IB Glopo HL1: Work for the week, 30 Sept through 7 October

Hi folks. Here's an outline of the items you should be working on while I'm at the IB offices in The Hague. As a bit of local trivia, the IB offices are next door to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and just down the road from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons; tourist stops in their own right (or at least for me, but I digress). Here's a guide for what should occupy your time this week:

• Monday 30 Sept
• Please begin by completing and discussing the results from this poll.
• I'll post the anonymous results to the blog later in the week.
• Please watch: Council on Foreign Relations. (2012). Global governance monitor: Public health. Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved from http://www.cfr.org/global-governance/global-governance-monitor/p18985?breadcrumb=/thinktank/iigg/publications 
• You may also want to get started listening to the "Challenges of Global Governance" conference call (also slated for tomorrow).
• Tuesday 1 October
• Please listen to Challenges of Global Governance. (2013, September 26). CFR.org. Retrieved September 27, 2013, from http://www.cfr.org/global-governance/challenges-global-governance/p31479?utm_source=feedburner
• Please read Sridhar, D., Gostin, L. O., & Yach, D. (2012, May 24). Healthy governance. Foreign Affairs. Retrieved from https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/137662/by-devi-sridhar-lawrence-o-gostin-and-derek-yach/healthy-governance
• This article can be found in the Readings section on the blog. 
• Thursday 3 October
• Please read Fidler, D. P. (2013, June 7). Who owns MERS? Foreign Affairs. Retrieved from http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/139443/david-p-fidler/who-owns-mers?page=show and
• Osterholm, M. T. (2005, July/August). Preparing for the next pandemic. Foreign Affairs. Retrieved from http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/60818/michael-t-osterholm/preparing-for-the-next-pandemic?page=show
• Both articles can be found in the Readings section on the blog. 
• Friday 4 October
• Choose any of the afore mentioned articles and craft a commentary in Google Drive. I will provide feedback to anyone who shares this document with me. Please consider the following prompt to frame your commentary:
• How does the author(s) frame the issue (or issues) in terms of a geopolitical challenge or conflict? What solutions does the author(s) provide? To what extent do these seem reasonable?
• Monday 7 October
• Use this day as you see fit. If you need to catch up on reading, writing, reflection on commentaries, or on iterated rounds of Rock-Paper-Scissors-Lizard-Spock, please feel free to do so. We'll pick back up with our study of Global Public Health on Tuesday the 8th. 

Of course, I'm always up for a Google Hangout if you want to check in, get a quick video tour of the IB offices, etc. We're 6 hours ahead in The Hague. If anyone is interested, I can see if I can pop out for a quick break around 10.30 your time on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. I will be back stateside late on the 6th, but jet lag will most likely preclude me from being at school that day. Heb een geweldige week!

/C

IB Glopo HL2: Work for the week, 30 Sept through 7 October

Hi folks. Here's an outline of the items you should be working on while I'm at the IB offices in The Hague. As a bit of local trivia, the IB offices are next door to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and just down the road from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons; tourist stops in their own right (or at least for me, but I digress). Here's a guide for what should occupy your time this week:

• Monday 30 Sept through Thursday 3 October
• You'll want to play, Half the Sky: The Game
• You'll need to be able to log into Facebook in order to play. I would think that you'll need a couple of hours to play this properly.  
• Friday 4 October
• Please craft a commentary in Google Drive on the following prompt: In what ways do does the Half the Sky game and/or documentary highlight the contemporary geopolitical challenge of human rights?
• I will provide feedback to anyone who shares this document with me. 
• Monday 7 October
• Use this day as you see fit. If you need to catch up on reading, Extended Essay, Extended Essay, applications to University, or your Extended Essay, please feel free to do so. We'll pick back up with our study of Human Rights on Tuesday the 8th. 

Of course, I'm always up for a Google Hangout if you want to check in, get a quick video tour of the IB offices, etc. We're 6 hours ahead in The Hague. If anyone is interested, I can see if I can pop out for a quick break around 9.00am your time on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. I will be back stateside late on the 6th, but jet lag will most likely preclude me from being at school that day. Heb een geweldige week!

