Faculty Profile

Rachel Jacobs

(she/her/hers)Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Studies (2019)

Contact Information

jacobsr@dickinson.edu

Denny Hall Room 07
717-245-1023
http://www.rachelpjacobs.com

Bio

Professor Jacobs' research and teaching interests are in international relations and comparative politics, with a regional focus in Southeast Asia. She teaches courses on international relations, human rights, political violence, and Southeast Asian politics. Her current book project centers around strategies of survival during mass violence, focusing on the Cambodian genocide. More broadly, her research addresses questions of mass atrocity, sexual and gender-based violence, and the long-term consequences of conflict.

Curriculum Vitae

Education

  • B.A., Cornell University, 2010
  • M.A., University of Chicago, 2011
  • M.A., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2013
  • Ph.D., 2019

2023-2024 Academic Year

Fall 2023

INST 170 International Relations
Cross-listed with POSC 170-01.

POSC 170 International Relations
Cross-listed with INST 170-01.

INST 290 Civil Wars & Polit Viol
Cross-listed with POSC 290-06. Throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, there has been a shift toward civil wars and other forms of political violence. This course surveys theories about the causes of civil wars, violence by non-state actors, why people participate in violence, and the rebuilding of peace around the world. The class will focus on several central questions: What is political violence? What are the types of conflicts that take place within a state? Why do people participate in violence? How do internal conflicts end? And how can peace be restored after conflict? In answering each of these questions, the class will examine theoretical arguments for violence and non-violence in conflict, as well as critically engage with local and international responses. The course will discuss civil war, revolution, terrorism, and other strategies of political violence, as well as transitional justice and peacekeeping.

POSC 290 Civil Wars & Polit Viol
Cross-listed with INST 290-01. Throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, there has been a shift toward civil wars and other forms of political violence. This course surveys theories about the causes of civil wars, violence by non-state actors, why people participate in violence, and the rebuilding of peace around the world. The class will focus on several central questions: What is political violence? What are the types of conflicts that take place within a state? Why do people participate in violence? How do internal conflicts end? And how can peace be restored after conflict? In answering each of these questions, the class will examine theoretical arguments for violence and non-violence in conflict, as well as critically engage with local and international responses. The course will discuss civil war, revolution, terrorism, and other strategies of political violence, as well as transitional justice and peacekeeping.

Spring 2024

POSC 258 Human Rights
Cross-listed with INST 290-01.

INST 280 American Foreign Policy
Cross-listed with POSC 280-01.

POSC 280 American Foreign Policy
Cross-listed with INST 280-01.

INST 290 Human Rights
Cross-listed with POSC 258-01. The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights embodies a global consensus on the fundamental importance of human rights as a political value. But the idea and its practical applications have provoked intense controversy around the world on issues such as freedom of expression, capital punishment and torture, gender and sexuality, religious freedom, social and economic justice, and cultural and minority rights. Prerequisite: one social science course or permission of the instructor.

INST 404 Integrated Study
The purpose of the course is to help students review and integrate the diverse components of the International Studies major. Prerequisites: senior standing in the INST major and prior completion of INST 401.