TO: Students Enrolling in Political Science 102, Introduction to International Relations

4

July, 1994

TO: Students enrolling in Political Science 102, Introduction to International Relations (formerly Global Peace and War)

FROM: Roy Licklider

I have several different goals for this course. (1) You should acquire the knowledge and intellectual skills necessary for more specialized courses in international relations at the 300 and 400 level within the political science department, as well as a sense of the variety of topics and approaches in such courses. (2) You should understand the distinctive social science approach to gaining knowledge. (3) You should be able to understand and participate in the ongoing public debate about the major issues in the international community.

These goals sound impressive but they are rather vague. To be more precise, by the end of the term you should be able to reasonably discuss all of the following questions:

(a) What is distinctive about the social science method of gaining knowledge and making it persuasive to others? What other methods of gaining knowledge are commonly used? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each? What sorts of questions can each best answer? How do you decide which is more appropriate in a particular situation?

(b) What are the differences among the major alternative theoretical approaches to the study of international relations--realism and its alternatives? Why have such different approaches developed? What are the strengths and weaknesses of theories at different levels of analysis such as the international system, the state, and the individual?

(c) What is the international system, and what concepts have been useful in understanding this environment within which all states function? How does the lack of central government (anarchy) create the problem of the security dilemma? How are international systems classified? What different types have existed throughout history? How is the current system similar to and different from earlier ones? How has the current international system evolved from the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 through the 18th Century balance of power, the French Revolution, the Napoleonic wars, the Concert of Europe, the unification of Germany and Italy, the new imperialism, World War I, the rise of Hitler, World War II, and the Cold War system?

(d) What are states, and how were they created? Why did they become the major actors in international systems, and is this likely to continue? What is the relationship between nations and states? What do nationalism and self-determination mean? What is the role of non-state actors in international systems historically, currently, and in the future?

(e) What are the causes of war? How useful is it as an instrument of policy? How has military technology, including nuclear weapons, changed its role in the international system? What is deterrence theory? Why did the United States and the Soviet Union not fight a thermonuclear war during the Cold War?

(f) Why do states which have waged war among themselves establish peace? What is the relationship between arms control, disarmament, and peace? Are democratic states more peaceful than non-democratic states? What is collective security, and when is it more or less likely to work?

(g) How does cooperation sometimes emerge from international anarchy and sometimes not? How do international law and international organizations function? How and under what circumstances are international regimes formed? What is interdependence, how has it changed over time, and what difference does it make? How is this likely to change in the future?

(h) What is power in international affairs, and why is it important? What is the national interest? What is the relationship between military and economic power? Is power increasingly defined in terms of economic rather than military means, and if so, why? What is economic competitiveness, and why is it important?

(i) How do states make decisions about foreign policy issues when good people disagree? What is the role of organizations and individuals in such choices? Why are some decisions implemented differently than the political leaders expected? Do democracies have different foreign policies than non-democracies? What does it mean to say a decision was made politically?

(j) What are different ideas of the role of ethics and morality in foreign policy? How should such decisions be made? How can we make arguments about values which will persuade others to adopt our position? Are the standards for such decisions changing over time? Is this a good thing? How can we tell?

(k) What global issues (problems on which reasonable people disagree, which influence the entire international system, and which cannot be resolved by individual states) are likely to be important in the next few decades? What should we do about some of these issues? What are we likely to do about them? Can the current state system respond to them appropriately? Will we be able to respond to them more appropriately than in the past?

I do not expect you to be able to answer any or all of these questions with great confidence after a single semester introductory course; indeed your teachers disagree among ourselves about many of them. However, I do expect you to be able to understand some of the issues involved and to know how to get more information about particular questions and evaluate it appropriately.

If you wish to pursue these issues further, several advanced courses are routinely taught at Rutgers. Some focus on the international system, such as 321 Theories of World Politics and 322 Strategies of International Relations. Others are more concerned with the particular role of the U.S. government in international affairs, such as 319 Issues of American Foreign Policy and 323 Defense Policy. 366 Formulation of American Foreign Policy deals with the process by which the U.S. government makes foreign policy decisions. Other related courses include 324 Causes of War, 362 International Law, and 363 Conflict Resolution. For advanced students, we also offer a few research seminars (395) every year on varying topics.

Political Science 102, Sections 1- Roy Licklider

Introduction to International Relations Spring 2015

e-mail:

CAREERS: Students often want information about jobs related to international affairs. We have prepared a variety of materials on the department website (www.polisci.rutgers.edu/undergrad/careers), including an essay on careers in international relations, material on the popular two-year policy programs leading to Masters degree, biographies of Rutgers alums who have interesting jobs, and a list of relevant websites. Material is being added routinely so keep an eye on the site.

