Poli 211 - Syllabus

Political Science 211

Introduction to International Relations

Spring 2012

Syllabus

Introduction

This course will introduce you to the major concerns of scholars and practitioners of international relations. As you will soon discover, we have a lot of interesting questions to ask, but very few pat answers. The major objective of the course is not to teach you about recent history or current events, although some elements of both of these will be included in the lectures, readings, and class discussions. The heart of the course deals with the actors on the international scene, the types of actions and interactions they exhibit, and the ideas that have been proposed by various scholars to account for all these things.

In addition to lectures twice a week, students will be assigned to a tutorial section which will meet once a week. We will arrange tutorial sections during the first week of classes. With a little luck, tutorials will begin to meet in the second week of classes. Students are expected to attend tutorials and contribute to discussion. Failure to do so will have an adverse impact on your grade. Please also note that the lectures will parallel the readings, but not necessarily repeat them. Students who wish to earn a good grade in this course are advised to attend lectures and tutorial, and do the readings.

Students are not required to attend lecture. But be aware of the following:

Students are required to attend tutorial and your tutorial grade depends on participating in your section.

Grading

Your grade in the course will be determined as follows: 

               Written assignments (2-4)                    20%
               Midterm exam                                 25%
               Final exam                                   45%
               Tutorial grade                               10%

Failure to take the final exam will result in a grade of F for the course.

Bureaucratic Odds And Ends

Any course of this size requires a fair amount of bureaucratic procedure to keep things from getting out of control. The most important parts of the Poli 211 bureaucracy are described below.

Bowing to reality, there will be a makeup exam given for the midterm and the final. A sign-up list will be posted by Dr. Stoll's office door (120 HRZ); students will be advised in lecture when the list will go up, and when it will be taken down. The makeup will be given at one time and in one place, and will not be the same exam that is given to the rest of the class. The makeup may occur several days later or several days earlier than the regular exam.

Somtimes other issues arise that make it difficult or impossible for a student to meet her/his obligations. Dr. Stoll is willing to work with you to devise alternative arrangements. But in order for this to happen some verification of the problem is needed. In many cases the best way for you to verify that you have a problem is to have your College Master e-mail Dr. Stoll. The Master does not need to disclose the details of your problem, just confirmation that there is a problem. If that is not possible, communicate with Dr. Stoll and he will tell you what alternative verification will be needed.

All of the grading in the course will be done by your tutorial leader, with the following exceptions:

  1. Dr. Stoll will grade all makeup exams.
  2. Dr. Stoll will grade all work by "mystery students."
  3. Dr. Stoll will do any re-grading.

Students should be aware that we always check to see if tutorial leaders are grading by the same standards, and if necessary, make adjustments (for your information, adjustments are very rarely necessary). If you wish to register a complaint about a grade, you must observe the following procedures:

  1. You have 1 class week from the time the answer key for a piece of work is available to lodge a complaint.
  2. Before you submit the work to be re-graded, you are advised to check the answer key (available on the bookshelf by Dr. Stoll's office).
  3. Turn in the work to the Poli 211 regrade box (the box is labeled "Stoll To Be Regraded") on the bookshelf to the right of Dr. Stoll's office with an indication on a separate piece of paper (if appropriate) of what part of the work you think should have a better grade. Do not put any marks on the assignment or exam.
  4. Dr. Stoll will re-grade only the part(s) you request. Your new grade may be higher, lower, or the same as the original grade.

Books

The following books have been ordered for the course. All of the required reading is contained in these books.

Please make sure that you have access to the correct editions of the books.

Reading assignments from Russett, Starr and Kinsella (RSK) will be announced in lecture; all reading assignments from Stiles will be announced in tutorial.

If you have any problems during the course, be sure to get in touch with Dr. Stoll or your tutorial leader.