This course was indeed challenging, however it is very informational. The readings provided were very insightful, and furthermore the tasks and tests were very simple and straight to the point. I have learned a lot about the theories that make up international relations and the concepts that international relations explores. One topic that stood out the most to me, was the theory of constructivism. The way ideas, norms and identities shape our realities and how it is never fixed and is bound to change over time. However, I’ve come to the conclusion that international relations is the field of study where scholars like you guys are making theories and hypotheses to further the understanding of the interactions between states.
To be honest, I left everything till last minute. As a result, it was very stressful, however going through 12 weeks worth of readings and writing out several papers and blogs, it allowed me to gain a complete understanding in International Relations.
The tasks that I have done and grading:
Weekly Group Meetings: Not sure. Maybe 12 pts?(Not added to total)
24 Weekly Blogs: 20 pts
Meme Essay: 15 pts
Globalization Photo Essay: 15 pts
Film Review: 7.5 pts
Introduction slide: 5 pts
Final Slide: 5 pts
Online Open Book Midterm Score: 20/20, worth 20 pts
Online Open Book Final: 21.75/21.75, worth 20 pts
Total: 107.5 pts
Grade: A+
These are my self gradings as well as the final grade that I feel that I deserve based on my work given in.
International Relations POL 5900 01[16273] (Kingsborough CC)
Meme Assignment Paper
This meme showcases one of the aspects of the IR theory, Constructivism. This theory in international relations states that the actions, interactions and perceptions of states/individuals shape reality. That everything that we know and understand is socially constructed in which is not objective but an effect of mutual ideas and interests between actors. With this meme, it demonstrates the interaction between the United States and North Korea and how their differences in interests and ideas is socially constructing their relationship.
The meme is based on an example given by Alexander Wendt in 1995, where he illustrated the social construction of reality where even if the United Kingdom had 500 nuclear weapons, it would not pose as much of a threat as it would if North Korea had only 5 nuclear weapons. The nuclear weapons themselves have no meaning until it is given meaning. This meaning is the idea that North Korea could fly those nukes to the United States at any moment and cause mass destruction. The reason why the United Kingdoms is lowkey irrelevant is because the US and UK have good social relations, and this is due to shared understandings between both states. As a result, the chances of UK attacking the US is very low. However, this situation is different with North Korea, if you have been keeping up with global politics, you would understand that the relationship between the US and NK is not that good. This is interesting because if you think about it the relationship between these states is defined by whether they have an intersubjective understanding and it is not created from laws or treaties.
This means that the relationship between the US and NK is not fixed but has the ability to change at any moment. If both states can come to an understanding, the probability that they become good ‘friends’ are high. However, all of this depends on the beliefs and ideas held by both states. This is very different from a realist’s point of view, who argue that states are anarchic, the belief that states can only rely on themselves, which determines their interactions with other states. Constructivists like Alexander Wendt argue that, “anarchy is what states make of it”, meaning that anarchy can be interpreted differently by anyone the same way the US can interpret the 5 North Korean nuclear bombs as very dangerous compared to 500 British nuclear bombs.
This meme exaggerates US’s interpretation of the North Korean threat, however, it demonstrates a good explanation on how our thoughts and actions ‘constructs’ international relations. The idea that our realities is based on our experiences and knowledge and that it is unique to everyone else’s is very fascinating to me. With this in mind, Constructivism is essential to the theory of International Relations as it provides a wide scope of perspectives for anything in this world.
Citations:
Theys, Sarina. “Introducing Constructivism in International Relations Theory.” E-International Relations, 6 Aug. 2018, www.e-ir.info/2018/02/23/introducing-constructivism-in-international-relations-theory.
Self-Assessment: I feel that this is an A, as I followed the requirements. I provided my own meme, explained my meme on how it is related to Constructivism and with a cited quote. Furthermore, the meme is not specified to one thing, it can be interpreted in many ways, see what I did there? That’s constructivism for you. As a result, I should receive full points for this or close to it.
