Global Teaching and Learning in Political Science

Jose Aleman, Professor of Political Science
Host Country: Chile
Host Institution: Alberto Hurtado University
Calendar Year: 2016 – present

Since the summer of 2016, I have taught Political Economy of Development (Economía Política del Desarrollo) once a year for the Magister de Economía Aplicada a Políticas Públicas (or Masters in Economics Applied to Public Policy) at Alberto Hurtado University in Santiago, Chile. Thanks to Hurtado’s partnership with Fordham, the Magister offers certain courses from Fordham's International Political Economy and Development (IPED) program, and its students also take a comprehensive examination in those subjects.

Before 2020, when the COVID pandemic made international travel impossible, I would visit Chile for almost two weeks and teach mostly professional students. It has been a joy for me to teach in my native language, Spanish, to a mostly Chilean audience, including students from Uruguay, Mozambique,

Ecuador, Argentina, and Peru. The teaching has been very enriching because of the caliber of the students and how I have been able to integrate their experiences and perspectives into my teaching. The political economy of development is global in scope, but everyone who teaches the subject matter inevitably draws on some countries more than others.

Thanks to the friendships I forged while in Santiago, I have had the chance to lecture in person and virtually. The first was a keynote address to the faculty and students of the University of the Americas in Santiago on July 8th, 2019, titled “Perspectivas de Desarrollo Económico y Político para Chile y América Latina” (Prospects for Economic and Political Development for Chile and Latin America). The second was a webinar hosted by Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, on June 11th, 2020, titled “The Future is the Past: Democracy and Economic Challenges in South America'' (El Futuro es el Pasado: Democracia y Desafíos Económicos en América del Sur).

My stay in Chile has also deeply informed my research. As a result of my first trip, I developed a passion for the study of differences in repressive patterns among autocracies. On my first trip, I had the opportunity to spend two days in the Museum of Memory and Human Rights in Santiago, where I learned a great deal about military rule in Chile and the human rights violations that followed the 1973 coup d'etat. That trip also allowed me to tour sites of great historical significance such as Villa Grimaldi and the National Stadium. Subsequent trips took me to La Moneda presidential palace, where I posed for a photo at the spot where Salvador Allende committed suicide, and to the General Cemetery, which became his final resting place after his body was exhumed and given a state funeral.

My trips to Chile have been so inspiring that they have launched a new research agenda I have undertaken on differences in authoritarian repression.

Ida Bastiaens, Associate Professor of Political Science
Host Country: Chile
Host Institution: Alberto Hurtado University
Calendar Year: 2015 – present

I taught Comparative Political Analysis at the Universidad Alberto Hurtado in Santiago, Chile every year between 2015 and 2023. This is a Master’s Degree course from Fordham’s International Political Economy and Development program. It was such a pleasure teaching at the Universidad Alberto Hurtado. The students were engaged and insightful. We focus much of the course on regime type- both the causes and consequences of democracy. Chile - with its complex history on democracy, current initiatives for political reform, and longstanding struggle to reduce inequality - was a unique backdrop for all discussions and analyses. Following such, the students brought nuanced, passionate perspectives to the course materials. Additionally, teaching in Chile during those years held a special place in my heart because I had studied as an undergraduate in Valparaíso, Chile. Returning later in life to the country brought much nostalgia and reflection.

Christina Greer, Associate Professor of Political Science
Host Country: United Kingdom
Host Institution: Fordham London Centre
Calendar Year: 2024

The course POSC-2102 Introduction to Urban Politics aims to provide students with a basic knowledge and understanding of the workings of the city of London, the political processes, the arts and cultural institutions, transportation, and political ideologies today. Key issues, including race and class, the role of local government, urban sprawl, and gentrification will be considered. The course will also help students understand key institutions and political practices that make a global city. This will include discussions pertaining to education, public health, environmental concerns, and labor unions to name a few. Comparisons will be made with politics and urban locales in the U.S., primarily New York City.

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Olena Nikolayenko, Professor of Political Science
Host Country: Ukraine
Host Institution: Ukrainian Catholic University
Calendar Year: 2013

In the spring of 2013, I taught the interdisciplinary capstone course POSC-4025 Youth and Politics with a study abroad component and took a group of eleven undergraduate students to Ukraine so that they could immerse themselves in another culture and compare patterns of political behavior among American and Ukrainian youth. Fordham students had an opportunity to conduct in-depth interviews with their peers at Ukrainian Catholic University and meet with prominent Ukrainian scholars and civic activists. For example, students attended a lecture on the Ukrainian struggle for independence by Yaroslav Hrytsak, a leading Ukrainian historian, and discussed with Myroslav Marynovych, co-founder of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group, the human rights situation in the Soviet Union and post-Soviet Ukraine.

In addition to coursework, Fordham students participated in a variety of cultural activities to deepen their understanding of East European politics and history. Students enjoyed a visit to the Lviv Theater of Opera and Ballet designed by Zygmunt Gorgolewski in the late nineteenth century. Students also relished Lviv’s coffeehouse culture. The study abroad tour was a superb way to learn about politics and culture in Eastern Europe.