POLS 285 — Introduction to International Relations

Fall 2024: Online Section (0Y02)

Key Course Info

• TOPIC:   This is an introduction to the political science subfield of international relations.
• MODALITY:   It is an online asychnonous course, with required weekly quizzes and discussion board posts. All assignments will be due Sundays at midnight
• CREDITS:   3 credit hours. The course counts toward the general education distributive studies requirement for the social sciences. It also counts toward the 200-level breadth requirement for all Political Science majors.
• ASSESSMENTS:   Major assessments consist of two exams and a policy memo submitted in two drafts. In addition, there are weekly discussion board and reading quiz assignments.
• PREREQUISITES:   None! Students at all levels and from all majors are encouraged to enroll!
• MATERIALS:   Students are required to purchase a Packback subscription for discussion boards; no other textbook purchases are required

Instructor

Dr. Ches Thurber

  414 Zulauf Hall
  cthurber@niu.edu
  Office Hours: M/T 9:30 - 11:00 am
  Schedule an appointment

Teaching Assistants

Ernest Kwofie

  Ph.D. Candidate
  eplangekwofie@niu.edu

What is this course about?

Russia appears on the brink of invading Ukraine. North Korea continues to develop its nuclear arsenal, while Iran may be headed toward developing its own. Meanwhile, global climate change poses a catastrophic threat to the planet, while global actors seem unable to do anything in response. This class seeks to address why global cooperation can be so difficult even if most of the world shares similar goals of peace and prosperity. To do so, we will try to use the tools of social “science” to analyze both historical events and contemporary challenges. We will discuss issues ranging from war and peace to economic development, and from transnational migration to global health.

What will you learn in this course?

You will come away from the course with a set of analytic frameworks and a depth of historical knowledge that will enable you to better understand current issues in global politics and empower you to participate in the process of crafting solutions, whether that be as a future policymaker, an issue-advocate, or an engaged global citizen.

In the liberal arts tradition, I am interested not just in the topical knowledge you acquire, but the skills you develop that you will use in your professional careers and as engaged public citizens. You will work on expressing yourself effectively in writing and in public speaking, on crafting logical arguments, and using evidence to support your arguments. You will develop your research skills using a combination of traditional, online, and AI tools.

How will the class run?

This will be a fully asynchronous online class. Content for each week will be made available on Blackboard Friday evening and assignments will generally be due 10 days later: Sunday at midnight. Our weekly routine will involve reading some texts, watching some lecture videos, completing a short online quiz, and posting 3 times to the class discussion board.

Stay on track!

You MUST do the assignments each week when they are assigned. It will not be possible either to work ahead or to catch-up later.

How can you contact me?

Please feel free to email me or the course teaching assistant, Ernest Kwofie, at any time. We will try to respond within about 24 hours during the week. I will be holding office hours on Mondays and Tuesdays between 9:30 and 11:00am. I strongly encourage you to take advantage of this; since we don’t have class in person, this is the best chance I have to get to know you! Sign up for an appointment at this link. Enter your NIU email address and Calendly will automatically set up a Zoom meeting for the two of us at the time that you selected.

What Materials Do You Need?

All required readings for this course will be posted on Blackboard. We will use the following free, open-source textbook:

• Stephen McGlinchey (ed.), International Relations. Bristol: E-International Relations, 2017. Available online here.

Students looking for further support may wish to consult the following optional textbook in addition to or in lieu of the required text. It’s a better textbook, but it costs money. You may be able to find older versions for cheap online, or you might be able to check it out from a library:

• Mingst and McKibben, Essentials of International Relations Norton 2021.

While you do not need to buy any textbooks for this course, you MUST sign up for the online service Packback Questions with Instruct. You can purchase directly from Packback for $39. If you have a scholarship package that covers the cost of books purchased at the NIU bookstore, you can purchase a passcode directly from the bookstore. More details will be provided in a video o posted on Blackboard.

Packback is the one thing you need to buy for this course ($40)

While there are no required texts, the one thing you will have to spend money on in this course in Packback, which we will be using for discussion boards and papers. It costs $39 for the semester. You can pay for it directly online or buy an access code from the bookstore.

What is Packback?!?

We will be using an online discussion board service called “Packback Questions.” The advantage of Packback is that it provides greater opportunities for engagement and feedback, especially in the context of an online asynchonous class.

The disadvantage of Packback is that it will cost you money. I take this drawback seriously and am assigning Packback this year only after getting very positive reviews from students who used it with me in in classes over the past four years.

By midnight every Sunday, you will be required to post THREE times on the Packback discussion board. In one post you will pose a question for your classmates. In the other two you will respond to questions your classmates or I have posed.

