This course is the introduction for the inter-disciplinary CU major which encompasses political science, anthropology, geography, economics, and history. The major can also include a foreign language component. As an International Affairs major you will begin your studies with a survey of the most compelling global issues of the day and then go on to detailed analysis of international relations and economics. Follow-on courses also focus on problems of international development, the environment, international economic relations and United States foreign policy. Since this is an interdisciplinary course, it is taught by faculty from each of the participating departments and each brings the biases and paradigms of their own backgrounds to the course. This semester the course is taught by a political scientist and therefore, global governance, international relations and their relationship to current world issues will be the primary focus. We will certainly touch upon geography, international political economy and the history of the issues with which we will deal. The course will examine the introduction to politics and we will apply the theoretical constructs learned to current global issues.

Course Requirements

Surgeon General’s Warning

This is a four-credit course with a substantial workload. In addition to the midterm and final exams, this course requires a substantial amount of writing. Please familiarize yourself with the course requirements. If you are not sure now that you will be able to commit the necessary time and effort to complete the required work, you should consider dropping the course.

Readings, Attendance and Class Participation

It is essential that students attend every class on time. Regular attendance and active participation in any class discussion will enhance your understanding of the course material and almost certainly improve your performance on the mid-term and final exams, which are together worth 50% of the course grade. Attendance is also a large portion of your 10% participation grade. Notifying your TA by email prior to class will constitute an excused absence. In addition send email absence notifications to iafs1000@colorado.edu.In this semester, the required readings range from 60 to 100 pages per week, as set out in the course schedule. Your knowledge and understanding of the required readings will be tested in the mid-term and final exams. Students should come to class having already completed (and thought carefully about) the assigned reading for each class period. Also included in the participation grade will be the required attendance at one or more sessions of the Conference on World Affairs from 9-13 April 2012. Each student will turn in a one-page synopsis of the session attended the following week, which will meet the requirement for that week’s thought paper.

Mid-Term and Final Exams

The mid-term exam will be held on Thursday, March 8^th in the usual class meeting time and place. The final exam will be on Tuesday, May 8th at 1:30-4:00pm in the regular lecture room. The final exam will be comprehensive, but will focus primarily on the materiel after the midterm. Students must write the final exam in order to pass the course. Blue books should be purchased by each student and brought in the class period prior to the midterm and final; 8.5x11 Blue books are preferred. Do not put your name on your Blue book. Make-up exams will not be given unless the instructor has been notified in advance or a doctor’s note is provided. There will be a geographic component on both the midterm and final exams related to topics we have discussed in class.

Recitation

The teaching assistant’s assessment of each student’s attendance and performance in recitation will count 15% of the final course grade. Recitation syllabi are linked to this syllabus above. You will be expected to participate and to demonstrate familiarity with the contents of the required readings in your recitation discussions.

Current Events

Two to three students will present a current event orally in recitation each week. The presentation should be no more than five minutes in length. The source should be from a respected news source, be less than one week old and pertain in some way to topical global issues. Each student should try to relate the article to some element of what we have been discussing in class. News reports on the Internet are also acceptable sources. The current event presentation will be part of your 15% recitation grade.

Weekly Thought Papers

At the end of lecture each Thursday, a thought question will be posed to the class and posted on the course web site. The question will relate to either the topic in Tuesday’s or Thursday’s lecture. Students will write a two-page, single-spaced (Approximately 900-1000 words) response to the question to turn in the following week to their TA by 5pm Wednesday. Please include a word count on the first page. These papers should be properly documented and footnoted using the course readings. Papers will be graded 50% on content and 50% on grammar, punctuation and spelling. Late Papers will not be accepted unless prior arrangements have been made. On a random basis, these electronic copies papers will be checked for plagiarism. There will be thirteen questions posted. Each student must answer at least seven of them. Students completing fewer than seven will have zero’s averaged in with their grades on the completed papers. Those students completing more than seven will only have seven best grades included. These thought papers account for 25% of your final course grade. The Conference on World Affairs summary will count as one thought paper and will not be optional however.

grading Criteria

Mid-term exam 25%

Thought Papers (including CWA ppr) 25%

Final exam 25%

Recitation 15%

Homework, attendance & participation 10%

Total 100%

Final Course Grades will be curved unless a straight 90/80/70/60 etc… proves more beneficial to the students (higher overall grade average). If curved, the mean overall average will become the highest C grade, and two standard deviations below the mean will be necessary to fail the course. One standard deviation about the mean becomes the criteria for an A grade. The grading policy will be explained in detail on the first day of class.

