September 2001

Lecturer: Ms. Diana Thorburn

This course is designed to introduce students to the essential concepts of international relations, to explore the way the international system works, and to enable students to understand contemporary international issues and events.

By the end of the course the students should have an understanding of the way the international system works, the main theories of International Relations, and an appreciation and critical understanding of current international events and their historical bases.

Students will be assessed based on the following:

Most introductory IR texts treat the topics covered in the lectures, and for each lecture there is a corresponding list of relevant chapters in the various IR texts available in the University bookstore, or on reserve in the library. If you can, you should purchase at least one introductory text, and one of the other three "useful" texts. If you are an IR major, or are thinking of becoming one, you should try to purchase at least one introductory text and as many of the other three as you can manage, as they will serve as useful reference books for the rest of your studies. These books will also be useful for your papers. There are IR books in the library that may also cover various topics. Feel free to utilize these in addition to the selections on the reading list.

You must read at least the required readings before class, as the lecture might not cover areas that will be on the exam. Reading more than one of the optional selections will increase your understanding of the topic and is highly recommended.

• World Politics: Trend and Transformation, 7^th ed, Charles Kegley Jr. and Eugene Wittkopf. London: Macmillan, 1999.
• Understanding International Relations, Chris Brown. London: Macmillan, 1997.
• An Introduction to International Relations, 3^rd ed, P.A. Reynolds. Longman Group, England.

• Explaining and Understanding International Relations, Martin Hollis and Steve Smith Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990.

• The World Since 1500, 8^th ed, L.S. Stavrianos. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1999.
• Introducing Global Issues, Michael T. Snarr and D. Neil Snarr (eds). Boulder, Colorado: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1998.
• Penguin Dictionary of International Relations, Graham Evans and Jeffrey Newnham. London: Penguin, 1998.

Attendance at tutorials is mandatory. In the tutorials we will discuss current international events as reported in the media, documentaries on international affairs, and how to write your paper. You will be given marks for attendance and for two short essays that will be reviews of the films/documentaries that will be shown during tutorial time. The 2-3 page essays are due the week following the tutorial.

Your paper will take a contemporary international issue and trace its historical roots, the actors involved, and the events that have brought it to its current situation. The introduction will describe the present situation as reported in the media for the past few weeks. The conclusion will offer a prediction of what this issue may look like in one year. A list of topics will be handed out in tutorial.

This course will use the internet as much as possible. Lecture notes will be posted and should be downloaded before class meets. A great deal of the research for your papers can be done on the internet. The newspaper topic discussion assignments will be made using some foreign newspapers that are available online, such as the Washington Post and the New York Times. A list of websites will be given out in tutorial.