Recreating the IR431 unit learning guide

-
I am having a short break from writing my unit learning guide for the unit IR431 International and Regional Security. This is because on Wednesday night (last week), I lost 6 years of work. In my attempt to clean my computer after a virus attack, I accidentally deleted  most of my work folders containing my many files.

I lost my assessment files for the faculty and my teaching files for the department. Among my teaching files was the completed version of the IR431 unit learning guide and the required readings (eBooks on security).

I will need to recreate this document. This will be a time consuming endeavour because I will need to plot a new learning map and come up with new instructions for the various assessment tasks. After this, I will need to update our unit web page.

Our experts at the ICT division were able to find a few files, and the HOD was kind enough to forward the 2018 copies of the unit learning guides for IR202 and IR302, sent to him a few weeks ago. I will use either one as a template to complete the IR431 unit learning guide.

In a nutshell, we will look at contemporary security issues like the rise of China, APEC, terrorism and Australia's offshore processing centers. We will try to determine which international relations theories provide a clear explanation of these contemporary security issues.

On the reading list, we have reputable scholars like Buzan, Dunne, Bellamy, Navari, Elman, Donnelly and others. The eBooks together with the audiovisual files will be used to help us develop our understanding of international and regional security. 

In the offshore case, you have two contemporary security issues; migration and transnational organized crime. These two issues are also affecting others regions like the European Union in a large way. For example, we have waves of migrants from the African continent traveling to Europe via the help of people smugglers. The people smugglers themselves are part of a transnational syndicate. 

Moreover, both can also be viewed through the human security lens. In particular, the personal security of the asylum seekers on their way to Australia and on Manus Island. The Tampa Affair is a case in point. A small group from the 450 asylum seekers rescued threatened to commit suicide if the captain of MV Tampa took them back to Indonesia. In addition, the case of the Sri Lankan Tamil man who took his own life on Manus Island is another personal security issue.

I hope to complete the unit learning guide by Friday. In the meantime, please meet as a group and talk about the video we watched on Tuesday about the rise of China.      

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

FPA: Organizational Process Model

-
This model centers on the fact that different bureaucracies have different standard operating procedures. These procedures are made in order to allow day to day operations to be carried out. Thus, a foreign policy decision is made based on these standard operating procedures. It is hard for a bureaucracy to make a decision or let alone function out of character or contrary to their standard operating procedure. The reading Chapter 4: Foreign policy shares a straight forward explanation of the OPM: "An alternative to the rational model of decision making is the organizational process model. In this model, foreign policy decision makers generally skip the labor-intensive process of identifying goals and alternative actions, relying instead for most decisions on standardized responses or standard operating procedures. For example, the U.S. State Department everyday receives more than a thousand reports or inquiries from its embassies around the world and sends out more than a ...
Read more

Commercial liberalism and the six norms

-
Image
Liberal internationalism is defined by Griffiths, O'Callaghan and Roach (2008, p.190) as a project to transform international relations so that they conform to models of peace, freedom, and prosperity allegedly enjoyed within constitutional liberal democracies. The same scholars go further by dividing liberalism into three distinct groups. They say these are the three ways to implement the project. The way they present liberal internationalism as a project makes their work interesting. Three distinct groups Firstly, commercial liberalism is about free trade between states. States bilaterally or multilaterally via a platform like APEC pursue the goal of trade liberalization. Griffiths, O'Callagahan and Roach (ibid.) argued that economic interdependence would decrease the likelihood of going to war. Republican liberalism is about democratic peace. The scholars argued that the spread of democracy among states so that governments will be accountable to their citizens makes it di...
Read more

Allison's rational actor model

-
There are 3 common models of foreign policy decision making according to Graham Allison: rational actor model organizational process mode government politics model.  We will discuss the 3 models and compare them with the 3 levels of analysis. However, I challenge you to use your own initiative to learn about the other models of decision making. This will help you as future decision makers or analysts to understand how decisions are made and the processes. When one wakes up from bed he or she decides whether or not to brush their teeth, comb their hair and have a shower. These decisions are paramount, they affect and influence how the individual interacts in a social setting. This highlights the fact that as human beings we make decisions every day. Decision making is defined as the thought process of selecting a logical choice from the available options. In the case of the ‘Kibung peles boy’ analogy; the male student had a choice of approaching the girl to ask he...
Read more