POLS 17/PAGS II: THE POLITICS OF GLOBAL PROBLEMS Professor: B. Welling Hall Office: Tyler Hall 019 Office Hours: T,W 1:00 - 3:00 Office Phone: 1208 and by appointment INTRODUCTION This course is designed to introduce first- and second-year college students to the discipline of political science and to problems on the global political agenda in the last decade of the 20th century. In this course we will study "traditionalism" and "feminism" in examining issues such as the Cold War; nationalism; nuclear deterrence; and problems of human rights. We will also study the work of the United Nations and look briefly at the environment as a new issue on the global political agenda. Generally, there will be lectures on Monday and Tuesday, small group assignments on Thursday, and a quiz and Q & A session on Friday. COURSE OBJECTIVES After successfully completing this course, you should be able: 1. to incorporate into your working vocabulary a number of terms and concepts used by scholars, policy-makers, and other political actors to analyze international relations. 2. to understand the meaning of and to identify "description," "explanation," and "prescription" in the analysis of contemporary global problems. 3. to contrast and compare different "worldviews" in understand- ing the causes of global problems and the conduct of policy making in international relations. 4. to question sources of information about their inherent perspective or worldview. 5. to "think globally" and to articulate a personal position on your role as an educated and competent citizen in today's world. STUDENT ASSIGNMENTS: As a student in this course, you are responsible for completing the assigned readings in order to participate as fully as possible in the class discussions. Lectures will not duplicate the readings -- be prepared to be evaluated on your understanding of both. Your final grade will be based on a combination of the activities outlined below under grading and discussed throughout this syllabus. GRADING: Quizzes 20 percent* I.O. Exercise 15 percent Midterm 25 percent Final Project 40 percent broken down as: Poster Session 15 percent Quotebook 25 percent * Quizzes are scheduled for every Friday with the exception of January 4 and March 8. The first quiz is scheduled for MONDAY January 7. This means that there will be two quizzes during the second week of classes. Quizzes will cover readings and lectures since the previous quiz. DATES TO REMEMBER: I.O. Exercise Due January 17 Midterm February 7 Poster Sessions March 4, 5, and 7 Quotebook Due March 8 MATERIALS TO BE PURCHASED: Cynthia Enloe. 1990. Bananas, Beaches, and Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics. University of California Press. John Stoessinger. 1990. The Might of Nations: World Politics in Our Time. NINTH EDITION. McGraw Hill. The Christian Science Monitor. If you have any problem with your subscription, call 1-800-456-2220 directly for resolution. TOPIC AND READING SCHEDULE (in addition to Monitor) Jan 3 - 4 Intro: The Westphalian System and its Challengers Read: Stoessinger Ch. 1 and 2, and Enloe Ch. 1 Jan 7 - 11 International Organizations and Global Problems Read: Stoessinger Ch. 9 and 10 View: The Road to Nairobi Time and Place TBA Jan 14 - 18 East-West Relations: A Look at the Cold War Read: Stoessinger Ch. 3 View: A Walk through the Twentieth Century TBA Jan 21 - 24 North-South Relations: Imperialism and Colonialism Read: Stoessinger Ch. 4, Enloe Ch. 2 and 8 Jan 28 - Feb 1 Nationalism at Home and Abroad Read: Stoessinger Ch. 5, Enloe Ch. 3 Feb 4 Diplomacy and Etiquette Read: Stoessinger Ch. 8, Enloe Ch. 5 Feb 11 - 15 Deterrence in the Nuclear Age Read: Stoessinger Ch. 6, Enloe Ch. 4 Feb 18 - 22 Arms Control and Disarmament Read: Stoessinger Ch. 12, BEGIN READING FOR NEXT WEEK Feb 25 - Mar 1 Sustainable Development and Ecological Security Read: Stoessinger Ch. 7 and 13, Enloe Ch. 6 and 7 Mar 4 - 8 Conclusion Read: Stoessinger Ch. 14, Enloe Ch. 9 INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION ASSIGNMENT This assignment asks you to look briefly at the work of several international organizations on a problem of your choosing. Although it is not required that your final project focus on the same global problem, you may feel that you get a deeper view of a significant issue if you continue your focus throughout the term. There are, unfortu- nately, innumerable global problems. For the purpose of this course, it is recommended that you pick a problem from one of the following categories: Category A: GLOBAL FREEDOM FROM: Examples: AIDS, Human Rights Abuses, Weapons of Mass Destruction Category B: GLOBAL ACCESS TO: Examples: Birth Control, A Clean and Healthy Environment, Food Some international organizations like the Boy Scouts, Amnesty International, and the International Planned Parenthood Federation may already be familiar to you through their local branches and affili- ates. The Yearbook of International Organizations is a three-volume reference work that can be found in the reference section of Lilly Library. It categorizes and describes the work of thousands of inter- national organizations. For this exercise you will need Volume 1 and Volume 3. PLEASE do not take these volumes away from the reference desk. Do your classmates a favor and return the volumes as soon as you are done with