Evaluation

Discussion Board Posts (25%): For each week of the course, there will be an online discussion board. Students are expected to contribute at least one post of 200 words in length each week, by midnight on Sunday.

Reading Quizzes (10%): For each week of the course, there will be an online multiple choice quiz on the readings and video lectures. Quizzes are open-book and open-note. Students will be able to re-take the quiz one time. Quizzes must be complete by midnight on Sunday.

Writing Assignment: (25%) You will write one 1,000-word policy memo. You will submit an initial draft for grading (10%) and then revise the draft based on instructor feedback for a second (higher) grade (15%).

Exams: (40%) You will have two exams in this course, a midterm and a final. They will be timed exams that can be taken at ayour convenience over a prescribed timespan of 5 days.

Weekly Routine

Most weeks, your course routine will involve:

• Reading assigned texts
• Watching lecture videos
• Completing a 5-question multiple choice quiz
• Submitting 3 posts on Packback discussion boards

In other weeks, you will have a writing assignment or exam.

In all weeks, work is due SUNDAY by MIDNIGHT.

What should you do if you are falling behind?

While it is extremely important that you stick to the weekly schedule of this class, I recognize that stuff happens. The most important thing is that you communicate with me about your needs. I respect your privacy and will never ask you for personal details of your situation.

If you think you need to delay submitting a written assignment ot taking an exam, please talk to me in advance, and I will do my best to accommodate. Any missed exam or written assignment submitted after the deadline without prior authorization will incur a penalty. If you do miss an assignment, still reach out and we will come up with a plan for getting you back on track. There will be a late penalty, but it will be far better than failing to turn in an assignment altogether.

If you fall behind … reach out!

Reaching out is the most important thing you can do if you are falling behind. It is natural to feel embarrassed and try to avoid the situation. But this is the worst thing you can do in terms of your success in this course. If you reach out, I will respect your privacy, will not pass judgment, and will work with your to come up with a game plan to get you back on track

Letter Grade Distribution

Percentage	Letter Grade
> 93.00	A
90.00 - 92.99	A-
87.00-89.99	B+
83.00 - 86.99	B
80.00 - 82.99	B-
77.00-79.99	C+
70.00 - 76.99	C
60.00 - 69.99	D
< 60.00	F

Course Policies

• Committed to your success: Beyond all else, I am committed to the success of every student in this class. I encourage everyone in the class to reach out to me if there is anything I can do in terms of the delivery of the course that would help you be more successful. I might not always be able to make it happen, but I will never discourage you from asking.

• Names and Pronouns: I ask that my undergraduate students refer to me as either Dr. or Professor Thurber. I’m just old-school that way. If you have deep ideological opposition to the hierarchy of academic titles, I will also respond to “Comrade Thurber.” I usually use the he/him/his pronouns to refer to myself, but am equally comfortable being referred to with they/them/their. Please let me know how you prefer to be addressed, both in name and pronoun, especially if it differs from what is in the college directory. I will make every effort to address you in the way you wish to be addressed. Please try and do the same for your fellow classmates, as well as for other faculty in the department.

• Americans with Disabilities Act and Non-Discrimination Statement: If you need an accommodation for this class, please contact the Disability Resource Center as soon as possible. The DRC coordinates accommodations for students with disabilities. It is located on the 4th floor of the Health Services Building, and can be reached at 815-753-1303 or drc@niu.edu. Also, please contact me privately as soon as possible so we can discuss your accommodations. Please note that you will not be required to disclose your disability, only your accommodations. The sooner you let me know your needs, the sooner I can assist you in achieving your learning goals in this course.

• Mental Health and Well-being: I understand that college students may experience a range of academic, social, and personal stressors, which can be overwhelming. You are not alone. Well-being at NIU offers resources, programs, and services. If you or someone you know need assistance with comprehensive or crisis mental health support, Counseling and Consultation Services (CCS) at 815-753-1206 is ready to help 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Additionally, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline can be reached at 988.

• Academic Integrity: Good academic work must be based on honesty. The attempt of any student to present as his or her own work that which he or she has not produced is regarded by the faculty and administration as a serious offense. Students are considered to have cheated if they copy the work of another during an examination or turn in a paper or an assignment written, in whole or in part, by someone else. Students are guilty of plagiarism, intentional or not, if they copy material from books, magazines, or other sources without identifying and acknowledging those sources or if they paraphrase ideas from such sources without acknowledging them. Students guilty of, or assisting others in, either cheating or plagiarism on an assignment, quiz, or examination may receive a grade of F for the course involved and may be suspended or dismissed from the university.

