Instructor: Tukumbi Lumumba-Kasongo
Cleveland Hall 108
Telephone: 364-3220
Office Hours:
Office Hours: Monday: 11:00am-12:00 p.m.
Tuesday: 11:00am-12:00 p.m.
Thursday: 2:00-4:30 p.m.
Required Readings:
-Richard W. Mansbach, The Global Puzzle: Issues and Actors in World Politics, Second edition, Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997.
-Charles W. Kegley, Jr. and Eugene R. Wittkopf, World Politics: Trends and Transformation, 7th Edition, New York, St. Martin s Press, 1999.
Course Description:
World politics is essentially a study of power relations between states,
social groups, national and international economic, social and political
agencies and of how those interactions shape and produce policies at the
global or international level. World politics has actors and institutions,
and the functions in national and international environment. Since
the 19th century, especially with the impact of the industrial revolution,
the expansion of colonialism and capitalism and their philosophical and
social contradictions, and the rise of nationalistic movements and communism
and their quest to promote new ideologies and new societies, the study
of world politics has become one of the central components of science of
politics. It is so because more and more the world has become functionally
and technically smaller although not philosophically so. In this
course, we will examine the rise of world politics, the nature of actors
involved in various processes of its reproduction, the dominant trends
that it has created, the major structures that it has produced and the
forces that have led to its change. In addition to studying the actors
and institution of the world politics, we will also analyze the paradigms
and tools that have been produced and used in social sciences in general
and in political science in particular to deal with the world of states
in a global perspective.
Requirements
-Attendance and active participation in all class activities are required. They will count for 10 % of the total grade;
-Any unjustifiable absence will be penalized;
-The first assignment. Student will write a book review of 10 typed double-spaced pages, including the footnotes and references on “the Force in Global Politics” and “The Special Case of Nuclear Weapons” in chapters 10 and 11 in The Global Puzzle. The paper will be due on October 5, 1999. It will count for 20 % of the total grade.
-The second assignment. Students will write a short paper of 7 typed and double-spaced pages on “Environment as a global issue in world politics.” In addition to other relevant sources that you will identify, you may also use the two required books in this class. Following are some questions to take into consideration: Why is it that environment has become a global issue? How may an environmental problem affect the international politics? What is the impact of industrialization on environment? What does unhealthy environment do to the nature and human life? Can an environmental degradation lead to a war? The paper will be due on November 16, 1999. It will count for 15 % of the total grade.
-The Third Assignment. Student will make an oral class presentation of between 20 and 25 minutes on a topic to be discussed and agreed on with the instructor; Presentations will be on November 30 and December 7, 1999. It will count for 25 % of the total grade. Some suggested topics include:
-The Role of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in the
global politics;
-Market women and the global economy in developing countries;
-Child labor and its impact on the national Economy;
-War and its consequences in a given country or region;
-Politics of a given regional economic organization;
-Peace agreements;
-US foreign policies;
-Transportation and the market;
-Feminist approaches to understanding of world politics;
-The fourth assignment. The final paper will be due on December
13, 1999. Student is free to choose any topic in world politics that
she is interested in and also which was not fully or well covered in the
class discussion. The length of the paper is 15-17 typed and double-spaced
pages with footnotes and references. The paper will count for 30%
of the total grade.
Schedule:
8/31-A General Introduction: Issues on the global village, borders,
transformation, and Requirements,
The Global Puzzle, chapter 1 and World politics, chapter
9.
9/7-Images, Realities, History and Perceptions of World Politics
The Global Puzzle, pages 1-18 and The Global Puzzle,
chapter 2.
9/14-The State, Its Origins, The Traditions of Power Politics
The Global Puzzle, chapter 3.
9/21-Theoretical Interpretations of World Politics
World Politics, chapter 2.
9/28-The Issues Concerning the Cold War and Its Meanings
The Global Puzzle, chapter 4.
10/5-The Global System and Its Components
The Global Puzzle, chapter 5.
Fall Break 10/9-12
10/19-Many Actors in World Politics
World Politics, chapter 7.
10/26-Issues in Foreign Policies
The Global Puzzle, chapter 6.
11/2-International Political Economy: Arguments and Policies
The Global Puzzle, chapter 12
11/9-The South and Consequences of Its Underdevelopment at the Global
Level
World Politics, chapter 5.
11/16-The Demography of the World Politics: Population, Food, Migration,
and Women
World Politics, chapter 10.
Thanksgiving Break 11/24-28
11/22-Search for Solutions to the Global Problems
“Human Rights and Gender Approaches,” Global Puzzle, chapter
15 and “Political Integration Approach,” World Politics,” chapter
16.
November 30 and December 7, 1999. Class Presentations
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