/C

The Domestic Politics Driving Iran’s Diplomatic Shift via Council on Foreign Relations

The Domestic Politics Driving Iran’s Diplomatic Shift - Council on Foreign Relations

A great read and succinct analysis from Dr. Ray Takyeh, offering a second image (State Level of Analysis) explanation for Iran's current diplomatic overtures. Of course, reading this article should also draw you back to Bueno de Mesquita's analysis and forecast of Iran's nuclear program.

Is there a most important concept related to the United Nations in world politics?

The results are in! Students in IB Glopo Year 1 have spent the last three days reading, debating, and synthesizing various concepts related to world politics and the United Nations as a part of our introduction to the Power, Sovereignty, and International Relations unit in IB Global Politics.

Working in groups, students identified key terms from their readings, sorted and ceded each term into a 32-team bracket, and then debated the significance of each term through the tournament rounds (complete lesson here). While there is not (of course) a single correct answer, these 24 students arrived at similar outcomes in their final rounds. The final class debate, discussion, and reflection will occur tomorrow; pitting the concept of sovereignty against that of global governance to determine once and for all (well, maybe once this week) which is the most important concept related to the UN in world politics. The complete list of terms used in the brackets are listed below (in no particular order of importance):

General Assembly (GA); Security Council (SC), Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Secretariat (SEC), International Court of Justice (ICJ), State, Great Powers, Middle Powers, 3rd UN, Non-Aligned Movement, Human Security, Non-Intervention, Regime, Multilateralism, Multinational Corporation (MNC), Sovereignty, Group of 20 (G20), BRICS, Specialized Agencies, Globalization, Group of 7 (G7), Interdependence, Global Governance, International Organization, Collective Security, Peacekeeping, Arms Control, Self Determination, Non Governmental Organization (NGO), Democratization, Millennium Development Goals (MDG), Human Rights

The Week Ahead, IB Global Politics

KAL via The Economist

IB Global Politics HL2

• Monday: Finish Part 1 of Half the Sky
• Tuesday: Start Part 2 of Half the Sky
• Thursday: Finish Part 2 of Half the Sky
• Friday: In class writing. As always, I will provide feedback to everyone who shares their work with me; this includes all revisions and additions to your original work. Please share your documents using Google Drive
• (from last week): What information about gender-based violence resonated most with you during the screening? What was most surprising?
• (for Friday the 28th) Choose one of the following: 
• Nicholas Kristof says that one of the “global paradoxes is that countries with the most conservative sexual mores tend to have the most prostitution.” Why do you think that is? What value do women have in these societies? What examples from the film illustrate this?
• Do wealthy countries have a responsibility to help poor countries improve access to and quality of education for girls? Why or why not? What more could or should the United States do? What do you think is the best way for you and the members of your community to help?
• There is an international debate raging around the subject of prostitution and whether women will be better protected if it is legalized. What do you think? What impact do you think legalizing prostitution would have on the global sex trafficking crisis?
• In the film, Nicholas Kristof explains that microfinance programs have not been as successful in Africa as they have in Southeast Asia. Why do you think that is? What challenges do women in African countries face that are unique to their regions?

IB Global Politics HL1

• Monday: Meet in Learning Commons, read Mingst & Karns, Chapters 1-3.
• Complete the remainder on time outside of class. 
• Tuesday: 
• Watch Selections from Boyer, J. (2011). GEOG 1014: World Regions. Lectures presented in Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA. Retrieved July 6, 2012, from http://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/geog-1014-world-regions/id481684171 
• 3.3.1 Sovereignty-What is it? How do you get it?
• 5.2 The changing nature of cooperation
• 5.4.1.1 UN: Mission and structure
• Plan game, Is there a most important concept related to the United Nations position in world politics?
• Thursday: Continue game, Is there a most important concept related to the United Nations position in world politics?
• Friday: Complete game, Is there a most important concept related to the United Nations position in world politics?
• Outstanding prompts. As always, I will provide feedback to everyone who shares their work with me; this includes all revisions and additions to your original work. Please share your documents using Google Drive
• Describe your chosen news article through each of the lenses in Waltz's Levels of Analysis. 
• How do Constructivism (Idealism), Liberalism, and Realism each view states’ role in global affairs?
• Based on what you now know, how do you view the role of IR theory as it relates to your study of world politics?
• To what extent can we use intellectual constructs and analytical tools to make sense of (and predict?) complex social phenomena?

