POLITICAL SCIENCE Y200: A New World Order?

Fall Semester 1992, Second 8 Weeks Session, Section 8511

Meets Tuesday, Thursday 2:30-5:00 PM, Ballantine Hall 148

Professor Michael McGinnis

 

COURSE OBJECTIVES

This course is designed to introduce students to some analytical perspectives and critical skills that should prove useful as they try to make sense of future changes in world politics. There are no prerequisites.

The Gulf War and the demise of the Soviet Union led to a lot of loose talk about the dawning of a "new world order" in which international conflicts would be resolved without the use of military force. In this course we critically evaluate this claim. (Our focus will not be on these or other current events, but rather on ways to interpret their broader historical significance, if any.) We will review the once-familiar pattern of international politics during the Cold War (also known as the Long Peace), and the changing nature of international political order in earlier historical eras, as well as alternative future arrangements. Although we will discuss some aspects of global management of environmental and economic issues, the primary focus of this course is war, which remains the fundamental problem of world politics. Paradoxically, war has long played a central role in establishing and maintaining patterns of international order, and some say it will continue to do so. Others argue that war has become obsolete in the modern world, and in particular that there are many reasons why democratic states rarely (if ever) go to war against each other. We will carefully examine debates concerning the benefits and dangers of recent trends towards increased democracy, multipolarity, and nuclear proliferation.


DAILY SCHEDULE OF LECTURE TOPICS AND READING ASSIGNMENTS

(Note: Because of the compressed time period for this course, some day's assignments relate to two separate topics, one covered before and the other after a short mid-class break. Also, class will reconvene after the mid-class break on days when a midterm examination is held.)

Tuesday, October 27
Introduction to Course
Contrasts Between Domestic and International Politics

Thursday, October 29
Realism, Idealism, and the Evolution of the European International System, Readings: Miller, chapters 1-3, pp. 1-72

Tuesday, November 3
Cold War or Long Peace? Readings: Gaddis (Lynn-Jones, pp. 1-44), Mueller, Introduction, pp. 3-13
Debating the Importance of Nuclear Deterrence, Readings: Mueller and Jervis (Lynn-Jones, pp. 45-80), Miller, chapter 5 (partial), pp. 101-123

Thursday, November 5
The Cold War and Conflict in the Third World, No Additional Readings

Tuesday, November 10
MIDTERM 1
Why Democracies Don't Fight Wars (With Each Other), No Additional Readings, Optional: Michael W. Doyle, "Kant, Liberal Legacies, and Foreign Affairs," Philosophy and Public Affairs, 1983, 12: 205-35, 323-353; and "Liberalism and World Politics," American Political Science Review, 1986, 80: 1151-1169. [on reserve for Y204]

Thursday, November 12
Democratic Values and Human Rights, Readings: Miller, chaps. 4, 5 (partial), 7, pp. 73-100, 124-138, 175-207
Islamic Perspectives on Political Order, No Additional Readings, Optional: James Piscatori, "Islam in the International Order," in Hedley Bull and Adam Watson, eds., The Expansion of International Society, pp. 309-322, [JX 1391 .E96 1984], Optional: John L. Esposito, The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality?, Oxford University Press, 1992 [not on reserve]

Tuesday, November 17
Has War Become Obsolete in the Twentieth Century?, Readings: Mueller, chapters 1-7, pp. 17-186

Thursday, November 19
A Critical Evaluation of Mueller's Obsolescence Argument, Readings: Mueller, chapters 9-11, pp. 187-269, Kaysen (Lynn-Jones, pp. 81-103)

Tuesday, November 24
A New World Order After the Persian Gulf War?, No Additional Readings, Optional: Graham Allison and Gregory Treverton, eds., Rethinking America's Security [E 881 .R48 1992], Optional: articles in Foreign Affairs: Joseph Nye, "What New World Order?" (Spring 1992), Bernard Lewis, "Rethinking the Middle East" (Fall 1992), John Deutch, "The New Nuclear Threat" (Fall 1992)

Tuesday, December 1
MIDTERM 2
From Federation to War in What Used to be Yugoslavia, No Additional Readings, Optional: articles in Foreign Affairs: Sabrina Ramet, "War in the Balkans" (Fall 1992), Charles Gati, "From Sarajevo to Sarajevo" (Fall 1992)

Thursday, December 3
War and Peace in the Emerging Multipolar World: What Should We Expect?, Readings: Snyder, Mearsheimer, and van Evera (Lynn-Jones, pp. 104-243)

Tuesday, December 8
Does Economic Interdependence Mean Peace?, Readings: Miller, chapter 6, pp. 139-173
War, Democracy, and Multipolarity: A Critical Evaluation, No Additional Readings

Thursday, December 10
Environmental Challenges: Towards Global Management?, Readings: Miller, chapters 8-9, pp. 209-256
Contrasting Trends Towards Alternative Futures, No Additional Readings, Optional: Hedley Bull, The Anarchical Society, pp. 264-276 [JX 1954 .B79 1977]

Tuesday, December 15, 5:00-7:00 PM, FINAL EXAM


STUDENT RESPONSIBILITIES

Students are expected to come to class every day, and to have completed each day's assigned readings before that class meets. Students are encouraged to ask questions and to discuss course readings during class time. Much of the material covered in class will not be explicitly covered in any of the assigned readings; yet, students will be held responsible for understanding all material covered in class or in the readings. Also, some changes in the assignments listed below may be announced in class.

Student grades will be based on three exams, listed in the detailed schedule below. Each exam will be taken in a closed-book, no notes, setting. Although some objective (multiple-choice, matching, etc.) questions may be included, most of each exam will consist of short identification and essay questions. The final exam will be comprehensive. Numerical scores will be provided for each exam, and tentative letter grades assigned based on the resulting distribution. A student's overall course score will be calculated by a weighted average of the three exams (30% for each of the midterms, 40% for the final). Class participation may be taken into account in drawing the final distinctions between various letter grades.

Incompletes or make-up exams will be allowed only in extreme circumstances, and even then only if the instructor approves in advance. Approval will not be automatic, and is entirely at the discretion of the instructor. Students should be warned that this instructor takes a very dim view of cheating. Students caught cheating will receive a failing course grade and will expose themselves to additional disciplinary action. Don't do it.

Required reading assignments will be taken from the following (paperback) textbooks, each of which can be purchased from local bookstores.

Lynn-Jones, Sean M., ed. The Cold War and After: Prospects for Peace, 1991, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Miller, Lynn H. Global Order: Values and Power in International Politics, 2nd edition, 1990, Boulder, CO: Westview.

Mueller, John. Retreat From Doomsday: The Obsolescence of Major War, 1990, New York: Basic Books.

Copies of all required readings (as well as some optional readings) should be available on reserve in the Political Science Research Collection (Woodburn Hall 200) or in the Reserve Room in the Undergraduate section of the Main Library. Details will be announced in class. Please let the instructor know as soon as possible if there are any problems obtaining these readings.