Modeling Social Systems with International Futures (Course 4)

This course builds on the IFs skills and concepts introduced in Courses 1 and 2 to examine the social systems that shape long-term national development, stability, and international influence.

You will begin with the economy, learning how IFs represents production, consumption, trade, government finance, poverty, and inequality. You will examine how changes in labor, capital, productivity, and public spending can affect both aggregate growth and the distribution of economic gains.

The course then turns to governance through the Pardee Governance Framework and its three dimensions: security, capacity, and inclusion. You will explore how changes in governance can interact with productivity, public services, development outcomes, and political risk, including the modeled risk of civil conflict.

The course concludes with geopolitics. You will examine how IFs measures and models national power, international influence, economic interdependence, and the risk of interstate conflict. You will also consider how economic performance, governance, and international relationships can combine to shape a state’s long-term position in the world. 

By the end of the course, you will be able to analyze economic production and distribution, build and compare governance and geopolitical scenarios, assess modeled conflict and influence dynamics, and connect these domains in an integrated analysis of national stability, capacity, and power.

This course is fully asynchronous and self-paced. Completion of Courses 1 and 2 is recommended before beginning. 

Estimated learning hours: 15-20 hours