INTS10001 International Politics

Semester 2, 2014

The University of Melbourne

Subject Coordinator:

Dr Avery Poole

adpoole@unimelb.edu.au

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In the news...

MH17: UN Security Council backs Australian resolution

condemning Malaysia Airlines plane's downing

Updated Tue 22 Jul 2014, 6:34pm AEST

The United Nations Security Council has unanimously backed an Australian-

sponsored resolution over the downing of MH17, with Foreign Affairs Minister

Julie Bishop condemning the "grotesque violations" at the crash site.

Russia backed the resolution at the eleventh hour after some changes were made

to the text, including the characterisation of the incident as "the downing"

of Malaysia Airlines MH17 rather than the "shooting down".

The resolution puts in place an international,

independent investigation into the plane crash

and puts more pressure on Moscow to use its

influence over the separatists.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-22/mh17-un-backs-australian-

resolution-condemning-plane-downing/5613214

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In the news (cont’d)...

UN human rights body to investigate claims of Israeli

violations in Gaza

Ian Black, Middle East editor, and agencies

theguardian.com, Thursday 24 July 2014 03.05 AEST

The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has agreed to launch an

international inquiry into violations that may have been committed during

Israel’s latest military offensive in Gaza.

Navi Pillay, the UN high commissioner for human rights, warned earlier that

Israel may have committed war crimes in its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza

Strip, where hundreds of Palestinian civilians

have been killed in the past two weeks. She

also condemned Hamas, the Islamist movement

that rules Gaza, and other armed Palestinian

groups, for their "indiscriminate attacks" on

Israel.

http://www.theguardian.com/global/2014/jul/23/

un-high-commissioner-navi-pillay-war-crimes-

israel 3

In the news (cont’d)...

4

Indonesia elections: Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo confirmed as next

president after official results released

Greg Jennett in Jakarta, wires

Updated Wed 23 Jul 2014, 10:35am AEST

Joko Widodo has been declared the winner of Indonesia's presidential election

and will take office in October.

The election commission has declared that Mr Widodo won the poll with almost

71 million votes or just over 53 per cent.

The former military general Prabowo Subianto received 62.5 million votes or

46.8 per cent.

Mr Subianto had thrown the final declaration

into confusion with an attempt to withdraw

from the process at the 11th hour.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-22/

indonesia-election-winner-announced/5616014

In the news (cont’d)...

• International politics is ‘everywhere’

• We will ‘go behind the news’ of world affairs and understand

the deeper structural and political changes and challenges

that are confronting citizens, states and non-state actors in our

increasingly interconnected world.

• We will explore the actors, institutions, dynamics and key

debates that make up contemporary international politics.

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Overview of lecture

• What is International Politics? Why study it?

• What do you need for this subject?

• Lectures, tutorials

• Overview of lecture program

• The evolution of the study of international politics

• Assessment

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What is International Politics?

• Interactions across state borders of state and non-state

actors…

• Sometimes referred to as ‘world’ or ‘global’ politics

• Or ‘international relations’

International politics as a chess game... 7

Why study International Politics?

• International politics is relevant!

• Many issues span state borders

• Many local events have a global dimension

• To understand / analyse / shape government decisions

• You may have other reasons to discuss in tutorials…

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Peter Nicholson

www.nicholsoncartoons.com.au

What you need…

• The Subject Guide – please download and read!

(available on LMS: www.lms.unimelb.edu.au )

• The Tutorial Guide – please download and read!

(available on LMS)

• The Textbook: Baylis, Smith & Owens, 6th edition,

2014 (available at the Co-Op bookshops)…

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• This edition features 35 new international

case studies including: Gaza Freedom

Flotilla, Sudanese civil war, drones, rise

of China, Occupy movement, and Syrian

Revolution

• Extra student resources available online

• A valuable resource throughout your

entire degree

Available from Co-op bookshop at $76.95 (non-members) or $71.56 (members)

INTS10001

International Politics

Essential text:

The Globalization of World Politics

Lectures

• Monday and Thursday, 11am and 3.15pm

– (The 3.15 lecture is a repeat)

– Mon 11am: Copland Theatre, The Spot (Bus & Eco building)

– Mon 3.15pm: GM15, Law building

– Thurs 11am: GM15, Law building

– Thurs 3.15pm: Public Lecture Theatre (PLT), Old Arts building

• Lecture capture recordings available...

– but you should still come to class!

– We can’t guarantee quality and

that it will always work. And guest

lecturers may not use it.

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Tutorials (start next week!)

• You should be registered for tutorials (which start

next week) and attend the tutorial in which you are registered (use

the Student Portal)

• Finding your tutorial: do a search in the Unimelb website or go to

http://maps.unimelb.edu.au/parkville/building

• Tutorial attendance: You must attend 75% or

8 out of 11 tutorials to pass the subject!

