2019-2020 Academic Catalog 
    
    Mar 28, 2024  
2019-2020 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

PSCI 289 - Advanced Topics in International Relations - Capstone Seminar


Focus changes with each offering, depending on faculty interest. Recent topics: U.S. Foreign Policy; International Humanitarian Law; Terrorism; Intervention; and Ethnic and Nationalist Conflicts. Open to juniors and seniors. Can be taken twice.

 

SPRING 2020 TOPIC: US FOREIGN POLICY AND NATIONAL SECURITY

This course examines U.S. foreign policy and national security, including the decision-making process, goals/objectives of policy, as well as contemporary and historical cases. Questions to consider: what leads to policy success? What factors lead to policy failures? What do historical cases tell us about the contemporary period? How do other states’ responses to US foreign policy actions and behavior impact policy outcomes? What challenges does the United States face in the future?

 

FALL 2019 TOPIC: POPULAR CULTURE AND IR

This course examines the connection between IR and popular culture through the examination of different modes, or tools, of popular culture and how these intersect with international relations theories as well as exploring popular culture to understand historical events in IR (World War I and II; Cold War, Post-Cold War, and the Post-9/11 and War on Terror). Recognizing the interdisciplinarity of the study of popular culture, we will read works by scholars in other disciplines, including film and media studies, history, and geography. Questions this course will consider include: How does popular culture relate to IR? How are IR concepts and topics represented and reproduced in popular culture? How can IR theories explain popular culture? How do different actors-both state and non-state actors-use popular culture for political goals?
 

Prerequisites: PSCI 069 OR INSTRUCTOR PERMISSION; JRS & SRS ONLY

Anticipated Terms Offered: EACH SEMESTER