University of Florida
INR 3502
Fall 2007
International
Institutions
Dr. Samuel Barkin
Office: Anderson 334
Office Hours: Tuesday 2-4 pm, Wednesday 9-11 am
barkin@polisci.ufl.edu: 352-392-0262, ext. 222
The
past several decades have seen a proliferation of international and
transnational organizations. Are
these organizations merely functional reflections of the dominant international
balance of power, or is organization at the international level coming to replace
the state as the primary source of governance in the contemporary world? Are these organizations capable of
radically changing the way politics happen at the international level, or are
they useful only for managing relations among states in functional issue-areas
that are not contentious? This
course will examine the state of the political science literature on
international organizations in an attempt to illuminate these questions, and to
develop the analytical and research skills necessary to examine both the
structures and the roles of specific organizations.
The
course will begin by looking at various theories of international organization,
asking such questions as what purposes do these organizations serve, why are
they created, etc. This will be
followed by an examination of the UN system, and at the other kinds of
non-state organizations that populate the world of international
relations. Finally, we will look
at a variety of functional issue-areas, and examine both the international institutional
structure and the efficacy of existing institutions in dealing with the
problems they were created to alleviate.
Readings
Book
Ordered for Purchase:
Margaret Karns and Karen
Mingst, International Organizations:
The Politics and Processes of Global Governance (Lynne Rienner, 2004).
Samuel Barkin, International
Organization: Theories and
Institutions
(Palgrave, 2006)
-Other reading will be
made available on the web. These
readings will be posted over the course of the semester.
Course Requirements
Class
Participation -- 10%
First
Examination -- 30%
Second
Examination -- 30%
Research
Paper -- 30%
Further
details on the exams and the paper will be posted on the online version of this
syllabus at appropriate times.
Click here
for the mobile communications device policy.
Class Participation
(10%):
Students are expected to
come to all classes, to pay attention, and to participate actively in class
discussions and in various class exercises that will occur from time to time.
First Examination
(30%):
There will an
examination held in class on Monday, October 8, which will cover theoretical
and empirical material discussed in class and in the readings.
Second Examination
(30%):
There will an
examination held in class on Friday, November 30, which will cover theoretical
and empirical material discussed in class and in the readings since the first
exam.
Research Paper (30%):
Each student will write
a 3,000-word research
paper. For this paper each
student will be expected to apply the analytic tools discussed in class to
either a specific empirical issue-area in international governance or a
specific international organization or institution. More explicit instructions will be distributed in due
course.
You will be expected to
submit a statement
of your research question on Friday, September 28 and your working
bibliography on Monday, October 29.
Each submission is worth 10% of the paper credit.
Follow these links to
find details of the assignment, information on sources,
information on
citation, and the statement of policy
on plagiarism and academic honesty for this course.
The paper is due at the
beginning of the last class, on Wednesday, December 5. Please note that late papers will be
accepted, but marked down half a grade for every day late (this is true of the
statement of research question and working bibliography as well).
Course Schedule and
readings
Week 1 (August 24): Introduction
Week 2 (August 27, 29): Why Cooperate?
*Note that there is no
class on Friday, August 31.
-Karns and Mingst, chapters 1 and 2.
Week 3 (September 5, 7):
Anarchy and
sovereignty
-Barkin, introduction and
chapters 1 and 2.
-Karns and Mingst, chapter 7.
Week 4 (September 10.
12): Regimes
and Institutions
*Note that there is no
class on Friday, September 14th
-Barkin, chapters 3 and 4.
-Karns and Mingst, chapter 3.
Week 5 (September 17,
19, 21): The
UN System
-Barkin, chapter 5.
-Karns and Mingst, chapter 4.
Week 6 (September 24,
26, 28): Other
Actors
*Research question due
on Friday the 28th
-Karns and Mingst, chapter 6.
Week 7: (October 1, 3,
5): Regional
Cooperation
-Karns and Mingst, chapter 5.
Week 8 (October 8, 10,
12): International
Security 1
*First exam on Monday
the 8th.
-Barkin, chapter 6.
-Karns and Mingst chapter 8, pp. 277-306.
Week 9 (October 15, 17,
19): International
Security 2
-Karns and Mingst, chapter 8, pp.
306-354.
Week 10 (October 22, 24,
26): International
Political Economy
-Barkin, chapter 8.
-Karns and Mingst, chapter 9, pp.
355-392.
Week 11 (October 29,
31): Development
*Working bibliography
due Monday the 29th
-Barkin, chapter 9.
-Karns and Mingst, chapter 9, pp. 392-412.
Week 12 (November 5, 7,
9): Human
Rights
-Barkin, chapter 7.
-Karns and Mingst, chapter 10.
Week 13 (November 14,
16): The
Environment
-Karns and Mingst, chapter 11.
Week 14 (November 19): Integration
*Note that there is no
class on Wednesday, November 21.
-Barkin, chapters 10 and 11.
Week 15 (November 26,
28, 30): Effectiveness
*Second exam on Friday
the 30th
-Barkin, chapter12.
-Karns and Mingst, chapter 12.
Week 16 (December 3, 5):
Conclusions
*Paper due Wednesday the
5th