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Minor in International Relations and Diplomacy

Students who take this minor register first for an introduction to contemporary politics, and then are given in-depth exposure to three main areas of inquiry: international political economy, international cooperation, and foreign policy. Additionally, students choosing this minor also take elective courses in such areas as comparative politics, modern history, regional integration, international organizations, negotiations and diplomacy, contemporary social issues, and political theory.

History 245: Foreign Policy of the USA
Politics 201: International Relations
Politics 249: The Politics of International Economic Relations

European Studies 211: The Politics of the European Union
or
Politics 231: International Law

Two IR electives

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BA in International Relations

The BA in IR is a boutique program based on a prevalent US prototype. It is characterized by a strong public service ethos, and features a classic pre-law option for American students and career-track training in international diplomacy for all degree candidates.

The undergraduate program of studies in International Relations is characterized by a firm grounding in the disciplinary foundations to the IR degree, with courses in IR theory, international law, European integration, foreign policy, and political economy. Simultaneously, students also receive solid training in the social sciences, with a particular emphasis on culture, gender, ethnography, and economic relations. These two core program focal points are complemented by the IR electives students take in their final four semesters in residence, which in turns have a theoretical (e.g., war and peace), practical (e.g., civil society), and pre-professional character (e.g., diplomacy). The program is book-ended by preliminary and advanced examinations of the nature of conflict in human societies (Politics 101, Politics 301).

Finally, the ACT BA in IR features a series of inquiries into more fundamental questions: what people believe, where they live, how they interact. Several junior and senior IR requirements and electives echo these preoccupations, focusing on such themes as intercultural relations, globalization, democracy, equality, rights and justice, and citizenship.

Program requirements

ACT Years 1-2 (OU Level 4)

Politics 201 International Relations
Politics 231 International Law
History 201 Women in Modern Times
Social Science 210 Introduction to Global Studies and Human Geographies
European Studies 210 Foundations of European Integration
English 250 Advanced Writing and Professional Communication
Economics 101 Introduction to Macroeconomics
Economics 102 Introduction to Microeconomics

ACT Year 3 (OU Level 5)

History 245 Foreign Policy of the USA
History 221 Global Modernities: World History Since 1900
Politics 249 Politics of International Economic Relations
Politics 232 International Organizations and Institutions
4 IR Elective (see below)

ACT Year 4 (OU Level 6)

Politics 301 War and Peace
Social Science 349 Contemporary Globalization
Politics 350 Thesis I
Politics 351 Thesis II
4 IR Electives (see below)

Junior IR electives (OU Level 5)

History 231 Modern Greek History
Humanities 221 Film in History, History in Film
Humanities 246 Introduction to American Cultural Studies
Politics 207 The Modern Greek Nation State
Politics 221 The Balkans in Contemporary International Relations
Politics 229 US Federal Government
Social Science 215 Studies in Media and Contemporary Society 
Social Science 219 Individual and Society
Social Science 228 Society and Culture: Theory, Texts, and Practices
Social Science 234 Gender, Cultures, and Society
European Studies 212 The Political Economy of European Integration

Management 218 International Business*
Economics 232 International Economics*
Finance 210 Banking and Finance*

Senior IR electives (OU Level 6)

History 331 Topics in Modern Greek History
Politics 304 Women, Power, and Politics
Politics 305 Gender and International Development
Politics 321 US Policy in Southeast Europe
Politics 332 Human Rights
Politics 333 Diplomacy and Negotiation
Politics 335 Civil Society
Politics 399 Topics in International Relations
European Studies 311 The Idea of Europe
European Studies 351 European Environmental Governance
Anthropology 349 Intercultural Communication in Theory and Practice

Marketing 318 Global Marketing*

* Courses offered by the Anatolia Business School

 

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Overview

ACT’s prestigious BA in IR features career-track training in international diplomacy, with an internationally oriented pre-law option for American students. The program of studies is particularly strong in American and EU politics, international law and organizations, gender, globalization, and contemporary Balkan and Aegean affairs.

IR majors may choose one of three four-course specializations, Diplomacy, Sustainability, and International Business (in collaboration with the Division of Business), while ACT students majoring in other disciplines may opt to take a Minor in Diplomacy and International Relations administered by the Dukakis Center.

