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Department of Social Sciences
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
Graduates in the M.A. in International Affairs
Program will:
1. Acquire the analytical, methodological,
and writing skills necessary to produce
quality research papers, and one capstone
Research Project (i.e. Thesis.).
2. Employ advanced research and critical
thinking skills.
3. Acquire the necessary communicative
skills to convey, persuasively, and lucidly,
complex ideas and perspectives to different
cohorts, namely diplomats, policy makers,
public officials, and the media.
4. Apply the skills of diplomacy, negotiation
and bargaining, as well as the techniques
of conflict resolution.
Students need 30 credits for the Major (9 for
the Core and 21 for Other Requirements).
Core Requirements
INA811 Theories of International Affairs 3
INA899 Thesis 6
Other Requirements
Choose 7 courses from the following:
INA812 Foreign Policy Analysis 3
INA813 Topics in International Relations 3
INA814
Topics in Middle East International
Relations
3
INA815
Topics in International
Organizations
3
INA821 Diplomacy and Bargaining 3
INA831 International Political Economy 3
INA841 Private International Law 3
INA842 Topics in International Law 3
INA851
International Conflict and Conflict
Resolution
3
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
LEGAL STUDIES
LEG 201 Introduction to Legal Studies (3-0)
This course explores the ways “law shapes
society and society shapes law.” This course
introduces students to Legal Studies in the
legal fields and topics. Legal lexis will be
emphasized. Over the course of the semester,
the students will be exposed to the definitions
and concepts of law, the different forms of law
and how they are shaped. It will explore how
people understand law and the legal system,
how injuries and disputes are understood
and mediated. It will as well define the goals
and purposes of trials. This course will also
provide an overview of the role of paralegals
in a work environment, while concentrating on
the various regulations and ethical guidelines
governing the work of paralegals.
LEG 202 Law and Society-World Legal
Traditions (3-0)
This course is designed to introduce the
relationship between legal systems and society.
It will deal with the interaction between society
and the different legal systems. The course
will primarily compare different legal systems
in the world, Civil law and the Common law. It
will explore the different meanings of law, its
functions, roles, and elements among different
legal traditions and cultures. The course will
venture into the rich theoretical jurisprudential
debates. The first part of the course is a study
of the structure of legal systems and the roles
of the various actors. The second part of the
course examines the role of the courts and the
judicial system.
Prerequisite: LEG 201: Introduction to Legal
Studies
LEG 203 Laws in the Middle East (3-0)
This course provides an introduction to legal
systems in the Middle East, defining the
contours of a field of study that deserves to
be called ‹Middle Eastern legal systems›. It
introduces Middle Eastern law as a reflection
of legal styles, many of which are shared by
Islamic law and the laws of Christian and Jewish
Near Eastern communities. This course will
study as well the colonial legacy that shaped to
a large extent the contemporary legal systems
in the Middle East. It offers a detailed survey of
the foundations of Middle Eastern law, using
court archives and an array of legal sources
from the earliest records of Hammurabi to
the massive compendia of law in the Islamic
classical age, through to the latest decisions
of Middle Eastern high courts. It focuses on
the way legislators and courts conceive of law
and apply it in the Middle East, especially in
Lebanon.
Prerequisite: LEG 201: Introduction to Legal
Studies
PEACE AND JUSTICE EDUCATION
PJE201 Cross-cultural communication for
Peace [3-0, 3 cr.]
This course examines the basic concepts, theories
and issues of intercultural communication and
cross-cultural human relations. The course
explores how these relate to interpersonal and
group conflict and conflict transformation.
ACADEMIC CATALOG [ 2011-2012 ] SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
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