POLITICAL SCIENCE 160
GLOBAL POLITICS
Instructor: Dr.
Coor Hall 6707
Phone: 480 727-7717
Email: Akan.Malici@asu.edu
Office Hours: TTH: 2:00-3:00pm and by appointment.
The general focus of the course is on the nature of contemporary world politics through the study of both general theoretical topics and specific geographical areas. The particular focus is on processes of conflict and cooperation in global politics.
“May You Live In Interesting Times” is an ancient Chinese curse condemning individuals to a life in uncertainty, flux, and danger. The past several years certainly do qualify as interesting. The abrupt end of the enduring rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union marking the termination of the Cold War, the emergence of rogue states such as Libya and North Korea, the tragic events of September 11, 2001, the following war on terror, and the 2003 war with Iraq all demonstrate that international politics will continue to present us with unexpected challenges and prospects.
Taken together these astonishing events provide us with an important opportunity from which to step back and reexamine the study of international politics. Such is the task of our textbook – Marc A. Genest, Conflict and Cooperation. Evolving Theories of International Relations (available at the ASU bookstore). However, even though our recent past and our present is full of accounts of war and conflict, we must not forget that history has been equally characterized by cooperation between people and states. Just as these relationships evolve, so too must our theories about the world, how it operates, and our place within it.
The overall purpose of our textbook and this course is to present and discuss classic offerings in international relations theory as well as contemporary selections that propose new ways of interpreting political behavior. This type of theorizing is part of a long-standing tradition in history – attempting to answer the question, “Why do states act the way they do?” In answering that question, theories of international relations provide frameworks that enable scholars and statesmen to describe, analyze, and predict the behavior of states. The ultimate purpose of such theories is to help formulate effective policies. For the student of international politics it is important to take stance in this discourse. This leads to the requirements of this course.
Requirements:
Students are to write ten one-page essays on topics of concern to theoreticians and practitioners of international relations and relating to the assigned materials. The essays must be in twelve-point font, with one-inch margins, and single-spaced. The due dates for the essays are noted in the Course Outline below.
The task in writing these papers is not to summarize or re-iterate what another author already said. A paper that does not move beyond a summary can, and will not, reach a satisfactory grade. In its ideal form a university is to be considered a marketplace of ideas. Therefore, the task in writing these papers is sapere aude – think on your own. Specifically, your task in writing these papers is to address the following questions:
What puzzles you about the reading assignment(s)? Identify confusions, murky points, or other problems that you had in completing the assigned readings.
What did you learn from the reading assignments? Identify important conceptual insights, empirical findings, or clarifications about methodological or substantive issues, which you encountered while completing the assigned reading(s). Also identify how key concepts or insights in the reading(s) might apply to politics beyond the areas the author(s) identifies.
What future research questions did the reading assignments stimulate? Identify ideas for extending, refining, or changing the direction of future research, which occurred to you while completing the assigned readings.
For a satisfactory paper you will have to demonstrate effectively that you seriously engaged with the assigned reading material(s). You are to identify key arguments and key concepts. While each essay ought to have a clear focus on the particular reading(s) assigned for that particular due date, you are also to relate concepts and arguments that appear here to concepts in previous reading(s). Hence, you are expected to demonstrate that you can integrate newly acquired knowledge and information into previous knowledge and form a coherent body of knowledge.
For a satisfactory paper you will also have to demonstrate good writing abilities. A clear writing style is an absolute prerequisite for you to be able to communicate your substantive points and arguments effectively. It is also very important that you proofread your paper for grammar and style. Once you finished it, let it sit for a few hours and then revisit it. This way you are more likely to detect errors and correct them in time before the due date. Finally, it should go without saying that you ought to give a (creative) title to your paper.
Attendance:
Attendance will be monitored. Students are allowed to miss one class at their discretion. Absences in excess of this one class allowance must be for cause. Please provide a written explanation, together with supporting documentation. For example, if you miss a class due to extra curricular activities, please provide a letter from the faculty member organizing the event; if for medical reasons, a letter from your doctor and so on. Absences in excess of the one class limit that are not for cause may at the instructor’s discretion result in a lesser and possibly failing grade.
Classroom Courtesy:
Members of the class will be expected to exhibit appropriate behavior to the instructor and each other. Most importantly, students are required to give to others the respect and consideration they would wish for themselves. At its best, a classroom operates as a marketplace of ideas, where open discussion permits students to digest and evaluate information. Students must realize that while it is permissible to question a competing point of view, it is never appropriate to allow the conversation to degenerate into personal attacks. It is also expected that students will exhibit good manners, listen when others are talking, and generally behave in a professional manner. Students who behave inappropriately may be asked to leave the classroom and will have percentage-points deducted from their final grades.
Academic Honesty:
Cheating on a test or other assignment will result in an automatic loss of all points for that assignment and possibly an F for the entire course. Cheating includes looking at notes/readings during closed-book tests. Cheating also includes copying any part of a classmate’s work or plagiarism of any kind. Refer to the relevant ASU policy, particularly the Student Academic Integrity policy, at the following website:
http://www.asu.edu/studentlife/judicial/integrity.html
Incompletes and Make-up Assignments:
An incomplete will only be given in exceptional cases (i.e., illness or other circumstances beyond the student’s control). Students will only be given an incomplete if they have been doing passing work during the course of the semester. Make-up assignments will be given only in exceptional circumstances and only when the student can provide documentation of an illness or some other cause for failing to take the test or finish the assignment at the scheduled time.
