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Political Research Seminar (395-0-20)

Topic

How International Institutions Influence State Pol

Instructors

Karen Alter
847/491-4842
Scott Hall #318

Meeting Info

Scott Hall 201 Ripton Room: Tues, Thurs 5:00PM - 6:20PM

Overview of class

COURSE TITLE: How International Institutions Influence State Policy

International organizations are designed to facilitate cooperation between states, addressing problems and issues that affect all nations, the global commons and humanity in general. But for the goals of international organizations to be achieved, usually a change of domestic policy is needed. This seminar examines the questions of if, when and how international actors influence national policy so as to promote objectives of international institutions and altruistic or self-interested actors. We also examine why international institutions so often fall short, and the experience of communities that are on the receiving end of international "help."

Learning Objectives

  • Research project: By design, a 395 seminar is a capstone experience where all students undertake their own research project. The entire course is oriented around your research project. You will choose the issue that interests you, but all members of the class will undertake a research project that addresses the first three substantive issues above. We will go over the many tasks associated with this project: library research, engaging theory, drawing conclusions, citations etc.
  • Working with policy and academic sources: Professor Alter will guide you in selecting your topic, ensuring that the question is answerable based on available sources. This guiding also teaches you how to understand, contextualize and work with academic and policy sources, and where journalism fits into research and analysis.
  • Written & oral presentations: You will be presenting your findings along the way in written and oral forms. These two formats will be substantively related and complementary to each other, but written presentations are necessarily different from oral presentations. You will learn this difference, and have 3 different written and oral presentations to practice on. All of these presentations are related to your research project, and all feed directly into your research paper. The presentations also help the class think about variation in the challenges that international actors face in addressing different global issues.
  • Writing for policy v. academic audiences: Every student will be bringing in some academic materials, properly cited. Yet you are also invited to work on writing in either an academic or a policy way. We will discuss the differences, and the approach you choose will involve different types of skills.

Teaching Method

seminar + student presentations

Evaluation Method

1) Participation (40%) includes: regular attendance and class preparation; 3 short memos on research project; 3 presentations related to the research project; written peer reviews and self reflections; timeliness on all assignments
2) Seminar paper (60%)- Individual papers will be 18-22 pages. Coauthored alternative is available.

Class Materials (Required)

There is a course pack and 4 case studies that are purchased online.

Class Notes

There is a course pack and 4 case studies that are purchased online.

Class Attributes

Advanced Expression

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: Reserved for Political Science students who are Juniors or Seniors