Decision-making in International Relations POL-IRA-LS-DMIR
Ćwiczenia (CW) Semestr zimowy 2024/2025

1. Nikolas K. Gvosdev, Jessica D. Blankshain, David A. Cooper, “Decision-Making in American Foreign Policy, Translating Theory into Practice”, Cambridge University Press, 2019

2. Alex Mintz, Karl DeRouen Jr., “Understanding Foreign Policy Decision Making”, Cambridge University Press 2010.

3. Chris Brown, Kirsten Ainley, “Understanding International Relations”, Palgrave, 2009

4. Christopher Hill, “Foreign Policy in the Twenty-First Century”, Palgrave, 2016

5. Demczuk Andrzej "Biden’s Soft Power vs. Coercive Diplomacy and Responding to Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine, Teka Komisji Politologii i Stosunków Miedzynarodowych, vol. 2022, tom.17, no.1, (2022)

6. Demczuk Andrzej "Joe Biden’s political personality illustrated in his political decisions." Teka Komisji Politologii i Stosunków Międzynarodowych, vol. 16, no. 1, (2020).

Knowledge

Student

W1: student knows, understands and explains the role of the key mechanisms of political and strategic decision-making, including psychological, cognitive, and biological factors influencing leaders’ choices. (K_W02, K_W03).

W2: W2 - student understands the role of leadership, personality, and individual differences in shaping foreign policy and international security decisions; student is familiar with contemporary challenges to decision-making, including the impact of artificial intelligence, information processing, and emerging technologies on political judgments and policy outcomes. Student identifies normative dimensions of decision making in IR (K_W04).

Skills

Student:

U1: Applies discourse analysis to interpret decision making in IR (K_U05, K_U09).

U2: Uses specialized decision making IR terminology accurately in academic writing and presentations (K_U10).

Social competences

Student:

K1: Demonstrates critical awareness of lvarious biases and cultural perspectives in decision making in IR (K_K01, K_K07).

There are different requirements for each type of session. Student must complete all the requirements in order to pass the ‘lecture’ and ‘class’ portions of the course. Because the purpose of the course is to get students to think about decision making in IR and participate in discussions about current foreign policy issues, students are expected to attend each class session, do the reading prior to class, and follow our class discussions.

-class attendance and class engagement

-final exam for the lecture and the presentations/ debates for the class

PRESENTATIONS:

AI and Decision-Making

Spirals of Delusion, How AI Distorts Decision-Making and Makes Dictators More Dangerous

By Henry Farrell, Abraham , Sep/Oct 2022, Foreign Affairs

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/system/files/pdf/2022/101509.pdf

Final Report: National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (AI)

https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/AD1124333.pdf

Beijing’s Decision-Making

What Does the West Really Know About Xi’s China?, Why Outsiders Struggle to Understand Beijing’s Decision-Making By Odd Arne Westad, June 13, 2023, Foreign Affairs

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/system/files/pdf/2023/what-does-the-west-really-know-about-xi’s-china-2023-06-13-09-56.pdf

China's Space Odyssey, What the Antisatellite Test Reveals About Decision-Making in Beijing

By Bates Gill and Martin Kleiber,

https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/fora86&div=36&g_sent=1&casa_token=oiU2iDJw0okAAAAA:78aJPeUoz2LoqvjvwzLZy0lyFmfzsiwLtA5dTrkoJNfY1Hr1-DkE5T038ZbP256L3wrvJv4&collection=journals

The psychological barries to proper decision-making

Heads in the Sand, Why We Fail to Foresee and Contain Catastrophe

By Elke U. Weber, Novemeber/ December 2020, Foreign Affairs

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/system/files/pdf/2020/99602.pdf

The Human Factor, How Robert Jervis Reshaped Our Understanding of International Politics, By Thomas J. Christensen and Keren Yarhi-Milo January 7, 2022, Foreign Affairs

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/system/files/pdf/2023/the-human-factor-2023-05-25-15-27.pdf

Church and Decision-making

Pope Francis’ Silence on Central Europe’s Migration Crackdown, Why He’s Unlikely to Intervene, By Victor Gaetan, March 7, 2018, Foreign Affairs

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/central-europe/2018-03-07/pope-francis-silence-central-europes-migration-crackdown

-presentations

-debates between various groups of students

-discussions