Audio Resources

1. Frontline Podcast: The Rise of ISIS
Description: This audio podcast discusses the origins and goals of the terrorist group ISIS, paying particular attention to the miscalculations by Western governments and militaries that allowed it to happen. (The Frontline website also has a video version of this as an alternative.)

Video Resources

1. An Interview with Kenneth Waltz
Description: This is a lengthy interview with Prof. Kenneth Waltz, whose work provides the basis of modern realist theory. Throughout the interview, Waltz discusses his personal experiences as well as the way international relations evolved as an academic discipline.

2. U.S. Policy Toward Iran Discussion at the Hudson Institute
Description: Foreign policy scholars discuss the Trump administration’s policy toward Iran and whether escalating efforts by the U.S. and its allies were working to change Iran’s behavior. Moderated by a Washington correspondent for a newspaper based in the United Arab Emirates, the discussants talk about the domestic and foreign influences over President Trump and his policy toward Iran, as well as Iran’s influence throughout the Middle East.

3. Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif on U.S. Relationship, Travel Ban, Syrian Crisis, ISIS
Description: NBC’s Richard Engel speaks with Javad Zarif, Iran’s Foreign Minister, on a wide number of topics related to the United States’ relationship with Iran, including Trump’s travel ban, the Syrian crisis, ISIS, and the nuclear deal implemented during the Obama Administration.

4. Fareed Zakaria GPS- On GPS, debating U.S. intervention in Syria
Description: From Fareed Zakaria’s GPS on CNN, this is a brief exchange between Prof. Anne-Marie Slaughter and Richard Haass on whether (and how) to intervene in the Syrian civil war.

Web Resources

1. U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs
Description: House Foreign Affairs main website.

2. U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs
Description: These Web sites allow you to read House and Senate resolutions and speeches, learn about the committees’ members, and watch live Webcasts of their meetings.

3. American Political Science Association
Description: The American Political Science Association is a major professional organization for the study of political science (including the study of international affairs). Its website contains information on the role of political science in academics, government, and politics, as well as information on its publications and conferences.

4. UN Security Council
Description: Under the Charter, the Security Council has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. It has 15 Members, and each Member has one vote. Under the Charter, all Member States are obligated to comply with Council decisions. The Security Council takes the lead in determining the existence of a threat to the peace or act of aggression. It calls upon the parties to a dispute to settle it by peaceful means and recommends methods of adjustment or terms of settlement. In some cases, the Security Council can resort to imposing sanctions or even authorize the use of force to maintain or restore international peace and security. The Security Council also recommends to the General Assembly the appointment of the Secretary-General and the admission of new Members to the United Nations. And, together with the General Assembly, it elects the judges of the International Court of Justice.