Introduction to International Studies IS 100W Michael Clancy Fall 2015 University of Hartford T/R 10:50-12:05 clancy@hartford.edu Office: H126b Office Hours: T/R 2-3 Phone: 860-768-4284 and by appointment Introduction This course serves as an introduction to the field of International Studies. Over the past decade various observers have described the contemporary world as: The Age of Global Terror; The Age of Globalization; A Post-American World and the Asian Century. To what extent does any one of these labels capture the most important characteristics of the world and its future? This course will investigate the nature and trajectory of various forces and flows across the globe as well as debates over how they affect ordinary people. Organization The course is organized around five forces moving across the globe today: Conflict, governance, economic flows and development, people, technology and media. Course Objectives Students will study the primary issues that characterize world affairs today as well as how they have emerged over time Students will gain understanding of the primary forces underlying turbulence in global affairs Students will be exposed to theories and methods commonly utilized in the field of international studies Students will learn to write a research paper in the International Studies tradition Required Books: Shawn Smallman and Kimberley Brown, Introduction to International and Global Studies. University of North Carolina Press, 2011. Carol Off, Bitter Chocolate: The Dark Side of the World s Most Seductive Sweet John Jeter, Flat Broke in the Free Market: How Globalization Fleeced Working People. Norton, 2009. Requirements 1
The most basic requirement for this course is that students attend class regularly and come to class prepared. This means that students prepare carefully for class, having done all of that day's assigned reading. Most class sessions will be interactive, so you should come ready to discuss! Attendance in class is mandatory. One's participation grade will suffer significantly after two absences. This is a W or writing-intensive course. Students will be asked to write a great deal both inside and outside of class. These will range from in class summaries, postings on Blackboard, take home exams and a research paper. We will also spend time with instruction in college writing. Graded Requirements Assignment Due Date Percentage of Grade Thought Paper 9/15 15% Midterm Paper 10/20 20% Research Paper 12/3 25% Final Exam 12/16 20% Written Assignments --- 10% Class Participation --- 10% Grading Rubric: As a W course, this class requires students to do a great deal of writing. We will practice this often and in many ways. When assessing papers, I am guided by the following rubric (adapted from Dr. Adryan Wallace): Component A B C D?F A strong and A cogent An argument is coherent argument, presented; argument is grounded in however the logic presented, readings and breaks down at maintained course times or is not through the work, discussions sufficiently and grounded in and/or some backed with course materials independent evidence or independent research, is research. presented. Provides new Attempts are insights made to maintain the argument Evaluation and Analysis of Argument Writing, Grammar, etc. The writing flows and serves to develop the argument. Grammatical throughout There are a few grammatical and/or spelling mistakes and the overall quality of There are several errors/and or problems with writing style but they do not Presents an incoherent argument or little or no basis of support High number of mistakes; Writing is choppy and does not flow to the extent that it 2
Overall Organization Applications of relevant materials mistakes are rare writing is good disrupt the reader s ability to understand the argument Structure of the paper is clear and explicitly contains and introduction, main body and conclusion. Writer makes clear to the reader the intent of all sections of the paper. Paragraphs are also well organized in order to further the intent of the paper. Utilizes several different readings and/or other sources depending on assignment in order to assess or further arguments. Discusses relevance of information used. The work is generally clearly organized and structured and attempts fo provide an outline that furthers the purpose of the paper Utilizes several sources (inside or outside of class) and shows an understanding of evidence used to further argument Attempts to provide an organizational structure often break down, making it hard for the reader to follow the argument/analysis Demonstrates a minimum level of proficiency with course materials and/or outside sources, research is thin and/or makes mistakes applying information disrupts the argument The essay is difficult to assess due to major organizational problems. Does not use sources or uses them poorly Note: All work is due in class on the specific due dates. Extensions are rarely given and never arranged after the fact. If you have an emergency make arrangements before the due date. All late work will be penalized 1/3 of one letter grade per day. Work handed in more than 10 days late will receive a zero (0). it is very difficult to pass this class with any grade of zero. Note on Academic Honesty: All work must be that of individual students. Whenever you use outside sources of information in your research, you must cite your sources properly. Failure to cite amounts to plagiarism. All papers submitted in this course should employ the APA citation method. Papers submitted without complete citations will not be graded. More generally please see the statement on academic honesty on Blackboard. Students caught cheating iwill receive an F in 3
