Goal 9- Diversity
I was enthusiastic when I found out that Introduction to Comparative Politics would fulfill my Goal 9. I intended to satisfy that goal when I went away on a study abroad trip, but when I found out that I needed it for my political science minor it was knocking out two birds with one stone. It was during my junior year at Longwood that I realized what I wanted to do was more politically-based than a career in law enforcement, so the class appealed to me on the content alone. I had taken a similar course, International Relations, with Dr. Cole, and, transitioning from that 300 level course to this 20o level seemed like a breeze.
However, I know every Dr. Cole’s class meant a lot of reading and even more so with research. Much like the International Relations course, Dr. Cole has every individual form a debate group to argue for a certain side in a political controversy. For this class, my team had to argue against the claim that we should normalize relations with Iran. Using several different newspaper and other articles, we found multiple statistics that could be used as evidence to not develop a better relationship, such as Iran’s role in Syria and supporting active terrorist groups like Hezbollah. We were all very nervous going into the debate, as both sides admitted that we are very non-confrontational people. Yet I realized that civilized and moderated debate is refreshing and even necessary to reach consensus, not just in politics but in any career path one follows. There will always be coworkers with different styles and plans, and the sooner one understands, the more successful they will be. In addition to the debate, we also had to read a book on the economies of China and India, the two most rapidly developing economies in the world, and examine the different factors of their success, including outsourcing, distribution techniques, and their governments.
The content was also very interesting, and I believed it helped in engaging most of the class even if they had no remote interest in politics. We discussed the different government structures of several countries, including the Communist China and Cuba, the theocratic Iran, and the authoritarian Russia. Each country’s history was carefully presented to us, and we had several points of discussion on the success or failure of that particular country. Was the country successful because it embraced democracy or capitalism? Or was it simply due to geography, strong revolutions, or charismatic leaders? In essence, I left the class with a better sense of the countries we have been competing with for decades, and was granted the skills necessary to explain those situations to someone who doesn’t follow politics. If I am to become a foreign service officer or work for the federal government, understanding these incredibly complex relationships by comparing and contrasting governments is a must.
Attached is my book report on the Elephant and the Dragon, in which I give a brief summary on the book and determine if the state of the economies today are still holding up from the observations made in the book.