INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Please note: At your instructor's discretion, there may be minor alterations to the reading assignments listed below. One of the major advantages to providing you with an on-line readings archive is that timely articles can be added or substituted when appropriate. Opening documents downloaded from this website will require that your computer have Acrobat Reader . You will also need the class-specific password to open individual files.

Some handy resources for the unit:

• The course syllabus

• A handout on how your class participation grade will be assigned

• The High Point University Honor Code. Please carefully read the section on academic integrity.

Feb. 12 (W): Why do constructivists think it's up to us (especially our leaders and cultures) to create the kind of world we want to live in?

• Read the short section on Constructivism in Arreguin-Toft textbook, Chp. 3,

• Nina Tannenwald, sections from "Stigmatizing the Bomb" (International Security, 2004, 11p). This is an edited version of the article that removes most of her evidence explaining how and why the "nuclear" taboo formed. The short version provides a perhaps clearer explanation of how constructivist theory explain state behavior that what you see in your textbook, so that is why it is assigned. Also, we will return to her argument at the end of the course when we explore why only some countries have nuclear weapons while others do not.
  

Unit 2: Why states cooperate and fight

• Note: Liberalism and constructivism were not covered on the last exam, so it will be covered on the Unit 2 test.
  

Feb 14 (F), 17 (M), 19 (W): Why may globalization be less of a game changer than we first thought

For Friday:

• Patrick O'Neil, "Globalization" (2019, an alternative chapter reading than what is in your textbook).

• Daniel H. Pink, "Why the World is Flat" (2005 interview in Wired with Thomas Friedman, 5pp). Friedman coined the phrase, "the world is flat" to suggest that geography and geopolitics matter anymore because globalization has upended the entire state system and the way that we socially organize ourselves.
  
  Monday and Wednesday:

• Pankaj Ghemawat, "Actually, the World Isn't Flat" (Ted Talk, 2012, 16min)

• Niall Ferguson, "Sinking Globalization (Foreign Affairs, 2007, 14pp. Focus on the main ideas that are applicable to understanding why globalization in the present day may be less inevitable that most people think?)

Feb 21 (F) and Spring Break—When and how do states cooperate?