  This is an issue I take seriously. Unfortuntely, it has increasingly become an issue in my courses. The creation of one’s own original work is the core of what a university education is all about. Falsely claiming credit for words or ideas that are not your own undermines that core. I will use software that tracks plagiarism as well as for similarities with classmates’ or even your own prior work. When work looks suspicious, I will often use additional measures to identify the original sources of plagiarized text. In this course, academic dishonesty will always result in an F on the assignment and a formal misconduct report filed with the university. The recommendation I make in that report (e.g. failure from the course, suspension, expulsion from the university) will depend on the circumstance.

• Artificial Intelligence: Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is almost certainly going to become an essential tool in the workplace and society. Used well and in combination with strong critical thinking and writing skills, it may be able to help you be a better student and professional. The challenge then becomes learning how to use it well and how to develop those critical thinking and writing skills in an AI world.

  To this end, I will provide explicit instructions for each assignment as to whether and how AI may be used. Violation of these rules will be considered academic dishonesty. In any case in which the use of AI is permitted, students will be asked to:

  • Thoroughly read and verify the content of each submission. AI tools frequently produce output that contains factual errors, poor arguments, and even plagiarized content. Students will be held responsible for any errors in their submitted work that comes from AI sources;

  • Explain how AI was used in the coursework, with citation as appropriate;

  • Consider that AI models incorporate the social biases present in the underlying texts from which they are trained.

Class Schedule

Students are expected to read the listed readings before the indicated class session.

Topic:	Posted	Due	Assignments
Week 1: Introduction	Aug. 23	Sept. 1	Syllabus Optional: Trust Game Schelling, “Confidence in Crisis” Ho, “Disney’s Raya and the Economics of Trust” Selections from Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War Lecture Videos Reading Quiz Discussion Board Posts
Week 2: Approaches to the Study of IR	Aug. 30	Sept. 8	Mattis, “On Reading” Green, “How to Read Political Science” McGlinchey, “Getting Started” Ringmar, “Making of the Modern World” Lecture Videos Reading Quiz Discussion Board Posts
Week 3: Levels of Analysis	Sept. 6	Sept. 15	Gebhard, “One World, Many Actors” Carpenter, “The U.S. and NATO Helped Trigger the Ukraine War” Stanovaya, “What the West (Still) Gets Wrong about Putin” Lecture Videos Reading Quiz Discussion Board Posts
Week 4: The Paradigms of IR	Sept. 13	Sept. 22	Gold and McGlinchey, “International Relations Theory” Nye, “The Failure of Collective Security and WWI” Lecture Videos Reading Quiz Discussion Board Posts
Week 5: A More Global IR	Sept. 20	Sept. 29	Shepherd on Cynthia Enloe Cohn, “Gender and National Security” Bhambra et al, “Why is Mainstream IR Blind to Racism?” Lecture Videos Reading Quiz Discussion Board Posts
Week 6: War and Peace	Sept. 27	Oct. 6	CFR, “How is Conflict Changing?” CFR, “What is Interstate Conflict?” CFR, “How do Countries Decide Whether to Go to War?” Mearsheimer, “The Inevitable Rivalry” Ikenberry, “A Rivalry of America’s Making” and other replies to JJM Lecture Videos Reading Quiz Discussion Board Posts
Week 7: Diplomacy, Foreign Policy, and Statecraft	Oct. 4	Oct. 13	McGlinchey, “Diplomacy” CFR, U.S. Foreign Policy Baker et al, “Inside Trump’s Aborted Attack on Iran” Lecture Videos Policy Memo Draft Due No Reading Quiz or Discussion Board Posts
Week 8: Global Governance	Oct. 11	Oct. 20	Traisback, “International Law” Abidin, “International Organizations” Lecture Videos Policy Memo Draft Due Reading Quiz Discussion Board Posts
Week 9: Midterm Week	Oct. 18	Oct. 27	Midterm Exam
Week 10: Global Finance	Oct. 25	Nov. 3	CFR, “Monetary Policies and Currencies” TBD Lecture Videos Reading Quiz Discussion Board Posts
Week 11: Trade and Development	Nov. 1	Nov. 10	CFR, “Trade” TBD Lecture Videos Reading Quiz Discussion Board Posts
Week 12: Environment and Global Health	Nov. 8	Nov. 17	Pacheco-Vega, “The Environment” CFR, “Climate Change” Markel, “Worldly Approaches to Global Health” CFR, “Covid-19” Lecture Videos Reading Quiz Discussion Board Posts
Week 13: Global Civil Society and Human Rights	Nov. 15	Nov. 24	Marchetti, “Global Civil Society” Hanes, “Voices of the People” Chenoweth, “3.5% Rule” CFR, “Migration” Reading Quiz Discussion Board Posts Revised Policy Memo Due
Week 14: Thanksgiving Holiday	Nov. 22	Dec. 1	Thanksgiving Week - No work!
Week 15: Final Exam	Nov. 29	Dec. 8	Final Exam