the course and will be reported to the Dean of Arts and Sciences for further discipline. In addition, in the event that it is determined you have violated the Academic Honesty Policy of the university, the dean will be notified and a note of the violation will be kept in your permanent file. In the event that more than one violation exists a more severe penalty including expulsion may be imposed. Electronics Policy I know you are all talented multi-taskers, delicately balancing the intake of various forms of information from multiple sources. Most of these sources, of course, are electronic in nature. I, too, like my electronic toys and in the past I have been fairly open and flexible regarding electronics. The situation has gotten increasingly out of hand. I find students using laptops or texting to be not only non-engaged, but also distracting other students around them. Therefore I need to enforce a policy that prohibits personal electronics in class. Students are not to use cell phones in class. Laptops and tablets may only be used for note taking and those bringing them to class must email me their notes that day. Students observed violating this policy will upon first offense receive a participation grade of zero for the day, the second offense will bring their semester participation grade down one full letter grade, the third offense will result in them being dropped from the class. Schedule Date September 1 Introduction No reading Assignment September 3 September 8 September 10 September 15 September 17 September 17 What is International Studies? S&B, Introduction to International and Global Studies, Introduction O Byrne and Hensby, Theorizing Global Studies, ch. 1 A World Connected Film: Babel S&B, Ch. 2 Discussion Film: Babel, remainder W courses Theory and History Connecting Past and Present Case Study: Soccer Dubois, Soccer Empire, Preface; pp. 1-7; 23-28; chs. 5-6 Thought Paper Due Soccer, cont. 4
Dubois, Soccer Empire, pp. 154-67; 169-180 Meyer, Who Gets to be French? New York Times September 22 September 24 September 29 October 1 Soccer, cont. Foer, How Soccer Explains the World, chs. 1-2; 8 Globalization Sparke, Introducing Globalization, pp. 1-10 Mark Kesselman, Globalization as Contested Terrain KOF Index of Globalization, 2015 International Studies and Complexity Glover, Compatibility or Incommensurability: International Relations Theory and Complex Systems Analysis Geography/Writing Day Smith, The State of the World Atlas, various Minkoff, A Guide to Developing and Writing Research Papers in Political Science Research Tutorial Global Political Structures and Flows October 6 October 8 October 13 October 15 October 20 October 21 October 22 People, Governments and Politics S&B, ch. 5, Political Globalization Smith, pp. 78-86 Democracy Schmitter and Karl, What Democracy Is, and Isn t Diamond, The Democratic Rollback Foreign Affairs March/April 2008 Sources of Democracy Diamond, Why are there no Arab Democracies? Additional readings TBA War and Strife S&B, ch. 3, Security Terrorism Anderson, Peterson, Toops and Hey, International Studies, pp. 413-21 Frontline: The Rise of ISIS Stratfor, Why the Boston Bombers Succeeded Midterm exam due Research Session 5
Meet in Mortensen Library Global Economic Structures and Flows October 27 October 29 November 3 November 5 November 10 November 12 November 17 November 19 Mapping the Global Economy S&B, ch. 4, Economic Globalization Global Flows S&B ch. 7, Development Film: Globalization: Winners and Losers Neoliberalism Jeter, Flat Broke in the Free Market, Part I Neoliberalism (II) Jeter, Flat Broke in the Free Market, Part II Case Study: Chocolate Off, Bitter Chocolate, chs. 1-4 Writing Workshop Day Case Study: Chocolate Off, Bitter Chocolate, chs. 5-8 Case Study: Chocolate Off, Bitter Chocolate, chs. 9-12 Flows of People, Health, Culture and Media November 24 November 25-29 November 30 December 1 December 3 December 8 Migration Sassen, Immigration in a Global Era Thanksgiving Break: No Class Research Papers due Health S&B, ch. 9, Health Culture S&B, Ch. 6, Cultural Globalization Media and Culture Jan, Globalization of Media: Key Issues and Dimensions 6
Film: Reel Bad Arabs December 10 December 15 Course Wrap-up S&B, ch. 12, Where to go Next Final Exam distributed Final Exam due 7