2018-2019 University Catalog 
    
    Mar 28, 2024  
2018-2019 University Catalog archived

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POL 296 - Special Topics in Global Politics


FDR: SS2
Credits: 3 in fall and winter, 4 in spring


Prerequisites vary by topic. Meets the global politics field requirement in the politics major. A seminar in political science for students at the introductory or intermediate level. Topic, hour, and instructor are announced prior to registration. May be repeated for degree credit if the topics are different.

Spring 2019, POL 296-01: Special Topics in Global Politics: International Crises and National Security (4). Prerequisite: POL 105 and instructor consent. This course examines international crisis behavior through a combination of classroom instruction and participatory National Security Council simulation scenarios. Students study theories of international crisis alongside historical case studies such as the July Crisis of 1914, the Suez Crisis, and the Cuban Missile Crisis, among others, with students assuming a role on a model National Security Council. Using crisis scenarios derived from the Council on Foreign Relations Model Diplomacy series, students research past and present policymakers on the NSC, adopt a policy persona, and work toward the resolution of crises guided by the instructor and guest participants from the policy community. The combination of readings and enactment encourages critical examination of both theories of national security and the vicissitudes of its practice. Multiple outside-of-class meetings are required. (SS2) O’Dell.

Winter 2019, POL 296A-01: Topics in Global Politics: International Order and Crises, 1919-2019 (3). Prerequisite: POL 105. This course examines international order between 1919 and 2019. Students explore four arrangements of international order, each embodied by a dominant or representative institution: the Versailles period (the League of Nations), the Cold War (NATO), liberal international order (the European Union), and the contemporary world (“Brexit”). Lectures and class discussion elucidate the theories behind each of these orders, their history, and their characteristic crises. Particular reference is made to key topical anniversaries and relevant current events, including the 100th anniversary of the Versailles conference and the 70th of the North Atlantic Treaty as well as the scheduled disaffiliation of Great Britain from the European Union in late March 2019. Texts are drawn from international relations theory, history, contemporary political commentary, and biographical and autobiographical accounts of relevant statespeople such as Woodrow Wilson, Winston Churchill, George C. Marshall, and Margaret Thatcher. (SS2) O’Dell.

 




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