Students learn a variety of approaches to understand better the workings of world affairs and then apply that knowledge in a Model United Nations conference. The class, “Introduction to International Relations,” (POL 230) teaches students how to understand global conflict and cooperation through the use of theory, data and history. Visits to campus by key speakers and a trip to the United Nations headquarters in New York offer intensive learning opportunities. At the end of the session, students apply class concepts in a Model United Nations conference.

Courses

For Summer 2013, the International Studies/Model UN Program will be offering the following course:

POL230 – Introduction to International Relations

Recent events in global affairs continue to surprise even seasoned foreign policy analysts.  From the unpredicted fall of the Soviet Union to the Arab Spring, waves of democratization and economic reform have yielded mixed results.  Perhaps in reaction, many liberal countries now confront a new type of enemy, religious terrorism.  The U.S. response to terrorism accelerated a growing rift with our traditional allies and conflicts in remote countries.  Fortunately the field of international relations offers a variety of approaches and hypotheses to understand better such developments.  International relations scholars have long tried to identify important actors, fathom their motivations and predict their conflict and cooperation. Understanding these ideas is more important in the current age than in the previous forty years.  Countries’ policy choices are now more diverse, rushed and have a greater impact on peoples’ lives than ever before.

Professor: Brian Potter