International Relations POL 5900 01[16273] (Kingsborough CC)
Film: “First They Killed My Father” on Netflix
The film “First They Killed My Father” is directed by Angelina Jolie and screen written by Loung Ung. This film first made an appearance in 2017 with major actors like as Sareum Sreymoch, Phoeung Kompheak, Sveng Socheata, Dara Heng, Sothea Khoun, Sreyneang Oun, Kimhak Mun, Chenda Run, Nika Sarun and Nita Sarun. Sareum plays the persona of Loung Ung, where the story revolves around her point of view. The film takes place during 1975 in Cambodia where it was under a brutal regime, the Khmer Rouge, who operated as the communist party. Simultaneously, the Northern Vietnamese forces were being bombed by the United States, the United states was trying to prevent communism from spreading to Cambodia while they were protecting southern Vietnam. However, the people of Northern Vietnam had attempted to take shelter in “neutral areas” or territories which led to the beginning of the Cambodian civil war. But, when the United States pulled out of Cambodia, this allowed for Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge to take over and strip every one of their former lives.
From the beginning of the film to the end, you are able to see the circumstances escalate, all from the perspective of a 5-year-old, Loung Ung. Throughout the film, you can see the living conditions and the fears of the Khmer Rouge worsen as the war becomes intensifies. The films point of view is from a witness stand point. In the film, it is clear that under the regime, Cambodians were deprived of their human rights. Such as forced labor, disease, kidnappings, killings, separation of families, executions, starvation, brainwashing and sociological warfare that took place which is depicted very strongly throughout the film. The atmosphere of this film creates an emotion of wickedness and sorrow as the details of the film help immerse the viewer into the film. The film’s entirety looks very clear and real, as if you can “jump” into the movie. The aesthetically beautiful scenery of Cambodia is shown during flashbacks, but it’s soon met with the negative aspects of war. The realistic hardships that Loung Ung and her family both witness and go through, show the true nature of what happened during the Khmer Rouge regime. Loung Ung and her family prior to the regime, lived in the capital of Cambodia Phnom Penh, where they lived in a house and had their freedoms. Since they were forced to leave and live in poor conditions, Loung Ung continues to have flashbacks of how life “was” or “could be”. Several people in Cambodia supported the Khmer Rouge as they were against Vietnam. But, the regime of Pol Pot and his militia caused a mass genocide of around 1.5 to 2 million Cambodians from the years 1975 to 1979.
What stands out in this film, particularly to me, is the constant reoccurrence of flashbacks that Loung Ung gets. These flashbacks add emotional value to the film, especially since Loung is a very young girl, it gives an insight into how she feels or what she thinks about during key parts of the film. Learning and being taught about what took place during the Vietnam war and key events that were triggered due to the war is different from watching a movie about it. I believe what also makes this movie stand out is, it’s ability to show you the emotional and mental toll that is that Cambodians go through witnessing murder, forced labor, child recruitment, rape, or more specifically in this film, a genocide.
The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, adopted by the General Assembly on 1948, declared that the crime of genocide was an international law after the atrocities committed during the Second World War. According to the Genocide Convention, “Genocide is a crime that can take place both in time of war as well as in time of peace”, meaning that the genocide that took place in Cambodia was a violation to this treaty and considered as a violation of human rights. States who have ratified and acceded this document, have an obligation to do necessary measures to prevent and to punish the crime of genocide. This film shows how essential international relations is, as foreign policies must be enforced to keep states in check, to make sure every single individual that their basic human rights are ensured. Furthermore, this demonstrates how difficult it is to enforce international laws globally as this horrible genocide occurred several years after the Genocide Convention. For this reason, international relations proves it’s importance for providing a wide scope of theories allowing actors to reach to resolutions like the crimes committed in Cambodia.
The horrific tragedy that Loung and her family, and the rest of the people in Cambodia, is all told though the eyes and mind of a child. Forced from her home and trained as a child soldier, the constant conditioning done by the by the Khmer Rouge on Loung’s mind. The film shows the surreal horror but will often show that, “in darkness there is light” or where there is family, there will be happiness.
