Course / Course Details
By - Ms Maria Shaila D’Souza
The course aims at equipping the learners with the basics of International Relations in order to help them gain insights into the undercurrents of global context. This basic knowledge will enable the learners with the knowledge of the fundamental concepts of International Relations and help them acquire skills of application in analysing power- dynamics, affecting individual states in the International system. The nature of national interests, the decision- making process and the way the relations between nations are negotiated and conducted will be explained.The Course will truly enable the learners to comprehend the broad global character of the political world, organised into nearly 200 nation states. The learners will be equipped with the ability to understand the relationship between domestic affairs and foreign policy and evidently the pragmatic situation of their own individual lives in the present world milieu.
COURSE OUTLINE
I WEEK
UNIT- I
MAKING SENSE OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Defining International Relations
International Relations and International Politics Trajectory of the subject
II WEEK
UNIT-II
TOOLS TO STUDY INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Approaches to the Study International Relations- Traditional & Modern
Game Theory Decision-Making
III WEEK
UNIT-III
INTERESTS AND INSTRUMENTALITIES
National Interest
Foreign Policy and Domestic Policy; Determinants Instrumentalities of foreign policy
IV WEEK
UNIT-IV INTERNATIONAL LAW
Is International Law a Law? International Law Commission
The Arbitration of International disputes
V- WEEK
UNIT V
VIEW LOCALE
Principles of the Foreign Policy of India India and Regional Groupings
India as a Soft power
About Lesson Welcome to the “Understanding of International Relations” Dear Friends, As our interactions with the world society become momentous it just requires that we know the global trends and broaden our vision. Kindly go through the course site. It is a 5 -week long programme with 5 units of course material. In the first unit you will learn the basic concepts and the academic journey of International Relations as an autonomous discipline. In the second unit the approaches, game theory and decision-making theory that are considered to be significant in theory building will be highlighted. In the third unit you will learn the conceptual base of national interest and foreign policy and the instrumentalities attached to them. Fourth unit will be on the fundamental issues pertaining to International Law; International law Commission and the Arbitration of International disputes. The last unit view locale will help you to relate your understandings to Indian counterpart. We are excited to have you and look forward to your active contributions to the learning fraternity. Thank you for signing in. The course content will be delivered to you through videos, references to reading material and movies, quizzes for assessment. Review the material we cover each week, and preview the assignments you’ll need to complete to pass the course once the course is underway. E- Certificate will be generated once you fulfill the requirements to procure the same. The subject International Relations is rooted in the World War I. We wish you experience the enormity of World War I which has also promoted the study of the subject. To begin with, kindly watch the two movies placed in the context of World Wars. 1. A Farewell to Arms, released in 1932- placed in the context of First world War is based on the novel authored by Ernest Hemmingway (first published in 1929) . It is a story of war, story of love, a story of commitment. It is based on Hemingway’s own experiences serving in the Italian operations during the First World War. The inspiration for Catherine Barkley was Agnes von Kurowsky, a nurse who cared for Hemingway in a hospital in Milan after he had been wounded. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbZQWtIdJBU 2. Second Movie is Shoulder Arms, released in 1918, it is a silent comedy set in France in the context of World War I by Charlie Chaplin. Even Chaplin himself had apprehension about making comedy out of such a catastrophic event in human history. However, through this comedy Chaplin depicts the horrors of life in the trenches – mud, blood, hunger, pests, craving for home, the waterlogged trenches and the danger of a lethal bullet or grenade. – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sjdyp8hUxxA&list=PLD2lcd0HPmIFrKP1H 23rUmOas4AeRt1KJ 3. Cut and paste the links given below to watch. Please be free to post your questions in the portal. Best wishes, as you get started, and we hope you enjoy the course. As Thomas Friedman rightly puts it in his book ‘Hot, Flat, and Crowded‘, “in the flattening and crowding of the world” and now let me say in the new normal of pandemic, our knowledge about International Relations will make a difference to each one of us and to the other in the larger society. Thank you. Cut, copy and paste the URL (web address) to watch the movie-: 1-Farewell to Arms- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbZQWtIdJBU Movie: 2-Shoulder Arms https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sjdyp8hUxxA&list=PLD2lcd0HPmIFrKP1H 23rUmOas4AeRt1KJ
About Lesson Friends, you must have already watched two movies – ‘farewell to firearms’ and ‘shoulder arms’ – the two perspectives to be aware of the distress of the first world war. Welcome to this second unit. Where we would briefly analyse the theoretical perspectives of International relations. Theories in International Relations are very fascinating and are highly debated too. Let me draw your attention towards a few news cliffs – News item 1: Trump warns of ‘retaliation’ if India doesn’t export Hydroxychloroquine to U.S. No. 2 The U.S. President Donald Trump sends a message of solidarity to Mr Modi saying, “Thank you, my friend. America loves India,” after the Prime Minister Narendra Modi wished him on the 244th Independence Day of the United States. How do we make sense of these nuances? Often, we think that we can capture the world of political affairs by collating the experiences of the world leaders or reading the account of their interactions. Can we read the relations between The US and India through these news cliffs? Our imagination is deeply caught in understanding the superficiality of such events. How do you explain such overtures? The field of International Relations was created after the First World War in order to promote and guide the policy makers to create a better world to keep away from the scourge of war. How do we demonstrate the predictions required for policy making? The world is undergoing a fundamental transformation and is encountering various uncertainties of different kind- traditional and non-traditional security threats (economic and military competition, climate change, piracy, drug and human trafficking, energy and food security in increasing magnitude and now the pandemic. We are in broken economic, political or military world where trade and technology is driving us with changing patterns of unpredictability. In order to explain and apply the changing situations and analyse relations between the nations in the International system one need to perceive the complexities by understanding it through the conceptual framework. Relations between the countries are very complex and varied periods of history have guided these relations. The traditional approaches and modern approaches will help you to get the essence of this. The classifications of approaches into traditional and modern and the game and decision- making theory will guide your understanding in international relations.
Assignment Timeline of Nuclear Weapons Testing from 1945-98 –Nuclear Detonation Timeline “1945-1998” Cold War was a period of conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States and their respective allies, the Eastern Bloc (Warsaw) and the Western Bloc (NATO) after World War II. It spanned between 1947 to the 1991 till the dismantling of the Soviet Union. Kindly go to the following link to watch Cut, copy & paste the following URL to watch The Cold War – summary of main stages of conflict click on the link and you will be directed to the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsDrYh2Af5Y&vl=enson About Lesson Kindly go to the following link to understand the nuclear detonation during the coldwar period. Cut, copy & paste the following URL to watch 1.Timeline of Nuclear Weapons Testing from 1945-98 –Nuclear Detonation Timeline “1945-1998” you https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9lquok4Pd and write a review in 200 words and put it up on the portal. However review is not counted for final assessment.
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