International Relations

POL 215 Introduction to International Relations 3 Credits

The struggle for power, wealth, and order at the global level involving nation-states, intergovernmental organizations (such as the United Nations, the European Union, etc.), non-governmental organizations, transnational enterprises and other non-state entities, using military, economic, diplomatic, legal, and communication instruments. Overview of global problems such as the proliferation of weapons of destruction, ethnic and religious conflicts, human rights, and the global environment in the 21st century.

POL 225 Nationalism in World Politics 3 Credits

Nations and nationalism. An overview of nationalistic manifestations in the world today. Nations, states, nation-states. Multinational states, stateless nations. Imperialism, anti-imperialism; nativism vs. internationalism and globalism. Topics include nationalisms in the Holy Land; in the former Yugoslavia; in the former Soviet Union and its successor states; and economic Nationalism vs. Globalization.

POL 367 Global Immigration 3 Credits

This course analyzes mass migrations and refugee movements and what they mean for the stability of nations, the increasing potential of severe culture clashes within societies, and the root causes of (forced) migration movements, such as problems of violence, terror and genocide, as recently seen in Darfur, Rwanda and Bosnia. In certain European countries the frequently failed integration and assimilation policies resulted in an Islamic alienation; terrorist attacks and race riots are some of the consequences. Particular attention will be given to the conflict between the refugees’ and migrants’ needs that result from violent, socio-economic or ecological catastrophes in the countries of origin and the various forms of reception within the host countries. Students will explore theoretical, political, legal, and socio-economic dimensions of the refugee and immigration phenomena in a global world. Other themes will include international human rights and refugee laws, theories of immigration, for example, the feminization of migration, as well as problems of acculturation, assimilation and integration in different host societies.

POL 202 Problems, Paradoxes & Dilemmas in Politics 3 Credits

This course serves as a gateway to the subfields of comparative politics and international relations. The concept of the political system helps political scientists to organize political interrelations into patterns that allow systematic selection and interpretation of information and the study of processes and outcomes of politics in a variety of settings. The course introduces students to the main brands of normative theory prescribing the principles directing the operation of the political system, to some of the most important methods used to compare political systems and/or their components, and to the foremost approaches utilized in the study of the relations between political systems and their environments. Note: This course is cross-listed as HLS 202. Students may not get credit for both POL 202 and HLS 202.

POL 216 Comparative Political Systems 3 Credits

A general introduction to types of government and political regimes of the world as they try to cope with the dual challenge of ethnic micropolitics and transnational globalization. Major prototypes of democracy: the British parliamentary system, the American separation of powers system, and various combinations of these two. Traditional autocracy, totalitarian dictatorships, and late 20th-century authoritarian regimes. Students are expected to acquire in-depth knowledge of comparative political systems, and to develop a basic understanding and appreciation of the major concepts and themes in comparative political systems studies.

POL 255 European Politics 3 Credits

A comparative analysis of the social and political systems of Britain, France, Germany and other Western countries within the European framework. Emphasis will be on the identification of ways in which countries similar in social characteristics are also similar in their political systems and on the extent and circumstances under which they differ. Similarities and contrasts will also be drawn with political structures and processes in the United States. This course, on occasion, may contain an optional travel component during January.

POL 280 Sex & Gender in International Politics 3 Credits

What’s a student of political science, International Relations (IR), or another social science field to do about feminism? This is a question that has troubled IR for decades. While feminist debates engaged people in spaces outside the disciplines of political science and particularly IR, IR scholars did their best not to see the relevance of feminism for their own debates. That did not stop some feminists from rethinking key IR concepts like power, race and the state, but such contributions were largely ignored by IR scholars until very recently. It was only in the last decades, when feminist questions pushed their way onto the IR agenda through books, journals, and conferences, that feminism suddenly seemed attractive to IR scholars. Designed as an interdisciplinary course with a strong reference to Global and International Politics, this course will provide a basic introduction to some of the major global questions as seen through a feminist lens.

