This course is about a distinctive human invention: the modern nation-state. I use this focus to introduce you to topics that, I think, are essential for studying world politics. These include: war, poverty, justice, terrorism, ethnicity, religion, and culture. Some of these topics are not pretty, but they are all part of our human condition.

This course is divided into five parts. In the first, I introduce you to some basic concepts about the modern nation-state. In the second, we will travel down the road the West has taken toward this political identity: liberalism. In the third part, we will consider an initially credible but ultimately failed path: Marxism-Leninism. Fourth, we will consider the pathos and anger of that vast residual entity known misleadingly as the " Third World." Finally, we will return to where we began the course by considering the American nation-state in our age. I don’t come into this course with fixed ideas about all of the states or events we will use to examine these cases. I will refer to examples that seem most relevant to our inquiry in the fall 2005.

My personal guarantee : At one time or another, you will find all of these themes on the front page of any decent newspaper or news magazine, such as The New York Times or The Economist. The chances are good that eminent commentators such as Nancy Grace, Bill O’Reilly, Jon Stewart, Rush Limbaugh, Al Franken, Bill Maher, and Howard Stern will want to share their expertise as well.

We meet three times a week. I give lectures on Mondays and Wednesdays. All of the lectures are related to each other. They all add up to a simple story (see the Course Flow Chart here). On Fridays, the class is divided into 8 discussion sections led by our TAs. Because you are Notre Dame students, my TAs and I expect you to live up to high standards. Regular attendance at both lectures and discussion sections is required to pass this course.

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