Reflection on Half the Sky

IB Glopo Year 2 is right in the middle of watching (and reading, hopefully) the powerful Kristof and WuDunn documentary, Half the Sky. Glopo 2 folks, please take the opportunity to reflect on your encounter with this material so far and write a response to the following:

What information about gender-based violence resonated most with you during the screening? What was most surprising?

You’ll want to create a Google Document, share it with me, and craft a response the afore-mentioned prompt. I will provide feedback for anyone who shares their work with me.

Reflection on Feedback

'morning folks,

As you know, I'm a passionate advocate of incorporating meaningful feedback into our learning. As a result, I'd like you to take a few moments and consider the ways in which you've processed the written feedback that I've given you on your writing so far this term. Please be open and honest when you fill out this form; your reflection on my assessment of your work will help improve the way in which this course is facilitated, my own practice as an instructor, as well as the way you consider your own role in your learning. 


References

Barnes, M. (2013). Role reversal: Achieving uncommonly excellent results in the student-centered classroom. Alexandria, VA: ASCD

Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81-112

Quinton, S., & Smallbone, T. (2010). Feeding forward: Using feedback to promote student reflection and learning - a teaching model. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 47(1), 125-135.

IB Glopo Back to School Night

The Glopo parents and I will be engaging in this Visible Thinking Routine at back to school night. Please feel free to add your own thoughts as a comment to this post.

What's going on here? What makes you say that?

Photo credit: NPR

To what extent can we use intellectual constructs and analytical tools to make sense of (and predict?) complex social phenomena?

As we wrap up our introduction to International Relations and Game Theory in IB Glopo Year 1, we encounter the always-fascinating Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and his throughly-viewed TED talk on predicting the future of Iran. Those of you wanting to to explore more of Bueno de Mesquita's ideas (without reading The War Trap or The Predictioneer's Game in their entirety) would best be served by having at go at The War Trap: Revisited and Toward a Scientific Understanding of International Conflict: A Personal View (as an aside, this would be a great article to float in your TOK class at some point). Happy watching and reading!

Responsibility to Protect? - By Micah Zenko | Foreign Policy

Responsibility to Protect? - By Micah Zenko | Foreign Policy

As our Glopo 2 folks undoubtedly know, and the Glopo 1 folks will soon discover, the principle of responsibility to protect (R2P) is a complex geopolitical challenge. Zenko's adroit argument moves past the policy debates surrounding intervention and arms control to highlight the continuously perilous condition of civilians in the midst of the Syrian civil war.

Our first Glopo simulation of the year: Rushing River Cleanup

 

  

 

We're rounding out our Introduction to Game Theory in Year 1 of IB Global Politics. After spending a few days playing games, crafting payoff matrices, and otherwise dancing with some preliminary concepts in game theory, we had our first chance to play a day long simulation; Rushing River Cleanup. This is the second time students in IB Global Politics have participated in this scenario; the Year 2 folks played under the same basic rules back in May of 2013. While our debrief was again too short-mostly because our game play took up much of the class period-it was clear that the students made the connections between the concepts and ideas that we've been talking about in theory and their experiences in the simulation. You can see the complete photo array of today's activities here. 

Is there a most important Human Rights concept in world poliitcs?

