Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn. Benjamin Franklin

Saturday, September 9, 2017

Draft Syllabus: Introduction to International Relations - Fall 2017


Introduction to International Relations
Graduate Class
A 203
Wednesday (16:55 - 20:35)

Instructor: Tugrul Keskin              
Cell: 86+15000-465734
E-mail: tugrulkeskin (at) t.shu.edu.cn or Wechat: tugrulkeskin
http://chinaandthemiddleeast.blogspot.com                                      

A developing country that wants to develop its economy must first of all keep natural resources in its own hands.
- Deng Xiaoping

Course Description and Objective

The focus of this course is global and comparative politics. Therefore, the major themes of the course relate directly to comparative political changes and conflicts in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. In order to understand global politics, we need to explore the historical legacy of international relations and economic transformation. Today’s paradigms were created in relation to specific events in the past, and now continue to fuel political conflicts and international relations. At the beginning of the 20st century, there was a modern and bureaucratic state structure in Europe, which emerged as a consequence of the industrialization of the late 18th century. The 18th and 19th century’s patterns of industrialization then fueled domestic migration and the migration of rural populations to the big cities, which led to mass urbanization and the creation of the nation-state.

During and after the industrialization process, the emergence of the nation-state led to the formation of nationalism and national identities, as we know them today. This was also a product of the domestic market, and was used in order to develop and expand capitalist interests. The decline of religious identities has thus been replaced with the rise in national identities. According to Karl Marx, the state and nationalism were necessary mechanisms of exploitation, used to protect the interests of the bourgeoisie – or upper classes. Nationalism became a new ‘religion’ and a mechanism to represent the collective consciousness.

At the time of the 20th century economic revolution, we witnessed rapid social changes, such as women’s participation in the workforce, an increase in education across all sectors of the population, the popular use of visual and print media, and the emergence of the nuclear family, among numerous other trends. Changes such as this led to a flourishing multi-party system democracy. However, the new economic system was also the engine of these changes and has continued to reproduce itself for the sake of the free market economy. 

Today, capitalism has moved to a new stage in its development in the second part of the twentieth century. The political system of the nation-state changed because old style bureaucratic structures created obstacles for the new free market economy. Therefore, the role of the nation-state has since weakened and this has led to the formation and predominance of powerful transnational corporations.

In this course, we will observe, analyze, and understand the consequences of this transformation in comparative perspective. Every concept and phenomenon will be explored within the disciplines of Sociology, Political Science, International Relations and Global/International Studies. As an introduction to these disciplines, the purpose of the course is to develop a foundational knowledge of these fields, enhanced analytical skills, and to develop a terminology that is relevant to a broad understanding of the economic, social and political transformations of our time. 

Learning Outcomes (Tugrul Keskin):
By the end of the course, you will have enhanced your:
§  Critical thinking in relation to international studies
§  Ability to question dogmas and taboos in today’s societies
§  Consciousness of differing perspectives and diversity
§  Understanding of world issues and trends
§  Understanding of the impact of colonialism and imperialism in developing nations

You also will increase your knowledge concerning:
§  Resources in your potential discipline
§  Resources specific to your region
§  Traditional information sources
§  Alternative information sources
§  Knowledge of relevant methodologies
Learning Outcomes

Core Learning Outcome: Students will demonstrate an understanding of world politics within the context of globalization, as well as developing the skills and attitudes to function as “global citizens.”