Our alumni have had outstanding success in post-graduate study, gaining admission to the most prestigious European and American universities, and experiencing success at the highest levels of professional life.

I just wanted to let you know that I have just accepted a job offer from the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, DC. I’m really excited about it, and still kind of shocked that they chose me... as I have always said, I would not be where I am without ACT. I only hope to one day be able to show my gratitude with something more than words!
Chris Sfetsios, ACT Class of 2007
Program Assistant, United States Institute of Peace, 2007-09
MA International Affairs, Columbia University
Desk Officer, Operational Center, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières

I took "Diplomacy and Negotiation" while studying abroad my sophomore year at ACT in Spring 2011. The class had a major impact on me. After taking the course and completing a summer internship at the US consulate in Thessaloniki, I transferred to the Elliott School of International Affairs at GW University, and I am currently in my final year. I am very grateful to you and ACT for introducing and honing my interests in the subject. Your program is a real gem.
Michael Boosalis, study abroad, Spring 2011
Intern, US Consulate General of Thessaloniki, Summer 2011
Senior, IR, George Washington University

I always read the ACT newsletter and see what my colleagues and friends are doing. We all miss our ACT days so much!
Jana Arsovska, ACT Class of 2003
MA, Ph.D., European Criminology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Assistant Professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Freelance journalist and editor, Janes Publications

Just wanted to let you know that since I have started working and attending regional conferences I'm meeting people who have actually graduated from ACT years before me... its such a nice feeling when we sit and discuss possible projects together. Just wanted to share this with you, and let you know that your lessons are bearing fruit.
Fjolla Raifa, ACT Class of 2012
Project Manager, Kosovar Center for Security Studies
 



 

 

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Dukakis Center at a glance

Fall 2013

Maria Psoinos has published “(Inter)disciplinary Research and Practice with Refugees Resettling in Europe: The need for a ‘phronetic’ social science,” in the Official Proceedings of the European Conference on Social Sciences (Brighton, 2013). ISSN: 2188-1154.

Filippos Proedrou has published Ανάπτυξη και Ευημερία στον 21ο αιώνα: Η προσέγγιση των οικολογικών οικονομικών και η περίπτωση της Ελλάδας [Development and welfare in the 21st century. The approach of ecological economics and the case of Greece] (Thessaloniki: IWrite, 2013).

Dr. Proedrou’s paper “Re-conceptualizing the Energy and Security Complex in the Eastern Mediterranean,” was published in Cyprus Review, vol. 24, no. 2, 2013, pp. 15-28 (the same paper has also appeared in Geopolitics of Energy, OGEL 3, 2013). His paper entitled “Global Governance and Cosmopolitan Democracy: Bridging the gap between proponents and opponents,” co-authored by Christos Frangonikolopoulos, has also been published, in Bridges: Conversations in Global Politics and Public Policy (vol. 2, no. 2, 2013).

Maria Kyriakidou has completed an internally funded research project entitled“Between Orientalism and Balkanism: Western images of Thessaloniki and its environs in the early twentieth century travel reports.” In the context of this project, she organized a workshop on “Art, Aesthetics and Power” at ACT on 22 May 2013.

Dr. Kyriakidou has also presented two papers from the project to date at international conferences: “Between Orientalism and Balkanism: Western images of Northern Greece in the early twentieth century travel reports,” Conference of the International Journal of Arts & Sciences (IJAS), Paris, April 2013; “Inventing the Urban Space of Salonika, Greece: An orientalist perspective,” Inter[sections]. A Conference on Architecture, City and Cinema, Porto, September 2013 (this latter paper was published with the conference proceedings). A third paper entitled “When West Meets the East: Discovering the Levant during the Great War,” will be presented at the international conference War and Propaganda in the Twentieth Century in Lisbon in November 2013.

Finally, Dr. Kyriakidou has prepared and submitted the manuscript for a forthcoming volume of which she is co-editor (with Maria Ioannou), entitled Female Beauty in Art: History, Feminism, Women Artists (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2014).

Since January 2013 Maria Patsarika has been working as Research Associate at The University of Sheffield, School of Architecture, on the research project “Children Transforming Spatial Design: Creative encounters with children” (3-year project funded by the Leverhulme Foundation).

