It turns out that most of the currently important issues in world affairs-e.g., religiously inspired terrorism, dangerous dictators, and the desperate poverty that follows the failure of state institutions-can be best understood as the products of the interaction of international and domestic social and political processes. The course begins with important foundations of social and political theory. It then proceeds to an extended discussion of the interactions among war, nationalism, economics, and the development of the modern nation -state. After a section in which we consider the United States in this comparative perspective, we proceed to discuss the forces-globalization, international institutions, new universalistic religious radicalism, new global social movements-that some expect to supercede the nation -state. Format: discussion/lecture. Requirements: several short papers and a final exam. No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 39 per section (expected: 30 per section). This is an introductory course, open to all, including first -year students. Comparative Politics Subfield