Political
Science 120 World Politics
Spring
2007, Section 1130
Lecture:
Instructor: Brian Dille
Office: SCO
74
Office Phone: 461-7065
Email: bdille@mail.mc.maricopa.edu
Office Hours:
Course Description
September 11.
The events of that day were so significant that just repeating the date
brings a host of images, concepts, and emotions to the surface. Much of what Americans thought to be
important prior to that day has been forgotten, while other topics that had
been habitually ignored for over a decade returned to prominence. With this recognition comes several
questions. Why are we the target of such
attacks? What are the opportunities as
well as the risks of globalization? Is
there a global community? Is mutual gain
possible in a world divided by arms? Why
do nations go to war, and how can wars end?
These are the perennial questions facing those who try to understand the
world around them. This course focuses
on the problems and challenges facing the global community in this new era. We
will discuss several crucial issues — such as international terrorism, nuclear
proliferation, negotiation strategies, ethnic and regional conflicts, human
rights abuses, and environmental degradation.
It is the goal of this course to provide you with the intellectual tools
you will need to take part in the conversation on the future of the world and
your role in it.
Required Texts
This class does not have
a traditional textbook. Instead, you will learn about the concepts and key
terms of the subject matter through utilizing internet resources such as
Wikipedia (www.en.wikipedia.org), infoplease
(www.infoplease.com), or Citizen
Compendium (http://en.citizendium.org).
I will also be distributing articles and essays. This does not mean that there is not text,
but that the text is on-line and disassembled. In addition to the conceptual readings, we
will be reviewing two books with differing views on the role of the
William Odom and Robert
Dujarric. America’s Inadvertent Empire.
2004.
Carl Boggs. Imperial Delusions: American Militarism and
Endless War. 2005. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 0-7425-2772-7
If you prefer having a
text to read and reference, you may purchase the text used in my on-line 120
course at the college bookstore. It is:
World Politics in the 21st
Century.
3rd Edition. W. Raymond Duncan, Barbara Jancar-Webster, and Bob Switky.
(Houghton Mifflin). You can also find
the 2nd edition at on-line vendors.
A grasp of current
events and their context is essential to understanding public policy
decisions. You should be reading a
national paper such as The New York Times,
The Christian Science Monitor, or the
Washington Post. I will have subscription forms for the paper
versions, but as all are available on the internet, a paper subscription is recommended
but not required.
Course Requirements
Attendance
As the focus of the course is on active participation,
regular attendance is crucial to the quality of the class for both yourself and
your classmates. More than five
unexcused absences may result in your being dropped from the course and
receiving a W. If you stop attending the
course after taking the 1st midterm and do not contact me before the
course ends, or are failing when you do contact me, you will be given a grade
of Y, which is drop failing.
Quizzes
Because we will be
relating theoretical concepts to real-world events, it is critical that you be
informed of the issues and events occurring during the course. To encourage this, five current event quizzes
worth ten points each will be given.
These quizzes will cover current global, national, and local political events and should be easily passed
by the attentive, informed student. Each
current events quiz will be worth 10 points.
Concept Introduction
At the beginning of the semester you will pick two
concepts that we will cover in the course and write a study guide for that concept. When the class schedule reaches that concept,
you will distribute a copy of the study guide to your classmates and give a
brief presentation answering two questions: “HOW does the topic of this chapter
apply to me, and WHY would anyone care about it?” Visual aids are encouraged and Powerpoint
presentations will be possible. You may select any concept from the list at the
end of this syllabus, but you may not present two concepts from the same
section, and no more than five students may present in any given section. You can sign up for these presentations
starting the second day of class. Each
concept introduction is worth twenty points.
Book Reviews
To help you apply the
concepts you will be learning to real-world applications, you will write a
couple of reviews of topical books. Each
paper will be three pages, double-spaced. In the first two, you will review one
of the assigned books. This is to be a critical
review, not a summary. The review should
accomplish three tasks, summarize the thesis of the book (not the content),
state what you think the motive was for the author to make this thesis, and
make an argument about the validity of this thesis. This argument should be based on the content
of the book. Please note that it is not
necessary to read every word in each book to complete this assignment, and I
will teach you how to effectively skim scholarly works.