Dr. Patsarika’s has two papers awaiting publication: “Playful voices in participatory design,” with R. Parnell, book chapter in Talking Colin Ward (forthcoming 2013); and “New Capitalism, Educational Modernization and the New Role of the Professional Student,” forthcoming in Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education (2013).

Vasilieos Pergantis is now a scientific collaborator at the Kalliopi Koufa Foundation for the Promotion of International and Human Rights Law in Thessaloniki, in which capacity he organized the Foundation’s inaugural colloquium on International Law and the Financial Crisis in May 2013. Dr. Pergantis’ paper on the relationship between Art 4(h) of the African Union Constitutive Act and the Responsibility to Protect has been accepted for publication in the journal Global Responsibility to Protect (forthcoming 2014).

Joseph Michael Gratale has presented the following papers: “National Insecurities in Times of War: The Response of American Political Theater After 9-11,” University of Thessaloniki, conference on “The Viewing of Politics and the Politics of Viewing,” April 2013; “'Shooting Indians': The Photography of Edward Curtis,” American College of Thessaloniki, conference on “Art, Aesthetics, and Power,” May 2013; and “The War on Terror and the Re-Codification of War,” University of Thessaly, 10th International Conference on Semiotics, October 2013.

Vincent Mueller continues to work part time as James Martin Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, Department of Philosophy. He has contributed to several collected volumes on the philosophy of computing and artificial intelligence due to appear in late 2013 or early 2014, and has presented papers recently at the universities of Sussex, Exeter, and Oxford, as well as in the online ShanghAI series.

Dr Mueller has also organized the following academic conferences:

  • With Ron Chrisley, EUCog Members’ Conference “Social and Ethical Aspects of Cognitive Systems,” Brighton, October 2013
  • PT-AI 2013, “Philosophy and Theory of Artificial Intelligence,” Oxford, September 2013
  • With Luisa Damiano, SMLC 2013 workshop on the “Synthetic Modeling of Life and Cognition: Open Questions,” Bergamo, September 2013
  • With Antoni Gomila, EUCog Members’ Conference “Learning,” Palma de Mallorca, April 2013

David Wisner represented the Dukakis Center at the North American launch of the Center for Talented Youth Greece at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, in September 2013. The Dukakis Center will pilot a summer civic leadership program for high school and undergraduate college students in June 2014. Present also at the launch was Congressman John Sarbanes.

Dr. Wisner will give a talk at the European Studies Centre at St Antony’s College, Oxford, in November 2013 on the state of US policy in Kosovo and Southeast Europe.

Aigli Brouskou participated in the AMICAL (American International Consortium of Academic Libraries) workshop in Rome at John Cabot University in January 2013, along with a team of ACT librarians,for the training and preparation of an ethnographic research project among the ACT faculty, and their uses of the library and the librarians. The project took place throughout the spring 2013 semester, and the results were presented by Bissell Library librarians at the AMICAL Rome Conference in June 2013.

Dr. Brouskou was a member of the team of scholars who published the Catalogue of Greek Magic Folktales, eds. G. Megas, Anna Angelopoulos, Aigli Brouskou, Marianthi Kaplanoglou, Emmanouela Katrinaki. (English translation from Greek by Deborah Brown Kazazis.) Edited by the Folklore Fellows Communications n. 303, Academia Scientiarum Fennica. ISBN 978-951-41-1089-4.

Finally, Dr. Brouskou has presented the following workshops and conference papers

  • “Selecting Grimm’s folktales for a storytelling workshop in the Elders Home,” International Conference, “The Brothers Grimm and the Folktale: narrations, readings, and transformations,” School of Philosophy, University of Athens, Athens, December 2012.
  • “A storytelling workshop in an Elders Home: one year experiences with patients with dementia,” International Congress on Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementia, Association of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders, Thessaloniki, February 2013.
  • “Anthropological Approaches to Adolescence,” Post Graduate Seminar on Child Psychiatry, Medical School, University of Thessaloniki, March 2013.
  • “Soundscapes in a music class at ACT,” 2nd Anatolia College Symposium on Rethinking on Technology, June 2013.
  • “The Catalogue of Greek Magic Folktales: a 30 years adventure,” 11th Folktale Festival of the Island of Kea (presentation of the publication of the book), Kea, July 2013.
  • “Cinderella in Egypt or the Secret of the Pyramid,” 3rd Folktale Festival, Folktales on the back of the Centaur, Agios Georgios Nilias, Mount Pelion, August 2013.