Withdrawals:
If you decide that you need to withdraw from this course, it is your responsibility to do the paperwork required to ensure that you are withdrawn within the relevant dates allowed. The relevant dates are noted below.
Grading:
The final grade is a composition of the ten short papers and your attendance record. Each paper accounts for 10 points towards the final grade.
Grading Scheme: 100 – 90 percentile = A
89 – 80 percentile = B
79 – 70 percentile = C
69 – 60 percentile = D
59 and less = E
Although attendance is not featured in the grading scheme above, it does count towards your final grade. Attendance is obligatory and will be monitored. An unexcused absence will result in an automatic loss of three (3) points of your final grade. Excused absences are those that are accompanied by a written explanation, together with supporting documentation. For example, if you miss a class due to extra curricular activities, please provide a letter from the faculty member organizing the event; if for medical reasons, a letter from your doctor and so on.
Important Web Pages:
- Careers in the Foreign Service http://www.state.gov/www/careers
- Brookings Foreign Policy Studies http://www.state.gov/careers
- Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications.chiefs/index.html
- The Electronic Embassy http://www.embassy.org/
- Foreign Government Resources on the Web http://www.lib.umich.edu/libhome/Documents.center/foreign.html
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- White House Documents http://library.whitehouse.gov/WH/html/library.html
- CNN’s Cold War Series http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/
- Cold War International History Project http://wwics.si.edu/index.cfm?fuseaction=topics.home&topic_id=1490
- Cold War Museum http://www.coldwar.org/
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- Armed Conflict Report http://www.ploughshares.ca/CONTENT/ACR/ACR00/ACR00.html
- Online Intelligence Project http://www.icg.org/
- Peace and Conflict Studies http://www.uni-muenster.de/PeaCon/welcomee.html
- Program on the Analysis and Resolution of Conflicts http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/parc/parcmain.htm
- Arms Transfer Control Documents http://www.sipri.se/
- Center for Nonproliferation Studies http://cns.miis.edu/
- Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency http://arpa.mil/
- Ballistic Missile Defense Organization http://www.acq.osd.mil/bmdo/bmdolink/html/bmdolink.html
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- European Union http://www.chemie.fu-berlin.de/adressen/eu.html
- United Nations http://www.un.org/
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Tuesday 18 January: Introduction
Thursday 20 January: What is International Relations Theory? Levels of Analysis: A Method for International Relations Theory, pp. 1-11.
Tuesday 25 January: Key Concepts: Kenneth Waltz, Man, the State, and War; Stephen Walt International Relations: One World Many Theories.
Thursday 27 January: Realist Theory, pp. 41-46. [Due Date 1st paper]
Tuesday 1 February: Key Concepts: Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War; Machiavelli, The Prince.
Thursday 3 February: Key Concepts: Hans Morgenthau, Politics Among Nations; George Kennan, The Sources of Soviet Conduct. [Due Date 2nd paper]
Tuesday 8 February: Key Concepts: Robert Gilpin, War and Change in World Politics; Kenneth Waltz, Structural Realism After the Cold War. [Due Date 3rd paper]
Thursday 10 February: Liberal Theory, pp. 123-129.
Tuesday 15 February: Key Concepts: Hugo Grotius, On the Law of War and Peace; Wodrow Wilson, Fourteen Points; Hedley Bull, The Anarchical Society.
Thursday 17 February: Key Concepts: Joseph Nye, Interdependence and Power; Robert Keohane Cooperation and International Regimes. [Due Date 4th paper]
Tuesday 22 February: Class System Theory, pp. 191-197
Thursday 24 February: Marx and Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party; Lenin, Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism; Immanuel Wallerstein, The Capitalist World Economy.
Tuesday 1 March: Film on
Thursday 3 March: Postmodernism, pp. 257-277.
Tuesday 8 March: Key Concepts: Yosef Lapid, The Third Debate; Alexander Wendt, Anarchy Is What States Make Of It.
Thursday 10 March: Key Concepts: Ann Tickner, You Just Don’t Understand; Robert Keohane, Beyond Dichotomy; Birgit Locher and Ellisabeth Prugl, Feminism and Constructivism. [Due Date 6th paper]
Tuesday 22 March: Political Culture Theory, pp. 373-379
Thursday 24 March: Key Concepts: Bruce Russett, Controlling the Sword; Francis Fukuyama, The End of History? [Due Date 7th paper]
Tuesday 29 March: Key Concepts: Samuel Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations?; Stephen Walt, Bringing Up New Bogeyman.
Thursday 31 March: Film on the “Clash of Civilizations.”
Tuesday 5 April: Film on “Orientalism” [Due Date
8th paper]
Thursday 7 April: tba.
Tuesday 12 April: Decision-Making Process Theory, pp. 444-448. Key Concepts: Richard Snyder et al., Foreign Policy Decision Making; Graham Allison, Essence of Decision. [Due Date 9th paper]
Thursday 14 April: Human Nature Theory, pp. 489-507.
Tuesday 19 April: Key Concepts: Aristotle, The Politics; Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan; Sigmund Freud, Why War?
Thursday 21 April: tba.
Tuesday 26 April: Cognitive Theory, pp. 508-510 AND Harold Laswell, World Politics and Personal Insecurity; Margaret Hermann, Explaining Foreign Policy Behavior; Robert Jervis, Perception and Misperception in International Politics. [Due Date 10th paper]
Thursday 28 April: Careers and the Study of Political Science (Instructor will inform students on careers in the fields of political science, politics, and related fields).
Tuesday 3 May: Last Day of Classes.