Upon completing the course, you will be able to:

Civic Engagement

• Explain the importance of citizen engagement, ways Americans can influence and become engaged in government, and factors that might affect people’s willingness to become engaged in government.

Critical Thinking

• Explain the benefits and the consequences of failure associated with maintaining order through diplomacy.
• Explain the contributions of international governmental and non-governmental organizations and international law and their complex relationships with individual nations.
• Differentiate among the various views and approaches to governance and international relations theory.
• Discuss the varying impacts of the globalization of trade and communications.
• Explain how events led to a focus on the individual in the post-WWII era and assess the impact of those changes on how global issues are addressed.
• Compose a 1500-2000 word essay, using peer-reviewed sources, critically evaluating a contemporary international political issue and differentiating the various state perspectives.

Professional Readiness

• Participate in collaborative assignments and presentations in the classroom or online.
• Adhere to classroom attendance and behavior requirements.
• Submit assignments in a timely manner.
• Identify career opportunities within the federal government.

Quantitative Literacy

• Interpret and communicate quantitative information using language appropriate to the context and intended audience.
• Use appropriate quantitative methods to analyze international demographic and economic data.
• Read and interpret graphs and descriptive statistics.

Scientific Literacy

• Identify and understand the underlying factors and potential consequences of climate change.
• Explain several political science research methods.

Written Communication

• Compose an essay, using peer-reviewed sources, critically evaluating a contemporary international political issue and differentiating the various state perspectives.
• Compose written short essays addressing the topics addressed in the Critical Thinking section.

The Making of the Modern World/ Introduction

• Explain the meaning of a state and evolution of the modern state system.
• Recognize the connection between international relations as a field and their personal lives.

Diplomacy

• Explain the meaning and significance of international and interstate diplomacy.
• Discuss the importance of diplomacy in regulating the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Many Actors

• Describe how the contemporary view of international relations has been expanded to include relationships between all sorts of political entities, including nations, international organizations, multinational corporations, societies, and citizens.
• Explain how the national level of analyses may affect what is considered the desired outcome.

International Relations Theory

• Identify and define the various forms and philosophies of governance (-isms) including the influence of Marxist-Leninist thought through 20th century international politics.
• Explain liberal theory, realism, constructivism, and their evolution.
• Explain the positivist and post-positivist views in international relations theory.
• Describe how these approaches are practiced by nations and international organizations.

International Law

• Define international law and the importance of international law.
• Identify what issues are addressed in international law.
• Identify who makes international law and to whom it applies.
• Explain how international law is implemented (e.g., the United Nations Charter, the Geneva Conventions, and the European Convention on Human Rights.)

International Organizations

• Explain what defines international governmental organizations (IGO), international non-governmental organizations (INGO), and hybrid international organizations.
• Describe how international organizations shape our world.

Global Civil Society

• Explain how globalization links distant communities and opens up spaces for new social actors.
• Identify several conditions for international activism.
• Explain global civil society as a response to international exclusion (to addresses issues such as climate change, financial instability, disease epidemics, intercultural violence and global inequalities).

Global Political Economy

• Identify various approaches to global political economy.
• Explain liberal approaches to the global political economy.
• Explain the impact of individuals and state and multinational corporations.
• Describe the trends toward an increasingly global economic environment (global, regional, and bilateral trade agreements).

Religion and Culture

• Explain how religion and culture have become increasingly important in international relations.
• Describe and differentiate between the elements of religion and culture.

Global Poverty and Wealth

• Explain what poverty is.
• Describe how poverty is measured and identify some practiced methods of reducing poverty.
• Explain how globalization might affect the wealth-poverty dynamic.

Protecting People

• Explain the various positions in the debate over the protection of individuals.
• Describe the international norms (protection of civilians, human rights, and international criminal law) of individual protections that have emerged since World War II.
• Detail some problems and challenges in protecting people.

Connectivity, Communications, and Technology

• Describe the effect of the internet on commerce and communication.
• Explain the problems associated with reliance on digital technology for communications.
• Describe the limitations of the internet in terms of censorship and control.

Voices of the People

• Analyze the impact of globalization and communication in bringing about protests, revolution, migration, and change.

International Terrorism

• Define international terrorism.
• Explain the motivations and goals of international terrorists.
• Detail the activities of various terrorist groups.
• Explain how international terrorist organizations are organized and ways they are funded.
• List ways in which international terrorist organizations might be countered.

Environmental Issues

• Explain some of the relationships between international relations and environmental issues.
• Explain common pool resource theory.
• Explain the idea of the global environment as a global commons.
• Discuss the conflict between global rights and domestic environmental policies and politics.
• Discuss the potential role of an international organization to address environmental issues.

Feeding the World

• List some of the factors resulting in hunger.
• Describe the impact of chronic hunger on civic participation.
• Describe the impact of chronic obesity on health.
• Explain how low wages affect food security.
• Describe how land dispossession affects hunger.

Managing Global Security

• Describe the evolution of the U.S. from an isolated nation to a global superpower.
• Explain the impact of the U.S. standing “global watch’ (Pax Americana) on the international order.
• Explain the impact of a single nation bearing the bulk of the financial burden of maintaining order in a world with increasing troubles.
• Discuss some potential alternative paradigms for managing global security.