Focus on China in Semester 2

-
No that I am done with assessment it is time to move onto planning for next semester. Next semester, I will be teaching only two units:
  1. IR333 Foreign Policy Analysis
  2. IR432 Geopolitics in Asia-Pacific
The other unit on the program is IR204 PNG Foreign Policy. This unit was a second year unit initially but during our program review we moved it to fourth year.

The rationale for the move is based on the logic that a student must first have a strong understanding of the theories, roles and functions of international organizations, the politics of international law and foreign policy including security before talking about PNG's foreign policy. This is captured in our logical arrangement of IR units:
  1. IR202 Theories of International Relations
  2. IR203 International Organizations
  3. IR302 International Law in International Relations
  4. IR333 Foreign Policy Analysis
  5. IR431 International & Regional Security
  6. IR432 Geopolitics in Asia-Pacific
  7. IR204 PNG Foreign Policy
Regardless of the unit code, it is now a fourth year unit. The current fourth years have already taken this unit when they were in second year. Therefore, we will offer this unit next year (2019).

I am excited at the moment because of political events happening in the region. Especially, the Prime Minister's visit to China. This is reflected in my tweets and posts.







We will talk more about China and its Belt and Road Initiative in our foreign policy and geopolitics classes. I will also continue to tweet and post about the China-PNG relations.

I have written some blog articles if you are interested in reading:
See you all next semester!

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 her ou
Read more