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Teaching International Relations to American Students

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 May 2020

George H. Quester
George H. Quester*
Affiliation:
University of Maryland
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Extract

Contemporary world politics is a matter of life and death. Studying international relations means studying war — a traditionally tragic subject that has become existentially overwhelming today — and peace. Orthodox theories of international relations proclaim the inevitability of periodic warfare; modern science informs us of the likelihood that human civilization at our present standard would not survive an all-out nuclear exchange.

Since they are aware that the world is a dangerous place, it is not difficult to persuade eighteen-year-olds of the importance of studying world politics. The prospect of nuclear destruction can powerfully concentrate the mind. So can the possibility that America's ruling class would once again send young men to fight in jungles on behalf of ill-defined causes combining ideology with a peculiar version of Realpolitik.

Type
Research Article
Information
News for Teachers of Political Science , Volume 40 , Winter 1984 , pp. 17 - 19
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1984

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