them. Also, don't wait until the night before the assignment is due to go looking for these books. You are bound to be disappointed. WHAT TO DO Write a two to three page essay (typed, double-spaced) on the international organizations involved in a global policy area in which you have a particular interest (see above). Begin by using Volume 3 to find your issue/topic and then refer to Volume 1 to find descriptions of organizations listed in Volume 3. Note that some organizations have very short descriptions. Avoid these. If you are overwhelmed with too many organizations, you should narrow your topic (e.g. from energy to solar energy). If, on the other hand, there seem to be too few, try broadening the topic (e.g. from boat people to refugees). I enjoy talking with students about their topics, so come by and see me at a mutually convenient time if you need help. Your essay should address the following questions in a discus- sion of three to five of the international organizations you identify. These questions can be addressed in any order: your goal is to write a well-reasoned and informative account of contemporary actors in global politics. 1) What is noteworthy about the aims of these organiza- tions? 2) Is there a pattern to the founding dates of these orga- nizations? Any informed guesses as to why? 3) Are members of these IOs clustered in any particular geographical region or political bloc? Are headquarters all located in the same region of the world? What does this imply? 4) Are the organizations you have identified IGOs or INGOs? How can you tell? What is their relationship to the UN Family? 5) What are the strengths and weaknesses of these IOs? Do they seem to be working with or against each other? FINAL PROJECT: POSTER SESSION AND QUOTEBOOK The long final project will be due in two parts: an individual quotebook and a joint poster session. THE QUOTEBOOK The quotebook will be a collection of sixteen quotes on the global problem of your choosing. Four of the quotes should be taken from Enloe and/or Stoessinger. Eight quotes should be taken from several of the journals of opinion listed at the end of this syllabus. You may also include quotes from the Monitor or recent books, but these may not exceed one-quarter of the total. At least three of your "quotes" must be graphic and quantitative, i.e. a table or chart provid- ing data about the problem. Each quote must be accompanied with a citation that would enable a reader to easily find its source. You may use the following form: Elizabeth Pond. "Memo to Mr. Bush: Read Those East European Lips" in World Monitor Vol. 2, No. 1, January 1989. p. 43. Following each quote, you should provide a statement that puts the quote in context and a brief paragraph indicating why you found the quote significant. Do you agree? disagree? Are you inspired? infuriated? How is this quote related to others in the quotebook? A brief final section of the quotebook (no more than two typed pages) should provide your assessment of the issues and patterns raised by the quotebook. This section should justify the prescriptive action you recommend in your poster session. THE POSTER SESSION In three class sessions in the last week of the term, students will present highlights from their quotebooks and some prescription for individual behavior. Instead of requiring each student to speak to the entire class, small teams of two or three students will prepare a poster or small display. One-third of the class will stand by their "posters" during each of the three class days devoted to this project. Other members of the class will circulate and observe. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN POSTER SESSION AND QUOTEBOOK 1. Your quotebook is to be your own work, following the direc- tions above. A sample quotebook evaluation form is at- tached to the syllabus. 2. In your poster session, you should work with someone else in presenting the conclusions of your respective projects. You can display your results however you choose. A sample poster session evaluation form is attached to the sylla- bus. 3. Here are some suggestions for the interrelationship be- tween a quotebook and a collective poster session. Quotebooks A. 1. Apartheid 2. The South African Bomb Poster Session A. Responding to South African Policies B. 1. Famine in Africa 2. War and Hunger B. Responding to Food Distribution Problems SOME JOURNALS OF OPINION ON GLOBAL ISSUES IN LILLY LIBRARY Alternatives American Spectator Bulletin of Atomic Scientists Center Magazine Commentary Current History Dissent Economist Far Eastern Economic Review Foreign Affairs Foreign Policy Futurist Guardian Human Events Humanist In These Times Inquiry Manchester Guardian Weekly Marxist Perspectives Middle East Report Le Monde Diplomatique Monthly Review Mother Jones NACLA: Report on the Americas Nation National Review New Directions for Women New Leader New Republic New Outlook New Statesman New York Review of Books New York Times Magazine Pacific Review Partisan Review Political Affairs Politics and Society Politics Today Problems of Communism Profil Progressive Race and Class Revista/Review Interamericana Social Policy Society South Der Spiegel Les Temps Modernes Third World Tikkun Washington Monthly Washington Spectator Weekly Review (Nairobi) Wilson Quarterly World Marxist Review World Monitor World Press Review World Watch World Policy Journal Zeta POSTER SESSION EVALUATION FORM Exhibit Number: Students: NOTE: Student comments are in quotation marks. 