Objectives of Course
1) Introduce major concepts of world politics.
2) Give you a framework for analyzing contemporary events.
3) Improve your writing and critical thinking skills.
4) Compel you to interact with the material.
5) Stimulate you into becoming a more informed & more involved citizen.
At a minimum, to read a newspaper or other news source regularly.
Course Requirements
1) Regular attendance, both in lectures and quiz sections. Quiz section
accounts for 30% of your grade.
2) A short paper (3-5 pages) on an assigned topic, due 1/24 (20%).
3) Two in-class exams: a midterm and a cumulative final. The date of
the midterm is 2/9. The midterm counts for 20% of your grade, &
the final counts for 30%.
Required Texts
John Rourke, International Politics on the World Stage (JR)
-- conceptual, some history, current
Atlas at the beginning; study it this week & refer to it throughout
the course.
Helen Purkitt (ed.), World Politics 91/92 (WP)
-- articles on contemporary events
Not covered directly in lectures, but should be discussed in
section. You are responsible for this material for the paper
assignment and for both exams.
For Wed., read JR Chapters 1 & 2.
Why Study World Politics?
Not something "out there"; affects you in many ways.
-- international trade: exports create jobs;
consumer goods (especially now w/ trade deficit)
-- monetary exchange rates: tourism;
weak dollar reduces trade deficit, but we pay higher prices for
imported goods (our goods are cheaper for others).
-- war: you could be drafted (registration is required);
Persian Gulf War could have been another Vietnam;
nuclear war still a possibility, esp. proliferation.
-- military spending: your job, esp. if you are in engineering,
computers, or the physical sciences.
Each job directly affects three others.
Money spent on military is taken from other potential uses.
Federal deficit: you will be paying for Reagan military
build-up for much of your life ($2 trillion for military in 8
years; deficit for those years = deficit bet. 1945 & 1980).
-- As largest debtor nation, US may be forced to adopt
some of Latin America's structural adjustment policies.
-- Resources: oil shocks of 1970's showed dependency of
industrialized countries on certain developing countries.
-- Environment: Chernobyl = international problem;
endangered species; acid rain, ozone depletion; tropical
deforestation. Climate change is biggest problem.
Global problems required global solutions.
Moving beyond narrow self-interest:
How many of you are bothered by the fact that millions of people die of
starvation every year?
How many of you hope to have children some day? Presumably, then, you
care about the kind of world your children will live in.
-- Your answers suggest that you are not only concerned with your
own self-interest, defined narrowly, but that you have a broader
conception of your own interests which includes, at least to
some extent, the interests of others.
-- My proposition: In a highly interdependent, global society, it
is impossible not only to be a well-informed citizen, but even
to be a fully ethical human being, without some degree of an
international consciousness -- particularly for relatively
affluent, well-educated people like ourselves.
How to study world politics: Major themes
1) Conflict (war, econ & pol competition) and cooperation
(treaties, regimes -- expanding)
2) Axes of world division: E-W and N-S; affluence & poverty
3) Globalization and fragmentation
(state being pulled from above & below)
4) Changing nature of power: nuclear >> major war obsolete;
media images; econ. strength increasingly important.
5) Reality modified by perception:
-- perceptions distort reality; action is based on perception.
What political scientists do:
1) Look for patterns.
2) Look for explanations.
3) Construct generalizable theories & models.
4) Goals: description, prediction, prescription.
5) Methods: logic, observation, quantitative analysis.
6) Foci: power(realism), social relations(idealism), wealth(Marxist)
Paradigms in the study of world politics
Realism: Nation-state is primary actor; nations have conflicting
interests; basic human drive for power; power is relative;
the international system is anarchic. Tends to emphasize
mil power.
Idealism: Anarchy includes norms and society; pursuit of ethical
policy is in the national interest; contemporary
interdependence requires a world order that transcends anarchy
and sovereignty.
Overlaps with liberalism, which emphasizes economic cooperation.
Marxism: Economic classes, not nation-states, should be primary unit
of analysis. Like realism, conflict is central, but like
liberals, emphasis is on economics. (Not in Rourke).
Methodological Approaches to the study of world politics
Scientific: testing of hypotheses, clear-cut independent and dependent
variables, often uses quantitative methods, concerned with
generalizations, believe their work is value-free. Also
called behavioralism.
Interpretive: does not use quantitative methods, generalizations, if
any, tend to be limited, skeptical of "value-free" research.
Read Chaps. 1 & 2 in Rourke; Unit One in Ogden.
Next time: Evolution of the World Political System.
