This module introduces first-year undergraduate students to the academic study of IR. It is divided into five parts:
Part I (Introduction) introduces IR, and some of theories we use to make sense of the world.
Part II (Current Issues) explores contemporary international problems: AI, wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, climate change, global health, and the ‘new Cold War’ between China and the US. The purpose here is to move past the kind of informal chats you might have with your friends about these topics – beyond just seeing contemporary events as scary, upsetting or wrong. We will explore how IR makes sense of these things – how it can help you explain and understand the world we are in. That involves considering how different traditions of IR theory understand these issues quite differently.
Part III (The Making of Contemporary IR) dives back into the past to understand how we got here. What different world orders have we gone through – and where are we going now? We start with the age of empires and the two World Wars. We look at early attempts to foster international peace and cooperation through the League of Nations and the United Nations. We consider the Cold War – the global confrontation between the US and USSR, capitalism and communism. And we look at the period of US hegemony that came afterwards – which now seems to be coming to an end. Through a survey of how the world has evolved, you will come to a better understanding of where we are today, and why.
Part IV (Theories of IR) dives into some important IR theories in more depth. You will have encountered these theories in different ways throughout the module, but this section allows you to explore them in some detail. This will also lay an important foundation for the second-year core IR course, POL299 IR Theory.
Part V (Reflections) considers what we have learned and asks whether there is more continuity than change in IR. Is the world always doomed to cycle through power transitions, crisis and war? Or are there, despite our many problems, signs of progress over time?
Part I (Introduction) introduces IR, and some of theories we use to make sense of the world.
Part II (Current Issues) explores contemporary international problems: AI, wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, climate change, global health, and the ‘new Cold War’ between China and the US. The purpose here is to move past the kind of informal chats you might have with your friends about these topics – beyond just seeing contemporary events as scary, upsetting or wrong. We will explore how IR makes sense of these things – how it can help you explain and understand the world we are in. That involves considering how different traditions of IR theory understand these issues quite differently.
Part III (The Making of Contemporary IR) dives back into the past to understand how we got here. What different world orders have we gone through – and where are we going now? We start with the age of empires and the two World Wars. We look at early attempts to foster international peace and cooperation through the League of Nations and the United Nations. We consider the Cold War – the global confrontation between the US and USSR, capitalism and communism. And we look at the period of US hegemony that came afterwards – which now seems to be coming to an end. Through a survey of how the world has evolved, you will come to a better understanding of where we are today, and why.
Part IV (Theories of IR) dives into some important IR theories in more depth. You will have encountered these theories in different ways throughout the module, but this section allows you to explore them in some detail. This will also lay an important foundation for the second-year core IR course, POL299 IR Theory.
Part V (Reflections) considers what we have learned and asks whether there is more continuity than change in IR. Is the world always doomed to cycle through power transitions, crisis and war? Or are there, despite our many problems, signs of progress over time?
