Woodrow Wilson once said that when examining relationships with other countries that “interests do not tie nations together; it sometimes separates them. But sympathy and understanding does unite them”. Looking back to August, my knowledge and understanding about world politics is vastly different than it is today. The UC seminar of world politics is one of the most well structured and orchestrated classes that freshman have the opportunity to take at American University. Unlike classes I took in high school, at my community college, World Politics (in the manner that Professor Jackson structured the course) challenged us as students to think on a completely new wavelength to say the least.
Liberalism, realism, constructivism are three terms that I merely bypassed in previous readings and never really gave much thought to how their meanings relate to the perspectives in the development of the international community. World politics required us as students to examine the little things in life that either we have grown up with or which have been too small to notice. One of my favorite books this year was “How Soccer Explains the World”. The author presented the material very well. He discussed the different cultural perspectives of soccer and used it as a tool to illustrate how each society used the barbaric sport to arguably define their culture. The opportunity to witness a DC United Soccer game in September was a great way for us to see how the readings and discussions in class are so relevant to the outside world. The University College was a great tool to experience these types of opportunities firsthand. Never before would I have imagined that over the course of the system I would have business cards from representatives at the European Union, the Department of States, or the World Bank.
However, what made the UC World Politics course so beneficial was our class discussion. Professor Jackson had a very interesting perceptive on a number of issues in international relations. Every day when he would walk into class we never knew what to expect. The example I remember the most was the scenario of a spaceship landing on the white house lawn. We were asked to think about the various ways the United States and the international community would respond to such a threat.
In the end what I will take away most from this class is the ability to think critically outside of my comfort zone and begin to analyze issues with an international and global mindset. The final simulation showed our class the troubling fact of development policy-there is no clear answer. The quote from Woodrow Wilson reminded me of our last class session in which the end of the individual interests of countries will always be apparent in international politics. However, in order to work towards achieving peace or conflict resolution, what is most beneficial as a member of the international community is an emphasis to sympathize with struggling countries and negotiate with them to come to an agreed upon solution for the betterment of global society. In the news today every issue can be tied to world politics. The recent bailout of Ireland by the European Union highlights the European Union’s understanding of the situation in which Ireland has found itself recently. Instead of resisting and ignoring the need that Ireland has, the EU has banded together and has agreed to bailout the country to prevent its further downfall (which would ultimately affect the other countries of Europe of course). The problems, conflicts, and struggles in world politics may never be solved, but by studying the issues we can understand how vital an analytical understanding is of the world around us in order to ensure the future welfare of our entire world.
No comments:
Post a Comment