Closing the loop 2007

Desired Outcome:

With the aid of readings and classroom activities and assignments students will demonstrate their grasp of the theories and ideologies that have influenced Western nations.

Data Collection:

Students are held responsible for demonstrating an understanding of political ideologies and theories and their impact on politics through papers and exams. Both exams and papers will be evaluated on the student’s ability to analyze and explain the construct of ideology and its impact on the Western political environment and the student’s ability to explain the major philosophical beliefs and values that have influenced the United States, Western Europe and other regions of the world. The two department professors will compare their findings.

Interpretation of the Data:

• The results of the case study on the Gulf War and the Iraq war showed that students had a basic understanding of the three approaches to an analysis of these cases. Students had the most difficulty with the realist approach because it calls for an evaluation of whether a real threat exists to the national security of the state or not.

• Students tended to assume that a threat to the country existed if its leaders said that it existed. Getting them to make an independent judgment on this question was challenging. One of the most useful parts of this exercise was trying to determine how one evaluates such a threat.

• The results of the simulation on Arab-Israeli disputes were extremely positive. Students really get into the role-playing of their country. The simulation produces a lively and sustained debate on a myriad of issues that must be settled, including the borders of a proposed Palestinian state, a sharing of water resources, economic arrangements, security arrangements, and the problem of dealing with refugees and compensation.

• In the evaluation of the course students reported that they learned more from the simulation than they did from the lectures and discussion.

Changes to implement:

• From the evaluations of the course the instructor believes that more information on the nature of the Gulf War and the Iraq war would be useful to an understanding of decision-making. The instructor plans to use some additional background reading to help the students understand the nature of these conflicts.

• The lack of an adequate background in political science was a challenge for some students who took the course as an elective. The Department will review the desirability of a pre-requisite for this course in the future.

•  With respect to the simulation, students need to utilize more foreign sources to adequately represent their country. These are more difficult to obtain.

• The instructor plans to encourage students to write foreign embassies early in the semester to obtain additional information on their country’s position which will be useful in the simulation exercise.

• Overall, students did an excellent job in the course. Their interest in the subject matter was demonstrated by their participation in these exercises.