Spring Semester, 2000
Loyola University New Orleans, City College
Instructor: Roger White
Meeting Days: Thursdays
Meeting Times: 6:15 - 10:15 p.m.
Office: Stallings Hall, Room 211C
Office Hours: Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays 4 - 7:
Thursdays, 3 - 6, and Fridays, 3 - 5. (By Appointment)
Phone: 504-865-3530
Name of Text Used in this Course: World Politics: An Introduction to International Relations by Brian Hocking and Michael Smith, 2nd ed., Prentice Hall, 1995.
General Description of Course Content
It is by now a truism that the world changed dramatically during the 1990s. What is more, many experts now predict that the changes we experienced during the past decade are tiny compared to the ones just around the corner. One thing is certain, for traditional nation states, the times ahead will be turbulent. You and I will be individually influenced, as well, in ways that we can only begin to imagine. By the end of this course, we will better understand why.
Our job during the next eight weeks is to get a firmer grasp of the forces driving these changes, to identify them, and to see how they interact. I will ask you to pay special attention to the interplay of culture and economics, which I will attempt to give working definitions of in class. I concentrate on economics and culture because the current explosion in information technology brings both together in a startling encounter. The fact that this meeting occurs at a global level makes it even more spectacular.
Rather than argue that either economics or culture is the primary cause of current world events, I will encourage us to stop and take a closer look at both of those forces as they play themselves out on today's world stage, a stage that has been so conveniently lit up for us by the Internet. The wonders of the Web will be used in the assignments for this course, as you will see in the next section of the syllabus.
Descriptions of Major Assignments
Their will be a mid-term and a final, both of which will be in-class. The mid-term will be on Thursday, April 6, 2000 at 6:15 pm. The final will be on Thursday, May 4, 2000 at 6:15 pm. Both exams will be part multiple choice and part essay. Blue books are required. There will also be an 10 page writing assignment on the subject of the World Trade Organization. (Click on the preceding, hypertext phrase, "World Trade Organization," and you will arrive at a separate writing assignment page.) The papers will be due on Thursday, May, 4, 2000.
Breakdown of Grading System
Each exam will count for 40% of your final grade. The paper will count
for 20% of your grade. The grade point system is: 100-95, A. 94-85, B.
84-75, C. 74-65, D. 64-0, F.
Reading Assignments
March 16 - Chps. 1, 2, 3.
March 23 - Chps. 4, 5, 6.
March 30 - Chps. 7, 8, 9.
April 6 - Chps. 10, 11, 12.
April 13 - Chps. 13, 14, 15.
April 27 - Chps. 16, 17.