Required Readings

There are no textbooks to purchase for this class. All course readings (and a World Atlas) delineated in the course schedule are available at the following online site to which all students will subscribe: http://www.americaandtheworld.com. This site (AATW) provides both distribution and reference for this course, but also copyright payment for the articles you will read. Access to this website will be purchased for $45.00. Access will be explained in detail in class. The readings for this course are interdisciplinary, including works from political science, history, economics and geography. All of the readings are required. Other readings may be linked to this syllabus.

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SCHEDULE OF LECTURES, READINGS, AND ASSIGNMENTS:

Day, Date	Class Topic	Assignment
Tue, 17 Jan.	Course Intro & Administration	None
Thur, 19 Jan.	Introductions to International Relations	·Van Belle & Mash A Novel Approach to Politics, Ch. 12
Tue, 24 Jan.	Radical Islamic Terrorism	· Richard Clarke “Defeating the Jihadists: A blueprint for action”. The Century Foundation, Nov 16^,2004 · Bergen & Reynolds “Blowback Revisited” Foreign Affairs , November/December 2005 · Christian Caryl “Why They Do It” The New York Times Review of Books, Sept 22, 2005 · Osama bin Laden, "Speech to the American People" · Robert Kaplan et al, Osama’s Dead, But How Much Does It Matter?” Foreign Policy, May 2, 2011
Thur, 26 Jan.	Radical Islamic Terrorism (Part II)
Tue, 31 Jan.	The Arab Spring Nicholas Swails lectures	· The Telegraph, “Arab Spring:Timeline of the African and Middle East rebellions”, October 21, 2011 · Lisa Anderson, “Demystifying the Arab Spring”, Foreign Affairs, May/June 2011 · The Economist, “Gaining ground: Syria’s opposition, though fractious, is making headway against the regime.” December 17, 2011 · The Economist, “Everywhere on the rise, The success of Egypt’s Islamists marks a trend throughout the region.” December 10, 2011
Thur, 2 Feb.	Nuclear Proliferation/WMDs	· Jeffrey Goldberg, “The Point of No Return” The Atlantic, September, 2010 · The Economist, “Ignore us at your peril” Nov 27^th 2010 · Seymour Hirsch “The Deal” The New Yorker, Mar. 8, 2004. · Kenneth M. Pollack “Spies. Lies and Weapons: What Went Wrong. The Atlantic, Jan/Feb 2004 · William Langewiesche, “The Wrath of Khan”, The Atlantic, Jan/Feb 2005 · The Economist, “What to do with a vision of zero”, 15 Nov 08 · Broad, “Hidden Travels of the Bomb”, New York Times, Tues 9 Dec 08 · Global Issues 2010: U.S. Policy on Iran · Cowell & Gladstone,“Iran Reports Killing of Nuclear Scientist in ‘Terrorist’ Blast”. New York Times, 12 Jan 12
Tue, 7 Feb.	Nuclear Proliferation/WMDs (Part II)
Thur, 9 Feb.	The War in Afghanistan	· Global Issues Afghanistan On the Brink · The Economist, “The Next Surge”, 20 Dec 09 · The Economist, “After smart weapons, smart soldiers”, 25 Oct 07 · Filkins, “Right at the Edge”, Sunday Magazine New York Times, 7 Sep 08 · Rubin, “In the Land of the Taliban”, Sunday Magazine New York Times, 22 Oct 06 · Gordon, “Strategy Shift for Afghan War poses stiff Challenge for Obama”, New York Times, Tues 2 Dec 08 · Stewart, “The ‘Good War’ isn't worth Fighting”, New York Times, Sun 23 Nov 08 · Rumsfeld, “One Surge does not fit all”, New York Times, Sun 23 Nov 08 · Bacevich, “Petraeus Doctrine”, The Atlantic, Oct 08 · Johnson & Mason, “All counterinsurgency is local”, The Atlantic, Oct 08
