Political Science 894    Ordering the New World

Autumn 2003
John Mueller
bbbb@osu.ed
614-247-6007

Wednesdays, 3:30-6:18, Derby 2078

Office hours:
Wednesday, 11:00-12:00, Mershon Center 220D (8th and Neil)
Thursday, 1:00-2:00 Derby 2151
Or by appointment at bbbb@osu.edu

With Cold War differences no longer fracturing them, the developed countries are free to work together to deal with disorder in the world. The seminar will focus on policy issues and debates on this opportunity--or problem. It will be particularly concerned with the experience of the United States and other developed countries as they have variously confronted, policed, or ignored violence, genocide, aggression, tyranny, civil war, and terrorism since the end of the Cold War.

Specific topics will include military expeditions in Panama, Kuwait, Haiti, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq; policing undertakings in Somalia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Colombia, and East Timor; sanctions policy in Iraq, North Korea, and elsewhere; and efforts to deal with terrorism. To a considerable (though not exclusive) degree, the course will pursue a bottom-up approach to these developments.

The course will be conducted as a seminar with much student participation. There will be some general readings as well as weekly reports on books, articles, or topics (written two page summaries to be handed in by 4pm on the Tuesday before each class). The showing of a set of related television documentaries will also be scheduled. There will be no exams, and the grade will be based on participation in the class discussion, on the weekly reports, and on a longer (15-20 page) term paper turned in at the end. There will be some overlap with the course as conducted under the same number in previous years, but most of the content will be new.