PSC 204 - Intro to International Relations
This course introduces students to the basic principles of the scholarly study of international politics. This course will touch on a variety of issues facing states in the international system, including deterrence, power and war. However, the underlying theme of the class will be addressing two entry-level issues important for young students of international relations. The first issue entails how we as scholars can gather knowledge from our observations of international politics. Herein, I introduce students to the scientific method, game theory and the utility of both in international relations. The second issue revolves around our various theories of international politics. While dozens of research programs enjoy wide citations in the corpus of international relations, I categorize these into a dichotomy of structural and individual-level decision-making perspectives. By the end of the course, students should be sufficiently versed in the introductory elements of international relations, preparing them for the advanced courses that the Department of Political Science offers.