Specific Outcomes:
  • Demonstrate knowledge of global issues, processes, trends and systems (i.e. economic and political interdependency among nations; environmental-cultural interaction; global governance bodies).
  • Can articulate an understanding of her/his culture in global and comparative context; that is, recognizes that her/his culture is one of many diverse cultures and that alternate perceptions and behaviors may be based in cultural differences.
  • Demonstrates an understanding of the meaning and practice of political, military, economic, and cultural hegemony within states and within the global system.
  • Demonstrates an understanding of how her/his field is viewed and practiced in different international contexts.
  • Uses diverse cultural perspectives and frames of reference, including those of the media, to think critically and solve problems.
  • Uses information from other languages and other countries to extend their access to information and experiences.
  • Interprets issues and situations from more than one cultural perspective.
  • Can articulate differences among cultures; demonstrates tolerance for the diverse viewpoints that emerge from these differences.
  • Demonstrates a critical understanding of the historical origins of the nation-state, and its current role in the global system.
  • Can apply the key theoretical concepts in the field to interpret global issues.
  • Exhibits an ongoing willingness to seek out international or intercultural opportunities.

Required Readings:

Readings in Globalization: Key Concepts and Major Debates by George Ritzer and Zeynep Atalay (Editors), 2010. http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1405132736.html

Recommended Readings:
  1. John J. Macionis and Ken Plummer. 2012. Sociology: A Global Introduction. Prentice-Hall. 
  2. Leslie Sklair. 2004. Globalization: Capitalism and its alternatives. Oxford University Press. 
  3. Sheila L. Croucher, 2004. Globalization and Belonging: The Politics of Identity in a Changing World, Oxford: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.
  4. John Mearsheimer. 2003. The Tragedy of Great Power Politics. New York: W.W.
Norton & Company.

5.     Judith Blau and Mark Frezzo. 2011. Sociology and Human Rights: A Bill of Rights for the Twenty-First Century. Sage. http://www.sagepub.com/books/Book235439

  1. David Harvey. 2006. A Brief History of Neoliberalism. Oxford University Press. http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Politics/PoliticalTheory/ContemporaryPoliticalThought/?view=usa&ci=9780199283279
  2. Jeffry A. Frieden. 2007. Global Capitalism: Its Fall and Rise in the Twentieth Century. W.W. Norton. http://books.wwnorton.com/books/detail.aspx?ID=8193
  3. J. Timmons Roberts, Amy Bellone Hite. 2007. The Globalization and Development Reader. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
  4. J. R. McNeill. 2011. Something New Under the Sun: An Environmental History of the 20th Century World. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
  5. Naomi Klein. 2007. The Sock Doctrine. New York, NY: Metropolitan Books.
  1. William I. Robinson. 2004. A Theory of Global Capitalism: Production, Class, and State in a Transnational World. Baltimore, MD: The John Hopkins University Press.
  2. Richard P. Appelbaum and William I. Robinson. 2005. Critical Globalization Studies. New York, NY: Routledge.

13.  Samuel Martinez. 2009. International Migration and Human Rights: The Global Repercussions of U.S. Policy. University of California Press.

http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520258211


Recommended Movies and documentaries: 

  • The War On Democracy - John Pilger
  • The Secret Country by John Pilger
  • The New Rulers of the World John Pilger
  • Ten Canoes (2007)
  • Citizen Kane (1941)
  • The Fountainhead (1949)

·      Death of a Salesman (1985)

  • Fight Club (1999)
  • Pleasantville (1998)
  • American Beauty (1999)
  • The Truman Show (1998)
  • The Corporation (2003)
  • Treble Army – Lullabomb
  • Animal Farm - George Orwell - 1954
  • Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
  • 1984 - George Orwell  
  • Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
  • Brazil - 1985
  • 12 Monkeys - 2009

Course Philosophy:
The goal of this course is to become familiar with the social, political and economic underpinnings of International Relations. The success of this course depends on your continued and sustained reading and participation. The course will be based on a four-dimensional method of learning, and this includes inquiry and critical thinking; communication; and will draw on the diversity of human experience; and ethics and social responsibility. First, I would like you to critically analyze what you learn in this class or have learned so far through the media and your education, because in today’s world, truth is a relative concept. Throughout human history, critical thinking is one of the most important factors that have contributed to human development.  In order to become active, self-motivated, and empowered learners and future leaders, you will need to have the ability to think critically, and therefore your criticism, feedback and suggestions are necessary. Second, I would like for you to enhance your writing and oral communication skills in this course. Therefore, it is important to clearly elaborate your arguments in class discussion as well as in the written assignments.

