PSC 497 - Seminar in Theories of International Relations (4 Cr.)

(Formerly PSC 350)

Designed primarily for senior international relations majors, students examine issues of power, security, and conflict from a historical and theoretical perspective. Students survey leading IR research related to world order; how it is established, maintained and destroyed in the international realm. Students gather evidence probing the extent to which IR theory is rooted in ideas born from the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution and the development of liberal democracy, and interrogate the discipline’s traditional assumptions of order and power. The course then moves to connect theory to policy application and rethink concepts of security and war in the age of big data and in the dawn of cyberspace. What are the current security problems or sources of disorder facing decision makers today and how are these likely to evolve in our future? Prerequisite: PSC 150 or PSC 257, and Senior standing. Spring semester.