What's China's effect on international politics? What is Russia doing in Europe and why? What is a trade war? How is COVID affecting the global economy? Why are there conflicts along religious and ethnic lines? Should the US intervene abroad to protect democracy and human rights?
These are some of the topics you hear about in the news, and that we’ll be studying over the course of the semester.
One of the interesting things about international politics is that different people see it very differently. We’ll be working to understand that diversity of views by looking at different conceptions of justice, conflicting views of human nature, competing visions of politics.
We'll also explore some specific issues related to the international: the changing nature of warfare and terrorism; the international economy, processes of globalization of trade and investment that challenge the traditional understanding of the nation-state and have direct impacts on local communities in every part of the world, including the US; and the effect of culture -- ethnic, national, religious -- on international relations.
No prerequisites.
In Spring semester the course meets Tu/Th, either 9:25-10:40 (section 1) or 10:50-12:05 (section 2).
If you have any questions, please contact Prof. Chip Gagnon, vgagnon@ithaca.edu