Inside the Situation Room
Co-taught by Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton and Dean Keren Yarhi-Milo, this course engages learners with case studies and examines decision-making in historical and contemporary contexts, from the search for Osama bin Laden, to the “red line” in Syria, to negotiating with Iran.
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Welcome Message from the Course Instructors
Welcome to the Inside the Situation Room course on Columbia+.
We are delighted to have you join us for this course that explores important questions related to leadership, decision-making, and the crafting of foreign policy during crises.
The course is meant to bridge the gap between theory and practice by taking some of the predominant theories of international relations and testing them against real-world cases of crisis decision-making. This course will not only help students interested in a career in foreign policy, but it will also be invaluable to students pursuing careers in other fields that require decision-making in crisis-like situations.
This is a self-directed course. You will have access to lectures, readings, and quizzes. Using post-mortems of case studies—from the failed operation to rescue American hostages held in Iran in 1980 to the successful raid to kill Osama Bin Laden in 2011—and the first-hand experiences of Secretary Clinton, we apply theories from political science, psychology, behavioral economics, and other disciplines to better understand how senior policymakers make critical decisions in crisis situations. We also invited several guest lecturers, including Nobel Peace Prize-Winning Journalist Maria Ressa and President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee David Miliband, to discuss their experiences in crisis decision-making.
We are pleased to share that all course fees, other than payments for copyrights for course material, will be dedicated entirely for financial aid for Columbia SIPA students in need.
We are excited to have you as part of Columbia University’s learning community. See you inside the Situation Room.
Warmly,
The School of International and Public Affairs' (SIPA) mission is to educate transformative leaders and develop innovative solutions for the world's most pressing global challenges. Please support financial aid for future SIPA students by making a gift to the SIPA Fund.
What You Will Learn
Inside the Situation Room will enable you to develop the skills and knowledge that will prepare you to take on the world’s most complex challenges. Whether you’re aiming to advance your career in international relations, sharpen your skills at policymaking, or simply wish to deepen your understanding of global affairs, this course will equip you with the tools you need to succeed.
Instructors
Dr. Keren Yarhi-Milo is the dean of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) and the Adlai E. Stevenson Professor of International Relations. She is a world-renowned and award-winning expert in international security and crisis decision-making and the youngest dean in SIPA’s history. Yarhi-Milo joined the tenured faculty at Columbia University in 2019 after a decade at Princeton University. Before becoming dean in July 2022, Yarhi-Milo served for two years as director of SIPA’s Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies.
As a scholar and professor, Yarhi-Milo bridges the worlds of academia and policy, focusing predominantly on how leaders make foreign policy decisions regarding the use of force. Her work draws on cutting-edge methods and theoretical insights from psychology, organizational theory, and behavioral economics. Her research also delves into the complexities of signaling and (mis)perception in world politics, threat assessments and intelligence analysis, the role of secrecy and deception in foreign policy, and the importance of face-to-face diplomacy. She is the author of two award-winning books: Who Fights for Reputation? The Psychology of Leaders in International Conflict (Princeton, 2018), and Knowing The Adversary: Leaders, Intelligence Organizations, and Assessments of Intentions in International Relations (Princeton, 2014) and has published extensively in the top academic journals in the field of political science.
Yarhi-Milo is one of the world’s foremost scholars on the psychology of leadership and decision-making, making her a sought-after voice in the public arena. She recently coauthored an essay in The Atlantic on what the intelligence failures of the 1973 Yom Kippur War teach us about the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks. She also coauthored an op-ed in The New York Times with her counterpart at Princeton, Dean Amaney Jamal, on the need for greater civil discourse on campuses. She is a frequent contributor to the print edition of Foreign Affairs, including most recently an essay entitled The Credibility Trap: Is Reputation Worth Fighting For (July/August 2024 issue), on why reputations for resolve are so difficult to maintain, and Why Smart Leaders Do Stupid Things: Is Foreign Policy Rational? (November/December 2023 issue), on why leaders do not always act rationally.
In 2023, Yarhi-Milo founded and launched the Institute of Global Politics (IGP), a new, world-class institute at Columbia SIPA with a faculty advisory board chaired by former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Building on the accomplishments of its inaugural year, IGP brings people together across geographic and political divides, creates a space for open dialogue across ideological differences, inspires new and policy-relevant ideas, and advances necessary conversations to build the foundation for impactful solutions addressing some of today's most pressing challenges. In March 2024, IGP launched its Women’s Initiative, centered around four main pillars: women's economic opportunity, women's health, women's safety and security, and women's leadership, democracy, and human rights.