The third paper is to be
a five page issue brief answering the question, “What should be the role of the
Map Exercises
To really understand world politics, you need to know
something of the geographic setting it is staged in. Fortunately, there are several good atlases
available on-line such as the Arizona Geography Alliance (http://alliance.la.asu.edu/azga/)
and through some basic software packages such as Microsoft’s Encarta. By exploring these atlases and using their
data, you will better understand why things happen the way they do in world
politics. You will complete two exercises (20 pts each) using data from an atlas
and provided on-line resources. There
will also be four quizzes (10 pts each) where you will locate countries on a
blank continent.
You can pick two of the following exercises (note that these exercises are also
listed with active URL links at www.mc.maricopa.edu/~bdille/i120/map.html).
Map Exercise
A
The
month of July and August in 2006 saw a renewal of Arab-Israeli violence with a
war in
A
description of the conflict from GlobalSecurity.org
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/lebanon-change-of-direction.htm
A
description of the political considerations of the Conflict from the International
Relations and Security Network
http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?ID=16472
Relief
Web has multiple maps and references for the impact of the war
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.nsf/doc404?OpenForm&rc=3&cc=lbn
Stratfor.com’s
report of the last day of fighting (shows the depth of
http://www.stratfor.com/images/middleeast/map/Israel-Leb_BASE-08-14.jpg
UN
peacekeeper deployment prior to the war
http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/dpko/unifil.pdf
Political
and geographic map of
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/lebanon_rel_2002.jpg
Religious
divisions of
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/lebanon_religions_83.jpg
Map Exercise B
The Organization of Islamic
Conference Member States http://www.infoplease.com/spot/oicstates1.html
http://www.cdi.org/terrorism/alqaeda.cfm
Location
of
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/global-deployments.htm
Map of
Global Muslim distribution in 1995.
. http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/world_maps/muslim_distribution.jpg
Map Exercise
C
This
exercise examines the problem of ethnic conflict and ethnic nationalism. One ethnic group seldom dominates a very
large geographic area, and in every area there is always more than one ethnic
group. Two online maps illustrate the
enormous difficulties in solving ethnic conflict. Examine the following two maps and write a
two-page, double-spaced essay discussing the viability of a unified federated
Map
of Distribution
of Ethnoreligious Groups and Major Tribes.
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/iraq_ethno_2003.jpg
Map
of Distribution
of Religious Groups and Ethnic Groups.
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/iraq_ethnic_1978.jpg
Map Exercise
D
The World Health Organization www.who.org
The Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development www.oecd.org
The World Bank www.worldbank.org
The World Trade Organization www.wto.org
Response Essays
To
help you apply the concepts you will be learning to real-world applications,
you will write a couple of response papers. Each paper will be one page,
double-spaced, which usually works out to just two or three well-structured
paragraphs. In the paper, you will review an article from the list below. Your
review should answer two questions: What
is the main point, and what concept from the course is illustrated by it. You
will be required to submit two of these response papers, one by the midterm and
the second by the final. Each paper is worth 10 points. You must do one of these
response essays by Oct. 11, and you must do a second one by Dec. 6.
Book Chapters – available on reserve at the library under Dr. Dille’s name
The 9/11 Report
– Executive Summary and 50 pages of your choice
Human Rights in
World Politics – Chapters 1, 2, 4, or 7
Issues in
American Foreign Policy - any one chapter
Opportunities
Missed, Opportunities Seized – Chapters 1 or 13
People Before
Profit, Charles Derber – Introduction and any one chapter
Strategy in the
Contemporary World, Baylis, Wirtz, Cohen and Gray – Any chapter
Terror in the
Name of God: Why religious Militants Kill, Jessica Stern – Introduction,
Chapter 10, and any one other chapter.
What Went Wrong?
The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the
Articles – available on reserve or from library
journals
Any article from
the following magazines available at the MCC library periodical room: Foreign
Affairs, Foreign Policy, and Political
Science Quarterly
“Anarchy at Sea”
William Langewiesche. Atlantic Monthly.
Sept. 2003. 49-80
“The Dark Art of
Interrogation.” Mark Bowden. Atlantic
Monthly. October 2003. 51-76
On-Line Articles
“The Emergence of Peer Competitors: A Framework for Analysis.” Thomas S. Szayna et al. Rand Corp. Study.
