APPALACHIAN STATE UNIVERSITY

Department of Political Science and Criminal Justice

Course outline (Summer 2002)

International Politics and Foreign Policy

Course description:

The present course Introduction to International Relations and Foreign Policy is intended to provide the student with basic keys to understand the ongoing worldwide political transformations and their significance for the future.

The course will also allow the student to identify the long-term forces behind the contemporary turbulence.

Finally, the student will have the opportunity to revise, assimilate and (why not?) probably embrace applied analytical perspectives.

Course objectives:

-                     The student will learn about the main trends in global policy.

-                     The student will learn about the long-term forces behind the contemporay turbulence.

-                     The student will learn some applied analytical perspectives.

Readings:

There is a book assigned for the course, which is available at the campus bookstore:

Kegley Jr, Charles and Eugene R Wittkopf. World Politics: Trend and Transformation (8^th ed) Wadsworth Publishers (ISBN 0 312 24735 4 ).

The book covers all the topics to review during the course; but BEWARE that the lectures are not necessarily fully contained in the textbook. PLEASE bring a notebook and TAKE NOTES.

Additional sources: Information on bibliographical and statistical sources, both printed and online, will be provided during the semester.

One particularly important online source is the WWW Virtual Library at http://vlib.org/  particularly the seccion on International Affairs. So,

http://vlib.org/InternationalAffairs.html

Class Schedule:

1 May 28^th          Presentation of the course

2        29^th          Introduction/ Exploring 20^th Century Politics

3        30^th          Theories of World Politics

4        31^st          Foreign Policy Decision Making

5 June 3^rd          Great-Powers Rivalries and Relations

6        4^th          The Plight and Policy Posture of the Global South

7        5^th          Intergovernmental Organizations

8        6^th          First Exam

9        7^th          The Problem and Peril of Nongovernmental Organizations

10      10^th          Trade and Monetary Issues in a Globalized Political Economy

11      11^th          Globalization and the Disappearance of National Borders

11      12^th          Homework to be delivered

12      12^th          Pop. Politics and the Demographic Dimensions of Globalization

13      13^th          Ecopolitics and the Preservation of the Global Commons

14      14^th                                                                   

15      17^th          Second Exam

16      18^th          Armed Conflict Between and Within States

17      19^th                                                         

18      20^th          Military Power and National Security in the Age of Globalization

19      21^st          Coercive Diplomacy and Interv. in a World of Vanishing Borders

20      24^th          Realist Road to Sec. Thru Alliances, B of P, and Arms Control

21      25^th          The Liberal Institutional Paths to Peace

22      26^th          Ten Questions About Twenty-First-Century Global Prospects

23      27^th           Final Exam

Exams:

There will be two partial exams, assignments, plus a final:

1^st      exam                               20% of the mark

2^nd     exam                               20%        

Assignments/Presentations        10%                

Final  exam                               50%         

Previous to the exams, each student will receive a list of topics as a study guide. The three exams will have seven questions, out of which only five should be answered. I expect to receive four readable pages per student on each occasion.

Instructor:              Dr. David R. Dávila Villers

Office hours:          Monday - Friday 9:40 11:40 am by appointment)

Office number:          129    (PS/CJ)

Phone:                   262- 3184

E-mail:                   dadv560@hotmail.com

Website: http://davillers.tripod.com.mx  (no www and no @)