Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Credits from this course qualify for general education purposes at Portland Community College and may be applied toward satisfying Associates Degrees at Portland Community College.
Courses with three digit numbers may be transferable to four year colleges and universities. Students should consult with a PCC Academic Advisor and/or other institutions regarding transferability and application of credit to other institutions.

Students will be able to
1. Explore how culturally based assumptions shape any countries’ foreign policies and international interactions , as well as, with intergovernmental organizations and nongovernmental organizations.
2. Examine historical bases for evolving economic and political relationships among national states , including the impact of diverse cultural ideas, behaviors, and issues upon these relationships, (for example , how economic globalization often includes elements of cultural imperialism).
3. Analyze how policies relating to International Law and Human Rights (including issues of privilege, discrimination, environmental degradation) are often a function of unequal international power relationships.
4. Formulate and apply personal value judgments, while demonstrating sensitivity and empathy for people of other nations with different points of view.
5. Engage in lifelong learning that includes the ability to conceptually organize information while practicing ethical and social requirements of responsible global citizenship.

The SAC assumes that faculty will assess student learning using some combination of the following assessment strategies:
 

• Exams consisting of essay or other method that integrates and requires application of concepts, themes and issues in the course
• Written assignments such as papers, reviews, journals and other writing assignments that demonstrate understanding of content knowledge and appropriate application by students of content to clarification of their own views on political issues
• Oral presentations, summits, model-UN, discussions, debates, or role-playing that articulate views and values incorporating a comprehensive knowledge of appropriate concepts and issues
• Projects where students can identify resources that provide political information and can utilize these resources to evaluate the political process and identify participatory strategies.
• Review and critique of political material from different media.
• Use of standard research techniques and acceptable formats in written work and oral presentations

basic concepts of state, sovereignty, power, and nation

• the theories of IR including realism, idealism, dependency, and others
• the security dilemma around nuclear weapons an their proliferation
• the relationship between the developing and less developed world
• the role of international organizations, multinationals, the U and the EU
• International law and human rights
• major problems facing the world that need cooperation of all nation-states

Competencies and Skills
Students should develop the following skills:
 

• Support generalizations/arguments with examples or evidence
• Accurately articulates ideas in written and oral presentation
• Articulates original applications and synthesis of academic theories/frameworks, supporting them by citing valid sources.
• Demonstrates knowledge of political system in written and oral work
• Critiques own assumptions and those of others, validating them with substantial thinking and application of appropriate arguments.
• Use of standard research techniques and acceptable formats in written work and oral presentations