SYLLABUS
Political Science 172
Introduction to International Relations
Spring 2000
Instructor: Marc Simon
Office: 123 Williams Hall
Phone: 372-7386
Hours: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 3:30-4:30; other times by appointment. Please stop by, call, or email!
email: msimon@bgnet.bgsu.edu
webpage: http://personal.bgsu.edu/~msimon
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This class introduces the basic concepts, theories, and issues in international relations. The End of the Cold
War, the Gulf War, NAFTA, the Kosovo and Chechnya conflicts, the collapse of East Asian currencies, and other
major events of the past few years give us a sense of the importance of studying this subject. We will study recent
and historical international events and issues and apply the concepts and theories to explain and understand them.
In addition to our theories we also address the role of geography where applicable, in order to broaden students'
understanding of the world. The general goal of the course is to make you familiar with important historical and
current global issues and to provide a coherent, theoretically based way of analyzing those events.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
The current wave of efforts to improve teaching encourages us to think in terms of the outcomes we seek
from a course--what will you gain by the time it's all over? These are my goals:
1. Substantive knowledge: Familiarize students with important historical international events and current
global issues.
2. Critical thinking: introduce basic theories of international conflict and economics, and improve students'
ability to apply these theories to current and historical events to give a fuller explanation for what occurred.
3. Geography: Improve students' grasp of world geography, and how geographic conditions affect
international politics and events.
4. Writing ability and integrative thinking: students are assigned essay examinations and a research paper in
a effort to improve their writing and encourage them to express their understanding of issues from more
than one theoretical perspective.
TEXTBOOKS
Three required texts for this course are available at all the usual bookstores.
Rourke, John and Mark Boyer (2000) World Politics: International Politics on the World Stage, BRIEF
edition. Duskin McGraw-Hill Publishers.
Jackson, Robert, ed. (1999) Annual Editions: Global Issues. Dushkin McGraw-Hill Publishers.
The New Comparative World Atlas, Hammond (1997).
NEWS
In addition, I insist that, for at least this semester, you inform yourself on current international events. We
will be talking about these in class, and they will even be on quizzes and exams. I can recommend several sources:
the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, the Economist, National Public Radio (91.3FM, 820AM, 6:30-9am and 4:30-6:30pm), or even CNN's international reports. Other sources such as Time, Newsweek, or the Toledo
Blade just do not provide the depth and breadth of international coverage necessary for this class. If you want to
subscribe, I will provide reduced rate subscription sheets for the CSMonitor; the NYTimes is available at a reduced
rate (it used to be in the Union; we'll have to check where they are now). However, these and others are available
for free in the main library, and on the WEB.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
We will have a midterm exam, final exam, short paper, and at 7 short quizzes over the course of the
semester. The quizzes will cover geography, current events, and readings; you can drop your two lowest quiz
scores. The paper will be a 4-5 page assignment requiring some research. Weights for each are listed below.
Midterm Exam 25%
50 points
Paper
25% 50 points
Quizzes
25% 50 points (Best 5 @ 10 points each)
Final Exam
25% 50 points
100% 200 total points
I will distribute a handout on the paper after the first week of class. I expect students to complete all the reading
assignments and come to class ready to ask questions. Some material on the exams is not covered in lecture, so if
you don't understand a reading assignment, please ask questions about it.
Make-Up Policy: Quizzes must be taken as scheduled. You will receive a zero for missed quizzes, but you can drop
your two lowest scores. Exams can be made up only in extreme circumstances. Please call me (in advance) if
tragedy strikes and you will be unable to take an exam (372-7386; leave a message on my voice mail if I am not in).
Cheating: Our department and our university takes cheating very seriously. If you are caught plagiarizing or
cheating in any way, I will make sure you receive the stiffest punishment possible.
SCHEDULE OF READINGS (dates subject to change) Rourke=World Politics; AE=Annual Editions
DATE TOPICS
READINGS
SECURITY ISSUES--REALISM AND IDEALISM
Jan 10 Introduction to the Course
Jan 12 Realism
Rourke Ch. 1
Jan 14 Idealism
handouts
Jan 17 Martin Luther King Day--No Class
Jan 19 Anarchy; System History
Rourke Ch. 2
Jan 21 System level analysis
Rourke, Ch. 3, pp. 48-59
Jan 24 Power
Rourke Ch. 8, pp. 197-209
Jan 26 Balance of Power
Jan 28Caspian Sea Oil
AE #13 ***QUIZ 1
Jan 31 Security Dilemma
Rourke Ch. 10; AE #36
Feb 2 Deterrence; Nuclear Abolition
AE #28, #31, #32
Feb 4 Guerrilla War; Terrorism
***QUIZ 2
Feb 7 State level of analysis:
Rourke Ch. 3, pp. 59-73
Feb 9 Democracy and Peace
Rourke Ch. 6
Feb 11 Public Opinion and foreign policy
***QUIZ 3
Feb 14 International Law
Rourke Ch. 9,
Feb 16 Human Rights
Rourke, Ch. 13; AE #37, #38
Feb 18 International Organizations: the UN Rourke Ch. 7; AE # 33 ***QUIZ 4
Feb 21 Integration theory: the EU
AE # 20
Feb 23 Peacekeeping
Feb 25 REVIEW and discussion
Feb 28 MIDTERM EXAM
Mar 1 Individual Level of analysis; Perception and Beliefs
Mar 3 Video: Anybody's son will do
Mar 4-12 ---------------------SPRING BREAK----------------------------
Mar 13 Bureaucracy
Rourke Ch. 3, pp. 73-87
Mar 15 Groupthink
Mar 17 Gulf crisis video
II: INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
Mar 20 International Political Economy
Rourke Ch. 11
Mar 22 Trade
Mar 24 Globalization
AE #15, #16
Mar 27 North-South Economic issues
Rourke Ch. 12
Mar 29 Dependency
AE # 3, #18
Mar 31 Development
AE # 39 ***QUIZ 5
Apr 3 NAFTA, WTO
Apr 5 Global Environmental Politics
Rourke Ch. 14
Apr 7 Population
AE #1, #5, #6 ***QUIZ 6
Apr 10 Population
Apr 12 Food
AE # 8
Apr 14 Common Pool Resources
AE #10 ***PAPER DUE
Apr 17 Global Warming
AE #11
Apr 19 Sustainable Development
AE #14***QUIZ 7
Apr 21 No Class-Model UN
Apr 24 Futures-security
AE #2, #4
Apr 26 Futures-economic
AE #3
Apr 28 Review for Final
FRIDAY May 5- Final Exam 3:30-5:30