📒 Course Description

In this course, we will analyze the main contours of history of international relations in the twentieth century and beyond. We will discuss the main conflicts, wars, peace movements, international cooperation, and global transformations in the transnational arena, which had been founded upon the legacy of the long nineteenth century. The course starts with the developments leading to the Great War and ends with the global pandemic of the 2020s. We will not only focus on the diplomatic and military relations between the nation-states, but also focus on themes like democracy, international political economy, decolonization, Cold War, development, globalization, human rights and environmental protection.

🗝 Course Objectives

<aside> 📌 After taking this course, students are expected:

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• To describe and discuss the causes and results of the First World War and identify its impact on international relations,
• To identify and analyze the totalitarian regimes in the interwar period and the causes of the Second World War,
• To distinguish and analyze the postwar world order,
• To identify and discuss the concepts like bipolarity, nuclear deterrence, and superpower rivalry that emerged in the Cold War,
• To assess and evaluate the nature of different political and economic models of the twentieth century,
• To examine and discuss the concepts like decolonization, the Third World and non-alignment,
• To assess and discuss the post-Cold War era and the twenty-first century changes in the international order.

📝 Instructional Procedures

All the lectures will be conducted via online meetings. The lecturer will deliver the contents of the topic in two sessions every week, separated by a short break. Students are highly encouraged to ask and answer questions, and make comments during the classes. The lecturer will make use of videos, simulations and role playing to improve the interactivity in the lectures and transform them into a mutual exchange of knowledge and opinions.

📬 Communication with the Lecturer

If you need to discuss any matters related to the course or any other academic matter, do not hesitate to contact the lecturer by sending an email. You could also send a STIX message to the lecturer but it could take a few days to respond to your messages, as the lecturer will be quite busy during the semester. If you need to talk to the lecturer, it is also possible to make an online appointment by clicking here. Using this link, you could see the availability of the lecturer and choose the date and time that is suitable for you and then fill out your personal information. If there is a specific topic that you would like to talk about, please write it down in the form. After you submit it, a Microsoft Teams meeting link will be sent to your email and you can have an online meeting with the lecturer at the designated date and time.

Before making any inquiry, please do not forget to consult this syllabus, as seen in the comic below 😊

🏯 Teaching Philosophy

It is my philosophy that lecturers should not dictate their own opinions and thoughts to students and inspire students to learn the necessary information by themselves. lecturers must provide them a healthy environment to turn such information into knowledge. The students should be aware of the fact that merely listening to the lectures and studying their class notes just before the exams may be barely enough to pass the course but it won’t be enough to develop themselves to be knowledgeable persons, ready for postgraduation. Therefore they should finish the required readings and watch the multimedia sources and if needed, they should do their own research about related topics.

🧠 Mid-Term and Final Examinations