OFFICE HOURS:

DROP-IN HOURS—NO APPOINTMENT NECESSARY

Tuesdays: 1:00-2:00 in the Starbucks next to the Barnes & Noble/Rutgers Bookstore

Thursdays: Hickman 616 (Douglass Campus) from 12:30-1:30

OTHER HOURS BY APPOINTMENT—CONTACT ME BY E-MAIL

TEACHING ASSISTANTS: Wei-Chih Chen and Alp Tuncaci

COURSE GOALS: We hope that you will learn at least four things from this course: (1) the technique of testing general statements against reality which we call the science method; (2) some basic concepts used in studying international relations; (3) techniques for analyzing moral issues in international affairs; and (4) basic information about a few global issues which are likely to be important during your lifetime.

The syllabus lists readings for each class meeting. You must read this material before the class meets; lectures will build on assigned reading rather than repeating it, and simulations, discussion sections, groupworks, and reading quizzes will all require you to use materials from the reading in class.

BOOKS REQUIRED FOR PURCHASE (paperback, abbreviated in the syllabus by titles, will be available in the Rutgers Bookstore and New Jersey Books on Easton Avenue):

Karen Mingst and Ivan Arreguín, Essentials of International Relations (6th edition only)

Mark R. Amstutz, International Ethics (4th edition only)

OTHER READINGS are on the course Sakai site; go to https://sakai.rutgers.edu and enter your Rutgers identification. This will take you to your workspace, and the course site will be automatically available if you are registered in the course. On the course site, go to Resources; items are listed alphabetically by title (as they are listed on the syllabus). When you locate the item you want, just click on it. If something is not available, please let me know immediately so I can do something about it. You are responsible for having read all assigned materials before the class when they are assigned. I have also listed optional reading for students who want to pursue some of these topics at greater length; these materials are not on the Sakai site and will not be on the reading quizzes or exams.

CLASS FORMATS: Because of the large size of this course, several different class formats will be used, as indicated in the syllabus.

L = lecture in Scott 123, usually every Tuesday and any Friday when no other session is scheduled for that week

P = a paper is due that day; the class will meet in Scott 123 to discuss the paper in detail (students often find these sessions among the most valuable of the course, although not always the most comfortable). If you have not completed your paper for any reason, do not attend these sessions.

D = discussion sections on Wednesday or Friday, usually every alternate week, each section in the room and time assigned to it; there are no Friday lectures on these weeks.

S = simulation on Wednesday or Friday in the same times and rooms as discussion sections–again no Friday lectures those weeks

G = groupwork on Wednesday or Friday in the same times and rooms as discussion sections with no lecture on Friday those weeks

NOTE: This class only meets two times a week. Therefore there will be no Friday lecture on weeks when you have discussion sections, simulation, or groupworks, and sections will not meet on weeks when there is a Friday lecture.

GRADING POLICY:

Paper #1 15%

Paper #2 15%

Paper #3 15%

Reading quizzes (top 6 grades) 15%

Groupwork (top 3 grades) 15%

Participation in discussion section 10%

Final exam at scheduled time 15%

NOTE: Students must complete at least one version of all three papers and the final exam in order to pass the course.

PAPERS: The papers should be no more than five double-spaced pages or about 1500 words. The papers require thought rather than research and will be graded accordingly. They may not be submitted by e-mail except by special permission. We expect them to be written in standard English; students with writing problems will be required to go to the Writing Centers and expected to improve. Late papers without a reasonable excuse will be reduced a full letter grade for each class period that they are late. Papers may be rewritten for credit if the original grade was C+ or below; the second version will be graded independently and averaged with the first to calculate the grade for that paper. Students must talk to the individual who graded their papers before rewriting them. Rewritten papers will be accepted for approximately three weeks after they have been returned.

Because of the size of this class, two political science graduate students have been assigned as teaching assistants; they will also grade many of the papers. To ensure that our grading standards are the same, we begin each assignment by grading and discussing papers until we are giving the same grades to the same papers. When rewriting a paper or discussing an exam graded by someone other than me, you should first talk to the original grader. If you are not satisfied with the outcome of this discussion, you may appeal the grade to me.

PLAGIARISM: Plagiarism is pretending that someone else’s words or ideas are your own. It is an academic crime and is punished as such; all possible cases in this class are reported directly to the appropriate judicial authorities for action. In order to prevent it, all papers must be submitted in two different forms, on paper to us in class and electronically to Sakai, which in turn will automatically submit it to turnitin.com. Turnitin compares each paper to a database of several billion webpages looking for duplication. The database includes over forty million student papers (including all papers for this course for the past few years) as well as the text of thousands of articles and books. For further information on plagiarism, see http://academicintegrity.rutgers.edu/.

READING QUIZZES: Nine reading quizzes will be given during the semester at the beginning of class; they will not be announced in advance, and no makeups, excuses, or rewrites will be accepted. Each quiz will require you to demonstrate that you have read a specified part of the reading assignment for that day; outlining the major points and noting a few things which are unique to the assignment are the obvious ways to do this. Written notes (but no books or xeroxes) may be used. All computers must be closed during the quizzes. Quizzes will be graded pass or fail. Students with six or more passing grades will be given an A for the reading quiz portion of their final grade. Students with five passing grades will get a B, those with four will get a C, those with three will get a D, and those with fewer than three will get an F.