International Studies: Global Forces, Interactions, and Tensions / Edition 1

by Scott A. Straus, Barry Driscoll

Overview

The challenge of teaching international studies is to help you think coherently about the multiple causes and effects of global problems. In International Studies: Global Forces, Interactions, and Tensions, award-winning scholars Scott Straus and Barry Driscoll give you a clear framework that pinpoints how key factors—forces, interactions, and tensions—contribute to world events, with both global and local consequences.



The authors first show you how to look for common patterns in global issues by introducing four world-shaping forces: global markets, shifting centers of power, information and communications technologies, and global governance. They systematically trace how these forces prompt interactions among world actors and thus give rise to a set of tensions that spur key challenges. The framework enables you to ask and answer for yourself—Who is interacting? Where did such interactions develop? What policies or institutions govern them? Why are they getting certain global and local reactions?



You are then apply the framework to the global problems that matter most to you: human rights abuses, economic inequality, terrorism, forced migration, pandemics and global health responses, climate change, food security, and more. International Studies raises the bar for the Introduction to IS course, moving beyond interdisciplinary, and into the realm of critical analysis to increase student relevancy and motivation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781452241197
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	10/15/2018
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	472
Product dimensions:	7.38(w) x 9.12(h) x (d)

About the Author

Scott Straus is a Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. He has published multiple books that pertain to genocide, human rights, and African politics, notably Making and Unmaking Nations: War, Genocide, and Leadership in Modern Africa (Cornell, 2015), which won the 2018 Grawemeyer Prize for Improving World Order, and The Order of Genocide: Race, Power, and War in Rwanda (Cornell, 2006). He also co-authored International Studies: Global Forces, Interactions, and Tensions (Sage, 2nd ed., 2022). You can learn more about him and his work here: https://sites.google.com/view/scott-straus/home

Barry Driscoll has completed Ph D in Political Science from University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is originally from Galway, Ireland and made it to Grinnell by way of Leiden (Holland), Copenhagen, Washington, London, Oslo, and finally Wisconsin, either working in international development or researching themes in comparative politics. His work is on the political economy of development and the state in Africa, focusing on decentralization, local governance, taxation, state capacity, and political parties. His work has been published in Democratization, Studies in Comparative International Development, and Journal of Modern African Studies. At Grinnell College, he teaches classes on African Politics, International Political Economy, and the Political Economy of Development.

