Course Description
3 CREDITS
Diplomacy is a centuries-old practice entailing the management of foreign relations between countries. Developments including transformations in communications technologies and digitization have significantly shaped the practice of modern diplomacy and created numerous obstacles and opportunities for diplomats. Many major world issues like climate change, geo-political conflicts, migration and diaspora and other challenges affect ethnic and transnational communities that are separated by national boundaries today.
This course provides an introductory overview of diplomacy with an emphasis on current practices and future directions. It examines the many challenges and opportunities that diplomats and other foreign workers face when they represent their governments abroad. Students will gain a more thorough understanding of diplomacy and learn about its western origins, current practices, future directions, and practical applications.
About The Instructors
Dr. Judith Anderson is a cultural anthropologist and Afro-Latin Americanist whose research focuses on Black political mobilization in present-day Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has taught and conducted scholarly research in areas including the African Diaspora in the Americas; Latin American Studies, and Race and Identity in Argentina. She earned a Ph.D. in Anthropology, with an Interdisciplinary focus in Film and Media Studies from the University of Florida at Gainesville, where she also completed an advanced graduate certificate in Latin American Studies. Before joining the faculty at BMCC, Professor Anderson taught at Hunter College/CUNY, York College/CUNY, and the College of New Rochelle. She is widely published, with articles focusing on the politics of Black identity in Buenos Aires.
Daniel H. Katz, Ph.D., is Director of the Office of Diplomatic Engagement and Training at BMCC and a nonresident scholar for the Baker Institute China Studies Program. Katz’s research focuses on defense diplomacy and is the subject of the book “Defence Diplomacy: Strategic Engagement and Interstate Conflict” (Routledge, 2020). Katz has previous affiliations with the U.S. Department of State, the Center for a New American Security and the International Institute for Strategic Studies–Asia. He has written extensively on global security issues and U.S.-China relations. He holds a Ph.D. in strategic studies from the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University, a double Master of Science degree in international affairs from Peking University and the London School of Economics, and a B.A. in international studies and classics from Yale University. He was selected for the 2024-2025 Council on Foreign Relations Higher Education Ambassador Program.