POL 303 Global Justice 3 Credits

This course examines some of the most vexing problems in today’s world of global interconnectedness. How can we harness the potential of global cooperation to solve problems that cross national borders? We will critically analyze the potential for human rights to protect vulnerable individuals, including victims of human trafficking. We will also evaluate the distribution of global resources and costs, including natural resources, extreme poverty and environmental degradation. What do we owe those who live in distant lands? Throughout we will ask how reality matches up to our best hopes for the present and future.

POL 311 Borders and the State 3 Credits

Borders have a prominent place in politics and human history. In the twentieth century, the best- known barriers were the militarized Maginot Line and the Iron Curtain. Today, the political popularity of borders persists but the nature and quality of these borders and the threats they were created to repel have changed. Modern borders are designed not to keep militaries out, but to deter a perceived invasion of “undesirables”—with terrorists and unwanted immigrants leading the list of state concerns. Nowhere is this more evident than along the geographic fault lines dividing rich and poor regions, e.g. the Mediterranean Sea and the U.S.-Mexican border region. This course will examine the dynamic interactions between the question of how to govern borders and the twenty-first century liberal state with its diluted sovereignty— due to immigration, trade and international laws and regimes.

POL 315 Global Issues 3 Credits

Military, economic, demographic, and environmental threats to global security in the post-Cold War era. Forces of transnational integration vs. forces of intrastate fragmentation. Inadequacy of international law and organization to deal with these problems within the confines of the sovereign nation-state system.

POL 317 Model United Nations 3 Credits

Model United Nations (POL 317) is the course that prepares Rider University’s award-winning Model United Nations (MUN) team for the annual National MUN competition in New York City. The team has brought home top awards for the past decade and continuously strives for excellence. POL 317 is a student-led course that hones writing, public-speaking and researching skills of student-delegates and it represents student engagement at the highest level. Chosen through a rigorous selection process in the fall semester, the student-delegates write position papers during the winter break, and develop caucusing, team-working, and presentation skills in class during the spring semester. During the past five decades, Rider University’s MUN team has represented more than 50 countries, and competed with thousands of delegates from national and international universities. It is one of the premier engaged learning and cohort-building institutions on campus.

POL 329 Comparative Environmental Policy 3 Credits

Comparative Environmental Policy analyzes cross-national approaches in developing, implementing, and evaluating policy responses to environmental problems. The course analyzes the political factors, actors, and tools that help and explain why some societies have been more likely to develop effective responses to environmental threats.

POL 330 Geopolitics of Energy 3 Credits

Geopolitics of Energy Security explores the role of energy in shaping global politics, natural resource management practices and volatility in economic markets. The course begins with an overview of energy security and explores issues associated with energy production, national security, energy consumption, and environmental conservation. Throughout the course students will become familiar with basic data, trends, issues and options in the exploration and production of renewable and non-renewable energy sources.

POL 350 U.S. Foreign Policy and Security Policy 3 Credits

Principles, institutions, and processes involved in the formulation and implementation of policies regarding the nation’s military, economic, and environmental security within the global framework. Strands, trends, and problem areas in U.S. foreign policy, with focus on the changing global environment of the post-Cold World War. Note: This course is cross-listed as HLS 350. Students may get credit for only one.

POL 351 Critical Views of Global Security 3 Credits

This course will examine the foundations of international security. It will examine the concept of security from both the macro and micro level. We will discuss a mix of security strategies (balance of power, alliances, rearmament, collective security, deterrence), theoretical perspective on security (Neorealism, Neoliberalism, Critical Theory, Copenhagen School), great power and third world security, democratic and non-democratic security, classic threats (changes in relative power, proliferation) and new threats (environment, population movements, terrorism), and concepts of security ranging from state survial, to societal security, to unit level-variables such as Human Security. Note: This course is cross-listed as HLS 351. Students may not get credit for both HLS 351 and POL 351.

