Methods I: Research Design, Qualitative Methods, and Data Collection (Instructor)
ETH Zurich (Zurich) Fall ’25: This MACIS core course covers basic issues of research design, small-n research, and data collection. It familiarizes students with general research design problems such as defining research questions, analyzing causality, and designing single and comparative case studies. It then introduces them to basic issues in small-n research. Students acquire an understanding of the specific challenges and design problems in qualitative analysis. Finally, students are introduced to exemplary methods of data collection. By the end of the course, students should be able to use the principal methods of data collection used by political scientists; have a critical understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of the methods, and should be able to reflect on and discuss the methods in light of research questions of their interest.
NATO in Crisis: The Russo-Ukrainian War (Instructor)
Syracuse University (Florence) Winter & Fall ’23, Spring ’24: The course equips students with an understanding of the Ukrainian conflict by placing this historic and unfortunate event in historical, geopolitical, and cultural contexts. A recurrent theme throughout the course is that we can understand the Russo-Ukrainian war through various epistemic and theoretical lenses. History, politics, culture, and geography can contribute to better grasping why, how, and what is happening to Ukraine and with what potential implications to the world.
Causal Inference for Foreign Policy Analysis (Instructor)
Romanian MFA, Sept ’23: This workshop provides an advanced introduction in the study of causality (Neyman–Rubin, mechanistic, comparative) for foreign policy analysis for practitioners. Through a three-days session, students are exposed to different ways of reaching causal inferences relying on different research designs and methods. Considering the small-n focus of FPA, an emphasis is put on qualitative approaches for causal inference, particularly process tracing and case comparisons.
Introduction to Theories of International Relations (TA)
Johns Hopkins’ SAIS (Bologna) Winter & Fall ’20, Spring ’21, Spring ’22: This course provides graduate students with an introduction to the basics of International Relations Theory. Over the course of 12 weeks, it reviews the major theories defining contemporary IR scholarship, as well as substantive topics such as green theory, migration, and feminist IR.
Markets and Politics (TA)
GWU, Winter ’19: This course introduced students to the basics of political economy from an American perspective. During the class, students were exposed to different theories and scholarship on the relations between public institutions and businesses, how markets and politics are interconnected, and how the institutional design defines how these interactions take place.