World Politics - 2007

The purpose of this course is to provide you with a basic introduction to the study of world politics, or “international relations” as it is sometimes (perhaps inaccurately) called. Our avenue of approach to this extremely large subject-matter will be through an investigation of the major theoretical positions in the academic discipline of International Relations (IR), and a critical examination of how these theories hold up to the actual events of world politics both past and present (and perhaps even future). Our goal will be to develop critical, creative, and sustainable positions regarding three big issues—security, prosperity, and justice—as they relate to a variety of empirical settings. Students should expect to do a lot of arguing, debating, and reflecting over the course of the semester, and should also expect to come out of the course with a better sense of your own take on some globally important questions.