POLS104 - Introduction to International Relations

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

Unit rationale, description and aim

Understanding how major international events occur and shape our lives is central to the study and practice of international relations. This unit provides a broad ranging introduction to the study of the discipline of international relations in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It concentrates initially on the major twentieth-century events (the World Wars, the nuclear age and Cold War); ideas (realism, liberalism, constructivism, and cosmopolitanism); and strategic practices (balance of power, collective security, and deterrence) that have shaped the traditional international relations agenda. The unit then engages the new agenda of the post-Cold War period, including the new international political economy of the globalisation era, the new wars, the War on Terror following 9/11, the subsequent conflicts in the Middle East, climate change, the global financial crisis, and the rise of the Asian Century. The unit concludes with a discussion of Australia’s role in a changing world. Overall, the aim of this unit is to provide students with a foundational understanding of key events, theories, and developments in international relations. 

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - Describe the nature and significance of international politics and governance and the contexts in which they operate (GA5) 

LO2 - Critically discuss diverse political perspectives in international relations, particularly with respect to marginalised, disadvantaged, and vulnerable peoples and communities (GA1, GA2) 

LO3 - Demonstrate the capacity to gather and analyse ethical solutions to international political problems through evidence-based argument and evaluation of secondary sources (GA4, GA7, GA8) 

LO4 - Apply concepts and theories used in the study of international relations to the analysis of interests, ideas, institutions and political behaviour (GA6)  

Graduate attributes

GA1 - demonstrate respect for the dignity of each individual and for human diversity 

GA2 - recognise their responsibility to the common good, the environment and society 

GA4 - think critically and reflectively 

GA5 - demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession 

GA6 - solve problems in a variety of settings taking local and international perspectives into account

GA7 - work both autonomously and collaboratively 

GA8 - locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information 

Content

• The World Wars 
• The key wars of the 20th and 21st century (World Wars, Cold War, War on Terror) 
• The mainstream and critical theoretical frameworks of International Relations (Realism, Liberalism, Neo-Realism, Neo-Liberalism, Constructivism, Post-Structuralism, Feminism). 
• Globalisation and Cosmopolitanism 
• 9/11 and the War on Terror 
• Climate change and international relations 
• Global Financial Crisis 
• #MeToo Movement and gender and international relations 
• Australian foreign policy  

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

This unit engages students in active learning activities, such as reading, writing, discussion and problem-solving to promote analysis, synthesis and evaluation of class content. Students encounter ideas through lectures and discuss and assimilate material through tutorial classes. Students will also act collaboratively on tutorial activities. Collaborative learning is an important component of active learning and sits within a community of inquiry theoretical framework. It provides opportunities for a group of individuals to collaborate in purposeful critical discourse and reflection to construct personal meaning and mutual understanding. 

The unit will consist of face-to-face teaching using lectures and tutorials or equivalent. 

This is a 10-credit point unit and has been designed to ensure that the time needed to complete the required volume of learning to the requisite standard is approximately 150 hours in total across the semester. To achieve a passing standard in this unit, students will find it helpful to engage in the full range of learning activities and assessments utilised in this unit, as described in the learning and teaching strategy and the assessment strategy. The learning and teaching and assessment strategies include a range of approaches to support your learning such as reading, reflection, discussion, webinars, podcasts, video etc. 

Assessment strategy and rationale

The assessment tasks for this unit have been designed to contribute to high quality student learning by both helping students learn (assessment for learning), and by measuring explicit evidence of their learning (assessment of learning). Assessments have been developed to meet the unit learning outcomes and develop graduate attributes consistent with University assessment requirements. These have been designed so that they use a variety of tasks to measure the different learning outcomes at a level suitable for first year study in politics and international relations. 

The descriptive task enables students to describe the nature and significance of international politics and governance and the contexts in which they operate and to critically discuss diverse political perspectives in international relations, particularly with respect to marginalised, disadvantaged, and vulnerable peoples and communities. 

The written analytical task (analysing international political problems) allows students to gather and analyse ethical solutions to international political problems through evidence-based argument and evaluation of secondary sources. 

The final take-home exam will give students opportunity to apply concepts and theories used in the study of international relations to the analysis of interests, ideas, institutions and political behaviour in a way that informs students’ own practices of engaged citizenship. 

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Burke, A., Devetak, R. and George, J. (Eds.). (2017). An Introduction to International Relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

Cotton, J. (2013). The Australian School of International Relations. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. 

Edkins, J. and Zehfuss, M. (Eds.). (2014). Global Politics: A New Introduction. New York: Routledge. 

Griffiths, M., O’Callaghan, T. and Roach, S. (2008). International Relations: The Key Concepts. London: Routledge. 

Hurd, I. (2017). International Organizations: Politics, Law, Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

Kavalski, E. (2015). Encounters with World Affairs: An Introduction to International Affairs. Farnham: Ashgate. 

Kegley, C.W. and Wittkopf, E.R. (2011). World Politics: Trend and Transformation. Boston: St. Martins Press. 

Lamy, S.L., Baylis, J., Smith, S., and Owens, P. (Eds.). (2014) The Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction to International Relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 

Owen, JM. and Rosecrance, RN. (2018). International Politics: How History Modifies Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 

Reus-Smit, C. and Snidal, D. (Eds.). (2008). The Oxford Handbook of International Relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.