Sept. 23, 2022
What We Are Learning This Week with Instructor Dakoda Trithara
Exploring the liberal tradition in IR.
September 26, 2022 in POLI 381 Intro To International Relations
Instructor Dakoda Trithara is exploring the liberal tradition in IR.
Can you tell us a little more about this topic?
After covering realism last week, this week we are exploring liberal theories of IR. Whereas realist theories focus broadly on states and their security concerns, liberal theories open the door to examining other political actors in the international sphere such as individuals, international organizations, and corporations. In general, liberals are optimistic about the power of democratic norms and economic interdependence to foster cooperation and peace.
What else do you cover in your course?
To provide students with conceptual tools to help them critically think about and evaluate what is happening around the world, we cover several theoretical aspects to studying global politics. This includes realism, liberalism, constructivism, international society, theories of international political economy, post-colonialism, feminist IR, and foreign policy analysis. We also discuss some central challenges of the 2020s including terrorism and disinformation campaigns.
What are some of your most rewarding moments from this course?
What I love about teaching this course is seeing students deploy different theories to comprehend various aspects of global politics. It’s a marvelous moment as an instructor to see students examine international events and understand how theory influences our explanations about the world around us.
Finally, what other courses would you recommend for students interested this topic?
For students that enjoy this course, I recommend taking International Law, International Organizations, Global Political Economy, and Strategic Studies. But really, you can’t go wrong with any of the IR or comparative politics courses at the University of Calgary!
Our Thanks to Instructor Dakoda Trithara for sharing your course with us
Follow Dakoda Trithara on Twitter @dtrithara