POL 363 Human Rights in Global Context 3 Credits

Human rights – droits de l’homme, derechos humanos, Menschenrechte, “the rights of man” – are, literally, the rights that one has because one is human. What does it mean to have a right? How are being human and having rights related? This course provides an introduction to theory and global practice of human rights. Human rights claims play an increasingly central role in political and social struggles across the world. The adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 signaled a proliferation of international human rights law and transnational non-governmental activism. While the promotion of human rights has become global, adherence to those standards remains highly uneven and gross violations and atrocities continue to occur. Given the breath and complexity of the human rights movement, including its engagement with law, politics and morals, in radically different cultures, this course is by its very nature multidisciplinary. Note: This course is cross-listed as HLS 363. Students may not get credit for both HLS 363 and POL 363.

POL 365 Politics of the Developing World 3 Credits

Studies the major political issues of the so-called "developing" world. Particular reference to political systems of Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East according to the relevance of the examples to large conceptual issues, and according to the major interests of the instructor. Typical issues include neocolonial dependency, the role of the state in newly developed countries, military rule and democratization.

ENG 337 Global Literature 3 Credits

A study of the recent literature, in English, of one or more writers whose cultural identification is with one of the former colonies of the British Empire, as it was defined at the beginning of the 20th century. Literature in the English language, written by authors of African, Caribbean, Pacific Island, East Asian, or South Asian cultures may be included.

HCP 301 Global Health Care Systems 3 Credits

Global Health Care Systems is an introduction to visions of global health care, drawing upon the fields of medical anthropology, global public health, and public policy. The course focuses upon different understandings of health care, reflected in the actual health systems in place around the world. Because responsible health-giving health systems respond to societies’ changing needs and situations, students will learn about the skills needed for this kind of problem-solving, but also come to understand that there is an urgent and vital global need for the exchange of ideas in global health care systems.

HCP 302 Environmental Epidemiology, Pandemics and Globalization 3 Credits

This course is intended to provide basic knowledge of principles and methods of environmental epidemiology for students whose career interests in a health-related field may include using epidemiologic information. The course presents a holistic view of global health by crossing several disciplines, including medical anthropology and disease history, focusing upon the social processes by which groups are stigmatized during disease outbreaks, and public health policies for confronting outbreaks of epidemics and pandemics. The course emphasizes the conceptual aspects of epidemiologic investigation and application of these concepts in global health policy and related professions. Topics include: disease surveillance; population screening; interpreting epidemiologic associations, and the health risks and benefits of globalization. Salient foci will be: the evaluation of the role of health diplomacy in addressing shared global health problems among countries, and the evaluation of cultural, ethical, social, systemic, and anthropological determinants of global health problems.

HCP 303 Global Health and Human Rights 3 Credits

This course introduces students to the basic concepts of human rights and their links to national/global health, as well as to issues where human rights and health collide. Students will become familiar with global efforts for developing practical and effective responses to global health challenges with a human rights framework.

HLS 341 Cybersecurity Policy: Hacktivism and Cyberviolence 3 Credits

Hactivism is a process designed to be “the creative use of computer technology for the purposes of facilitating online protests, performing civil disobedience in cyberspace.

Prerequisite(s): Completion or transfer of HLS 203 or HLS 204 or POL 100 or POL 102 or permission of instructor.

HLS 353 Cyber War 3 Credits

Cyber-attacks are a growing concern for the international community. When does a cyber-attack constitute an act of war, or is it merely an inconvenience? Is cyber power military power? How prevalent are such attacks, and to what extent can cyber-attacks lead to conventional conflicts? Will cyber-attacks by non-state actors render more power to such players in destabilizing states? This course explores the different types of issues experienced in cyber wars, including mechanisms through which targeting of communication technology could escalate tensions and lead to an armed conflict, and ways through which states and international organizations could limit the destructive potential of cyber technology.

HIS 283 Modern Latin America 3 Credits

Considers the post-independence history of Latin America, emphasizing the rise of export economies and external economic domination, modernization, and pan- Americanism. Examines the changes undergone by Latin-American nations in the 20th century through an analysis of Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Peru, Cuba, and Central America.