Tue, 14 Feb.	The War in Afghanistan (Part II)	·
Thur, 16 Feb.	Pakistan: The most dangerous place on earth	· The Economist, “United against the wrong enemy”, 20 Dec 08 · The Economist “Pakistan: Country on the Brink” · Rubin & Rashid, "From Great Game to Grand Bargain: Ending Chaos in Afghanistan and Pakistan", Foreign Affairs, Nov/Dec 2008, pp.30-44.
Tue, 21 Feb.	Middle East Peace: The Israeli Palestinian Dispute	· Hussein McMahon Correspondence · Sykes-Picot Agreement · Balfour Declaration · T.E. Lawrence, "Blowing up a Train" · Oslo Declaration of Principles · Robert Baer “The Fall of the House of Saud” The Atlantic, May 03 · David Samuels “Grand Illusions” The Atlantic, June 07 · Thomas Friedman, From Beirut to Jerusalem (Excerpts) · The Economist, “Pummelling the Palestinians”, 3 Jan 09 · The Economist, “What can we do”, 3 Jan 09 · The Economist, “Proportional to what?” 3 Jan 09 · Hammer, “Getting away with murder”, The Atlantic, Dec 08 · Goldberg, “Unforgiven”, The Atlantic, May 08
Thur, 23 Feb.	Middle East Peace: The Israeli Palestinian Dispute (Part II) Sarah Gavison lectures
Tue, 28 Feb.	The UN and Peacekeeping	· Human Rights Watch “Leave No One to Tell the Story: Ten Years later”, Apr. 2004 · Roland Paris “Peacebuilding and the Limits of Liberal Internationalism” International Security (Fall, 1997) · Paul Diehl “Peacekeeping: How Should We Measure Success?” Mershon International Studies Review, Oct 1994 · James Traub, “Never Again, No Longer” New York Times Magazine, July 18, 2004 · The Economist, “A chance for a safer world & Mission Impossible”, 6 Jan 07
Thur, 1 Mar.	The UN and Peacekeeping (Part II)
Tue, 6 Mar.	The Future of the EU: Consolidation or Expansion	· Global Issues :The New Europe and the EU”, Ch. 13 · The Economist, “Fit at 50” Special Report
Thur, 8 Mar.	Midterm Exam	Study
Tue, 13 Mar.	Turkey, Cyprus and the EU	· The Economist, “Anchors Away: A survey of Turkey” · Young, “Cyprus, The Struggle for Independence”
Thur, 15 Mar.	Go over midterm exam	None
Tue, 20 Mar.	U.S. Foreign Policy: The Spread of Democracy ….by Force?	· Robert Conquest “Downloading Democracy” The National Interest, Winter 2004-2005 · Fareed Zakaria “What Bush Got Right” Newsweek, Mar. 14, 2005 · Bruce Russett, Grasping the Democratic Peace: Principles for Peace in the Post-Cold War World, 1997 (pp. 3-42) · Cooper & Malcomson, “Welcome to my World, Barack”, Sunday Magazine New York Times, 16 Nov 08
Thur, 22 Mar.	Sudan, civil war and Darfur Kate Martin lectures	· Human Right Watch “Darfur Destroyed” May 2004 · Alex da Waal, BBC News, “ Why Darfur Intervention is a Mistake”, May 21, 2008 · Rudolf Martin, “Sudan’s Perfect War”
Tue, 27 Mar.	CU Spring Break – No Class	None
Thur, 29 Mar.	CU Spring Break – No Class	None
Tue, 3 Apr.	Globalization	· Thomas Freidman “It’s a Flat World After All” · Richard Florida “ The World is Spiky” · Daniel Drezner “Globalizers of the World, Unite!” Washington Quarterly (Winter 1998) · Paul Krugman “For Richer” New York Times Magazine, Oct 20, 2003 · Thomas M. Callaghy “Globalization and Marginalization: Debt and the International Underclass.” Current History, November 1997