1. Overall Clarity -- is the display easy to understand? interpret? 2. Modes of Analysis -- does the display make distinctions between descriptive, explanatory, and prescriptive statements? 3. Appropriateness of Prescription -- is the recommended prescription for an identified problem logically related to the explanation for why the problem exists? 4. Relationship to Course Material -- are relevant course concepts and themes appropriately included in the display? Students didn't comment on this aspect. 5. Creativity -- does the display incorporate a variety of methods in conveying information? QUOTEBOOK EVALUATION FORM Student Name: Topic: Comments: A. The quotebook contains 16 quotes _____ in the following proportion: One-quarter from Enloe and/or Stoessinger (i.e. 4): Fifty percent should be taken from journals of opinion (i.e. 8): One-quarter from the Monitor___, another newspaper___, or other source___ (i.e. 4 total): At least three of the above should be graphic, i.e. a table, chart, etc.: B. Is each quote accompanied with a citation, using the style suggested in the syllabus or another style accurately and consistently through- out? C. Is each quote followed by a brief paragraph that puts the quote in context and indicates why the student found the quote significant and/or how this quote related to others in the quotebook? D. Does a brief final section of the quotebook (no more than two typed pages) provide the student's assessment of the issues and patterns raised by the quotebook. Does this section include a brief statement justifying the action recommended in the poster session? E. Is the quotebook served by the mechanics (grammar, spelling, proofreading) that undergird all good writing? QUOTEBOOK GRADE: ************************************************************** August 21, 1991 REVISED NOTE FOR FACULTY 1. Statement of Course Objectives: Traditionally 1/3 of students entering Earlham take this course in their first two years in order to fulfill a social science distribution requirement (e.g. 90 students a year). The course serves simultaneously as an introduction to political science and two different interdisciplinary majors: 1) Peace and Global Studies and 2) International Studies. In addition to the objectives listed for students on the attached syllabi, objectives for the instructor include preparing students for upper-level course work in international relations. There is also a built- in incentive to keep up with the daily media coverage of international events. Although the course has evolved to meet the interests of a liberal arts college student body, I have taught a very similar course at Ohio State University. Given the ten week term, the course should be applicable to other schools on the quarter system. 2. Course Topics and Organization: The two primary texts, Stoessinger's The Might of Nations and Enloe's Bananas, Beaches, and Bases are dramati- cally different. The topics are provided in the order listed on page 3 of the syllabus to introduce competing paradigms early in the course. We study international organizations especially early in the course so that stu- dents will have some exposure to actors other than states in preparation for beginning research on their final project. 3. Assigned Readings: In addition to the required readings listed on page 3 of the syllabus, students are expected to subscribe to the Christian Science Monitor. As indicated on page 1 of the syllabus, the students have small group assignments related to the Monitor every Thursday. An example of such an assignment is attached. In general, students find the readings accessible, although I am discovering that some students find that feminist interpretations of international politics are initially difficult to adjust to their idea of what the course "should be about". I am very glad to be teaching Stoessinger ("traditionalism") and Enloe ("feminism") together because each serves as a significant challenge to the other. 4. Instructional Methods: Recommended Reading for Instructors: Chadwick F. Alger and David G. Hoovler. 1978. You and Your Community and the World. Consortium for International Studies Education. The Ohio State University. This book contains Alger's version of the international organization exercise and is a valuable source of ideas about making links between local communities and international organizations. Although out of print, it is available from Professor Alger at the Mershon Center, Ohio State Universi- ty, Columbus, Ohio 43210. Robert Jervis. 1976. Perception and Misperception in International Politics. Princeton University Press. Stoessinger is fascinated by the misperceptions of tragic figures in the creation of war and peace. Jervis provides some intriguing insights into the sources of misperception. His hypotheses on the lessons policy- makers learn from history also shed some light on Stoessinger's choice of historical examples. Robert Keohane and Joseph Nye. 1989. Power and Interdependence. 