Some questions you should keep in mind and answer in the book review:
What is the specific topic of the book or article? What overall purpose does it seem to have? For what readership is it written? (The preface, acknowledgements, bibliography and index can be helpful in answering these questions. Don’t overlook facts about the author’s background and the circumstances of the book’s creation and publication.)
Does the author state an explicit thesis? Does he or she noticeably have an axe to grind? What are the theoretical assumptions? Are they discussed explicitly? (Again, look for statements in the preface, etc. and follow them up in the rest of the work.)
What exactly does the work contribute to the overall topic of your course? What general problems and concepts in your discipline and course does it engage with?
What kinds of material does the work present (e.g. primary documents or secondary material, literary analysis, personal observation, quantitative data, biographical or historical accounts)?
How is this material used to demonstrate and argue the thesis? (As well as indicating the overall structure of the work, your review could quote or summarize specific passages to show the characteristics of the author’s presentation, including writing style and tone.)
Are there alternative ways of arguing from the same material? Does the author show awareness of them? In what respects does the author agree or disagree?
What theoretical issues and topics for further discussion does the work raise?
What are your own reactions and considered opinions regarding the work?
Course description
Through the latest thinking in International Politics, International Political Economy and Security Studies, this seminar endeavors to enhance participants’ understanding of domestic politics of the states of the global South and how the internal political dynamics shape their foreign policy behavior and orientations. In the first term, the course will look at the role of the Global South in international politics by analyzing the changing nature of North-South relations since their access to independence to the present. It will critically examine the nature of these complex relations including, but not limited to, dependency and interdependence, the role of "emerging economies" and the extent to which they affect both North-South and South-South cooperation and relations. As part of that, it will look at trade and investment patterns, foreign aid, debt, global poverty alleviation strategies as well as the impact of globalization on the unity and bargaining power of the global South. It will also highlight specific regimes such as democracy and human rights, environmental treaties and protocols, infectious diseases, etc., around which these relations revolve.
In the second term, this offering will mainly focus on the issues of peace and security in the Global south by carefully examining the origins and escalation of numerous civil wars and their consequences, the role of the international community and regional powers in preventing, managing or exacerbating them as well as human security and peace-building in war torn societies and failed/failing states from broader theoretical and comparative perspectives.
Sample Solution