In typical IB Glopo fashion, our Year 2 folks had a lively debate on the extent to which there is a "most important' concept in the study of Human Rights. In the end, and after 4 distinct 'tournament rounds' discussing 32 different concepts, the class ended up unable to decide between the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Crimes Against Humanity as the most important concept related to human rights and world politics. As you can see from our debate & discussion chart below, the Year 2 folks but a good deal of passion and consideration, if not thoughtfulness, into their reasoning. We'll use these introductory lessons as a launching point for our first case study in human rights; human trafficking and women's rights through studying Kristoff and WuDunn's Half the Sky.

 

  

Sarin Attack On Syrian Civilians Is A 'War Crime,' U.N. Says : The Two-Way : NPR

Sarin Attack On Syrian Civilians Is A 'War Crime,' U.N. Says : The Two-Way : NPR:

Of course, IB Glopo students will turn the Secretary General's statement into a question, asking, to what extent does the "international community has a moral responsibility to hold accountable those responsible and for ensuring that chemical weapons can never re-emerge as an instrument of warfare."?

File this under the Power, Sovereignty and International Relations, Human Rights, and Peace and Conflict units in our studies.

IB Glopo Year 1 Writing Prompts (so far...)

'afternoon folks,

As promised, here's a recap of the writing prompts we've had so far this year (plus one for later this week):

1. Describe your chosen news article through each of the lenses in Waltz's Levels of Analysis. 
2. How do Constructivism (Idealism), Liberalism, and Realism each view states’ role in global affairs?
3. Based on what you now know, how do you view the role of IR theory as it relates to your study of world politics?
4. To what extent can we use intellectual constructs and analytical tools to make sense of (and predict?) complex social phenomena?

I will provide feedback to everyone who shares their work with me; this includes all revisions and additions to your original work. Please share your documents using Google Drive-thanks. 

IB Global Politics and CFR: The World Next Week

(students) As most of you know, we read a lot of articles and work with a great many resources from both Foreign Affairs and the Council on Foreign Relations. What you may not know, or don't recall if you're in the first IB Globo cohort, is that our own classwork was featured in the March Educators Bulletin from the CFR. In turn, I am strongly encouraging you to take advantage of the student subscription rate for Foreign Affairs. This is a publication that policy makers, academics, students of world politics, and the odd Assistant Principal read voraciously. Please be sure that you're taking advantage of all the great resources from the CFR, beginning of course by having a listen to the latest The World Next Week podcast. Enjoy!

Game theory in IB Glopo: Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock

 

 

We had a great time today in Glopo. Continuing with our introduction to game theory, we took a look at Rock Paper Scissors, and its nerdier cousin Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock. We began by having two students play the RPS game, with one recording the outcomes on the board and the rest of the class looking for strategies and preferences in the outcomes of the games. After reflection and discussion, we conducted the same routine with the RPSLS game; noting the changes in strategies, preferences, and other dynamics that were a result of increased opportunities for action and complexity of the games. Finally, all students in the class paired off into groups of 2-3 to play, record, analyze, and reflect on their interactions. The class (of course) easily made the connection between game play and politics. We hit on a variety of topics in our discussion, everything from preferences, context, and history of interaction to connecting how Realists, Liberals, and Constructivists could explain particular strategies or dynamics of the games. 

The full array of photos today's class are here. The complete lesson plan for our Introduction to Game Theory can be found here. 

A Plea for Caution From Russia - NYTimes.com

A Plea for Caution From Russia - NYTimes.com

A fascinating or infuriating (or both) op-ed from Russian President Vladimir Putin. When you combine this with the full text of US President Barack Obama's speech on Syria on the 10th, its been a great week of data for all of you interested in understanding world politics from a First Image (Individual) Level of Analysis perspective.

U.N. Rights Panel Cites Evidence of War Crimes by Both Sides in Syria - NYTimes.com

U.N. Rights Panel Cites Evidence of War Crimes by Both Sides in Syria - NYTimes.com

“Relentless shelling has killed thousands of civilians and displaced the populations of entire towns,” the report said, leaving government responsibility implicit. “Massacres and other unlawful killings are perpetrated with impunity. An untold number of men, children and women have disappeared. Many have died in detention. The perpetrators of these violations and crimes, on all sides, act in defiance of international law,” the report said. “They do not fear accountability. Referral to justice is imperative.”

