The Hertog Global Strategy Initiative is a research program that employs historical analysis to confront present and future problems in world politics. Each summer, invited experts and select undergraduates, graduate students and mid-career professionals gather at Columbia University for three months of intensive study, independent research, and collaborative writing on a critical issue in international affairs. The 2012 topic is: The History and Future of Religious Violence and Apocalyptic Movements.
Students in the program will spend the first two weeks of the summer in “total immersion” training on international religious violence and the methods of transnational history. The following seven weeks will be spent conducting independent research and team projects. In August, the class will reconvene and participants will present their research, develop future scenarios, and participate in a crisis simulation exercise. Students will then have four weeks to compose an article-length paper based on their research in the program. Together, the initiative will demonstrate the potential for collaborative historical research on key problems in world politics.
