Time Schedule:
Robert D Burrowes
SIS 495
Seattle Campus
Small-group seminars address current problems in international affairs, each focusing on one specific policy question and producing a joint task force report. Restricted to senior majors in International Studies. Prerequisite: SIS 200; SIS 201; SIS 202; SIS 401.
Class description
Participants will learn the what and why of U.S. policy toward the oil-rich Gulf area since the Gulf War and the end of the global Cold War at the onset of the 1990s. They will evaluate the appropriateness of this policy at the end of the decade and, if judged necessary, will attempt to formulate a more appropriate policy to guide the U.S. in its dealings with Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the Republic of Yemen, and the smaller Arab Gulf oil states.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
The introductory/background lectures and discussions led by the instructor will be followed by research and reporting on relevant topics by the individual participants in the TF, the preparation and critiquing of individual background or position papers, the collective preparation and writing of the TF policy paper, and the defense of that paper by the participants before an outside expert evaluator.
Recommended preparation
Pre-quarter readings on the subject of the TF will be assigned - and must be read.
Class assignments and grading
Grading will be mostly by the instructor and based on each participants contribution to the class sessions, his/her individual backgrond or position paper, and his/her contribution to the final collective TF policy paper. A part of the grade will be based on a participants' peer evaluation and the assessment of the outside evaluator.