2001. Summary at http://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1346/MR1346.sum.pdf
“True Grit: Five years after 9/11”. Brian
Jenkins. Rand Corp. review. 2006 http://www.rand.org/publications/randreview/issues/summer2006/truegrit1.html
Interview with
Thomas P.M. Barnett re: The Pentagon’s New Map. www.worldchanging.com/archives/001778.html
South Asia Intelligence Review http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/sair/
One complete issue.
“All Fall Down.” Walden Bello. Foreign
Policy in Focus essay, July 30, 2007. http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/4429
“
Negotiation Game
To help understand balance of power politics, we will
play the Avalon Hill game Diplomacy in class.
This will be a fun exercise, and you will a two page response essay that
relates two principles of world politics discussed in class to what you
observed in the game. You will receive
10 participation points each day of the game and five points for the response
paper, for a total of twenty-five points.
Negotiation Simulation
Towards the end of the semester, we will spend two days
performing the Ittybittyland simulation.
Students will form into teams and take on the roles of functionaries in
fictitious states and interact on several issues. This simulation is an opportunity to put into
practice the abstract concepts discussed in the course. For the simulation to work, students must
prepare and actively participate in a realistic fashion. You will find that if you do, this simulation
will be as fun as it is useful. After
the simulation, you will a two page response essay that relates two principles
of world politics discussed in class to what you observed in the game. You will receive 10 participation points each
day of the game and five points for the response paper, for a total of twenty-five
points.
Case Study
To better understand how foreign policy is made, we will
do an in-depth study of a past case of foreign policy crisis
decision-making. By examining this
historic example from several angles with the benefit of hindsight, we will
come to appreciate how difficult policy making is real situations is. You will receive 10 points for each constructive
comment made in class for a total of 20 points.
Mid-term and Final Exams
Each exam will be worth 100 points and will be take home
exams. While you are allowed to use your
book and notes, you are not to discuss the test with each other. The exams will consist of multiple choice,
short answer, and essay questions. They
will cover material from all the concept presentations, lectures, important
points brought up in class discussions, episodes from class games and
simulations, and some current events.
Service Learning
The best way of learning is doing. This optional assignment will put into
practice what you are learning by actively participating in a politically
oriented service learning experience.
The service learning site will be chosen by you through consultation
with me. The assignment is worth 100
points. The points you earn can be used
to replace 100 points worth of assignments of your choosing. Thus, you could do the service learning
project instead of the map exercises, or the current event quizzes, or the
final exam. You can either not do the
replaced assignment, or you can elect to use the grade you get on the service
learning assignment to take the place of the grade you got on the other
assignment. Notice these service
learning points replace other assignments, they do not add to the total. To complete the assignment, approve the site
no later than October 10 and complete a service learning contract with me. Then, complete a minimum of twenty hours of
service at the location. Finally write a
three-page double-spaced response paper telling 1) why you chose that site, 2)
what happened during the time you spent there, and 3) what concepts from the
course were illustrated. The third part
is the most important and will determine the grade you receive. This assignment
must be completed by December 5.
Late assignments and make-ups
The deadlines set for course assignments are
very real. Assignments turned in late
will automatically be dropped one full letter grade for every class held
between the time they are due and the time they are turned in. For example, an assignment due Thursday would
be dropped one grade if turned in on the following Tuesday and three grades on
Thursday. Only a medical emergency
accompanied by a doctors note will exempt you from this penalty, and then only
for the duration of the emergency. Similarly,
missed exams can be made up at any time in the semester, but late exam scores
will be dropped a full letter grade, except with proof of medical
emergency. Missed current event quizzes,
due to their nature, cannot be made up.
Assignments that are emailed rather than submitted during the class
period they are due will be accepted but assessed a half grade penalty.
Legal Stuff (Keeping the Lawyers Happy)
As a student, you are
responsible for knowing the information in this syllabus. You are also responsible for the college
policies included in the college catalog and the student handbook. If you have
a disability, including a learning disability, contact me as soon as possible
and I will make any needed accommodations.
If you need tutoring or special assistance, please contact me as soon as
possible. Please note the policy on plagiarism listed on page 124 of the MCC
student handbook. Students will be
notified by the instructor of any changes in course requirements or policies.