Description

The study of world politics consists of two broad fields of inquiry: international security and international political economy. This course surveys both these fields. Topics in international security include state and nonstate actors in world politics, the nature and limits of national power, war and peace, weapons proliferation, and international law and ethics. Topics in international political economy include international trade and finance, regional integration, globalization, and the North- South development gap. We also take up issues that do not fit neatly in either of these categories, like global environmental threats and international human rights.

The course is neither a review of contemporary international history nor a discussion of current events. Rather, we survey a variety of theories, worldviews, propositions, and debates that help to make sense of both history and contemporary developments in world politics.
 

Learning Objectives

• show a familiarity with a wide range of substantive issues in international politics and foreign policy;
• demonstrate mastery of the main theoretical and analytical approaches to the study of world politics;
• interpret specific historical and contemporary problems using appropriate theoretical arguments and methods of analysis; and
• develop and articulate a normative position on some key ethical dilemmas in international relations.

• Bruce Russett, Harvey Starr, and David Kinsella, World Politics: The Menu for Choice, eighth edition (Wadsworth, 2006)
• Fareed Zakaria, The Post-American World (Norton, 2008)
• Paul Collier, The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It (Oxford University Press, 2007)

In addition to the text and the reader, you should be reading, on a regular basis, the New York Times, the Washington Post, or some other newspaper with thorough international coverage. Your performance in the course will reflect your familiarity with current international issues, and not just an understanding of lecture and textbook materials.

Graduate course grades are also based on a midterm (25%) and final exam (35%). Graduate students are required to write two 7-8 page book reviews (15% each) and will be asked to take the lead in class discussions on select topics throughout the term (10%).

Lectures and assigned readings are both complementary and supplementary; neither is a complete substitute for the other. Pages from the text should be read prior to the lecture for which they are assigned.  Read the other two books at your own pace, keeping in mind the book review due dates.  We move through a lot of material quickly, so keep up.