PSCI 4820/4828: Geography, History, and International Relations |
Dr. Paul Hensel |
Please note that this web page is not the full syllabus for this course. The complete syllabus -- including the schedule of assigned readings, course exams, and other assignments -- is only available in the full syllabus (in PDF format). Be sure to print out that complete syllabus and be familiar with it, so that you do not fall behind or miss any assignments during the semester.
Course Description
Most political scientists study international relations "in a vacuum," without reference to the geographic and historical context in which events take place. The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the impact of geography and history on international relations, and to reexamine traditional international relations phenomena such as trade or military conflict with a consideration for the influence of historical and geographic factors. A more technically accurate title might be "Geographic and Historical Influences on International Relations," although that is too long to fit in the schedule of classes. Upon completion of this course, students should have a better understanding of how geographical and historical forces influence international relations, and should be able to apply these concepts in following world events. The course will require a range of readings, regular attendance, two essay exams, and a research paper.
It should be noted that this class will address these topics theoretically, drawing from contemporary political science research; this will not be a class in current events. Also, this is NOT a course in geography or history, but rather a course on the ways that geographic and historical factors can influence international relations. The topics covered in this course are traditionally seen as political science topics, and most of the readings and lecture materials are based on research by political scientists that was published in political science journals. Students interested in geography or history as the main topics of analysis are urged to take coursework from UNT's Geography or History departments.
Required Texts
- Rand McNally (2015). Rand McNally Historical Atlas of the World, 6th edition. ISBN 9780528014475.
- Merriam-Webster (2020). Merriam-Webster's Student Atlas, New edition. ISBN 9780877797296.
- The remaining readings are available online through this course's Canvas page.
Course Requirements
- (1) Examinations: two noncumulative essay exams are required. Each exam will be worth 25% of the total course grade.
- (2) Analytical Papers: five 2-3 page papers are required for this class; more details are provided in the full syllabus. Taken together, the papers will be worth 30% of the total course grade.
- (3) Quizzes: eleven open-book/open-note quizzes will be used to assess how well students have understood key points from the assigned readings before the face-to-face class meetings. A total of eleven quizzes will be offered; each student's lowest quiz grade will be dropped from calculation of the grade. Taken together, the quizzes will be worth 20% of the total course grade.
Rest of Syllabus
The remainder of the syllabus -- course rules, notes about the academic honor code and the Americans with Disabilities Act, assigned readings, and details about the research papers -- is only available in the complete syllabus (in PDF format). Be sure to print out that complete syllabus and be familiar with it, so that you do not fall behind or miss any assignments during the semester.
World News Resources
These are good examples of some of the new sources available on the Internet that international relations scholars can follow. You may find these to be helpful in writing the analytical papers that are required for this course. Note that the point here isn't to endorse news from a particular national or political viewpoint, but to see how major news sources around the world are covering a topic; you will often find that the BBC or Xinhua (for example) are covering stories that aren't in any of the major American papers, and each of these news sources will often provide details that the others missed.
In most cases, these links are to the main news page on each site. Many of these sites offer regional or topical news pages, with many more news stories than they could fit on their main page, so you may want to explore these pages as well as the main headlines page. Many of these sites also offer RSS/Atom feeds, which makes it easy to follow news headlines automatically in your favorite feed reader/aggregator.
World News Sites
These sources offer good coverage of events around the world (please note that I have tried to limit this to sources that provide original content, rather than sources that primarily repackage stories from the major news agencies):
Newspapers and Similar Sources:
- Al Jazeera America (the American affiliate of the network based in Doha, Qatar)
- BBC News (the UK's public broadcast service, which in my opinion is the best single online source of world news)
- Christian Science Monitor
- Deutsche Welle (English-language news from Germany)
- Mainichi Shimbun (English-language news from Japan)
- New York Times (they charge for access to most of their site, but they offer academic discounts, and they offer the best U.S.-based coverage of world events)
- TASS (English-language news from Russia)
- Washington Post (now a pay site, but free access is provided for users accessing their site from academic addresses like UNT's campus)
- Xinhua (English-language news from China)
News Agencies:
- Agence France-Presse/AFP (this feed of AFP news provided by France24)
- Associated Press/AP (this feed of AP news provided by the New York Times)
- Reuters
- United Press International/UPI
Regional News Sites
These sources may include some coverage of events across the world, but they are best at covering certain regions, offering news or details that the more global sites listed above may miss:
- The Arab Weekly (published in London; focused on the Middle East and North Africa)
- B92 (from Belgrade, Serbia; focused on the Balkans)
- Der Spiegel (Germany's leading weekly news magazine, published in Hamburg; focused on Europe)
- The East African (from Nairobi, Kenya; focused on eastern Africa)
- Independent Online (from South Africa; focused on southern Africa)
- Jerusalem Post (from Jerusalem, Israel; focused on the Middle East)
- Journal du Cameroun (from Cameroon; focused on Africa)
- Latin American Herald-Tribune (from Caracas, Venezuela; focused on Latin America, with separate news feeds for each country in the region)
- MercoPress South Atlantic News Agency (from Montevideo, Uruguay; focused on South America, particularly the countries in or near Mercosur)
- Radio Free Asia (funded by the U.S. Congress; focused on Asia and the Pacific)
- Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (funded by the U.S. Congress; focused on Eastern Europe and Central Asia)
Other News-Related Links on My Web Site
- Online News Sources
- U.S. and Canadian Newspapers
- Latin American Newspapers
- European Newspapers
- African and Middle Eastern Newspapers
- Asian and Oceanian Newspapers
http://www.paulhensel.org/Teaching/psci4820.html
Last updated: 23 August 2021
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