Diplomacy Courses

CREDITS 2 (LV) 3 (ECTS) - 32 Contact Hours

The course provides the students with an all-encompassing overview of what the diplomatic sphere has been and what are the differences with what it is now. In order to provide this comparison a step by step analysis is taken of the diplomatic procedure, embassy responsibilities, Vienna convention and other important aspects of the diplomat’s daily duties. 

CREDITS 2 (LV) 3 (ECTS) - 32 Contact Hours

CREDITS 2 (LV) 3 (ECTS) - 32 Contact Hours

The main goal of this course is to give students an understanding of the most important aspects and dynamics in conflict and crisis management in international politics as one of the central problems of international security in the 21^st century. During this course, we will address debates on issues such as traditional and non-traditional threats, tools and strategies of conflict resolution, the effectiveness of deterrence, the impact of international organisations on conflict management, and others. This course will cover major theories of international relations and boost students’ ability to apply theoretical concepts in integrated empirical analysis.

CREDITS 4 (LV) 6 (ECTS) - 64 Contact Hours

What is foreign policy and why study it? How are foreign policy decisions made and how are they implemented? To what extent are psychological influences important in foreign policy decision-making? Are states driven by values or interests? Do economic incentives work? Are negative economic sanctions effective? To what extent is foreign policy driven or at least constrained by mass media and public opinion? To what extent can states rely on cyber instruments in foreign policy? This course attempts to answer these important questions and to provide a systematic overview of theories dealing with foreign policy-making and implementation processes.

 Lectures introduce students to the main foreign policy theories and approaches. Levels of foreign policy analysis and the interplay between domestic and internal sources of foreign policy are also discussed. Seminars are mostly organized around case studies such as the Cuban missile crisis, Yom Kippur War, Bay of Pigs, the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, nuclear proliferation on the Korean Peninsula, Western economic sanctions on Russia, Sweden’s feminist foreign policy etc. Some case studies are explicitly related to theories of foreign policy decision making and implementation, while some cases are discussed in their own right. The aim of the seminar classes is to discuss foreign policy cases combining empirical and theoretical aspects of case studies.

CREDITS 2 (LV) 3 (ECTS) - 32Contact Hours

The debate on public diplomacy now dominates research agendas in diplomatic studies. (Jan Melissen, “Beyond the New Public Diplomacy”, 2011)

 Public diplomacy – along with the affiliated concepts of “soft power” and “smart power” - has become a conspicuous aspect of foreign affairs in the 21^st century.  The course examines the history, utilization, means and morality of public diplomacy worldwide:  from the EU countries to the United States to China.

CREDITS 2 (LV) 3 (ECTS) - 32 Contact Hours

The aim of the course is to introduce students with the core theories, concepts and approaches to negotiation strategies and tactics. The course is aimed at developing analytical and communication skills that are necessary for achieving results during negotiations. The study course is divided into two parts: theoretical approaches and concepts and simulations of the multilateral negotiations. The course will focus on theory and practice of the negotiations; students will be engaged in negotiation simulations, trainings, group discussions and creative tasks. Topics include basic negotiation strategies and tactics, argumentation, negotiation styles, cross-cultural negotiations, negotiating in teams. Students will also learn about the impact of power, perception, argumentation on negotiations. Students will acquire knowledge and skills of a systematic negotiation strategy and the ability to apply it across a wide range of transactions. The course is aimed at developing analytical and communication skills for negotiations in preparation, negotiating and post-negotiations phases. 

CREDITS 2 (LV) 3 (ECTS) - 30 Contact Hours

This course will provide an overview of politics, government and society in the USA. The lectures and seminars will particularly focus on how the contemporary USA compares and contrasts with other liberal democracies in modern Europe and will identify key areas of American exceptionalism. The course will cover the US political system – Congress, President, Supreme Court, political parties, interest groups and federalism – as well as the major policy areas and controversial issues.

CREDITS 2 (LV) 3 (ECTS) - 30 Contact Hours

The course is focused on developing communication skills on public policy through debate, important in law, politics and business. Study course is divided into two parts. The first part will be based on lectures which will introduce students with basic knowledge on how to argue a given policy. The second part will be based on individual and collective training.

CREDITS 2 (LV) 3 (ECTS) - 30 Contact Hours

Migration of people is as old as human civilisation itself, however, despite its long history, being a social phenomenon with vast both economic, legal, and political consequences, migration represents one of the most controversial issues debated in Europe and around the world. Judgments of the merits of migration, hence, its moral appraisals substantially diverge across and within countries, resulting in a multitude of policy approaches. The course will begin with the examination of historical and modern trends of migration. The legal part will deal with the conceptual categories of migrants, including refugees and asylum seekers, according to international and EU law. The political part of the course will look at the political causes and consequences of people’s migration. The economic perspective of both sending and receiving countries will be analysed in detail, as well as the developments and problems in the EU stemming from the intra-European migration and immigration from third countries. At last, but not least important, the acculturation strategies of immigrants and the approaches to diaspora engagement will also be addressed in this study course. In overall, this course aims to destigmatize the topic and demonstrate how a dialogue between supporters of open- and close-door approaches to migration can be fostered.

CREDITS 2 (LV) 3 (ECTS) - 32 Contact Hours

This course introduces students to the concept of geo-economics and the field of economic statecraft. It will explore how changes in the international environment have affected foreign policy decisions and the ways in which States increasingly practice power politics by economic means. Seven economic tools are considered suitable to geostrategic  application: trade policy, investment policy, economic and financial sanctions, cyber, aid, financial and monetary policy, and energy and commodities. Each carries its own leading cast of countries and institutions and its own levers of state control and determinants of success. All will be covered in this course. Some academics consider geo-economics to be a genus of geopolitics. Others see the former more as an evolutionary transformation of the latter — a position that will be challenged In this course. Teaching is based on (a modern law school version of) the Socratic method. As a consequence the course is highly interactive — blurring the strict distinctions between “lecture” and “seminar”.

Tjaco Theo van den Hout studied law at Leiden University and economics as an extracurricular at Harvard. A former ambassador, he temporarily left the diplomatic service mid-career to take the helm for almost ten years of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. After retiring from diplomatic service in 2011, he moved to Riga to be with his family and, in the academic year of 2012-2013,  joined RGSL as a member of its visiting faculty.