International Relations Course Research Articles

The Russian Empire and the World, 1700-1917: The Geopolitics of Expansion and Containment

Both an historical survey of Russia's expansion during the Imperial Period (1700--1917) and a geopolitical interpretation of its motive and goals, this text also analyzes the policies to contain that expansion on a global scale. The Russian Empire and The World postulates the existence of a permanent geopolitical framework called the Heartland within which a Russian core area fought for hegemony. The text brings together various strands of Russian foreign policy before 1917, showing the consistency and importance of the policy's purpose and methods. It draws valuable lessons to help readers understand Soviet foreign policy and the renewed pressures Russia faces to restore its position within the Heartland, making this an ideal text for courses in Russian History, International Relations, and Political Science. Ranging from the beginning of the eighteenth century to the end of World War I, The Russian Empire and The World offers the most successful explanation as to how, despite reversals and limitations, Russia succeeded in becoming the world's largest contiguous land empire in European history.

Critical theories of the state: Marxist, neo-Marxist, post-Marxist

Critical Theories of the State is a survey of radical perspectives on the modern state. By focusing on Marxist theory and its variations, particularly as applied to advanced industrial societies and contemporary welfare states, Clyde W. Barrow provides an extensive and thorough treatment of the topic. Barrow divides the methodological assumptions and key hypotheses of Marxist, neo-Marxist and post-Marxist theories into five distinct approaches: instrumentalist, structuralist, derivationist, systems-analytic and organisational realist. He categorises the many theorists discussed in the book, including such thinkers as Elmer Altvater, G. William Domhoff, Fred Block, Claus Offe and Theda Skocpol, according to their concepts of the state's relationship to capital and their methodological approach to the state. Based on this survey, Barrow elaborates a compelling typology of radical state theories that indentifies with remarkable clarity points of overlap and divergence among the various theories. Scholars conducting research within the rubric of state theory, political development, and policy history should find Critical Theories of the State a valuable review of the literature. Moreover, Barrow's work should make a useful textbook for undergraduate and graduate courses in political science and sociology, and can also be used by those teaching theory courses in international relations, history and political economy.

Sequential Writing Assignments in International Relations and American Government Survey Courses

Like many colleges and universities. Elizabethtown College has adopted a writing-across-the-curriculum program that attempts to establish writing as a principal means of communication and as a tool for the development of intellectual skills. Set to begin in Fall 1990 as part of a new core curriculum, the program requires that each core course provide writing assignments that “emphasize the process of writing or rewriting in response to critical evaluation by faculty and/or peers.” A major stimulus to the development of the program was an NEH Summer Seminar on Writing Across the Humanities, conducted on campus in 1985 by faculty in the College's Professional Writing Program.The Department of Political Science, with four professors, has been an active promoter and participant in the campus writing program. Most of our own less formal conclusions about the role of writing in learning are congruent with those of the Harvard Assessment Seminars. We, too, find that close faculty-student interaction in assignments spread out sequentially provides the writer with directive and suggestive comments in a less threatening and more encouraging way. Such consultation leads to a higher quality final product and student mastery of more skills in style, organization, and analysis of substance. Two assignments that have worked particularly well for us at the introductory level are the foreign policy issue brief in the international relations course and the issue analysis project in American national government.

Evolutionary International Relations: A Biopolitical Framework for Teaching World Politics

This article pursues two goals. It sets forth a framework for incorporating life sciences materials into introductory or advanced courses in international relations. It also presents a format for processing these materials in the classroom. In pursuit of these aims, the article addresses problems commonly encountered when initially undertaking a more balanced biopolitical approach to international relations, and sets forth proposals designed to treat these problems.

The Twentieth-Century World: An International History

Set within an analytical framework of the rivalry among the major nations for control of the world's resources, territories, and populations, the new edition of this classic text covers recent developments such as the reduction of East-West rivalry in the Third World, the collapse of the Soviet satellite system in Eastern Europe, the reunification of Germany, the political and economic crisis in the USSR, and the Persian Gulf War. Incorporating the most current scholarship in the history of international relations, Keylor shows the interdependence of the military, political, and economic structures of the various regions of the world. He also provides an incisive analysis of the impact of technological innovations on the nuclear arms race, and devotes considerable attention to international economic relations, including trade patterns, capital flows, and foreign investment. With three new chapters devoted to Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, The Twentieth Century World is essential to courses in world history, political science, and international relations.

And, Simulations on the United Nations: The Security Council

When I first began teaching an Introduction to International Relations course, I quickly saw that my students needed something more than just reading about and listening to lectures on the clashes of perception which are at the heart of international politics. How better to do this than to have them participate in a simulation in which those clashes of perception would surface. Although one could choose one of any number of international organizations to simulate, the U.N. Security Council is probably the best due to its size and geographic balance. Having decided to use a simulation, I was immediately faced with crucial decisions as to how the simulation would be run especially in terms of the complexity of the rules used and the choice of nations to be represented.