Third, we are each part of the human mosaic, and all have different experiences based on our unique social, political and economic differences. We can all learn from and respect each other and benefit from our diversity. Please try to learn from and understand those with different perspectives from your own. Lastly, we need to learn that we are all part of this intellectual community and part of a larger society, and all have social and ethical responsibilities to our family, community, classmates, and humanity. We live in a globalized world and therefore, we need to be aware of events in our community, and the world today. In order to enhance our knowledge, we must critically examine our social, political and economic environment in order to apply this knowledge to our experience.

Course Requirements


To prevent confusion later, please read the following information:

Grades: Your grade for this course will be based on your performance on the following components, shown below with their dates and respective weights.

Item                                                    Date                                        Weight (%)

Quizzes (5)                                                                                                      30.0
Weekly Class Presentations                                                                            20.0
Class Participation/Attendance                                                                        10.0
Newspaper Articles                                                                                         10.0
Final Paper                                                                                                      30.0

The grading system in this class is as follows:
A         95-100    
A-        90-94   
B+       86-89   
B         85    
B-        80-84   
C+       76-79   
C         75   
C-        70-74   
D+       66-69   
D         65   
D-        60-64
F          (Failure)    

Final Paper: In this requirement, you will select three academic articles and will review (summarize and critique) the authors’ perspectives and compare them with each other. This paper should be at least 3000 words in length. Recommended articles will be provided by the instructor. The paper is last day of the class. No one will read or review the same article. Your selection must be approved and registered by me; therefore, you must contact me directly regarding your selection. The deadline for selecting/registering your article with me is Sunday, 4th week of the class. The deadline for submitting your review is Sunday. Late submissions will not be accepted.

Quizzes: You will have 5 quizzes. The quizzes will have 12 questions from each week’s class readings and discussions. Each Quiz is worth 6 points and each question is worth 0.5 point. You will find the schedule of quizzes below. Please carefully review the quiz schedule. If you have schedule conflict, drop the class. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me directly.       

Attendance: Regular attendance is one of the most important parameters to successful completion of the course requirements. If you miss more than 4 classes, you will not receive an attendance grade.  Excuses will not be permitted for any reason.

Class Participation: Each student must read the course materials before they attend class and I expect them to participate in class discussion. Class participation in the form of informed questions and comments will be taken into consideration when determining your final grade. Additionally, the class participation grade also depends on class attendance.

Newspaper Articles: During the semester, you can bring 10 newspaper articles related with our class subjects. You cannot bring more than one article in the same week. You will have to summarize these articles in class and will find the recommended newspapers listed on http://internationalstudiesandsociology.blogspot.it/, under the external links section. Newspaper articles sent by email will not be accepted. Please bring it to class, the first page of the printed/hard copy of the article. You can only bring an article from the selected newspapers, posted on http://internationalstudiesandsociology.blogspot and you will find them under links section. Some of the recommended newspapers are The Guardian, Al-Jazeera, Democracynow.org, Financial Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Pravda, Haaretz, China Daily, and the Economist. Please do not bring articles from local newspapers!

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY!
Coming late to class: Late comers will not be accepted to class, so be on time. If you are late for a class, please do not disturb your classmates and me and do not come at all. Please also do not send an email or call me regarding your class attendance. If there is a medical need, bring an official letter from a doctor. Whatever the reason is, if you cannot come to class, this is your responsibility. If you miss more than 4 classes, you will not receive an attendance grade.

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY!    
Laptop and cell phone policy: No laptops or cell phones will be allowed in this class. Please turn your cell phone off before you come to class. If you use the Internet/laptop or your cell phone during class, you will be asked to leave.