HIS 352 Rise and Fall of Communism 3 Credits

Considers the historical development of communist ideas from ancient times to the present, with emphasis on the comparison of movements including Utopian Socialism, Marxism, Stalinism, Maoism, and Anarchism. Specifically, the course explores the communist experiments of the 20th century as both utopian theory and institutional practice. This course counts towards the fulfillment of the Global Perspectives element of the CAS general education curriculum.

MCS 210 Power and Privilege in a Multicultural Society 3 Credits

This course will examine how the intersection of power and privilege shapes race, gender and class relationships in the United States. Analyses will show how the legal, economic, political and social manifestations of power influence the assignments and distribution of privilege in the United States, both in historical and contemporary contexts. The impositions of power on identity in the social assignment of privilege will be an important component of the course. The two “big questions” to be examined in this course are: How do issues of race, ethnicity, class, age, religion, gender, and sexual orientation interact with privilege? How do the tensions between power, privilege, oppression and inequality lead to movements for social justice? Various interlocking systems of privileges—justice system, educational system, medical system, political system, economic system, etc.--will be examined, using the theoretical frameworks of inequality, oppression and dependency. Prominent public policies and social movements that have challenged the notions of power and privilege, both historically and contemporarily, will be examined: civil rights, women’s suffrage, affirmative action, Occupy Wall Street, LGBT rights, Metoo movement, Equal Rights Amendment, Title IX, Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, etc.

SOC 225 Population Study 3 Credits

Demography; its definition, historical emergence, and growth; population as a social problem in developing and developed nations; population theories, sources and methods of demographic data, population composition, and distribution; demographic processes including fertility, mortality, and migration.

SPA 310 Spanish Culture & Civilization 3 Credits

Spain’s cultural achievements are studied in light of the country’s unique historical and social reality through the use of historical, artistic, architectural, cinematic and literary sources. Cross-cultural awareness is enhanced through exercises that compare Spanish and American society. Classes are in English. No knowledge of Spanish required. This course may contain an optional travel component offered before or after the semester or during spring break.

SPA 311 Latin American and Latinx Cultures 3 Credits

This course offers a panoramic survey of Latin American culture and civilization, in light of the unique social, cultural and political history from the pre-Columbian period to the present. We will take a transdisciplinary approach, and thus we will consider literary texts (e.g., short stories, films, novels, essays, poems), historical and anthropological studies, and sociological works in our examination of Latin American and Latinx cultures. The analysis and discussion of selected texts will show how Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino/a/x artistic and creative endeavors express the social, cultural, and political context of the Americas. Videos and films will provide the sights and sounds of these complex and interconnected regions. This course is taught in English; no knowledge of Spanish is required. This course DOES NOT count for the General Education Foreign Language Proficiency requirement.

SPA 420 From Colonies to Nations 3 Credits

This course consists of a panoramic survey of Colonial Latin American literature in light of the unique social, cultural and political history from the pre-Columbian to the Independence period (1825). Course taught in Spanish. Note: This course is cross-listed as LAC 420. Students may not get credit for both SPA 420 and LAC 420.

Prerequisite(s): SPA 201 or above, or placement test at 300-level or above.

ECO 200 Principles of Macroeconomics 3 Credits

A collective view of income receiving and spending sectors of the national economy, including households, businesses, and governments. Issues discussed: What determines the level of output, income, and employment achieved by the economy? What determines the growth of national output and employment? National income accounting, income and employment theory, monetary system, general price level, business cycle, government policies designed to provide for full employment, price stability, and economic growth are also covered.

Prerequisite(s): Place into MSD 105 based on SAT or ACT Score, OR place into MSD 105/MTH 102 by passing College Placement, OR passing MSD 104, OR having transferred in any college level MSD or MTH class.

CYB 110 Cybercrime and Cyberterrorism 3 Credits

This course explores the world of cybercrime and cyber terrorism. Students will learn about the social and legal aspects of cybercrime and the technical tools that enable the investigation of these acts. They will discuss and review several definitions and types of cybercrime, and the roles of private sectors and law enforcement in detecting, investigating and preventing these acts.