Thur, 5 Apr.	The European Debt Crisis	· The Economist, “Staring into the Abyss: Special Report: Nov 12, 2011 (7 parts) · Vivian A. Schmidt, “Saving the Euro will mean worse trouble for Europe.” Foreign Affairs, November 28, 2011
Tue, 10 Apr	Poverty and Global Development	· United Nations, Millennium Development Report (Read the two summaries, skim the rest) · Jeffrey Sachs “The End of Poverty” Time March 6, 2005 · Amartya Sen (1999), Development as Freedom; Chapter 4, “Poverty as Capability Deprivation” pp. 87- 110. Oxford University Press · World Development Report Articles: o #1. "More or Less Equal?" o #19. "Recasting the Case for Aid" o #22. Paul Collier, "The Market for Civil War" o #33. Carol Lancaster "Development in Africa: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly” · Stiglitz, Joseph (2002) “Globalism’s Discontents” from Chap. 3, Governing the Economy in Readings in Kesselman, Mark & Krieger, Joel, Comparative Politics: Political Challenges and Changing Agendas. Houghton Mifflin Co.
Thur, 12 Apr.	Conference on World Affairs Make Up Day – No Class	Attend One Session at the Conference on World Affairs relating to International Affairs
Tue, 17 Apr.	Climate Change : Science and Politics	· Kahn & Yardley, “As China Roars Pollution Reaches Deadly Extremes” New York Times, Sunday 26 Aug, 2007 · Stephen M. Gardiner “The Global Warming Tragedy and the Dangerous Illusion of the Kyoto Protocol” Ethics and International Affairs, 2004 · Richard Cooper “Towards a Real Global Warming Treaty” Foreign Affairs, Mar/Apr 1998 · UN IPCC report 2007 · The Economist, “Troubled Water”, 3 Jan 09 · Margonelli, “Waste Not”, The Atlantic, May 08 · Crook, “Sins of Emission”, The Atlantic, Apr 08 · Kaplan, “Waterworld”, The Atlantic, Jan/Feb 08 · The Economist, “Facing the Consequences” Nov 27^th 2010. · John Vidal & Fiona Harvey, “Durbin deal struck after tense all-night session.” The Guardian, December 11, 2011
Thur, 19 Apr.	Climate Change (Part II)
Tue, 24 Apr.	Emerging China	· Robert Kaplan “How we would fight China” The Atlantic, June 2005 · Kahn & Yardley “Amid China’s Boom, No Helping Hand for Young QingMing” New York Times, Aug. 1, 2004 · The Economist, “The second Long March”, 13 Dec 08 · Fallows, “Be Nice to Countries that Lend you Money”, The Atlantic, Dec 08 · Fallows, “Their own worst enemy”, The Atlantic, Nov 08
Thur, 26 Apr.	Resurgent Russia	· The Economist, “How Fragile is Russia”, 5 Dec 08 · The Economist, “Russia Resurgent”, 16 Aug 08 · The Economist, “A Scripted War”, 16 Aug 08 · Ellen Barry, “Russian President sends Obama warnings on European Missile system”, New York Times, Thurs, 6 Nov 08 · The Economist, "In Search of Detente, Once Again" · The Economist, “Frost at the Core”, Dec 11^th, 2010
Tue, 1 May	Global Piracy: A new look at World’s second oldest profession	· Global Issues 2010, Ch. 6 – “Attacking Piracy · Gettleman, “Pirates in skiffs still outmaneuvering warships off Somalia”, New York Times, Tues 16 Dec 08 · Lunsford, “What Makes Piracy Work?” US Naval Institute Proceedings, Dec 08 · Frick, “Feral Cities, Pirate Havens”. US Naval Institute Proceedings, Dec 08 · Murphy, “The Unwanted Challenge”. US Naval Institute Proceedings, Dec 08 · Kraska & Wilson, “Piracy, Policy and Law”, US Naval Institute Proceedings, Dec 08
Thur, 3 May	Make Up Day and Review	None
Tue, 8 May	Final Examination (1:30-4:00pm	Study, Study, Study