Alternatively, you can read this story from the UN News Centre. Please watch the Commission of Inquiry's statement below. You can also peruse the Commission of Inquiry for Syria's website in its entirety here. 

Human Rights and IB Global Politics

via The Economist

We begin our foray into the third section of the IB Glopo curriculum; Human Rights. Despite the abbreviated week (I'm out on Tuesday, we're all together for Senior Unity Day on Friday) we want to keep plugging away at a serious clip to maintain our pacing for this term. PLEASE READ Chapter 6 from Mingst; this should be complete by the end of the day on Tuesday. We'll use class on Monday and Thursday to (a) introduce the topic and concepts and then (b) set up our game play and debate for the coming days. Please read the unit plan below before class on Monday; have a great weekend. 

Game Theory and IB Global Politics

via xkcd

Its another abbreviated week in IB Glopo 1, I'm afraid. I'll be out of class both on Tuesday (administrative duties/visitors on campus) and Friday (Senior Unity Day) this week. But do not despair; we still have a few hours to get you acquainted with some of the introductory concepts and approaches of Game Theory. We'll start on Monday with the video and article from NPR, followed by some purposeful rounds of Tic-Tac-Toe. On Thursday, we'll continue the conversation and demo with work on Rock-Scissors-Paper (Lizard-Spock). Feel free to use Tuesday and Friday to read and revise any work that you've submitted to me in the past week. In the meantime, the plan for this week is posted below.

Motivation Survey

'morning folks,

First off, thanks for a great second week of class. Secondly, there is still time tom if you haven't had the opportunity to complete the Motivation Survey I sent out last week (thanks to those of you who have already done so). Again, my intention is to try and to capture your perceptions of student motivation, borrowing the methodology from an existing academic research project. This survey is for my doctoral coursework and not for NB. Please note that your responses are (1) completely voluntary, (2) are not a part of any planned research project outside of my class, and thus (3) your responses will not be published or presented in any way without your and your parent's consent. In addition, of course, there is no grade for participating in this survey. I plan to leave the survey open from today through 13th of September and would appreciate all of you filling this survey out as soon as you're able to. Thanks.

Thinking Visibly and Reading Drezner (2010) in IB Global Politics

Each year we read Drezner's Night of the living wonks as a capstone to our work in Applied Theory and the Zombie Apocalypse. Today in class, students incorporated the Sentence, Phrase, Word Visible Thinking routine (responses below) in order to analyze and reflect on their reading, as well as their wider understanding of the nexus of IR Theory and zombies in popular culture. Its always impressive to see the ways in which 16 and 17 year olds can dissect and synthesize complex material when we give them the opportunities to do so. 

Who Is Ali Khamenei?

(You can check out anytime you like: Khamenei visits an American hostage, 1980. (Abbas / Magnum Photos via Foreign Affairs)
Ganji, A. (2013). Who is Ali Khamenei? Foreign Affairs. Retrieved from http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/139643/akbar-ganji/who-is-ali-khamenei 

For all of you first-image (Individual Level of Analysis) and political psychology fans, Ganjis article offers up an insightful look at Iran's Supreme Leader. Iranian presidents may come and go (Khatami, Agmadinejad, Rouhani), but real power and influence lies in the office of the Supreme Leader. 

Please feel free to read the article, create a Google Document and tell me what you think of Kyl et. al. position. I will provide feedback to everyone who shares their work with me. Thanks

New music Tuesday

Ok, so this has nothing to do with world politics. Two of my oldest and dearest friends have new music out and are headed out on tours this fall. Please listen to War Generation's new full length and the new Twin Forks EP. Thanks!

Getting students ready for the week ahead (via The Economist)

'evening all. I hope everyone had a restful weekend. Thanks to those of you who sent me your ideas on the Snyder (2004) and the Kyl, Feith, and Fonte (2013) articles. I'll get you your feedback this week. In the interim, please enjoy some good analysis from our friends at The Economist.