Ideas centered on Empire and Diplomacy, viewed through the lens of literature. What is the relationship between Epic and Empire?  Can ancient literary texts speak to contemporary diplomatic challenges, such as the growing confrontation between China and the United States? What is the Thucydides Trap?

PWAD/CMPL 489

Empire and Diplomacy

Fall 2026

(informally subtitled: “Epic, Empire, and Diplomacy”)

This interdisciplinary course explores how literature, political power, and diplomacy have shaped civilizations from the ancient world to the present day. Particular attention is given to the role of epic and foundational texts in the construction of empires, national identity, leadership ideals, and political imagination.

Through works such as The Epic of Gilgamesh, Homer’s Iliad, Virgil’s Aeneid, Beowulf, selections from the Bible, and Shakespeare’s King Lear, students examine enduring questions surrounding leadership, war, legitimacy, empire, identity, international conflict, and cultural memory.

The course investigates how stories, rhetoric, and literary traditions influence real-world politics and diplomacy. Read alongside modern writings on foreign policy, international relations, strategy, and statecraft—including works by diplomats, policymakers, historians, and political thinkers—these classical texts help illuminate contemporary debates surrounding power, nationalism, geopolitical rivalry, diplomacy, and global leadership.

Special attention is given to the relationship between literature and diplomacy, including the ways epic narratives and historical memory have shaped military thought, political rhetoric, national identity, and international relations across history.

Students will also have opportunities to engage directly with distinguished guest speakers through programs hosted in collaboration with UNC Global Affairs and partner organizations such as the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). Guest speakers may include diplomats, ambassadors, military leaders, policymakers, legal scholars, journalists, and internationally recognized experts in global affairs.

Topics explored during the semester may include:

  • The rise and fall of empires

  • War, peace, and diplomacy

  • Leadership and political legitimacy

  • Heroism and national identity

  • Colonialism and imperial ambition

  • Language, rhetoric, and cultural power

  • Religion, mythology, and political authority

  • The continuing influence of classical texts on modern geopolitics

The course is particularly well suited for students interested in law, public policy, diplomacy, international relations, history, literature, political theory, military history, intelligence studies, and global affairs.

The course counts toward several majors and minors, including PWAD, CMPL, ENGL, GLBL, EURO, MEMS, and related fields.

No prerequisites are required, and students from all majors are warmly encouraged to enroll. Students interested in taking the course in Honors format may also do so by special arrangement.

Register for this course today

Video by Nathan Dufour. Commissioned by the Transatlantic Forum for Education and Diplomacy.

STUDENT TESTIMONIALS

  • Laura M.

    For me, PWAD 489 was a delicious buffet of my academic interests: modern-day diplomacy from guest speakers and diplomats paired with history, literature, and legends from the old books and epics. Professor Leinbaugh is a wealth of knowledge about the works, and he teaches them in an easily accessible and entertaining way. Readings are appetizers, and the lectures are feasts as Professor Leinbaugh pulls together threads from course material to tell the story of Britain, from Troy to Beowulf, from Macartney to Brexit. I took this course as a freshman, and I could not recommend it more. Don’t be surprised if it changes the way you think about present-day conflict, diplomatic relations, or the purpose of your education.

  • Robin McGillivray

    How might we relate King Lear to Scottish independence? How can we better understand Beowulf within the context of the formation of the Old English language? Why can Boris Johnson recite sections of the Iliad by heart? These are all questions you may seek answers to while taking this course. After taking this class I now understand that study of classic literature is really an homage to the ability of language to touch upon the eternal. Reading ‘the greats' entailed reading extensively and purposefully, delving into literature from ancient civilisations and considering what they tell us about the state of modern diplomacy. As an English and International Relations major studying abroad from the University of St Andrews, Scotland, this course has provided me with a refreshing and unique lens through which to study British politics.”

  • Corey Reichert

    I always hear references to Gilgamesh, Shakespeare, Homer, and Virgil but never had the time nor true effort to put in the work to read it. Within Professor Leinbaugh’s course Epics, Empire, and Diplomacy, you can do that and so much more. You can take these beloved works and relate them to the era in which they came and delve into them to pull out even more meaning. I personally enjoyed how interactive the course was with some theatrical demonstrations with myself playing mythical characters such as Gloucester, Zeus, and Aeneas. The other major area which I enjoyed was that of Diplomacy. This was best done by the highly influential connections that Professor Leinbaugh has developed over the years leading to his ability to have people like Paul Rennie of the U.K. Embassy or Professor Harold Koh. Overall, this is a wonderful course and I would recommend that anyone who can take it should grasp it and bathe in the kleos that is PWAD 489.

  • Satchel W.

    PWAD/CMPL 489 seems like a strange concoction—how, exactly, can a class be about everything from The Epic of Gilgamesh to modern geopolitics? Surprisingly, it works! For someone who has a broad range of interests in the world, it was a wonderful class to explore two domains at once. In a typical class, we might have a Zoom call with a former CIA intelligence analyst for the first half and then transition to a discussion on the Old English dragon-slaying epic Beowulf in the second half. I took this class even though I’m not majoring in PWAD or CMPL, and I’m glad I did, because I feel like I deepened my cultural literacy about the past and expanded my breadth of knowledge about the present world simultaneously. I would recommend PWAD/CMPL 489 to anyone who wants to get a deeper understanding of our English-speaking and Western cultural inheritances and see how our historical and cultural inheritance plays out at the highest levels of global diplomacy.

  • Alex P.

    Going into my last semester at UNC, PWAD 489 stood out to me. As a pre-med bio major, I was a bit intimidated by the prospect of a semester of high-level comparative literature. But my concerns disappeared on the first day of class when Dr. Leinbaugh put a list of political heavy hitters on the projector and asked the class who we would like to have as guest speakers that semester, shortly before informing us that we would be speaking with Ukraine’s representative from the International Court of Justice in the second week of class. As if that wasn’t enough, we had the privilege of speaking with numerous other political figures throughout the semester who had unique perspectives and experiences to share with us. Although I won’t be going into any fields similar to those that the guest speakers were in, they were all great opportunities to learn about global affairs and get really interesting windows to the inside of different fields of work.