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION:

CELLULAR TELEPHONE/LAPTOP COMPUTER POLICY

Needless to say, all cellular phones must be turned off and put away at the beginning of each class meeting. Classes failing to comply will be issued a stern warning on the first occasion. The entire class will have a pop quiz over the previous reading assignments/lectures on the second and subsequent occurrences. Phones, PDAs, MP3 players and Blackberrys will not be out on desks or used during any quiz or examination. Laptop computers will be allowed in class, I still believe that they can assist learning in the classroom. However, if abuse of the privilege appears to be a distraction in class, then they will be banned.

Students With Disabilities

If you qualify for accommodations because of a disability, please submit to your professsor a letter from Disability Services in a timely manner so that your needs be addressed. Disability Services determines accommodations based on documented disabilities. Contact: 303-492-8671, C4C N200, and www.Colorado.EDU/disabilityservices

Disability Services' letters for students with disabilities indicate legally mandated reasonable accommodations. The syllabus statements and answers to Frequently Asked Questions can be found at the same website. If you have a temporary medical condition or injury, see guidelines at http://www.colorado.edu/disabilityservices/go.cgi?select=temporary.html

Cheating and Plagiarism

Cheating (using unauthorized materials or giving unauthorized assistance during an examination or other academic exercise) and plagiarism (using another's ideas or words without acknowledgment) are serious offenses in a university, and may result in a failing grade for a particular assignment, a failing grade for the course, and/or suspension for various lengths of time or permanent expulsion from the university. All students of the University of Colorado at Boulder are responsible for knowing and adhering to the academic integrity policy of this institution. Violations of this policy may include: cheating, plagiarism, aid of academic dishonesty, fabrication, lying, bribery, and threatening behavior. All incidents of academic misconduct shall be reported to the Honor Code Council (honor@colorado.edu; 303-725-2273). Students who are found to be in violation of the academic integrity policy will be subject to both academic sanctions from the faculty member and non-academic sanctions (including but not limited to university probation, suspension, or expulsion). Other information on the Honor Code can be found at http://www.colorado.edu/policies/honor.html and at http://www.colorado.edu/academics/honorcode/

The development of the Internet has provided students with historically unparalleled opportunities for conducting research swiftly and comprehensively. The availability of these materials does not, however, release the student from appropriately citing sources where appropriate; or applying standard rules associated with avoiding plagiarism. Specifically, the instructor will be expecting to review papers written by students drawing ideas and information from various sources (cited appropriately), presented generally in the student’s words after careful analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. An assembly of huge blocks of other individuals' existing material, even when cited, does not constitute an appropriate representation of this expectation. Uncited, plagiarized material shall be treated as academically dishonest, and the paper will be assigned an ‘F’ as a result. Papers submitted by any student, written in part or in whole by someone other than that student, shall be considered to constitute fraud under the University Honor Code, and result in the assignment of an 'F' for the entire course. If the student is confused as to what constitutes plagiarism, he/she should review the CU Honor Code on this topic. If you have any questions regarding proper documentation in your writing, please discuss it with your instructor.

RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES

The university has received valid complaints from students regarding the lack of adequate faculty accommodation for some students who have serious religious obligations, which may conflict with academic requirements such as scheduled exams. Campus policy regarding religious observances requires that faculty make every effort to deal reasonably and fairly with all students who, because of religious obligations, have conflicts with scheduled exams, assignments or required attendance. In this class, any notification of absence by email constitutes and excused absence. See full details at: http://www.colorado.edu/policies/fac_relig.html

A comprehensive calendar of the religious holidays most commonly observed by CU-Boulder students is at http://www.interfaithcalendar.org/

SEXUAL HARASSMENT

The University of Colorado Policy on Sexual Harassment applies to all students, staff and faculty. Sexual harassment is unwelcome sexual attention. It can involve intimidation, threats, coercion, or promises or create an environment that is hostile or offensive. Harassment may occur between members of the same or opposite gender and between any combination of members in the campus community: students, faculty, staff, and administrators. Harassment can occur anywhere on campus, including the classroom, the workplace, or a residence hall. Any student, staff or faculty member who believes s/he has been sexually harassed should contact the Office of Sexual Harassment (OSH) at 303-492-2127 or the Office of Judicial Affairs at 303-492-5550. Information about the OSH and the campus resources available to assist individuals who believe they have been sexually harassed can be obtained at http://www.colorado.edu/odh/

BASIC COURTESY TO YOUR CLASSMATE AND YOUR INSTRUCTORS

Students and faculty each have responsibility for maintaining an appropriate learning environment. Those who fail to adhere to such behavioral standards may be subject to discipline. Professional courtesy and sensitivity are especially important with respect to individuals and topics dealing with differences of race, color, culture, religion, creed, politics, veteran's status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and gender expression, age, disability,
and nationalities. See policies at http://www.colorado.edu/policies/classbehavior.html and at http://www.colorado.edu/studentaffairs/judicialaffairs/code.html#student_code

Please arrive on time and do not leave early. If you absolutely must leave early, please let me know at the beginning of class and sit near a door so you do not cause too much disruption. Similarly, if arriving late, please take a seat as quickly and quietly as possible. Take care of all your business before class begins; do not leave and return during class as this creates a disturbance to others.

Taking this course signifies acceptance of the terms and conditions stated in this syllabus.