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING ARTICLES:
  • Why a leading professor of new media just banned technology use in class
  • Why you should take notes by hand — not on a laptop
  • To Remember a Lecture Better, Take Notes by Hand

Responsibility: You and/or your parents pay tuition for this class; therefore, you have responsibility to yourself and/or your parents. Passing or failing the class is not the main objective, rather that you learn and improve your knowledge. Please read and try to understand the main concepts of this class. If you are having difficulty, please do not hesitate to see me and discuss your concerns!

Each year, almost half a million people graduate from Chinese and American public universities (see http://collegecompletion.chronicle.com/). As you will see from the statistics, the job market is very competitive; therefore, students need to improve their knowledge, skill, and experience in order to find a job they want. Learning is a lifelong process. An academic institution like Shanghai University will provide you with an educational discipline and methodology; everything else is up to you. You should study and improve your skills, in order to compete with the rest of the graduates. While you are in the program, you should apply for internships to obtain relevant experiences before you graduate. Therefore, if you need a letter of recommendation for an internship or job, please do not hesitate to ask me, if you receive at least an A, A- or B+ grade from my class. Please also remember that an undergraduate degree might not be enough to find the job you want; therefore, you might need to apply to graduate school. In order to apply to graduate school, you will also need to have a letter of recommendation. I am also happy to advise you on graduate school or provide a letter of recommendation if you receive an A, A- or B+ grade. 

No Laptops and cell phones will be allowed in this class.

Course Timeline

WEEK 1

1 Introduction to Globalization Debates.
1 Is Globalization Civilizing, Destructive or Feeble? A Critique of Five Key Debates in the Social Science Literature (Mauro F. Guillén).
Part I Political Economy.
2 Civilizations.
2 The Clash of Civilizations? (Samuel P. Huntington).
3 Global Utopias and Clashing Civilizations: Misunderstanding the Present (John Gray).
4 Can Civilizations Clash? (Jack F. Matlock, Jr).
5 History Ends, Worlds Collide (Chris Brown).
6 If Not Civilizations, What? Paradigms of the Post-Cold War World (Samuel P. Huntington).
3 Orientalism, Colonialism, and Postcolonialism.
7 Orientalism: Introduction (Edward W. Said).
8 Orientalism and Orientalism in Reverse (Sadik Jalal al-'Azm).
9 Postcolonialism and Its Discontents (Ali Rattansi).
10 Said’s Orientalism: A Vital Contribution Today (Peter Marcuse).

WEEK 2

4 Neoliberalism.
11 Freedom versus Collectivism in Foreign Aid (William Easterly).
12 The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time (Karl Polanyi).
13 Freedom’s Just Another Word . . . (David Harvey).
14 Neoliberalism as Exception, Exception to Neoliberalism (Aihwa Ong).
5 Structural Adjustment.
15 Structural Adjustment in East and Southeast Asia: Lessons from Latin America (Jim Glassman and Pádraig Carmody).
16 The Social Consequences of Structural Adjustment: Recent Evidence and Current Debates (Sarah Babb).
17 The Human Rights Effects of World Bank Structural Adjustment, 1981–2000 (M. Rodwan Abouharb and David L. Cingranelli).
18 How International Monetary Fund and World Bank Policies Undermine Labor Power and Rights (Vincent Lloyd and Robert Weissman).
19 Who Has Failed Africa?: IMF Measures or the African Leadership? (Gerald Scott).


  • QUIZ – 1

WEEK 3

6 Nation-State.
20 Sociology and the Nation-State in an Era of Shifting Boundaries (Donald N. Levine).
21 The Westfailure System (Susan Strange).
22 Globalization and the Myth of the Powerless State (Linda Weiss).
23 Globalization and the Resilience of State Power (Daniel Béland).
24 Beyond Nation-State Paradigms: Globalization, Sociology, and the Challenge of Transnational Studies (William I. Robinson).


