Hr-275 Honors Topics In Political Science

I. Course Objectives and Description:

• Equivalent to POLS-160.
• Tension and contention in world politics: international conflict and its resolution. Theoretical and applied examination of the interaction between states, transnational organisations and international institutions.
• Study of the international system and the modern organizations and international institutions.
• Study of the international system and the modern state; East-West, North-South conflicts and nuclear weapons; the Cold War and its aftermath. Emphasis on the Spanish perspective.

II. Introduction to course:

Part 1. Trends and transformation in world politics:

• Facing the future: Key questions in the early 21st century
• Theories of World Politics: Liberalism & Realism
• Theories of World Politics: Neorealism & Neoclassical
• Theories of the World: Neo-liberalism & Alternative Theories

Part 2. The actors and their relations:

• Foreign Policy Decision Making: Determinant of States’ foreign policy behaviour / Rational Decision Making
• Power Rivalries and Relations: WW1 & WW2
• Power Rivalries and Relations: The Cold War & the future of great power politics
• Mid-Term Exam
• Colonialism and the North – South Divide today
• Theoretical Explanations of Underdevelopment, Part I
• Theoretical Explanations of Underdevelopment, Part II
• The South’s Foreign Policy Responses
• IGOs and the United Nation
• The European Union: An introduction to “Euroland”
• Nationalism, Nationality and Ethnicity
• Religious Movements, International Terrorists, and Multinational
• Corporations
• Nongovernmental Organisations: Saviours or Stranglers of the State?

Part 3. The politics of global welfare:

• Globalization

Part 4. Global conflict and its management:

• Military Power, National Security and September 11th: A new globalised World?
• Coercive diplomacy and intervention in a world of vanishing borders
• Oral Presentation I
• Oral Presentation II
• Oral Presentation III
• Security through alliance, balance of power and arms control

Part 5. The problematic twenty-first century:

• Ten Questions about 21st century global prospects
• Ten Questions about 21st century global prospects / Revision
• Final exam

III. Requisites:

• Acceptance into the program is determined by previous academic performance, achievement in college entrance examinations, and evidence of interest in the program.
• A student who demonstrates academic ability and/or develops an interest in the Honors Program during his or her first year of study may also be admitted.