1 PSC 102 “Introduction to International Politics” Fall 2007 TR 2:00PM-3:20PM, 205NSC Instructor: Sooh-Rhee Ryu Office Hours: TR 3:30PM-5:00PM, 420 Park Hall Contact: [email protected], 645-2251, ext. 421 Course Description Welcome to PSC 102 Introduction to International Politics. This course introduces you to basic concepts and actors, enduring issues, and contemporary topics of international politics. The primary goal of this course is to give you general knowledge to understand major issues and problems of world politics, as well as analytical skills to critically think about certain puzzles and research questions that comprise the study of international politics. At the end of the class, you’ll have gained the ability to view, critically evaluate, and analyze current events of international relations. This will include the process of suggesting research questions, identifying the causes and effects, selecting approaches to the problem, and finally making conclusions. To accomplish this, we will focus on two major domains in international politics: international security and international political economy. During the course, these two topics will be explored by understanding the interaction between actors, major concepts and the underlying issues. Of course, the related context that forms the causes and consequences of the issues will be also examined. Although equally important, the amount of time and readings we will spend studying international security may sometimes outweigh that of international political economy. This does not mean that political economy is less important or less acknowledged; this simply indicates that there are more subjects covered in this course that are drawn from the international security domain. As you may know, as an introductory class, the course broadly overviews major subjects of international politics in a comprehensive way. In-depth analyses of individual issues are provided in upper-level courses that focus exclusively on international security issues alone, or the domain of international political economy. However, I always welcome questions that may require more specified knowledge and critical thinking. I hope that in the end each of you will have gained knowledge of the processes and conclusions of international relations. Most important to me is that each of you becomes more2 familiar and comfortable with how contemporary international politics functions, and how the study of international relations is explained and understood by social scientists. Course Requirements Given the size of the class and the introductory nature of this course, the course will primarily consist of lectures rather than detailed discussions of the readings. However, I still emphasize student participation. I may ask questions during class pertaining to the readings and lectures. This means that you will have completed the assigned readings before each class. Also, I will take attendance at the beginning of most classes, thus expecting you to attend class regularly, and be on time for class. This part of “attendance and participation” will constitute 10% of the course grade. I have scheduled four equally weighted exams for this course. Each exam is worth 20% of your final grade. Exams may include multiple choice, short answer identification, and essays. The exams are not cumulative. In addition, each student should read a major daily newspaper(e.g., The New York times) and provide a summary of an issue of your preference that is related to topics of this course, followed by your own opinion or discussion of the issue. This should not be longer than a page(font size 12 and double spaced). Approximately the same amount of space should be spend for each part(summary and discussion) of the paper. I require a total of 10 newspaper summaries throughout the whole semester that counts 10% toward your final grade. The papers are collected every Thursday. On the last day of class, you need to submit a portfolio of all ten of your newspaper summaries to complete the assignment. That means, you have to finish your summaries before the last day of class. Grading Policy - Attendance and participation: 10% - Four exams(20% each): 80% - Newspaper summaries(current events): 10% Readings The readings of this class will consist of a text book, which will be the main reading material of this course, and selected articles related to each subject. The articles will be posted on UBlearns available for downloading and print-outs. The required text book is available for purchase at the on-campus university book store. Joshua S. Goldstein, Jon C. Pevehouse. 2007. International Relations. Pearson Longman.3 For this course, the most recent edition(8th) will be used. However, you may also purchase the 7th edition(if available). The updates and changes made in the newer edition will be covered in the lecture and the notes. Course Schedule* Dates Topic Readings 8/28 Introduction and Course Preview No Readings 8/30 NO CLASS (Ms. Ryu will attend the 2007 annual APSA meeting in Chicago) 9/4, 9/6 The Globalization of International Relations IR Ch. 1 Singer, 1961. “The Level-of-Analysis Problem in International Relations,” World Politics 14(1). 9/11, 9/13, 9/18 Power Politics IR Ch. 2 Art, 1996. “American Foreign Policy and the Fungibility of Force,” Security Studies 5(4). 9/20 Exam 1 9/25, 9/27, 10/2 Alternatives to Power Politics IR Ch. 3 Tickner, 1991. “A Critique of Morgenthau’s Principles of Political Realism,” in Grant and Newland eds., Gender and International Relations(IN: Indiana Univ. Press). 10/4, 10/9 Foreign Policy IR Ch. 4 Putnam, 1988. “Diplomacy and Domestic Politics: The Logic of Two-Level Games” International Organization 42(3). 10/11 Exam 2 10/16, 10/18 International Conflict IR Ch. 5 Vasquez, 1987. “Steps to War: Toward a Scientific Explanation of Correlates of War Findings,” World Politics 40(1). 10/23, 10/25, 10/30 International Organization, Law, and Human Rights IR Ch. 7 Roberts, 1993. “The United Nations and International Security,” Survival: The IISS Quarterly 35(2). 11/1 Exam 3 11/6, 11/8 International Trade IR Ch. 8 Micklethwait and Wooldridge, 2001. “The Globalization Backlash,” Foreign Policy 126. 11/13, 11/15 Environment and Population IR Ch. 114 Homer-Dixon, 1991. “On the Threshold: Environmental Changes as Causes of Acute Conflict,” International Security 16(2). 11/20, 11/22 NO CLASS