This combined semester/quarter course is designed to help you think systematically about international or global policy issues and topics that are of particular interest to you, and will guide you in writing a substantive research paper based on a topic of your choice. This course’s first objective is to provide academic background and guidance to students whose internships involve international policy, international organizations, globalization, and international relations in general. Students interning in NGO’s, government agencies, and non-profits doing international outreach programs will also find this course useful. The second objective is to consider contemporary events and policy questions with reference to the history of world politics and foundational theories of international relations. What are some of the key issues and problems that are of international and global scale? Who are the major actors in the international political arena of the 21st century? What are the characteristics of governmental, non-governmental, and intergovernmental actors engaged in international policy making? To what extent can we predict what type of international system we will live under during the next decades? Will the United States continue to be the dominant global power?