Robert Rogowsky

Economic Statecraft: Culture and Conflict Resolution

The growing dominance of economic relations among nations requires a keen understanding of economic statecraft. Statecraft is the resolution of conflicts between governments and private parties. An essential skill for economic statecraft is to understand conflict.

To facilitate our exploration of conflict, the course draws from the field of conflict analysis and resolution, a field which seeks to intervene constructively in conflicts. However, constructive intervention demands that we think critically about conflict in order to discern its underlying causes and to understand its dynamics. From such an understanding, you may develop meaningful objectives to address, resolve, or perhaps even transform the conflict into something constructive. Moreover, objectives grounded in a thorough understanding of the conflict should drive the intervention strategy. If the linkage between analytic findings, objectives, and strategy is present, then the likelihood of a constructive outcome increases substantially. The course is designed to help you to think more critically about conflict, providing you with some tools to structure your analysis, shape your intervention objectives, and develop your strategy to achieve those objectives.

This course is inherently multi and interdisciplinary, drawing on conceptual frameworks derived from psychology, sociology, anthropology, international relations, political science, economics, and other social sciences, but also informed by all fields of human inquiry. Students will critically apply theories to seek a better understanding of conflicts, to intervene constructively, and to advance theory and practice related to statecraft.

This course explores a wide range of conflict-related theories. We begin by considering conflict narratives and discourses and our ability to think critically about conflict. Then, we will examine the major, often overlapping theories at work in the field, loosely categorized as theories of social structure, theories of human nature, and theories of culture and meaning-making.

Theories of human nature and identity – viewing each individual as a unit of analysis; accounting for “what is inside of you” with an emphasis on what lies beneath the conscious level

Theories of social structure – viewing a social institution, typically comprising sustained, hierarchical, and multi-layered relationships, as a unit of analysis; accounting for “what you are inside of” ?

Theories of culture – viewing an epistemological system of meaning-making as a unit of analysis; accounting for “what is inside us” with an emphasis on shared interpretive lenses with which to understand intercultural social phenomenon.

The global marketplace has become more integrated, more vibrant, and more complex. As a result, it becomes more difficult to analyze, to negotiate, and to navigate. The complications and difficulties are increasingly housed and addressed within the ambit of trade policy. This course explores the changing structure of international commerce underlying and driving the trade relations evolving across the world and focuses on the most pressing trade issues that are looming for the next 5 years.

The substance and practice of diplomacy are rapidly changing. The profession of representing nation states, companies and NGOs has collided with the 24-hour media cycle, terrorism and extremism, globalization and the global financial crisis, climate change, proliferation, disease, changes in demography and stresses on international institutions. This course focuses on three critical skill sets for Economic Diplomacy: Commercial Diplomacy, Trade Compliance, Strategic Export Control. The class divided in sections focusing on each and will include readings and guest lectures from practitioners prominent in their respective fields. Required research paper.

Frequent negotiations between governments, international organizations, companies, and other nongovernmental actors are central in specifying what globalization and global governance mean for people. But what happens in these negotiations? What determines their outcomes? Could the negotiators do better? This seminar concentrates on this ubiquitous process of international negotiation over economic and other issues and helps students launch original research on this subject. This course is designed to help improve your skill as a negotiator, while you learn more about bargaining theory in the context of global political economy. It offers a conceptual framework to help you diagnose most bargaining situations. It begins simply and adds complications one at a time. You will develop a feel for the process by dissecting what professionals did in historical episodes--economic, environmental, and military-political--and by watching experienced negotiators and mediators on tape. You will practice applying these ideas by negotiating with other students through in-class simulation.

In this course, students will learn to recognize the predisposing factors of a financial crisis and policy options for optimal financial crisis management by looking at historical case studies. But first, we will look at how the ForEx (foreign exchange) market works, who are the different players, how are typical transactions structured, different exchange rate regimes (e.g. pegs, crawling bands, free floats, monetary union), factors influencing exchange rate determination, balance of payments, and sovereign debt sustainability. Students will parse multiple financial crises from both emerging markets and OECD economies. In addition to readings related to cases, students will also have regular reading assignments of current events.

Trade policy professionals and others interested in the impacts of trade policies on countries and industries need to understand the underlying motivations of the parties involved. To develop this understanding requires a firm grasp of the micro and macroeconomics of trade and trade policy as well as knowledge of laws and institutions. This course strengthens students' ability to conduct and interpret basic economic analysis at the national, industry, and firm level. The course is a mixture of practical analytical skills and a survey of current methodologies and research on the effects of trade policy on employment, incomes and select industrial and agricultural sectors.