Introduction to World Politics

World Politics matters. As global citizens, it is almost impossible to avoid being drawn together by virtue of the ever-changing volume and the speed of money, goods, information, technology, people, ideas, and images that flow within and between countries. We study World Politics to help understand these dynamics, but also to decide how to engage with them, if at all. This means looking at the broad range of actors, structures, and issues on the international scene. It means looking at how states interact, but also how states serve as administrative containers for societies, identities, ideologies, economies, political systems, and individuals, and how these things cooperate and collide. While the state is a beneficial form of political organization for some societies, there are many who struggle on the world's margins.