ANDREW LATHAM , Associate Professor, Associate Dean, Center for Global Leadership

Carnegie Hall
Rm 203 E

Phone: (651) 696-6549
Email: latham@macalester.edu

>> Poli 321.01: International Security

I joined the department in 1997 after completing a post-doc at the York Centre for International and Security Studies (where I also served as Assistant Director). I have an MA from Queen's University PhD from York University (Toronto, Canada). I have received a number of Fellowships, awards and grants including two Military and Strategic Studies Doctoral Fellowships from the Canadian Department of National Defence and an award for teaching excellence at the University of Manitoba. I also have over a decade of practical experience in the field of international security, having worked extensively with the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and the Canadian Department of National Defence in the areas of non-proliferation, arms control and disarmament policy. Most recently, I spent the past year as a Senior Policy Associate with the Department of Foreign Affairs.

My research interests can be grouped broadly under the heading of "the role of organized violence in global political life". Although I have published on a number of related topics (the weaponization of space; culture and security; the revolution in military affairs; the US defense industry), I am currently working on a book project that traces the evolution of what I call the "fundamental institution of war" during the medieval, modern and emerging post-modern eras. My goal in this project is to develop a conceptual lens that will allow me to answer the following specific questions about the changing nature of organized political violence: what is "war" and what distinguishes it from other forms of politics and violence? How should we conceptualize revolutionary transformations in the nature of war? What generative forces drive and condition such transformations? And, what are the implications of these revolutionary transformations for the theory and practice of world politics? I have already published the "blueprint" for this research project in the European Journal of International Relations (vol. 8, no. 2. June 2002). I will be presenting some of my more substantive research findings at the annual conference of the British International Studies Association in December 2004.

My teaching responsibilities in the department include Foundations of International Politics, Regional Conflict, Foreign Policy and International Security. I also regularly teach a section of the department's Senior Research Seminar. In all of my courses, I try to accomplish three goals: (1) to ensure that students acquire the foundational knowledge that is a necessary precondition for the "deep understanding" of a topic; (2) to cultivate their capacity for analytic reasoning, critical thinking and rigorous evaluation; and (3) to help students develop certain practical competencies (such as information fluency, working in small groups, etc) that are equally important in the worlds higher education, work and civic life. I believe that these capacities are best developed in the context of challenging, rigorous and intellectually engaging courses involving:

· active, student-centered and problem-based learning;
· collaborative learning;
· demanding writing/research exercises;
· an engagement with real-world "public problems" (both in and beyond the classroom); and,
· high expectations based on widely agreed and clearly understood standards of academic excellence.

Finally, I believe teaching political science at a pre-eminent liberal arts college is primarily about educating students for lives as effective "global citizen-leaders". The cornerstone of such an approach, of course, is sharpening the intellect and developing the higher order reasoning and critical thinking skills that are necessary for both the life of the mind and for a life of civic engagement and leadership. Beyond that, however, such an educational project also requires that attention be paid to cultivating other aspects of the students' humanity: their capacity for moral reasoning; their ability to envision alternative futures; their potential for sympathetically understanding other cultures, their capacity to lead an "examined life"; and their ability to make the concept of kosmou polit's (world citizen) a meaningful part of who they are and what they do. Accordingly, in my classes I also try to help students cultivate personal qualities of leadership, civility, character, respect for diversity and civic engagement.

I also firmly believe in serving the College and in working with my colleagues to enhance the quality of the education we offer our students. Reflecting this, over the past few years I have been engaged in several aspects of college governance, including:

· Associate Director of the Center for Scholarship and Teaching;
· Faculty Director of Project Pericles (which focused on promoting civic engagement at the College);
· Chair of the elected Educational Policy and Governance committee; and
· Special Assistant to the President for Global Citizenship and Leadership