Professor Croco GVPT 409D Fall 2008 1 Seminar in International Relations and World Politics: International Security and Research Design Contact Information GVPT 409D Professor Croco ([email protected]) Tuesday, Thursday 11:00-12:15 Office hours: Tuesday, 9:00-10:45 Office: 2101c Morril Hall Course Information The goal of this course is to give you an introduction to existing theories of war and peace, and the means by which political scientists evaluate these theories. Although the primary focus of this class is on substantive topics, there will also be a second yet equally important focus on issues of research design (e.g., hypothesis specification and testing, dataset construction, etc.) By the end of this class you should be able to speak intelligently about current IR research, be able to create your own research designs and know how to test your own hypotheses. While I know this seems like a daunting proposition, my goal in this class is to demonstrate to you that you do not need a Ph.D. in political science to deconstruct and refine existing political science research. All you need is curiosity and a little background information. Since there is no textbook as of yet that deals with this specific topic, the readings will be drawn almost entirely from scholarly journals and books. Although these works will contain statistical analyses and formal models involving calculus, you will never be asked to understand the math behind these methods. What you will be required to do is read to understand the author’s argument. I will provide an introduction about how to read scholarly articles on the second day of class. I will also post questions for you to keep in mind as you read on the class website. Please know that this class will involve a large amount of reading. I strongly encourage you to stay current with the week’s readings. If I sense the class is not completing the readings, pop quizzes will occur. Course Readings The readings have been posted as PDF’s on the ELMS/Blackboard website. Graded Components: First Exam: 20% Pop Quizzes: 10% Final Paper: 30% Final Presentation: 10% Peer Review: 10% (2.5% question workshop, 5% paper review, 2.5% presentation review) Second Exam: 20% The final project for this class will require you to write your own research design on a topic of your choosing (subject to my approval.) This should be about 8 pages in length and should accomplish the following: • Clearly state a research question that you are interested in exploring.Professor Croco GVPT 409D Fall 2008 2 • Give a brief description of the background literature that addresses this question. • List at least three hypotheses that pertain to this theory that you would like to discuss, and tell me why they are important or what holes in the literature they are filling. • Tell me how you would go about testing the hypotheses, keeping in mind the various research methods we discussed in class. Pretend you have unlimited time and resources. The research design must be plausible and ethical. You will also have to prepare a Power Point presentation of your research design, which will be presented during the final three days of class during a mini-conference. Individuals found guilty of academic dishonesty will be punished to the fullest extent of the policies and guidelines established by the University. For more on the student honor code, please see http://www.shc.umd.edu. Attendance is not mandatory, but will be taken every day as this helps me learn student names. Given the amount of material covered in the course, I strongly encourage students to attend class regularly. Students will be allowed to drop one pop quiz, and one pop quiz only. All other quizzes that the student misses will be given a score of zero. No make-ups. Students who walk into the class once the quiz is over will not be able to take it. Please note the first exam is the Thursday before Spring Break. Please plan accordingly. In accordance with the University’s policy on the observance of religious holidays, it is the student’s responsibility to inform me of any absences due to these holidays well in advance and in writing within the first two weeks of the semester. Please note that Passover falls over one of the Question Workshop days. If you will need to miss this day, inform me as soon as possible. I strongly recommend writing down questions and insights as you do the readings to help foster a more fruitful class discussion. You will also be required to review the papers and posters of at least two other students. Please take this seriously as it is worth 10% of your grade (easily the difference between two full letter grades.) Assignments turned in late will be docked 5 percentage points for each day past the deadline (including the day it was due.) For example, a paper that was due at 3pm on day X and turned in at 5pm later that day will receive a 5 percentage point reduction. Students are also strongly encouraged to meet with me during office hours to discuss the course readings and assignments. I am happy to sit with students and read drafts of their papers (as many times as the student wants) provided that the date is before April 22. After this date, I will no longer read drafts. I will only answer questions.Professor Croco GVPT 409D Fall 2008 3 Important Dates Thursday, March 12: First exam. Tuesday Thursday, April 7 and 9: Question workshop. Thursday, Apr. 23: Copies of rough draft due at the start of class; one for each reviewer and one for me. Tuesday, Apr. 28: Writing Workshop Typed feedback due at the beginning of class. Thursday, Apr. 23: PAPERS DUE. Thursday Apr 30-May 7: Presentations. Friday, May 6: Poster feedback due to Professor Croco’s mailbox by 5PM. Tuesdsy, May 12: Second Exam. Assignments and Readings Readings are due the day they are listed for (e.g., have “Draining the Sea” read when you walk into class Jan. 29). Week 1 Tuesday, Jan. 27 Intro to the class Thursday, Jan. 29 Stats 1: The Basics • Ben Valentino, Paul Huth and Dylan Balch-Lindsay “Draining the Sea: Mass Killing and Guerilla Warfare” International Organization (2004) • Leanne Powner “Reading and Understanding Political Science” Week 2 Tuesday, Feb. 2 Stats 2: Causal Inference • Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner “Where have all the criminals gone?” Freakonomics. (2005). •