Self-Assessment: I would give myself a B- instead of an A+, as I feel that I could have done more but I do meet most of the requirements. I could have went more in depth with the details, however as it is a film review I did not want to spoil or reveal too much of the movie. I understand that this is not a complete documentary but a thriller. It was my mistake, I searched up documentaries on genocides and this movie popped up. Overall, I would still prefer to give myself full points of 10 but I’ll stick with 7.5 pts.
Victor Liang International Relations POL 5900 01 [16273] (Kingsborough CC)
Globalization Photo Essay
Globalization is an important idea incorporated with global fortune and poverty. Globalization is when a businesses or organizations develops internationally or starts operating on an international scale. It suggests a view that the world is becoming increasingly interconnected and groomed into a shared social space by technological advancements, while simultaneously increasing the production of goods and services. Globalization impacts the standard aspects of an individual’s life including, religion, food, transport, language, music and clothing. Increased globalization can speed up movements and or exchanges between different regions and populations from around the globe.
Throughout reading the article, “Global Poverty and Wealth” written by James Arvanitakis and David J. Hornsby, it provided examples on how globalization is seen in both a positive and a negative view. The “negative” or “alternative” view explains how globalization can actually cause poverty and economic inequality. “For example, the internet has allowed many individuals to establish successful businesses and sell their goods all over the world. But how can you take advantage of this technology if you live in an area without access to the internet due to poor infrastructure, poverty or war”? The alternative view of globalization helps explain how the simply, common household possessions may be simple to obtain, but are hard to attain for others. These goods are “geographically” diverse among different communities, counties and regions, meaning some countries common folk are more accessible to these common goods than others.
Throughout my day I use a variety of items, with a span from food to, selfcare to, electronics and or appliances. My first item I will discuss is Listerine:
Listerine is owned by the company, Johnson & Johnson. This mouthwash brand is 135 years old with many varieties of Listerine types available. Listerine is used by many surgeons, hospitals and everyday homes of millions of people around the globe. According to an article on, Drugwatch.com, titled “Johnson & Johnson”, written by Kristin Compton, Johnson & Johnson is the world’s largest health care company and the highest paid drug company (https://www.drugwatch.com/manufacturers/johnson-and-johnson/ ). Johnson & Johnson have over 250 subsidiaries, meaning multiple companies and or brands that make up Johnson & Johnson. As technology and everyday life changes throughout the world, in order to keep up with globalization, Johnson & Johnson continues to keep up with these changes while providing medical goods, innovations and everyday healthcare necessities.
The second item I will be discussing is Dove:
Dove is owned by Unilever, which is the world’s biggest food and soap company while owning brands such as Lipton tea, Dove soap and Magnum ice cream. The sub brand Dove and its products are mainly used as toiletries such as; body washes, hand and body lotions, facial cleansers, deodorants, shampoos, conditioners and hair styling products. The aimed audience typically for Dove is women from ages 18 to 35. Considering their first advertisement during the 1950’s, according to https://strategyonline.ca/2007/12/01/tributedove-20071201/ , Dove aimed their products to housewives at that time who “dreamed” of being the “perfect wife with clear skin” because their first product was the Dove soap face bar. This advertisement was aimed at women during those times whose skin was not clear, according to standards they were not the “perfect wife” for their husbands to come home to. The advertisements of Dove are directly persuasive and have globalized messages with every product, for example, many Dove body washes or hair shampoos are aimed to make the targets hair or skin “soft, silky and manageable” because it is implied universally that heavy or dry hair is unattractive or that rough skin is also unattractive.