Table of Contents

Preface
About the Authors
Acknowledgments
INTRODUCTION: Global Interactions and Global Tensions
A Framework for International Studies
Global Interactions
Global Tensions
An Inside-Out/Outside-In Approach
Global Forces
What Is International Studies Good For?
Key Terms
Questions for Review
Learn More
PART I: FOUNDATIONS
CHAPTER ONE: The Making of Our Global Age: Forces, Interactions, and Tensions Since 1800
The First Global Age: Increasing Global Interactions
Between the First and Second Global Ages: Wars, Hot and Cold, and New Interactions
The Second Global Age: An Explosion of Global Finance, International Interactions, and New Tensions
Summary
Key Terms
Questions for Review
Learn More
CHAPTER TWO: States: Shapers and Subjects of Global Interactions
The Age of States: Born from a Cycle of Interactions
What Does a State Do?
Where Do States Come From? Forces Shaping the Modern State
The Strengths and Weaknesses of States
Is the State Fit for Purpose? Modern Challenges to States
Summary
Key Terms
Questions for Review
Learn More
CHAPTER THREE: Intergovernmental Organizations: Sites of Global Governance
Getting Along in the World
IGOs: The Basics
What Do IGOs Do?
The United Nations: Mediating Global Tensions
Do IGOs Actually Matter? Three Views
Summary
Key Terms
Questions for Review
Learn More
CHAPTER FOUR: Civil Society: Agents of Change in Global Interactions
Who Cares About Cecil the Lion?
What Is Civil Society?
Who Is Civil Society?
Recent History of Global Civil Society: Rise of a New Global Force
Civil Society on the Global Stage
How Does Civil Society Have an Impact?
Criticisms of Global Civil Society
Summary
Key Terms
Questions for Review
Learn More
CHAPTER FIVE: Social Identities and Culture: Shaping Interactions at the Individual and Societal Levels
What Are Social Identities and Culture?
Global Interactions and Forces Impact Identity and Culture
Which Social Identities Matter?
Why Do Some Social Identities Matter More Than Others?
Social Identities and Global Challenges
Understanding Culture
Summary
Key Terms
Questions for Review
Learn More
CHAPTER SIX: Money: Propelling Global Interactions
Why Global Money Matters
What is Capitalism?
What is Trade?
Finance: Borrowers, Lenders, and Debt
Currencies
Floating
Summary
Key Terms
Questions for Review
Learn More
PART II: GLOBAL CHALLENGES
CHAPTER SEVEN: Democracy and Representation: Struggles for Freedom and Efforts to Restrict It
What Makes Some Countries Freer Than Others?
What Do Democracies Consist Of?
What Do Dictatorships Consist Of?
Trends in Democratization
The Process of Democratization
Democratic Consolidation
Democracy and International Studies Themes
Summary
Key Terms
Questions for Review
Learn More
CHAPTER EIGHT: Human Rights: The Challenge of Setting and Enforcing Global Norms
What is the Human Rights Regime?
Human Rights at the UN Level: Roots of the Tension Between Universal Rights and State Sovereignty
Regional Approaches to Human Rights
What Roles Do Nonstate Human Rights Actors Play?
Do Human Rights Work?
Summary
Key Terms
Questions for Review
Learn More
CHAPTER NINE: Development: The Challenge of Global Poverty
What Is Development, and How Is It Measured?
Why Are Some Countries Poor?
How Can Developing Countries Grow Their Economies? Five Theories
The Role of Foreign Aid
Summary
Key Terms
Questions for Review
Learn More
CHAPTER TEN: Civil Wars and Terrorism: New Global Security Challenges and Efforts to Manage Them
What Are Civil Wars?
What Is Terrorism?
Summary
Key Terms
Questions for Review
Learn More
CHAPTER ELEVEN: Migration: Confronting the Myths of Human Movement
What is Migration?
Trends in Global Migration: Facts and Myths
Why Do People Migrate? Push, Pull, and Policy Factors
The Impacts of Migration
Brain Drain or Brain Gain?
Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery
Can Migration Be Governed Globally?
Summary
Key Terms
Questions for Review
Learn More
CHAPTER TWELVE: Global Health: Addressing Inequalities in Outcomes
Global Health and Forces, Interactions, and Tensions
What is Global Health?
Global Health Outcomes Highlight Systemic Inequalities
The Global HIV and AIDS Pandemic
Summary
Key Terms
Questions for Review
Learn More
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Global Environment: Confronting the Challenge of Climate Change
What Is Climate Change?
Empirics of Climate Change
Predictions about Future Climate Change
Impacts of Climate Change
Responses to Climate Change: Global Governance
Other Approaches to Climate Change
Climate Change and Cross-Cutting Global Forces
Summary
Key Terms
Questions for Review
Learn More
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Global Food: How Can We Solve World Hunger?
Global Hunger and a Growing Population: Is There Enough Food?
If There Is Enough Food, Why Do Famines Occur?
Reducing Hunger: Food Security or Food Sovereignty
Who Runs Global Food?
Tracing Global Food: Commodity Chains
Summary
Key Terms
Questions for Review
Learn More
Glossary
Index

Editorial Reviews

By approaching IR [IS] from an issues perspective, the authors have set themselves apart from competing texts. The inclusion of relatively recent issues is also an important factor setting this book apart.

Keith Hollinger

This is a very good introduction to international affairs… well-organized, up-to-date, and lucid.

Brandon Kendhammer

"I think the interactive and interdisciplinary approach will make this book stand out."

Bora Pajo

In short, Scott Straus and Barry Driscoll have ingeniously marshalled their intellectual forces to produce a memorable introductory text for international studies courses that should be required reading for anyone engaged with our globalizing, inter-connected, and interdependent world. In particular, it should sit atop the supplementary sources for all introductory liberal arts courses. Kudos to Straus and Driscoll for pulling off this scholarly and pedagogical feat!

Tarique Niazi Ph D

If you are looking for a text that incorporates two major aspects of teaching a course in International Studies, this is the book for you. There is coverage of the most important theoretical aspects of our highly globalized world so that students understand the impact of the ubiquitous technology on our interconnected lives. And there is coverage of the most important global issues of the day: terrorism, trade, aid, the environment, etc.

Cecilia Manrique

In short, Scott Straus and Barry Driscoll have ingeniously marshalled their intellectual forces to produce a memorable introductory text for international studies courses that should be required reading for anyone engaged with our globalizing, inter-connected, and interdependent world. In particular, it should sit atop the supplementary sources for all introductory liberal arts courses. Kudos to Straus and Driscoll for pulling off this scholarly and pedagogical feat!

Tarique Niazi PhD