21 Aug 2014

Intro to IR

by Shawna K. Metzger

shawnakmetzger.com/wp/notes/world-politics/

Accessed April 26, 2025. Last modified September 7, 2018

Full title: Introduction to International Politics
Course number: GOVT 204
University/Department: W&M, Government
Offered: Fall 2018 (2 sections), Spring 2019 (1 section).

Full title: World Politics
Course number: PS 0500
University/Department: Pitt, Political Science
Offered: Summer 2010 (1 section), Fall 2010 (1 section), Spring 2012 (2 sections).

Background Information

The class introduces students to major theoretical frameworks in the field, identifies the discipline’s general areas of research (conflict, IPE, IOs), and discusses current debates within these research areas. Optimally, after taking the course, students should be well-equipped to take any of the Department’s upper-level international relations courses (PS 15xx at Pitt, GOVT 3xx at W&M).

Course Description

This course is an introduction to the study of international relations (IR). The academic study of world politics focuses on explaining and understanding the events occurring among different individuals, groups, and countries in the world. We ask questions like: Why do wars occur? Why are some countries rich and other countries poor? What explains differences in countries’ trade policies? How can small groups, like terrorists, affect policies within and among countries?

To answer the questions we have about world events, and to understand the impact these events have on our lives, the course moves in four sections. Section I contains basic concepts often employed in international relations. We focus on three concepts (interests, interactions, and institutions) that serve as the building blocks of theories and arguments, and discuss two major IR theories as illustrations of I3 in action. The remaining three sections apply these tools by examining specific subfields within IR. Section II deals with international conflict; Section III, international political economy (IPE); and Section IV, international organizations (IOs) and transnational politics.

Syllabus (Fall 2018)