  • QUIZ – 2

WEEK 4

7 Transnationalism.
25 Transnational Practices (Leslie Sklair).
26 Social Theory and Globalization: The Rise of a Transnational State (William I. Robinson).
27 Revisiting the Question of the Transnational State: A Comment on William Robinson's "Social Theory and Globalization" (Philip McMichael).
8 World Systems.
28 The Modern World-System: Theoretical Reprise (Immanuel Wallerstein).
29 Competing Conceptions of Globalization (Leslie Sklair).

WEEK 5

9 Empire.
30 Empire (Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri).
31 The Global Coliseum: On Empire (Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri interviewed by Nicholas Brown and Imre Szeman).
32 Retrieving the Imperial: Empire and International Relations (Tarak Barkawi and Mark Laffey).
33 Africa: the Black Hole at the Middle of Empire? (David Moore).
34 The New World Order (They Mean It) (Stanley Aronowitz).
35 Adventures of the Multitude: Response of the Authors (Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri).


  • QUIZ – 3

WEEK 6

10 Network Society and Informationalism.
36 Toward a Sociology of the Network Society (Manuel Castells).
37 Depoliticizing Globalization: From Neo-Marxism to the Network Society of Manuel Castells (Peter Marcuse).
11 World Risk Society and Cosmopolitanism.
38 The Terrorist Threat: World Risk Society Revisited (Ulrich Beck).
39 Risk, Globalisation and the State: A Critical Appraisal of Ulrich Beck and the World Risk Society Thesis (Darryl S. L. Jarvis).
40 Unpacking Cosmopolitanism for the Social Sciences: A Research Agenda (Ulrich Beck and Natan Sznaider).
41 Cosmopolitanism and Nationalism (Craig Calhoun).

WEEK 7

12 McWorld and Jihad.
42 Jihad vs McWorld (Benjamin R. Barber).
43 Paris Is Burning: Jihad vs McWorld by Benjamin R. Barber (Fareed Zakaria).
44 Sovereignty and Emergency: Political Theology, Islam and American Conservatism (Bryan S. Turner).
45 On Terrorism and the New Democratic Realism (Benjamin R. Barber).


  • QUIZ – 4

WEEK 8

Part II Culture.
46 Globalization and Culture: Three Paradigms (Jan Nederveen Pieterse).
13 Creolization, Hybridity, and Glocalization.
47 The World in Creolisation (Ulf Hannerz).
48 Flows, Boundaries and Hybrids: Keywords in Transnational Anthropology (Ulf Hannerz).
49 Globalization as Hybridization (Jan Nederveen Pieterse).
50 Glocalization: Time–Space and Homogeneity–Heterogeneity (Roland Robertson).

WEEK 9

14 Critiquing Creolization, Hybridity, and Glocalization.
51 Hybridity, So What? The Anti-Hybridity Backlash and the Riddles of Recognition (Jan Nederveen Pieterse).
52 The Global, the Local, and the Hybrid: A Native Ethnography of Glocalization (Marwan M. Kraidy).
53 Globalization and Trinidad Carnival: Diaspora, Hybridity and Identity in Global Culture (Keith Nurse).
54 Mapping the “Glocal” Village: The Political Limits of “Glocalization” (William H. Thornton).
55 Rethinking Globalization: Glocalization/Grobalization and Something/Nothing (George Ritzer).
56 Dialectics of Something and Nothing: Critical Reflections on Ritzer’s Globalization Analysis (Douglas Kellner).


  • QUIZ – 5

WEEK 10

15 McDonaldization.
57 An Introduction to McDonaldization (George Ritzer).
58 McDonaldization and the Global Culture of Consumption (Malcolm Waters).
59 The McDonald’s Mosaic: Glocalization and Diversity (Bryan S. Turner).
60 Transnationalism, Localization, and Fast Foods in East Asia (James L. Watson).
61 Global Implications of McDonaldization and Disneyization (Alan Bryman).
62 Glocommodification: How the Global Consumes the Local – McDonald's in Israel (Uri Ram).


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