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Teaching World Politics in an Age of Crisis

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Pandemic Pedagogy

Part of the book series: Political Pedagogies ((PP))

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic occurred at the center of multiple, overlapping, and mutually reinforcing crises in world politics. This contingent historical moment is remarkable for many reasons, and this chapter explores the challenges of teaching International Relations in the current age of crisis. It asks how and to what extent the events of the COVID-19 pandemic—and the global context in which it occurred—should be taught in the IR classroom. I argue that incorporating the pandemic into undergraduate courses should prompt instructors to re-evaluate the intellectual and pedagogical foundations of IR teaching. But that is easier said than done. Teaching a discipline of such expansive scope and depth pushes classroom instructors to the practical limits of their abilities. This paper explores those limits and posits a way forward grounded in pedagogical variations on contemporary trends in IR theory global IR and analytic eclecticism.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The emotional and psychological aspects of teaching are covered later in this volume.

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Ettinger, A. (2022). Teaching World Politics in an Age of Crisis. In: Szarejko, A.A. (eds) Pandemic Pedagogy. Political Pedagogies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83557-6_1

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