2d edi- tion. Scott-Foresman. Keohane and Nye's discussions of political realism and regime change provide some food for thought on the significance of using different paradigms in the interpretation of international relations. The final chapter of the book is also useful for its prescriptions regarding U.S. interaction with multilateral organizations. Jean Bethke Elshtain. 1987. Women and War. Basic Books. Although inaccessible to all but the most dedicated undergraduates, Elshtain's analysis of the cultural creation of gender images serves as important background to Enloe and can provide useful lecture material. Millenium: Journal of International Studies. Winter 1988. Vol. 17, No. 3 This special issue devoted to Women and International Relations addresses the question of whether a feminist interpretation of interna- tional relations is possible and what it might mean. For that matter, the September 1990 issue of the International Studies Quarterly, "Speaking the Language of Exile: Dissidence in International Studies" is also pertinent. The Teaching Professor. Magna Publications. This is a wonderful publication full of ideas about various teaching strategies. I developed the idea for the quotebook after reading Ruth Couch's description of her use of quote collections in world literature classes. For her experience, see Volume 4, Number 8, October 1990, p. 6. Other Instructional Materials: Two films are shown during the term: Speaking of Nairobi (available from the American Friends Service Committee) was made at the 1985 Nairobi Conference concluding International Women's Year. A Walk through the Twentieth Century: Post-War Hopes, Cold War Fears (from the PBS series narrated by Bill Moyers) puts a personal face on history that seemed to be receding even more quickly into the past in 1989 and 1990. Assignments: Most assignments are described extensively in the syllabus. A sample quiz is included, as is a sample small-group assignment. The international organization assignment has been particularly interesting to students when it is accompanied by a talk about obtaining summer jobs and intern- ships with organizations and associations active in global problem-solving. My colleague in Career Placement has welcomed the opportunity to do this. The quotebook is a wonderful discovery. The assignment requires students to research broadly and think creatively about a problem in international relations. At the same time, it is much easier to grade than a research paper (and considerably less painful!). See the accompanying evaluation form. In addition to its content objective, building on the quotebook, the poster session has the additional goal of prompting students to engage in some collaborative work. Students have commented frequently on the surprising serendipitous discoveries that they have made in putting two heads together. Colleagues have commented on the color and liveliness of the presentations! Evaluation Instruments: A statement about the weighting of course assignments appears on page 2 of the syllabus. Evaluation forms for both the quotebook and the poster session are included in the syllabus. In fact, students assist with the grading for the poster session. Students are asked to fill out simplified evaluation forms for five poster sessions on each poster session day. Students comment on 1) what was best about the session and 2) what could have been improved. I merge these comments into my own evaluation. A midterm examination is made up collectively during a review session. Students are asked to come to the review session, having already reviewed their notes carefully, key concepts are generated by the students in small groups as well as major course themes. I use these themes and concepts to create an essay exam. If you have any further questions about the syllabi, the attachments, supplementary notes, or suggestions for improvement, I would be happy to hear from you! B. Welling Hall Assistant Professor Department of Politics Earlham College WELLINGH@YANG.EARLHAM.EDU SAMPLE THURSDAY ASSIGNMENT "SLUM SPREADS AT THE FEET OF THE SPHINX" The Christian Science Monitor Monday January, 14 p. 12-13 Work on these tasks together in small groups of about five students. Also note this background information: although Egypt never lost its sovereign- ty (i.e. was not ever an acknowleged colony of another state), it was occupied by British forces from about the 1880s to 1948. 1. Select someone to be recorder. 2. Identify specific examples of description and explanation in the article. 3. What value judgments, if any, does the author display? 4. What light does your reading in Stoessinger shed on the article? Consider, AMONG OTHER POSSIBILITIES, the statement on p. 93, "As the adult person is conditioned by the conscious and unconscious memories of his childhood and adolescence, the nation-state is also conditioned by its memories--in other words, its history." Be as specific as possible, e.g. quote the text! 5. What light does your reading in Enloe shed on the article? Consider, AMONG OTHER POSSIBILITIES, the impact of tourism on individuals and socie- ties. Be as specific as possible, e.g. quote the text! 6. In light of your reading and your notes from this week's lectures, what questions arise for you? 7. The recorder should submit the following to me no later than 4:00 this afternoon (slide under my office door): The names of students in the group. Your findings in response to No. 2 - 5 above. Questions the group developed in response to No. 6 above.