Attitudinal Selectivity in International Relations Courses

Attitudinal Selectivity in International Relations Courses

Foreign Policy Problems and Polarized Political Communities: Some Implications of A Simple Model

Once upon a time, during the early 1960s, all undergraduate International Relations courses in the United Kingdom were deemed incomplete if they did not contain a number of lectures on the question of the relationship between a country's foreign policy and the shape, size and other attributes of its national political community. The lectures often evolved into a discussion of the relative advantages of possessing a large population, and whether or not this was an element in a state's power (as in the case of the Soviet Union) or of a state's weakness, and hence of its inherent inability to attain a wider range of desirable foreign policy goals (as in the case of India). The debate was usually fairly inconclusive.

Teaching with Inter-Nation Simulation and Case Studies

“Simulation” and “case studies” are supplementary teaching aids available for university courses in political science and international relations. The newer technique, simulation, has been used at several universities to augment instruction in international relations, foreign policy making, national security policy, urban politics, and political parties and elections. In fields other than political science, similar techniques abound. The number of business games or simulations exceeds 100, and less numerous games exist for educational administration, legislatures, career choices, and diplomacy, to name a few. Case studies also supplement a wide range of politics courses, including introduction to American government, public administration, party organization, legislative processes, and public law. The case method is the hallmark of schools of law and schools of business, and it is now emulated in teaching the history of science and in training in research methodology in sociology.Different types of simulations and cases and their uses have been described and discussed elsewhere. Evaluation of games and cases as supplementary instructional aids has almost invariably been impressionistic. The consumers of these teaching methods have reported their personal experiences with them and have advanced claims for and criticisms of them, but they have undertaken little empirical research to determine whether the claims for particular simulations or cases are valid or to compare the actual effects of alternative methods. Moreover, the Ford Foundation expended thousands of dollars to induce business schools to try business games, but their investment in evaluating the success or failure of this innovation extended to convening a conference to discuss the subject, not to carrying out research on it.

American Defense Policy

American Defense Policy has been a mainstay for instructors of courses in political science, international relations, military affairs, and American national security for over 25 years. The updated and thoroughly revised eighth edition considers questions of continuity and change in America's defense policy in the face of a global climate beset by geopolitical tensions, rapid technological change, and terrorist violence. On September 11, 2001, the seemingly impervious United States was handed a very sharp reality check. In this new atmosphere of fear and vulnerability, policy makers were forced to make national security their highest priority, implementing laws and military spending initiatives to combat the threat of international terrorism. In this volume, experts examine the many factors that shape today's security landscape-America's values, the preparation of future defense leaders, the efforts to apply what we have learned from Afghanistan and Iraq to the transformation of America's military, reflection on America's nuclear weapons programs and missile defense, the threat of terrorism, and the challenges of homeland security-which are applied to widely varied approaches to national defense strategy. This invaluable and prudent text remains a classic introduction to the vital security issues facing the United States throughout its history and breaks new ground as a thoughtful and comprehensive starting point in understanding American defense policy and its role in the world today.

Cosmopolitan Attitudes and International Relations Courses: Some Tentative Correlations

T HE POST-WORLD WAR II PERIOD has seen a steadily increasing number of reports, inquiries, and surveys regarding the degree to which our educational system is preparing Americans to assume an effective and responsible role in world affairs.' While there has been more viewing with alarm than pointing with pride, the empirical basis for both the negative and affirmative appraisals remains scanty and many of the studies are essentially impressionistic. Moreover, those of us concerned with this problem have not always made what seems to be an essential differentiation: that between technical, substantive, and informational preparation on the one hand, and the attitudinal,, emotional, and evaluative on the other. To put it another way, the distinction that needs to be made is between matters of knowledge and matters of belief.2

An application of area studies to the teaching of general education courses in International Relations

An application of area studies to the teaching of general education courses in International Relations

The Introductory Course in International Relations

The rapid expansion of courses in international relations on the university level is causing an acute need for a consideration of the contents of the introductory course. More and more political scientists are required to teach international relations, and many of them are not at all certain about what material to cover or what approach to use. The relative newness of courses in international relations and the lack of any standard criteria have created a situation perplexing to both teacher and student.The field of international relations may be broken down into international law, international organization, and international politics. The study of international politics is the basic, introductory course in the field. International politics is really a study of the primary factors that enter into the politics of nations as reflected in current international developments. International politics is a new academic discipline only in so far as it involves the selection of certain pertinent material largely from the social sciences and the application of these data to international developments. The study of international politics reflects the present tendency toward the consideration of social science as a whole and away from its artificial division into separate compartments.

International Law and Diplomacy

In this work the author explores the subjects of sovereignty, diplomacy and the function of diplomats, diplomatic missions, protocol, ethics in diplomacy, the role of Ministries of Foreign Affairs, intergovernmental conferences and the United Nations. It: * includes a useful glossary of over sixty essential terms (such as Calvo Doctrine, Extradition, Rapporteur and Uti Possidetis Juris) * clearly relates the conduct of diplomacy to the principles of international law. New in paperback, this volume will appeal to graduate and undergraduate students studying diplomacy, public administration and international relations courses as well as practising diplomats, international organization and foreign ministry officials and those who have regular dealings with them.