• Before class: Prepare the relevant readings (refer Tutorial Guide)

and consider the discussion questions

• In class: participate actively in discussion – it’s a cliché but ‘you

get out what you put in’

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Your tutors

• Head tutor: David Duriesmith

• Tutors: Aleks Deejay, David Duriesmith, Sahar

Ghumkhor, Maryse Helbert, Samantha Jones, Rheya

Linden, Margherita Matera, Hussein Mohamud

• Contact details available on LMS and in Subject Guide

• School policy: Tutors can be contacted by email and will

reply on a timely basis during business hours only

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Let’s have a look at LMS!

www.lms.unimelb.edu.au

(Use your central University username and password to log

in and access LMS pages for all your subjects)

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Part A: Historical Context and

Theories of World Politics

1. Introduction and Historical Context

2. Realism

3. The Cold War, the End and its Shadow (Dr Timothy Lynch)

4. Liberalism

5. Normative approaches to international

relations (Dr Terry Macdonald)

6. Constructivist and Critical Approaches

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Part B: Sovereignty, Security and

Power

7. Nuclear weapons in international politics – with a

little bit about Australia (Prof Richard Tanter)

8. Sovereignty and the state

9. Australia-Indonesia: shifting asymmetries of power

(Prof Richard Tanter)

10. Security in international relations (Dr David Duriesmith)

11. Terrorism and globalisation

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Part B: Sovereignty, Security and

Power (cont’d)

12. International organisations: The United Nations

13. Is America in Decline? (A/Prof Timothy Lynch)

14. China and India as Global Actors

15. Regionalism: The case of Southeast Asia

16. International Political Economy

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Part C: Contemporary Issues in

International Politics

17. Gender and conflict (Dr David Duriesmith)

18. The global politics of climate change

(Prof. Robyn Eckersley)

19. Human Rights

20. Humanitarian Intervention

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C. Contemporary Issues in

International Politics (cont’d)

21. Europe in Crisis (Prof. Philomena Murray)

22. Is the European Union a Global Actor? (Prof. Philomena

Murray)

23. Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Migration

24. Conclusions

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Is America in Decline?

What kind of power matters?

Are we moving to a

‘multipolar’ world?

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How can we address threats such as nuclear

weapons and terrorism?

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Are China and India rising powers? Future superpowers?

Do borders matter? What new agendas?

What about identities? Whose narratives?

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International Politics – the

‘traditional’ view

• States are the key actors in international politics

• Primary focus on ‘high politics’

(security, diplomacy), and

international political economy

• Borders matter!

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Power, conquest and territory in

Game of Thrones

International Politics – the traditional view

• States: ‘sovereign, self-governing, territorially delimited political

communities or polities’ (Baylis et al, 23).

• Sovereignty: ‘the principle that within its territorial boundaries, the

state is the supreme political authority, and that outside those

boundaries the state recognises no higher political authority’

(Baylis et al).

– The principle of sovereignty is

enshrined in the UN Charter.

(We will talk more about sovereignty and the state in Lecture 8.)

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Some key turning points…

1989 – the end of the Cold War

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World War II (1939-45)

Key events/developments shaping

international politics

• Major wars (esp. WWI, WWII, Cold War)

• Increased attention to the ability of the state to harm its own citizens

(Holocaust, genocides, other human rights violations)

• Proliferation of international organisations (e.g. UN and its

agencies, WTO, IMF) and international treaties (e.g. human rights

conventions)

• Challenges to the state-centric nature of international politics – e.g.

economic interdependence; movement of people, goods, services

and capital across borders; rise of non-state actors

Punctuating one slow

transformation…

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International Politics today

Covers a bigger canvas, including:

• state and nonstate actors and organisations

• international and transnational interactions

• questions of order, stability and justice

• traditional and new agenda issues (previously considered ‘low politics’ issues such as human rights, environment, refugees, role of gender)

• National security plus matters of common or global concern

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Assessment

1. 1,000 word essay 25% 4pm Monday 1 September 2014

2. 2,000 word essay 50% 4pm Monday 6 October 2014

3. 1,000 word take-home exam 25% 4pm Thursday 6 November 2014

(Posted on the LMS site at 12pm

on Monday 3 November 2014)

Note: late penalty 10% per day!

You must submit all pieces of work to pass the subject.

(More details available in Subject Guide)

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How will you be examined?

• Your ability to address the question

• Your ability to construct and clearly communicate an argument

• Your ability to engage critically with the issues and the relevant

scholarly literature

• Your ability to structure the essay

• Amount and quality of research

• Correct spelling, and grammar and presentation

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Advice on Research

• Use the Subject Guide as a starting point

• Read a wide variety of sources, online and offline (journal

articles, books, official reports etc)

• Note list of International Politics weblinks on LMS

• Google – ‘Information Idol’? Ranking based on frequency of

hits, not quality of information

• Wikipedia – not refereed; use only as ‘a first port of call’; do

not quote – always go to original source

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Please….

• Regularly check your University email

• Email etiquette: tutors will respond within 48 hours, during

business hours

• Come to lectures and tutorials on time

• Turn your phone off or to silent

during class

• Thank you!

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A word about lectures…

• ‘The main purpose of lectures should be

not to convey huge amounts of information,

but to inspire learning outside the classroom’

– Michael E. Smith, Professor of Politics

and International Relations, University

of Aberdeen

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And finally…

Use the Twitter hashtag #INTS10001 to share relevant articles, news

items, ideas…

“We do not covet anything from any nation except

their respect.” Winston Churchill

“A nation's culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people.”

Mahatma Gandhi

“You can’t be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps

if you have some kind of a football team or some nuclear weapons, but

at the very least you need a beer.”

Frank Zappa

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