In 2013 Nikos Dimitriadis has published two papers: Mission Among Other Faiths: An Orthodox Perspective,” with Fr KM George, Petros Vassiliadis, and Niki Papageorgiou, in Orthodox Perspectives on Mission, Regnum Edinburgh Centenary Series 17 (Oxford: Oxford Centre for Mission Studies, 2013; and “The Orthodox Contribution in the foundation of Interreligious dialogue in World Christian Mission,” Theologia, 2013.

Dr. Dimitriadis has also participated in the following conferences, symposia, and workshops:

  • “Sephardic Jews in Salonika: forced migration and adjustment in an Ottoman context, Annual Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religion, “Religion, Migration and Mutation,” European Association for the Study of Religion and the International Association for the History of Religions, Liverpool, September 2013.
  • “Orthodox Contribution to the foundation of Interreligious Dialogue in World Christian Mission” International Conference “An Orthodox approach for a theology of Religions,” Monastery of Agia Theodora, Thessaloniki, June 2013.
  • “Orthodox Theology of Interreligious Dialogue,” University of Thessaloniki, International Interreligious Symposium, Thessaloniki, May 2013.
  • “Aesthetic Transformations of Mary Magdelene: A female paradigm of 'a natural leader' discredited,” American College of Thessaloniki, conference on Art, Aesthetics and Power, May 2013.
  • “Strengthening the Islamic-Christian Coexistence Values in Greece, through education, freedom of worship and human rights. An initiative to discuss the application of the Amman Message in Greece and the world,” October 2013, Thessaloniki.

 

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Michael and Kitty Dukakis

Michael S. Dukakis was three-term Governor of Massachusetts and Democratic Nominee for President of the United States in 1988. Since his retirement from public life he has taught at Northeastern University in Boston and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). In September 1999 he delivered the inaugural address at the launch of the Michael S. Dukakis Chair in Public Policy and Service at ACT.

Former Massachusetts First Lady Kitty Dukakis has been active in a wide range of public service activities, having served on the President's Commission on the Holocaust, the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, the board of the National Holocaust Museum, the board of the Refugee Policy Center, the Task Force on Cambodian Children, and the advisory board of Mapendo International.

Michael and Kitty Dukakis have visited ACT on three occasions, including in May 2010 to attend the dedication of spaces on the campus of Anatolia College commemorating victims of mass persecution in the twentieth century and Anatolia College students who were murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust.

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Mission

The mission of the Dukakis Center is to inspire young people to become involved in public affairs; train youth for leadership roles in regional and international affairs; and contribute discreetly through academic instruction, applied research, and professional outreach to US-Greek relations and to cooperation in Southeast Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean, and the larger Euro-Atlantic community.

The Dukakis Center is one of three dedicated outreach centers at ACT, the American College of Thessaloniki.

 

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Experiential Learning

ACT subscribes to a pedagogy of active or experiential learning -- of learning by doing. Degree candidates and qualified study abroad students may undertake formal internships and engage in other experiential learning activities on and off campus under the auspices of the Dukakis Center.

For instance, students in the Civil Society senior seminar have designed and implemented community service projects. Other opportunities include design and maintenance of web-based portals, research and outreach assistantships directed by individual faculty, and occasional internships with organizations off campus.

Recent intern projects include designing a virtual exhibition of promotional materials from Dukakis Center events in 2011-2021, and co-producing a bimonthly web tv program.

On occasion the Dukakis Center provides support, selectively on a the basis of merit, to students in good academic standing engaged in off-campus activities relating to their field of studies at ACT.

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Welcome to the Michael and Kitty Dukakis Center for Public and Humanitarian Service

You have something unique to offer by dint of who you are. Even if something in theory has been done before, it hasn’t been done by you in the way that you can do it. It’s time to step forward and to recognize that you can make a contribution.
Dorie Clark

Now more than ever young people need to be made to feel that they have a fundamental contribution to make to the well-being of their communities. The Dukakis Center was created with this very mission in mind, that our future depends on how effectively we inspire coming generations to involve themselves in public affairs; how enthusiastic they can become for the task of collective decision-making; how well we can learn to listen and appreciate what they have to teach us, their peers and their elders.