During the fall of 2023, Yarhi-Milo co-caught the course Inside the Situation Room with Secretary Clinton. The course of 380 students, chosen through a competitive application, discussed the psychological biases that influence crisis decision-making. Class sessions covered the role of advisors, emotions, reputation, domestic public opinion, and other factors, and merged some of the major theories of international relations with prominent historical case studies and insights from the Secretary’s own time as a decision maker “inside the Situation Room.” The theme of the course inspired an edited volume, edited by Yarhi-Milo and Secretary Clinton and featuring leading practitioners and scholars, forthcoming with Oxford University Press.
Yarhi-Milo a series editor of Princeton Studies in International History and Politics from Princeton University Press. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Yarhi-Milo earned her PhD at the University of Pennsylvania and a BA, summa cum laude, from Columbia University. She grew up in Israel, where she served in the IDF intelligence while completing mandatory military service. While in Israel, she worked with several NGOs promoting peace in the Middle East, including the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation. She lives in New York City with her husband and two sons.
Hillary Rodham Clinton has spent five decades in public service as an advocate, attorney, First Lady, U.S. Senator, U.S. Secretary of State, and presidential candidate.
Hillary Clinton was born in Chicago, Illinois on October 26, 1947. After graduating from Wellesley College and Yale Law School, she began her life-long work on behalf of children and families by joining the Children’s Defense Fund. In 1974, she moved to Arkansas, where she married Bill Clinton and became a successful attorney while also raising their daughter, Chelsea. During her 12 years as First Lady of Arkansas, she was Chairwoman of the Arkansas Education Standards Committee, co-founded the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, and served on the boards of the Arkansas Children's Hospital, and the Children's Defense Fund.
As First Lady of the United States, from 1993 to 2001, Hillary Clinton championed health care for all Americans and led successful bipartisan efforts to improve the adoption and foster care systems, reduce teen pregnancy, and create the Children's Health Insurance Program. She traveled to more than 80 countries standing up for human rights, democracy, and civil society. Her speech in Beijing in 1995 – where she declared that "human rights are women's rights, and women's rights are human rights" – inspired women worldwide and helped galvanize a global movement for women’s rights and opportunities.
In 2000, Clinton made history as the first First Lady elected to the United States Senate, and the first woman elected to statewide office in New York. As Senator, she worked across party lines to expand economic opportunity and access to quality, affordable health care. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, she secured funding to rebuild New York and provide health care for first responders who risked their lives working at Ground Zero. She also championed the cause of our nation's military and fought for better health care and benefits for wounded service members, veterans, and members of the National Guard and Reserves. In 2006, Clinton was reelected to the Senate, winning 58 out of New York’s 62 counties.
In 2007, she began her first historic campaign for president, winning 18 million votes and becoming the first woman to ever win a presidential primary or caucus state. In the 2008 general election, she campaigned for Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and in December, she was nominated by President-elect Obama to be Secretary of State.
In her four years as America's chief diplomat and the President's principal foreign policy adviser, Clinton played a central role in restoring America’s standing in the world and strengthening its global leadership, visiting 112 countries over 4 years, restoring America’s standing in the world. Her "smart power" approach to foreign policy elevated American diplomacy and development and repositioned them for the 21st century – with new tools, technologies, and partners, including the private sector and civil society around the world. She led the effort to impose crippling sanctions on Iran, laying the foundation for a historic agreement to curb its nuclear program, and negotiated a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that prevented a new war in the Middle East. Across the world, she defended universal values and pushed the frontiers of human rights.
In 2016, Clinton made history again by becoming the first woman nominated for president by a major U.S. political party. As the Democratic candidate for president, she campaigned on a vision of America that is “stronger together” and an agenda to make our economy work for everyone, not just those at the top. She won the national popular vote, earning the support of nearly 66 million Americans.
Hillary Rodham Clinton is the author of ten best-selling books, including her groundbreaking book on children, It Takes A Village (1996); Dear Socks, Dear Buddy (1998); An Invitation to the White House (2000); her memoirs, Living History (2003), Hard Choices (2014), and What Happened (2017); a picture book edition of It Takes a Village (2017); The Book of Gutsy Women (2019) and Grandma’s Gardens (2020), in collaboration with Chelsea Clinton; and her political thriller, State of Terror (2021), with Louise Penny. She is also the host of You and Me Both, a podcast featuring candid, in-depth, and sometimes hilarious conversations with people she finds fascinating, and founder of HiddenLight Productions, a global studio creating premium documentary, unscripted, and scripted entertainment for TV, film, and digital.
In 2020, Clinton was appointed as the 11th and first female Chancellor of Queen’s University Belfast. In 2023, Clinton joined Columbia University as a Professor of Practice at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) and Presidential Fellow at Columbia World Projects (CWP). She taught a course with Dean Keren Yarhi-Milo in Fall 2023, called Inside the Situation Room, which employed insights from diverse academic fields and the direct experience of high level principals in the room to understand the key factors which underpin a nation’s most crucial decisions.
She and President Clinton reside in New York, have one daughter, Chelsea, and are the proud grandparents of Charlotte, Aidan, and Jasper.