1. What is the study of International Relations about? How do we study IR?

2. WHY SHOULD YOU CARE ABOUT THE CONTENT OF THIS CLASS?
What will the world look like in 20 years? How long will you be a professional? How involved will you be with the “intl. community”?
Can you hide from the intl. community? Who is the “other”?
Off-shoring issues (jobs, pollution, human suffering, terrorism)
Collective dilemmas/opportunities (trade, warming, nuclear security)
What are the unique obligations and benefits of being a US citizen (e.g., US hegemony, liberal democracy, nuclear weapons, and the UN’s Sec. Council) ?

3. WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO IN THIS CLASS?
What three big questions (units) will we study?
Why do countries do what they do?
When/how do states work together? (with a focus on war and trade)
What “game changes” are emerging in the 21st century? (with a focus on intl. development, US hegemony, China, and WMDs)

4. WHAT DID YOU LEARN ON MLK DAY?
What were the major themes in the King outtakes?
What is empathy? Why did King suggest that we use it? What does he mean when he says (not in the video) that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (originally about his presence in Birmingham, but in his later years about US foreign policy)
What does he see as the main driver of US foreign policy since WW2? (note his view is a mix of liberalism, Marxism, and constructivism. He rejects realism
Why does he think that the US—once a strong proponent of revolution by the oppressed—now frequently sides with the oppressive leaders? Is this still the case?
He argues that the modern international system is driven primarily by nationalism, capitalism, and political ideology? What does he see as the alternative?
Why does King think that everyday people—especially, US citizens—should be knowledgeable about global politics and try to change things? (Moral obligation and our role in “spiritual death”)

5. WHAT DO YOU NEED TO KNOW COMING INTO THIS CLASS?
What do young Americans know about key facts in IR? Let’s take a quiz and see what we know… gaps-college-aged-students-global-literacy More information on what young people know if you are interested (Nat. Geo., 2016, 18-24yrs): foreign-relations-americans-students/ Later in the term, we’ll take another quiz: The bottom line: Most young Americans (older ones, too!) don’t know key, empirically testable, facts about international politics let alone the rules, processes, and institutions of the intl. system, intl. institutions, or even American government

6. WHAT DO WE STUDY IN STUDY IR?
Mostly, we try to predict why countries do what they do. When do they fight? When do they cooperate? When do they assist? When do they combine or cease to see themselves as a state?
What is the international system?: The set of institutions, rules, norms that govern the power relationship between different societies. To some degree, the present intl. system has existed for around 500 years. The key features of this system:
States are the main political unit
It has around 200 states and the number is growing
There is no binding international authority (i.e., it’s anarchical and self- help)
The system is hierarchical, but also one that recognizes sovereignty and a variety of other norms and to some degree rules.
The contemporary state system emerged within a small time window in response to material changes and functional needs that are changing.
Realism, Liberalism, Constructivism, and Marxism (Conflict theory) have very different ideas about state behavior and the direction of the international system.

7. HOW DO WE STUDY IN STUDY IR?
We talked about these issues earlier, but I wanted to be clear about what I want you to know about how we’ll study IR…
Where does IR fit into the discipline of political science? In what sense is IR a multi-disciplinary field?
What are the benefits and costs of disciplines?... Comparative politics/economics vs. Intl. Relations/economics
What is scientific about the social sciences? It’s more than just the scientific method? What do theories do for us? What is falsifiability? Why do we make generalizations and use categories? We want to build cumulative knowledge
Is it ok to let feelings play a role in the study of politics? Do social scientists—including you and even those teaching you?-- get to express opinions and let them guide their thinking? Will this course ask you to be a scientist at the expense of being an engaged, active citizen (and partisan)? Scientific thinking is a helpful tool to assist you in being you!

8. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE KEY CONCEPTS THAT YOU NEED TO KNOW RIGHT AWAY?
What is power?
What are the main strategies that states use to exercise power (see Greenstein and Pevehouse) on one another and to address collective goods problems: (1) Dominance, (2) reciprocity, and (3) identity
What are the main tactics use to exercise power?
Coercive tactics: What is hard power and how is it different from sharp power?
Gentler tactics: What is soft power and how is it different from sticky power?
Why do Americans seem to like hard power so much? Niall Ferguson stresses that even hard power is dependent on economic, diplomatic, and political factors. Why? (credibility over the long term and the replication of power)