs. Students leave the course empowered with an arsenal of modern examples of elite statecraft, a range of strategies used to achieve them, and their own ideas for new triumphs in the future.
GLBL 7076/YLS 21365 – The National Security Policy Process
Instructor: Phil Kaplan
This year-long joint Yale Law School/Yale Jackson School course is designed to facilitate student exposure to high-level national security policymakers and will address the question: “How does the national security policy process work?” Embedded in this question are subordinate questions about how that process works at different relevant departments and agencies, the answers to which look strikingly different from one to the next. The study of national security policy process touches the very structure and functions of the federal government of the United States, the national security tools at its disposal, the nature of policymaking, and its relation to law. Since its creation by statute in 1947, the National Security Council (NSC) has served as the primary forum in which the United States has engaged in national-security policymaking. The processes employed have varied across presidential administrations and different agencies. While they have been the subject of some historical inquiry, they remain in flux, and are largely opaque to the general public, even while they form an essential element for understanding some of the government’s most consequential decisions and actions.