Please note that this syllabus should be regarded as only a general guide to the course. The instructor may have changed
specific course content and requirements subsequent to posting this syllabus. Last Modified: 12:40:43 09/04/2011
In, Sc 530 International Studies Senior Seminar
Dr. Paul S. Gray
Fall, 2011
Tuesday 3:00-5:20
308 Carney
My office is 429 McGuinn. Office Hours: Tues, Thurs 1:30-2:30 p.m., or by
appointment. Phone ext. 24140. E-mail : <gray@bc.edu>
COURSE OVERVIEW
This seminar is designed primarily for seniors majoring or minoring in International Studies.
During the semester, I hope the course will accomplish four goals:
1) to provide the group with a common vocabulary for analyzing the current international
environment - politically, economically and socially;
2) to encourage participants to think about future global relationships in an informed and
constructive way;
3) to prepare students to write research papers on topics of their choice relating to
International Studies; and
4) to exchange views, debate, question, research - all in an atmosphere of mutual respect
and trust.
Toward these ends I have assigned the following books:
Dead Aid by Dambisa Moyo
My Life with the Taliban by Abdul Salam Zaeef
America Transformed: Globalization, Inequality, and Power by Hytrek and Zentfgaf
Jihad vs. McWorld: Terrorism's Challenge to Democracy by Benjamin Barber
New Ideas on Development after the Financial Crisis, Birdsall and Fukuyama (Editors)
There will be additional readings assigned on a weekly basis. Later on in the semester the seminar
will be devoted to discussion of each other's ongoing work in progress. Student input is vital, both
to the content and organization of the seminar! Please share your concerns in the group, with me
individually, or in both settings. I encourage you to become keenly interested in current events
during this semester, and to bring into the seminar each week a discussion of real life events that
may be explored using the framework we are developing.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
I will email you the assigned articles or chapters for each week. Please print out and read them for
the day they are due, so that we may have a complete discussion with maximum participation.
Class participation counts 20% of your grade.
There are but two writing assignments: First, a 10 pp. paper (due November 1st) in which I will ask
you to answer some questions relating to the readings and class discussions. This paper counts
30% of your grade. Second, your Paper in International Studies (50% of your final grade),
which is due by 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, December 14, 2011 in my mailbox, Room 426
McGuinn. We shall be conferring about topics and lengths of these papers. A first draft of your
paper is due in class on Tuesday, November 22nd.
CALENDAR
Tues
9/6
COURSE OVERVIEW, DISCUSSION
Exploring Topics for Papers
Setting Up Appointments
Globalization
IS 530, SC 530 International Studies Seminar
2
Tues 9/13
Decisions on Paper Topics
International Stratification
Complete Hytrek and Zentgraf
Tues 9/20
Using O’Neill Library; Components of a Research Paper
Afghanistan: Zaeef, 1st half.
Tues 9/27
Afghanistan: Zaeef, 2nd half; Tom Friedman, Articles from the
New York Times
Paper Outlines are Due
Modernization Theory
Tues 10/4
Critiques of Modernization
Dependency Theory; World Systems Theory
Theo Dos Santos, “The Structure of Dependency,” ch. 20 in
Development and Underdevelopment by Mitchell Seligson and
John T. Passé-Smith; W.W. Rostow, “The Five Stages of
Growth,” ch. 10 in Development and Underdevelopment by
Mitchell Seligson and John T. Passé-Smith.
Tues 10/11
Development Systems and Weak States
Amartya Sen, “Democracy as a Universal Value.”
Francis Fukuyama, “Weak States and International Legitimacy.”
Birdsall and Fukuyama, ch. 1; ch. 10
Tues 10/18
Culture Clash - Jihad and Macworld
Barber, esp. pp. xi – 32; 73-87; 268-292
S.P. Huntington The Clash of Civilizations, ch. 3.
Tues 10/25
Neo-Liberalism and Foreign Policy
Distribute Mid-term assignment
Steven L. Lamy, “Contemporary Mainstream Approaches: NeoRealism and Neo-Liberalism, Ch. 9 in The Globalization of World
Politics, by John Baylis and Steve Smith. Milton Friedman,
Capitalism and Freedom, ch 1.
Tues 11/1
Mid-Term is Due
RE-CAP OF MID-TERM
Tues 11/8
Development in the Recession Era
Discussion: Birdsall and Fukuyama, chs. 2, 3; either chs. 4
& 5 or 6 & 7; chs. 11 & 12
Tues 11/15
Organizing student input for final seminars
Discussion: Dead Aid, by Dambisa Moyo.
IS 530, SC 530 International Studies Seminar
Tues 11/22
First Drafts of Papers are due
Alternatives to Neo-Liberalism
Severyn T. Bruyn, A Civic Republic, chs. 2, 4, 9
Tues 11/29
STUDENT PAPER PRESENTATIONS
Tues 12/6
STUDENT PAPER PRESENTATIONS
Wed
Final Drafts of Papers are due in my mailbox, 426 McGuinn
by 12:30 p.m.
12/14
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