POLI 70
Global Politics
Introduces major actors, institutions, and debates in global politics, with attention to the political dynamics of cooperation, conflict, and global change.
TEACHING & MENTORSHIP / DAVID J. GORDON
Politics across scales and boundaries.
My teaching brings together international relations, political theory, global environmental politics, and urban studies. I encourage students to connect theoretical questions about authority, representation, and collective action to contemporary issues of climate change and global governance.
Courses at UC Santa Cruz
POLI 160A
Theories of International and World Politics
Engages major theoretical approaches to world politics and asks how their assumptions shape explanations of global power, authority, order, and political change.
POLI 174
Global Political Ecology
Examines the politics of environmental change, with attention to power, inequality, the institutions of governance, and competing visions of sustainability.
POLI 190F
Cities in World Politics
Explores cities as sites and participants in international politics, including city diplomacy, transnational networks, urban climate action, and the politics of global urban governance.
POLI 213
Who Governs the Globe? Shifting Authority in Contemporary World Politics
Graduate-level inquiry into authority beyond the nation-state, examining international institutions, transnational actors, and the changing organization of global governance.
Graduate mentorship
I supervise and serve on graduate research committees engaging international relations, comparative politics, global environmental politics, climate governance, and the politics of cities. I am especially interested in projects investigating political authority across governance scales, transnational networks, the institutional politics of sustainability transitions, and urban climate governance in comparative perspective.
Prospective students interested in research on international relations, climate and environmental politics, transnational governance, and comparative urban politics are welcome to reach out with a short description of their interests. Please consult the department’s graduate program information for current admissions and supervision arrangements.