TEACHING ACTIVITIES

2008-09 Academic Year

Seminar on Weapons of Mass Destruction and the Future of U.S. National Security Policy

In the Fall 2008 semester, CAGS sponsored a seminar in the Department of Political Science entitled “The Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction and the Future of U.S. National Security Policy.” Sumit Ganguly and David Fidler co-taught this seminar. The seminar originated from a request from the National Intelligence Council (NIC), which asked CAGS to organize a seminar that would involve using the NIC’s Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World (2008) as an analytical tool. The seminar students prepared a group report, which they briefed to members of the NIC and the Department of State on December 11, 2008. The report can be accessed here. The NIC paid for the expenses incurred in having the students present their research in Washington, D.C. Representatives of the NIC and the Department of State expressed a desire to engage in a similar seminar in the future.

Seminar on Counterinsurgency and Rule of Law Operations

For the second time, CAGS sponsored a seminar in the Fall 2008 semester at the Maurer School of Law taught by David Fidler on “Counterinsurgency and Rule of Law Operations.” For this seminar, the students engaged in a group research project and produced a “Basic Guide for Civilian Legal Professionals: Rule of Law Operations in Provincial Reconstruction Teams.” The students drafted this Basic Guide as if it originated from the Civilian Response Corps, a new Department of State initiative authorized by Congress in the fall 2008. This report can be accessed here. CAGS has made this report available to interested entities, including the United States Institute for Peace, the Judge Advocate General  (JAG) School, and personnel at U.S. Joint Forces Command working on military support to rule of law operations.

Last updated: 11/06/2009