This is the second course in the international relations core sequence. The course has three principal objectives. 1) To continue providing the students with a brief introduction to the large academic literature on international politics, with the goal of helping them to prepare for the synthesis and analysis they will be required to carry out on the field examination. 2) To introduce students to a variety of frontier research problems that animate current work in the field, so they can see and evaluate examples of how empirical research is actually conducted rather than just commenting on "the classics" or reading pure theory. 3) To initiate their own research projects, to gain practical experience in elaborating a theoretical argument, drawing out testable implications, assembling, and analyzing relevant evidence, and presenting the work before colleagues.