I enjoy playing video games a lot, it’s a fun way to spend extra time. The Nintendo switch is a portable gaming console that is developed by Nintendo. Nintendo’s main headquarters is in Japan but Nintendo established subsidiaries in America and Europe. This was done so they could be able to expand globally while becoming closer to their customers worldwide. Nintendo is originally a Japanese company, but the reason why it has grown so largely is due to the fact that they aimed to fit into many cultures by not solely focusing on a certain type of video game or culture. For example, Mario who is an Italian-American plumber from Brooklyn, is a very widely known character who is included in games such as Super Mario Bros and or even Super Smash Bros and many more. But the reason he is famous in almost every country, is because of the smooth character backgrounds that allow the company and its products to enter and adapt into any culture. (https://psmag.com/news/super-mario-and-cultural-globalization). The marketing and cultural design on a global scale has placed Nintendo at an international operating scale.
The PlayStation gaming consoles are owned by Sony. Sony is a globalized company best used for consumer electronics, including gaming consoles, camera’s, and televisions. Sony’s headquarters are in Japan but overtime to promote global expansion, they have established manufacturing bases in China, Europe and America. The largest markets for Sony are firstly the U.S., then China, Japan, and India. Sony expands their consumers by establishing these sub headquarters in other countries to make products that appeal to the public and people of a certain region. This helps Sony distribute its content on an international level of globalization. (https://www.sony.com/en_us/SCA/company-news/press-releases/sony-pictures-television/2009/citing-globalization-of-entertainment-sony-pictures-unites-domestic-international-television-divisions.html).
My keyboard is a Yamaha portable electronic keyboard. Yamaha is a Japanese brand that has grown to become one of the world’s largest manufacturers of musical instruments, including pianos, drums, guitars, brass instruments, violins, etc. Yamaha started in 1887 as Torakusu Yamaha built his first reed organ in Japan. Over time after focusing on musical instruments and products, Yamaha was simultaneously becoming globalized as one of the biggest corporations. In 1954 Yamaha Motor Company broke off from Yamaha music and created their first motor in the motorcycle market while competing nationally and internationally throughout japan and the word to showcase their product(s). For both companies, both have made changed to adjust to societies rapidly growing ages. For example, Yamaha first developed this specific keyboard in 2007, but they started making keyboards in the 1980s. All of these types of musical instruments or versions have all changed or enhanced to keep up with the global need or want for these items. Yamaha has a large amount in diversity in their products with a long line of change and sells for people from around the world.
LG is a southern Korean brand and it was the first Southern Korean company to enter the chemical and plastics industry in 1958. Over time LG has caught up to Samsung- another electronics leading company (http://www.lgcorp.com/about/history/1) . LG also sells electronics with a range of stylish and innovative home entertainment products such as, mobile phones, home appliances, commercial displays, air conditioning systems and solar energy solutions(https://www.lg.com/us/authorizeddealers/lg_online_authorized_retailers). LG is certainly globalized because LG focused on outsourcing with marketing when they entered a country, and when they built factories in other countries, they used local people to manufacture their products. This provides an opportunity to see what each consumer population would want in different countries. This helped allow LG to operate on an international level while creating efficient products for the consumers.
Samsung, which is another Southern Korean company that produces consumer and industry electronic devices with a huge variety of products that range from consumer electronics such as TVs, tablets, home theater and audio, desktop computers, laptops, monitors, printers, home appliances and also security/monitoring systems. Samsung originally started in 1938, as the owner began trading produced goods around the city. But after the Korean war Lee Byung-Chull expanded his business into textiles and focused on industrialization to help his country redevelop from the war. Samsung first entered the electronics industry around the early 1970s, with several electronics-focused divisions and they began growing even more. Overtime Samsung spread throughout the world producing a number of items, and as the world evolved Samsung even brought the Samsung Galaxy smart phone. Samsung is a globalized company and has continued to make expansions with its technology and or more global products for exporting to consumers around the world while making slight adjustments of change as trends or needs change as well.(https://www.lifewire.com/history-of-samsung-818809)( https://hbr.org/2011/07/the-globe-the-paradox-of-samsungs-rise ).
