SIPA is delighted to announce that they will be offering the course, Inside the Situation Room, for this fall 2026 semester and are inviting rising juniors and seniors to apply!
The course is designed to teach students to understand why and how foreign policy decisions are made, drawing insights from political psychology, domestic politics, and international relations. The lessons learned from this inter-disciplinary analysis are applicable to leadership roles and decision making in government, business and other fields.
Additional details: This course includes a large lecture and weekly discussion sections. The lecture, led by Dean Yarhi-Milo and Secretary Clinton, will include a Q&A for the last 20 minutes or so focused on the topic of the given week. Admitted undergraduate students will also register for a required discussion section with various instructors. Course grades will be assigned by discussion section instructors.
Application Process: Please apply through the application form by Monday, April 13th at 11:59PM. The goal is to notify students by the end of April. Please note that once selected, students will be vetted by the US Secret Service.
Please see the course description down below for more information about the course:
Inside the Situation Room
The lecture is scheduled on Wednesdays from 1:10-2:50 PM. Admitted undergraduate students will also register for a required discussion section at a later date.
In an era increasingly defined by geopolitical competition and change, it is more important than ever for future policymakers to understand why and how foreign policy decisions are made. Inside the Situation Room, co-taught by Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton and Dean Keren Yarhi-Milo, employs insights from diverse academic fields—including political psychology, domestic politics, and international relations—and the direct experience of high-level principals in the room to understand the key factors which underpin a country’s most crucial decisions. This course allows students to engage with a range of case studies and examine decision-making in a variety of historical and contemporary contexts, from the search for Osama bin Laden, to the 'red line' in Syria, to the war in Ukraine, to negotiating with Iran.
Students will be taught how to analyze and understand the complex interplay between individual psychology, domestic politics, public opinion, bureaucracy, the international environment, and other factors which feed into decisions about foreign policy—from crisis diplomacy to the use of force, signaling and perception, Women Peace and Security, intelligence and its analysis, the deployment of other instruments of statecraft, and more. Through this course, students will think carefully and analytically about how leaders and other actors view the world, how they arrive at their decisions, and how various social, political, and psychological factors shape the policies they devise to promote their interests abroad.
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