INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

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 24 - April 22: The international system's role in causing and alleviating poverty. 

March 24 (M), 26 (W): The major intl. economic institutions

• For most of Monday, 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.

• If you chose to write the optional Unit 2 essay (if so, its grade replaces half of your test grade), it is due at the start of class on Wednesday.

• 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."
  

March 28 (F), March 31 (M), April 2 (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

• Read: This textbook chapter looking at causes of global poverty and strategies to address it, Review the chapter closely (it is better for this topic than our regular textbook).

• Remember, you have a required essay due on the last day of our course. If you have not started your research yet, please use your out-of-class homework time to make progress on the research required to write your paper. The topic and instructions are on a handout in the PPT/assignments folder.

April 4, 7 (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:

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

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

• 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 9, 11 (W, F)—How is the rise of China reshaping global politics?

• 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.

• Jennifer Lind, Life in China's Asia: What Regional Hegemony Would Look Like" (Foreign Affairs, 2018, 12pp).

April 14, 16 (M, W): Why do states want WMDs? How have we tried to limit their spread?

• Remember, you must submit the op-ed assignment by email by no later than the last day of the class (That is, on Wednesday, April 23). The assignment directions are in the PPT/Assignments folder where they have been since we started the second half of the semester.

• Kenneth N. Waltz. "Why Iran Should Get the Bomb" (Foreign Affairs, 2012, 4pp)

• W.J. Hennigan, "The New Nuclear Poker" (Time 2018, 5pp)

• Scott D. Sagan and Benjamin A. Valentino, "Revisiting Hiroshima in Iran: What Americans Really Think about Using Nuclear Weapons and Killing Noncombatants" (International Security 2017, 39pp). This is a difficult read, written for experts and folks with a graduate degree. Just skim it quickly for its main points and focus on the data that is presented and summarized. The main ideas are summarized in PPT slides and discussed in the screencast presentation going through those slides

Easter Break. No class on April 18 or April 21. 

April 23: A course wrap-up will be available online.

You must submit the op-ed assignment in electronic format by 10:40, Wednesday, April 23.

Graduating seniors will need to make arrangements with Dr. Setzler to take their final exam during a three-hour block at some point between April 21 and April 26.

Unless you are a graduating senior, your in-class final exam will be held at the time specified in the University's final exam schedule (this is a requirement to avoid overlapping with other class's exams)

Lookling ahead:

• Your final exam will be held at the time specified in the University's final exam schedule (this is a requirement to avoid overlapping with other class's exams): https://www.highpoint.edu/registrar/final-exam-schedule/.  Our testing time is: Monday, April 28, 12:00 – 3:00PM. 
  

• The final exam will have two components. Half of it will be it will be a true-false question test covering only material from the third part of the course. The second part will ask you to respond with an essay to a question you have been given in advance. That question and the instructions for preparing to write your long essay are explained in an assignment sheet that will be placed in the PPTs/Assignment folder.