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COURSE DESCRIPTION
Why do international organizations exist?  What role do they play in solving global problems? Traditional international relations theories characterize the international system as anarchic and focus on interactions between nation-states. Since WWII, international organizations have become more prominent players in the international system. Debate continues in academic and policy communities over why international organizations exist, whether they matter in global politics, and when they can help alleviate global problems. Both in their practical and theoretical aspects, international organizations (IOs) are a dynamic and increasingly important element in the functioning of modern world politics.
                                                    

Course description
This course combines International Relations theory and Middle East case studies to provide an overview of the international politics of the region. It will provide students with both theoretical and concrete information, organised around major topics and illustrated with case studies of key issues and events in regional politics. Topics include the place of the Middle East in the wider global system; the role of Arabism and Islam in regional politics; the impact of state formation in the region on its international relations; comparative foreign policy making looking at pivotal country cases, including Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Turkey; major regional wars and efforts at order building; the role of US hegemony and the two Iraq wars; the impact of the Arab Uprising on regional politics, and the on-going crisis in Syria.

Course Description
Kyrgyzstan is an interesting example of a relatively weak state, which for its brief period of independence has already ousted two presidents, experienced two revolutions, survived two interethnic conflicts and yet remained intact. This book explores this apparent paradox and argues that the schism between domestic and international dimensions of state and regime security is key to understanding the nature of Kyrgyz politics. The book shows how the foreign policy links to the Manas Air Base, used by the US military and essential for supplying their forces in Afghanistan, the economic arrangements necessary for sustaining the base, both inside and outside Kyrgyzstan, and the myriad of different actors involved in all this, combined to overshadow points of friction to ensure stable continuance of the status quo. Overall, the book shows how broad geopolitical forces and complex local factors together have a huge impact on the formation of Kyrgyz foreign policy.

COURSE CONTENT
The subject matter of International Relations includes some of the most pressing problems of humanlife – first and foremost the question whether war and conflict really are an inevitable part of thehuman condition, or whether and how stable peace can be found. Other important questions includewhether we are all part of a common humanity or whether cultural differences keep us apart. In fact,IR deals with these big questions and many more besides, from traditional diplomacy to globalization,from international economic relations to the question of humanitarian intervention. In thisintroduction to International Relations (IR) students will acquire an understanding of internationalrelations and how they are reflected in the discipline of IR. The course introduce the main theoreticalapproaches – while this is not a theory course, IR is a very theoretical discipline and a goodunderstanding of what is being discussed in other parts of the course depends on a basic grasp of thesetheoretical schools and the very different views of the world they represent.

Course Description
This course is designed to provide an introduction to the study of politics. It focuses on the political systems and governmental institutions which are functional in the contemporary world. Through lectures, discussions, readings and various assignments students are expected to get familiarized with the following concepts: power and its dimensions; the state, its role and functions; constitutions and legal systems; political ideologies and political culture; political parties and other political institutions.

Open poster and pictures competition dedicated to the 85th anniversary of psychologist, philosopher, writer - Aaron Abramovich Brudny (1932-2011).

The American University of Central Asia and the University of Indiana plan to hold a biannual two-day workshop highlighting emerging trends in the scholarship on Central Eurasia.

Shainazarova Kyzzhibek, senior of economics at the American University of Central Asia’s (AUCA), is currently completing her minor in Business Administration with the Logistics and Supply Chain Management (LSCM) Program. We sat down to talk to her about her experience in the program.

Tian-Shan Policy Center under the American University in Central Asia in cooperation and with support of the OSCE Center in Bishkek will hold a round table on December 2, 2016 on the results of the external monitoring and comparative analyses of the work of Jogorku Kenesh.
Representatives of Jogorku Kenesh, international organizations, civil society and academia will take part in the round table.

On 26-27, November, 2016, the American University of Central Asia, in collaboration with Bard-Collage, launched its first annual Model United Nations Conference.