This advanced seminar examines how the United States shapes, resists, and negotiates global governance institutions through law, diplomacy, and policy. Using in-depth case studies, the course explores the U.S. role in international organizations, treaty regimes, security alliances, trade governance, human rights institutions, and transnational regulatory frameworks.
Rather than treating global governance as abstract institutional design, the course focuses on concrete disputes, negotiations, and crises that reveal how the U.S. uses international law strategically. Students analyze the interaction between domestic constitutional structure, executive power, congressional authority, and international commitments. Particular attention is given to tensions between American sovereignty, multilateral cooperation, and global legitimacy.
The seminar emphasizes that U.S. engagement in global governance is neither purely cooperative nor purely unilateral; it is a negotiated and evolving practice shaped by law, power, and politics.
This course assumes prior study of public international law or U.S. foreign relations law.
Course Objectives
By the end of the course, students should be able to:
1. Analyze U.S. participation in international institutions.
2. Interpret legal frameworks governing U.S. treaty commitments.
3. Evaluate executive and congressional roles in foreign policy.
4. Assess case studies of global governance disputes.
5. Understand sovereignty versus multilateralism tensions.
6. Apply legal doctrine to geopolitical strategy.
7. Critically examine legitimacy of U.S. global leadership.
8. Evaluate compliance and enforcement mechanisms.
9. Compare cooperative and unilateral governance models.
10. Develop sophisticated legal-policy arguments.
