This 4-week program focused on international security and law will bring students to the capitol of Europe, Brussels, and The Hague, the global center for international law. Students will learn first-hand about transnational security issues that require collective action and the ways in which states and civil society organizations in the US and EU have come together to address these threats. In terms of security issues, the program will address the threats posed from states (e.g. invasion by neighboring states), nonstate actors (e.g. terrorist groups), and global phenomena, such as climate change. Students will analyze the ways in which policymakers have developed solutions to address these issues, such as through the creation of alliances and international law, and will develop their own recommendations for improving these institutions.
The program begins in Brussels, Belgium, which is home to both the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union. The US and Europe’s interdependence, through formal military alliances as well as the largest bilateral trade and investment relationship, makes this an important space for analyzing the myriad ways that states and civil society actors come together to address security threats and develop policy responses. Students will then move on to spend the majority of the program in The Hague, Netherlands, known as the international city for peae and justice. Den Haag (as it is called in Dutch), hosts most major international courts, including the International Criminal Court (ICC) and many key security institutions, such as the UN’s Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). Students participating in this program will earn 6 credits for two courses: Global Security Policy and International Law.
