POL 240: Introduction to International Politics

Syllabus updated 2012-04-08; Total Pages: 1606

Prof. Alex Montgomery

ahm@reed.edu

(503) 517-7395

Class

Office
MWF 2:10-3:00 (F01) 3:10-4:00 (F02)

TuTh 2:30-4:00 or by appointment
Vollum 120

Vollum 241
https://moodle.reed.edu/course/view.php?id=1192

http://www.reed.edu/~ahm

Course Description and Goals

Full course for one semester. This course introduces the theoretical study of international relations. Students will learn to perform basic research and analysis through writing and thinking about events in world politics from different perspectives, including realism, liberalism, and feminism. Readings are drawn from historic and contemporary scholars of international relations, cover a wide variety of issues, and are grouped together in conflicting pairs where possible. Assignments are a mixture of analysis, research, and experiential learning. Conference.

Requirements

Class Participation

Students are required to actively participate in the class; they will have the opportunity to do so both during and outside of classroom hours. Beginning the third week of class, each student will be assigned to three days during the semester in which they will do two things. One student will post a short newspaper article on a current or historical international event that they feel is relevant to the day’s readings. The other student(s) will author a short reaction memo (300-400 words) expressing an opinion about that day’s readings. These are NOT summaries; rather, they should attempt to agree or disagree with or compare and contrast the readings. Both should be posted in the forums on the course website by 8 PM the day before the readings are to be discussed. Students are required to read the memos and the newspaper articles sections and be prepared to respond to them the next day in class. Students are encouraged to respond to the postings online as part of their participation. If you miss a day of class for any reason whatsoever, you may make it up by posting a summary of each of the readings to Moodle. In order to make up missed days from the first half of the semester, these must be posted before the first day of classes after the break; from the second half, by the end of reading period.

Readings

Readings for the course are drawn from two books (a collection of condensed articles and a textbook) and E-Readings, which can be downloaded directly from the links on the syllabus. Students may also download every E-Reading in the syllabus from the Moodle link using Endnote, which is provided by CIS through a site-license at Reed. Students are expected to bring a copy of the readings to class every day for reference. Laptops are not permitted in class; tablet devices may be used. Readings marked “Further” on the syllabus are other relevant articles or books; they are not required for class. Students who have a particular interest in the topics in question are encouraged to read these pieces and to incorporate them into their assignments. Both books are required for the course; they are for sale at the bookstore and are also on reserve at the library as well. The Drezner book also is available to be checked out as an ebook.

Required Books

  • Robert J. Art and Robert Jervis, editors (2007) International Politics: Enduring Concepts and Contemporary Issues.  8th edition. New York, NY: Pearson/Longman, ISBN 0321436032 [Bookstore]
  • Daniel W Drezner (2011) Theories of International Politics and Zombies. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press <http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/651913558>, ISBN 9780691147833 [Bookstore]

While this is not a course on current topics in international politics (any one of which could provide material for an entire course), students are also expected to keep up with world events through daily reading of international news. Recommended news sites will be posted on the course web site and on the online library research guide, available at <http://guides.library.reed.edu/course-guide/8-Pol240>.

Course Website

Frequent reading of the course website will be helpful for success in the class. Discussion and collaboration with your peers in both sections of the class is available to you through the website; supplemental and core readings will be made available there; and assignments will be turned in electronically using the site.

Simulations

Two of the three assignments will center around simulations. The first will take place during class hours on February 10 on the south lawn in front of Eliot Hall. The second will take place from April 5–7 and will take a total of about eighteen hours. Participating in these simulations is required for completing the first and second assignments and therefore the course. If you cannot participate in these simulations, you must come talk to me immediately.

Assignments

There are three formal assignments for this course. A sheet explaining each assignment will be passed out in class. In general, I look for four things in an essay: A clear argument in the introductory paragraph, an explanation of the theories that you will be using, an illustration of your argument with direct examples, and a conclusion that discusses the implications of your findings. Please note that bibliographies are required and do count towards the word count.

Citation and Plagiarism

A major goal of this course is to encourage good reading, research, and citation habits. Good research requires good documentation of sources and the ability to put one’s own analysis and thoughts into a paper rather than relying on others. When in doubt as to whether you should cite something, always do it. Citations are required for ideas as well as facts, and are imperative even if you are not directly quoting authors. Make sure that you provide as specific a citation as possible; if an author discusses an idea in one section or one page, cite the specific section or page instead of the full article or book. I usually recommend that students use in-text author-date citation with full Chicago Manual of Style citations; see their Citation Quick Guide: <http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools˙citationguide.html>.

