Time Schedule:
C. Leigh Anderson
PB AF 530
Seattle Campus
Provides a broad understanding of international issues and United States policy. Students explore U.S. foreign policy and theories of major international actors in international trade, security, and strategic concerns, refugee policy, conflict resolution, development assistance, and the environment. Offered: jointly with POL S 534/JSIS B 534.
Class description
This course is intended as a broad introduction to the main themes, theories, and debates undergirding international policy. My goal is for us to acquire enough historical perspective to frame the current debates, but our focus will be on some critical current issues and projected international priority issues. As such, the themes are constant each year, but the foci change. This years focus (2009) is the global economic crisis.
The remainder of the course is organized around the themes of cooperation and conflict, and international resource flows: goods, money, and people. We will cover the main methods of international relations -- trade, aid and force and the main reasons for international relations - economic, political, ethical, and security.
We will use different means to address this range of international issues. Lectures will be organized according to the trade, aid and force themes, and will involve some theory. Weekly current event briefings are your responsibility. They are organized according to U.S. relations and actions in the world, which are often state-based (eg. responses to Russian activity in Georgia), though they may represent broader global issues, such as the financial crisis and climate change. Finally, students will have the opportunity to choose a particular (narrower) topic to write a slightly longer briefing paper for.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Recommended preparation
Class assignments and grading
-Quality participation in class 10% ; -Individual briefing paper (four-page max. 11 pt. font, 1.5 spacing) 25% ; -Group briefings 25% ; -Final exam 40%
