INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Your Unit 2 test is scheduled for Monday, March 23. The structure and grading for this exam will be similar to your last test. You should make sure to review feedback on essays from your first test and the handout on test-grading criteria.

Unit 3. Contemporary issues and challenges in International Relations

Some resources for the rest of the term:

• The course syllabus is in the PPTs and Assignment folder, which also where your unit study guides are placed.
  

• The High Point University Honor Code. Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns your ability to meet the basic requirements of either of these documents.

• A handout on how your grade for class engagement, preparation, and professionalism will be assigned 

• A handout on how your tests will be graded (grading criteria for the short essay items).

• Citation instructions for papers in Setzler courses (on-line handout). Just familiarize yourself with this so that you are aware of what will be expected of you in papers. For example, as you are taking notes on reading or summarizing readings for future use in papers, you should note page numbers for ideas since you will be asked to include page-specific citations in papers (but not on tests, of course).

• Paper grading criteria for Setzler lower-division classes and the rubric grade sheet that is used for all of your papers. If you receive feedback on an essay that you should work on your writing's organization, make sure to read this handout before you write your next paper. The last thing I want to do is surprise you in a negative way with your paper grades. These guides tell you what you should be aiming for in different elements of your writing, and they provide strategies to improve your performance. If you seek assistance from a writing tutor or the university's writing center, take a copy of the rubric with you.
  

• A handout that explains when and how you may use AI assistance in this course. You should read this before submitting any writing in this class,

March 25 (W) and March 27 (F)—Finishing up: Why is humanity still at war, and how are things changing?

• If you have not already done, so read chapter 6 in Mingst's textbook (War and Strife). After you have read this chapter, you should take its InQuizitive quiz: https://digital.wwnorton.com/168316
  

For Friday

• Bruno Tertrais, "The Demise of Ares: The End of War as We Know It?" (Washington Quarterly 2012, 16pp). Read just closely enough to make sure you understand the main arguments for why liberals, like Tertais, felt confident a decade ago that war would be less deadly and frequent going forward. 
  

• Joshua Keating, "It’s not your imagination. There has been more war lately" (Vox, 2025, 5pp). Read closely enough to make sure you understand the main reasons why war has increased recently. If the link won't work for you, try this one.
  

• And take a quick look at this data on the number of current conflicts.

March 30 (M), April 1 (W)—Are we going to get any better at stopping war?

• The Economist: "The war in Ukraine shows how technology is changing the battlefield" (2023, 7pp)
  

• Oona A. Hathaway and Stewart Patrick, "Is the Prohibition on the Use of Force Collapsing?" (The Carnegiee Foundation, 2025, 5pp).

• Go back to Chapter 9 in Mingst's textbook (Intergovernmental Organizations, Nongovernmental Organizations, and International Law). Quickly re-read closely the sections on the United Nations and international law. Doing so will allow you to get more out of the documentary, which will be covered on the Unit 3 test. You previously completed the InQuizitive quiz for this chapter back in unit 2.
  

• Ahead of class, please watch, The Peacekeepers [not the feature film, but this one]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Peacekeepers_(film). The film can be watched at no cost here:
  https://www.nfb.ca/film/peacekeepers/

• After you have watched the film, make sure to complete the film quiz (three essay items) that is in BlackBoard. You may not use AI at all for the quiz.
  

April 10 (F), 13 (M): The international system's role in causing and alleviating poverty. 

• For most of Friday, we'll finish up on the UN, reflecting on the film you watched and also talking about potential reforms to make the UN more relevant.

• Watch this 5-minute video on the history and differences between the IMF and the World Bank.

• Read Chapter 8 (International Political Economy) in your textbook up to the section, "International Development." Pay particularly close attention to the part of the chapter that  begins with the section, "The role of the Bretton Woods institutions," running up to the section on "The regionalization of trade and beyond."

April 15 (W): The State of global development and some strategies for addressing poverty

• Read the rest of Chapter 8 (International Political Economy) in your textbook. Pay particularly close attention to the part of the chapter that begins with the section, "Development," running up to the section on "Economic Challenges in the Twenty-First Century."