Clorox is a Large American chemical company that leads in many products surrounding cleaning supplies and its namesake bleach. Clorox also owns other brands known as Burt’s Bees, Brita, Pine-sol and many more. Clorox started out in the 1910s as Clorox’s liquid bleach product firstly, many other companyies knew how to make bleach but, they just didn’t know how to market it to the public. William and Annie Murray both believed in the product and had invested in the Electro-Alkaline Company (https://www.thecloroxcompany.com/who-we-are/our-heritage/timeline/). They eventually had the idea to market Clorox liquid bleach to homemakers and overtime, even throughout war, the great depression, Clorox never stopped growing. People continued using it more and more, especially in the 1990’s it became more globally known. Clorox has become a very globalized company that produces for the world, they have expanded their trade, business and production in many countries to build themselves a “name” and status. Today the Clorox Company manufactures products in 25 countries and markets globally as their products are sold in 100 global markets. Clorox also owns 16 global plants around the world to manufacture its items. (https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/our-insights/making-the-leap-into-emerging-markets-an-interview-with-cloroxs-beth-springer# )(https://www.thecloroxcompany.com/blog/manufacturing-clorox-pride/).
Amazon is the world’s largest online retailer and a prominent cloud services provider. Amazon is owned by Jeff Bezos, he founded the e-commerce colossus Amazon in 1994 out of his garage in Seattle (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Amazoncom). Over the years, amazon continued to grow and expand its success, because of the large availability of products on amazon this has helped to grow its accomplishments globally. There are three possible reasons as to why Amazon has become so globally known and they are: Amazon has a very large selection of products and this helps consumers always find what they are looking for, consumers pay as little as possible for a product sometimes and Amazon shipping is typically fast. Amazon has incredible traffic among its customers meaning, if they have a good shopping experience it is more likely the customer would come back and buy more. More selling means more production and or product selection. This is why Amazon has such a wide scale reach to the people and the world. Amazon products ship to the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Ireland, Canada, Germany, Spain, Italy, Australia, Japan, China, India, Mexico, and new ones are always being added, making it a very international shipping service of goods (https://algopix.com/questions/what-countries-does-amazon-operate-in). A common pattern among all globalized products and or companies is their ability to quickly adjust to their consumers/customers wants and or needs. Amazon was able to become the second most valuable company in the United states worth more than 1.7 trillion dollars right behind apple and even while working around the COVID-19 pandemic, amazon managed to still serve the customers.
Globalization is the process of which businesses or organizations develop and start operating on an international scale A common trait all of these globalized products, companies or brands have is the ability to work around global issues to reach the people, issues such as a global pandemic, war, market crashes etc. A large amount of these companies started out fairly small as well, with just a simple idea that even sometimes, isn’t the same as to what they end up selling in the future or now. All of the products I mentioned are very globalized, they have reached the homes of people all around the world while dominating the markets. Globalization can have critical effects on economies, cultures, regions living standards and or technology, especially as technology continues to make breakthroughs and or inventions in the upcoming years, but it can change nations and the whole world.
Self-Assessment- Honestly, this paper took a lot of work. It was interesting to learn how globalization impacts our daily lives. I met all the requirements in this paper, as there is 10 pictures with a paragraph for each picture, relating them to the topic of this paper. So my self-grading would be an A+, meaning 15 points…like seriously.
One of the biggest transnational issues is the global pandemic COVID-19. With the rapid emergence of this virus, countries around the world were unprepared to face this virus. Currently, the death toll has amounted up 1.6 million with over 20 million active cases as of December 14, 2020. During this crisis, we have seen a poor global response from all countries especially the big powers running the world. However, soon after COVID-19 was announced as a global pandemic, countries had to cooperate with each other as this was a matter that required global support. Even so, this was the moment that ordinary people were able to visually see the poor international relations between states.
On the reading, one thing that stood out to me was how International Relations analyzed this situation. It took the perspectives of many actors on this issue, such as the World Health Organization’s position in this crisis and several political leaders like Xi Jinping and Donald Trump. It focuses on the lack of global cooperation after Trump’s withdrawal of funding for WHO based on the allegations of poor management on this virus. With lack of funding, WHO’s resources are limited even though the world was relying on them to develop a vaccine and a cure. Furthermore, it looks into the future on the effects of many policy changes and damaged organization relationships. It compares previous crisis with the current one, for example the Economic Crisis of 2008 where it was handled in a very professional manner. Overall, this is an example of how International Relations is so essential as it provides a wide variety of perspectives allowing states to make the best decisions in the future.
