Course Description
How do leaders handle international crises? What pressures do they experience, what policy options do they have, and how do their choices affect crisis outcomes? We use an applied history approach to explore these questions—in particular, examining how leaders managed various historical interstate crises during the period 1816-present.
Athena Title
Crisis Diplomacy Appl History
Prerequisite
INTL 1100 or INTL 1100E or INTL 1100H or POLS 1101 or POLS 1101E or POLS 1101H or POLS 1101S or any 2000-level HIST course
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student learning Outcomes
- By the end of this course, students will be able to recall and apply key concepts in international affairs (e.g., the international system, actors in the international system, the principles of sovereignty and anarchy).
- By the end of this course, students will be able to compare and contrast various political systems and consider their advantages and disadvantages from the perspective of different societal actors.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to explain, critique, and apply the major theoretical approaches and models used within international relations and comparative politics.
- By the end of this course, students will have practice evaluating the causes and effects of historical and contemporary global events, by choosing and applying appropriate theoretical models, interpreting and contextualizing past research findings, and/or analyzing empirical data (qualitative or quantitative).
- By the end of this course, students will be able to locate sources of data and evaluate their credibility and their appropriateness for testing a given theory or hypothesis.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to articulate opinions on certain global issues, informed by the application of theoretical models, research findings, and/or empirical data (qualitative or quantitative).
- By the end of this course, students will be able to express their opinions on certain global issues through formal writing assignments and have the opportunity to revise and refine their writing in response to feedback from the instructor.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to identify the key components of social science research.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to appreciate and analyze policy interdependence--that is, how the choices that one actor or group of actors make (e.g., citizens, firms, countries) affect the lives and decisions of other actors or groups of actors.
Topical Outline
- I. Foundations
a. Interstate Crises
b. An Applied History Framework
c. Foreign Policy Decision-Making
- II. Historical Background
a. Peace, Norms, & the Concert of Europe
- III. Historical International Crises
a. The Eastern Crisis
b. The Crimean War
c. Wars of Italian Independence
d. Franco-Prussian War
e. Russo-Japanese War
f. July 1914 (World War I)
g. Munich 1938 (World War II)
h. Berlin I & II
i. Cuban Missile Crisis
j. Cod Wars
k. Peru-Ecuador 1995
l. Russia-Ukraine 2014 & 2022
- IV. What Have We Learned?
a. Summary of Historical Patterns/Trends & Lessons for Crisis Diplomacy
- V. Reacting to the Past Simulation/Game (on a Historical International Crisis)
- VI. Student Presentations of Original Crisis Research/Analysis Papers