However, style is less important than the cites being present. If you use an idea or a fact without attribution, you are plagiarizing someone else’s work. Plagiarism and cheating are violations of academic integrity and thus violations of Reed’s Honor Principle. As specified by Reed’s academic conduct policy, such violations will result in disciplinary actions, including suspension or permanent dismissal from the College. Plagiarism is submitting a piece of work which in part or in whole is not entirely the student’s own work without attributing those same portions to their correct source. For examples of plagiarism and how to avoid it, see <http://www.csub.edu/ssric-trd/howto/plagiarism.htm> For more information on Reed’s policies see: <http://www.reed.edu/academic/gbook/comm˙pol/acad˙conduct.html>.

Plagiarism often comes as the result of a student being up against a deadline without being able to meet it. If you are having trouble meeting a deadline for whatever reason, please contact me. Because every assignment is a paper that will be handed out well in advance, I have no problem giving extensions. It is always better to ask for more time than to plagiarize. When you ask for an extension, you should a)explain what events are causing you to miss the deadline and b)request an amount of time proportional to the interfering events. You may ask for an extension up to, but not exceeding, the amount of time remaining for the assignment, except for cases of emergencies.

Accommodations

If you’d like to request academic accommodations due to a disability, please contact Learning Resources Director Rebecca Cohen, Director of Disability Support Services, 503-517-7921, cohenr@reed.edu. If you have a letter from Student Services, please let me know so we can discuss those accommodations.

Power and Morality

1/23/12: 01.1. Introduction

1/25/12: 01.2. Power and Morality (31 Pages)

1/27/12: 01.3. Anarchy (55 Pages)

Further

Realism

1/30/12: 02.1. Realism and Levels of Analysis (61 Pages)

2/1/12: 02.2. Bandwagoning and Balancing (44 Pages)

2/3/12: 02.3. The Political Use of Force (61 Pages)

Further

Mitigating Anarchy

2/6/12: 03.1. Cooperation (51 Pages)

2/8/12: 03.2. Institutions (66 Pages)

2/10/12: 03.3. Anarchy in Practice: Croquet (12 Pages)

Structural Critiques of Realism

2/13/12: 04.1. Discussion; Assignment 1 due at the beginning of class

2/15/12: 04.2. Constructivism (59 Pages)

2/17/12: 04.3. Democratic Peace (41 Pages)

Further

Broader Critiques of Realism

2/20/12: 05.1. Feminism (44 Pages)

Further

2/22/12: 05.2. Organizations (42 Pages)

Further

2/24/12: 05.3. Psychology (57 Pages)

World Wars

2/27/12: 06.1. World War I (77 Pages)

Further

2/29/12: 06.2. World War II (61 Pages)

3/2/12: 06.3. The Bomb and the Cold War (67 Pages)

Empire

3/5/12: 07.1. End of the Cold War (68 Pages)

3/7/12: 07.2. American Empire (51 Pages)

Further

3/9/12: 07.3. Clash of Civilizations (64 Pages)

Further

Spring Break - No Class

International Political Economy

3/19/12: 09.1. Intro to IPE (39 Pages)

3/21/12: 09.2. What is Globalization? (38 Pages)

3/23/12: 09.3. Globalization: Good or Bad? (49 Pages)

Law, Diplomacy, and Proliferation

3/26/12: 10.1. International Law (31 Pages)

3/28/12: 10.2. Spread of Nuclear Weapons (70 Pages)

Further

3/30/12: 10.3. Diplomacy and Nonproliferation (20 Pages)

Simulation

4/2/12: 11.1. Country Meetings

4/4/12: 11.2. Country Meetings

4/6/12: 11.3. Simulation

Networks and Weapons

4/9/12: 12.1. Discussion

4/11/12: 12.2. Proliferation Networks (60 Pages)

Further

4/13/12: 12.3. No Class

Transnational Networks

4/16/12: 13.1. Crime (72 Pages)

4/18/12: 13.2. Terrorism (35 Pages)

4/20/12: 13.3. Human Rights (42 Pages)

Further

Global-Local Problems

4/23/12: 14.1. Failed States and Civil War (44 Pages)

4/25/12: 14.2. Genocide (39 Pages)

4/27/12: 14.3. International Environmental Politics (55 Pages)