The Dukakis Center has already been many things since it was launched in 1999 as an endowed chair bearing the name of the three-term Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and 1988 Democratic Nominee for President of the United States, Michael S. Dukakis. Nowadays we call ourselves a think tank, but in fact the Dukakis Center is fast becoming a prototype for a new kind of academic and outreach center.

We measure our impact with a simple metric: the hundreds of young people who have shared our message with their peers in Greece, in Europe, and in North America. But that is not all. Our unique capacity to engage with a diverse set of constituencies in innovative public service initiatives has also proven inspirational to professional colleagues in academia, in civil society, and throughout the public and private sectors.

I wanted to tell you that the event was really, really great!  I was very, very happy to see that you keep up inspiring young people as you always did, doing public service, offering youth inspiration and knowledge!! Thanks for everything.
KK ACT Class of 2005

My colleague was impressed by the event and came back to the municipality with a new dose of optimism!
AZ Municipality of Athens

The American College of Thessaloniki is proud to host a center bearing the names of Michael and Kitty Dukakis. I invite you to visit our site, and to send your inquiries about anything that might interest you here.

David Wisner
Executive Director
Dukakis Center
 
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The Chair of Humanities and Social Sciences in Belgrade

Maria Kyriakidou, Professor and Chair of the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences delivered a lecture titled: ‘Women in decision-making: the essence of the matter’ at the Faculty of Political Sciences at the University of Belgrade. The lecture was at the invitation of the Center for International Public Policy at Belgrade and was supported by the Michael and Kitty Dukakis Center for Public and Humanitarian Service. 

The lecture was well attended by students of Political Sciences at Belgrade and was followed by a fruitful Q&A and discussion session.

Before and after the lecture, Dr. Kyriakidou had a number of meetings with faculty, administrators and researchers at the University of Belgrade, including the Dean and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Political Sciences, Prof. Dragan Simić and Dr. Darko Nadic accordingly, and discussed the prospects of future cooperation between ACT and the University of Belgrade.

Further meetings were held with Dr. Vladimir Marinkovic, Deputy Speaker of the Serbian National Assembly as well as with Dr. Srdan Korać, Deputy Director for Research at the Institute for International Politics and Economics and Aleksandar Klaric, Director at the Center for International Public Policy. Dr. Kyriakidou was interviewed on the topic of her presentation by a Serbian journalist, Ms. Milena Bozovic-Manic, on behalf of the Serbian National Radio station.

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Learning outside the classroom for ACT Psychology students

On Thursday, May 16th, Dr. Aimiliza Stefanidou, Coordinator of the BSc Psychology program and Ms. Natalia Alexiou, Coordinator of Student Services accompanied 15 ACT psychology students to WIZKIDS at Kalamaria, Thessaloniki as part of an assignment for their “Developmental Psychology” class.
WIZKIDS was founded by Vaso Mavridou, occupational therapist and Anatolia HS alumna, and is a Center made up of a multidisciplinary team of scientists, fully trained in their field, aiming at providing personalized services based on a variety of scientifically proven methods for the treatment of Infants, Children, and Adolescents. Apart from services such as Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy, Psychological Support, and Parent Counseling WIZKIDS provides specialized clubs such as: WizBaby (Development of cognitive, motor, communication and emotional skills, behavior management, counseling of young parents, (+18 months) and Developmental playgroups (2-4 Years) where the development of new skills is done through targeted small group play under the guidance of the occupational therapist, WizStudy (daily special education program for elementary students), WizClub (theatrical play, music therapy for children with developmental disabilities of all ages, etc.).

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The goal of the visit was for students to learn more about typical and atypical development in children, arrange a set of observation assignments for their class but also to explore volunteering and internship opportunities.
Mr Christos Karmis, Psychologist specialized in Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) and Director of the Center, welcomed the ACT students to the center’s facilities. He also gave a speech on the important role that psychologists can play in diagnosing Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and how children and their families can cope with and manage the challenges associated with the specific developmental disorder. Students were actively involved through activities and discussions.

 

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17 Sevenidi St.
55535, Pylaia
Thessaloniki, Greece
Tel. +30 2310 398398
P.O.Box 21021
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