• Once you are finished with the textbook chapter, take your last InQuizitive test of the semester: https://digital.wwnorton.com/168318.  

• We'll cover this interacting chart in class: https://www.gapminder.org/tools/#$chart-type=bubbles&url=v2. See the two minute "How to  here review it on your use" button to show you how to use the graph.
  

• Watch this ten-minute video: "Why Some Countries Are Poor and Others Rich?": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMUjR7TBv6M

April 17, 20 (F, M)—Will the US remain the dominant global hegemon?

• How long have analysts been writing about the decline of the US and what variables are typically highlighted by these analysts?: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_decline

• If you don't see it in class, watch this short film (approximately 13 min) from the Economist: https://youtu.be/BzNtiFvnbhI

The film and this material we covered in the first course unit, should leave you in a good position to read and understand these three articles on which there is a quiz in Blackboard. Complete the quiz as you are reading these articles. As usual, be reminded that any use of AI is cheating and know that you will be expected to be familiar with these articles on your next exam:

• The Economist, "America’s economic outperformance is a marvel to behold" (2023, 10pp)

• G. John Ikenberry, "Why American Power Endures: The US-led Order Isn't in Decline (Foreign Affairs, 2022, 8pp).

• Stephen Brooks and William Wohlforth, "The Myth of Multipolarity" (Foreign Affairs, 2023, 12 pp.)

Monday

• Niall Ferguson, "Complexity and Collapse" (Foreign Affairs, 2010, 15pp). Read this article quickly to get its main ideas. Ferguson's biggest point is that empires and regional powers typically collapse quickly rather than slowly losing influence--the rot eating at the bases of the their power typically become visible all at once.
  

• Michael J. Mazarr. "The Risks of Ignoring Strategic Insolvency" (Washington Quarterly, 2012, 16pp)

• Niall Ferguson, "Debt Has Always Been the Ruin of Great Powers. Is the U.S. Next?" (Wall Street Journal 2025, 6pp).  

• Joseph Nye, "Trump and the end of American soft power" (Financial Times, 2025, 5pp).

• Thomas L. Friedman, "Trump Just Bet the Farm" (NYT, 2025). Collectively, this and the three articles above it, make the argument that America is at a critical historical juncture and making choices that are simultaneously undermining the soft, hard, and sticky power (Recall that sticky power refers to economic and other types of integration that caused other countries to act in ways that advanced American interests).
  

April 22 (W)—How is the rise of China reshaping global politics?

• As a reminder, your short required research essay is due at the start of class. As noted many times in class, the directions for this assignment are in the PPTs/Assignment folder. Here is a direct link: Here is a direct link:
  https://marksetzler.org/PSC2710/PPTs/The%20required%20short%20rearch%20essay.pdf
  Make sure that you follow the submission directions exactly (you need to bring a stapled hard copy and you also need to email me a copy of the assignment as an attachment)
  

• The Economist, Who is Xi Jinping? (15 min documentary).

• Graham Allison. China vs. America: Managing the Next Clash of Civilizations" (Foreign Affairs, 2018, 9pp). Read this article very closely; while the other readings suggest that China is unlikely to be a serious or dangerous competitor to US hegemony, Allison blends constructivism and realism to make the case the a China-US face-off is a serous threat.

Looking ahead:

You should be starting the limited research you need to do to write the one required essay for this class. The topic and instructions for that essay can be found in the assignment sheet in the PPTs/Assignments folder (or at this link). The essay is due by no later than the last day of class You must follow the submission requirements precisely.

We will have our final exam during the University Scheduled period of exams in this class.

• Seniors grades are due before our final exam time; graduating seniors must arrange to take an early exam. All other students, including "walkers" who are not receiving their diplomas, needs to take their test as scheduled by the university.
  

• If you are in the 9:15 section, your final exam is at 8am on Tuesday, April 28.

• If you are in the 10:40 section, your final is at 3:30 on Monday, April 27.

• If you have OARS accomodations, you need to schedule your exam now to ensure that you will have testing space. Early exams are not an option (we would all like the semester to end early, but this is required contact time).