With the population constantly increasing, the environment surrounding us is bound to change. Furthermore, the rapid industrializations and fast urban expansions are negatively affecting our environment, undermining the Earth’s capability to sustain life. International Relations takes a deep dive into the environmental works that needs to addressed as approaches to environmental protection between many states have had a bad record of creating a solution where it would have an actual impact on the well being of our environment. There are two main environmental issues currently that have gained the most attention which are climate change and biodiversity. Climate change is the global warming effect caused by humans emitting greenhouse gases, and biodiversity, where the loss of variety of life in the world due to causes like destruction of ecosystems for natural resources or industrialization.
There have been many efforts to tackle these issues, like holding ‘megaconferences”, large scale events, like the Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002 or the 2015 Paris Agreement. An interesting point in the reading, “The right to a healthy environment and the global commons are ideas that suggest that it is our shared duty to take care of our collective environment because everyone has a right to enjoy their environment and use some of its resources for their survival”, which brings up the fact that it is our right to have a healthy environment as it is stated on Article 25 of the UDHR, the right to a standard living adequate for the health and wellbeing of himself and of his family. That would mean that we are the ones violating our own human rights, which makes this whole topic even more complex for me.
On the night of 1998, General Augusto Pinochet, a former Chilean dictator was arrested. He was under arrest for crimes against humanity based on an international warrant. Furthermore, other specific allegations included the murder, torture, hostage-taking and genocide of Chileans and other nationals. This moment was a very big symbol for the rest of the world as it set two important precedents. It created the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allowed states or international organisations to prosecute individuals no matter where the crimes were committed nor the nationality of the perpetrators and victims. The other, was that it withdrew the immunity of heads of state or ex heads of state for human rights violations.
Ever since this moment, no matter where the government is located they are held accountable for any violation of human rights. Furthermore, no dictator would be allowed to use the immunity of being a heads of state and ex heads of state. With this arrest, many activists, lawyers, victims, and NGOs to establish transnational networks to pursue human rights accountability. Many individuals and governments who have committed crimes against humanity have been tried at court ever since then.
In my opinion, this was a good start for holding the perpetrators accountable for their actions. As all human rights should be prioritized. Even so, what about big powers like Russia and China? Are they still invincible to being tried for crimes against humanity?
In my opinion, while this raised happiness and hope all around the world. Like a lot of politicians, it fails to fulfill its promise. To this day, millions of people around the world are denied of their human rights for example, The Xinjian re-education camps in china where they are holding at an estimate of 1.5 million Uighurs, who are recognized as ethnic minorities. According to PBS, “members of the Muslim minority say that they were detained, interrogated and beaten because of their religion. Many say it is clear–they were interned, not ‘re-educated'”, which is a clear violation of many articles of the UDHR like Article 18, “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.”
This is interesting to me because, according to USNEWS, “China is not only a signatory to the UDHR, but also played an important role in writing it”, which makes me question why China is not being punished for violating this declaration of human rights. What is the use of drafting so many articles and passing so many laws if big powers like China can ignore it without much consequence?
After WW2, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was drafted by representatives from all legal and cultural backgrounds around the world, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly. It was a response to the “barbarous acts which…outraged the conscience of mankind” during WW2. By adopting this document the world, it would mean to be the foundations of humans rights for freedom, justice and peace. This article contains thirty articles that will outlines the rights and freedom that belong to all individuals and it states that these rights cannot be taken away from anyone. It is universal, indivisible and interdependent. These rights to this day continue to form the basis for international human rights law.
There are organizations like Amnesty International, a global movement, whose main focus is to protect and fight for human rights that belong to all individuals. Many prominent figures like Muhammad Ali, support this movement which raised awareness for this cause.
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