The coming week

This coming week should prove to be quite interesting indeed. It marks the start of seminars - now, in addition to lectures for each course, there will be a corresponding 90-minute small group seminar where we'll dive into much greater detail of certain topics in a more interactive environment. I don't know the exact format for every course yet; for some, students will give a presentation each week, but in others everyone will simply have to come prepared to discuss in depth.

I signed up for these classes -- War and Society, US Foreign Policy, Middle East and North African Politics, History of Thought -- but I also plan to regularly attend the lectures of International Economics and European Geopolitical History (fascinating, really!), as well as those of International Theory and International Law. Occasionally I'll pop in on the remaining classes -- EU Politics, EU Economics, EU Security and Integration, EU Law and International Political Economy, though the first four are more for students doing a Master's in the Contemporary European Studies program than International Relations (mine).

So here's what the week looks like so far:

• Monday
• 10am-11am - Middle East and North African Politics lecture
  
• 1pm-2pm - War and Society lecture
• 2pm-3:30pm - ME & NA Politics seminar
  
• 3:30pm-5pm - War and Society seminar
• 7:30pm - Two-way videolink with Libyan leader Col. Qaddafi at the Cambridge Union (the university debating society!) - I don't really know if it's a debate so much, or just him speaking/gesticulating wildly... we'll see!
  
• Tuesday
• 10am-11am - European Geopolitical History lecture
• 11am-12pm - International Economics lecture
• 12pm-1pm - US Foreign Policy lecture
• 2pm-4pm - Rowing practice at the Catz boathouse
• Wednesday
• 9am-10am - History of Thought lecture
• 10am-11am - International Theory lecture
• 11am-12pm - International Law lecture
• 3:30pm-5pm - US Foreign Policy seminar
  
• 7:30pm - Exchange formal dinner at Corpus Christi college
  
• Thursday
• 9am-10:30am - History of Thought seminar
  
• 2pm-4pm - Rowing practice
  
• Friday
• 5:30pm - Intelligence Seminar at Corpus Christi (last week's presenter was the CIA's chief historian - whoa!)
• Saturday
• 11:30am - Football (soccer) match - I'm not sure who we play yet
  
• Sunday
• 2pm-4pm - Rowing practice

So, as you can see -- pretty busy the first few days, following by a relatively lighter schedule at the end of the week, with some good exercise (rowing and soccer) sprinkled throughout. But what that schedule doesn't really show is the incredible amount of reading that I'll be doing in the morning, afternoon and evening every day.

The most demanding class in terms of reading will doubtless be War and Society, where we're required to read a full-length book for each seminar (which we have each week). For the first seminar, we were assigned "The Jewish War," by Josephus, a Jewish priest/historian who turned traitor in 66 AD and allied himself with the Romans as they fought the Jewish uprising/revolt/hopelessly doomed enterprise. The book weighed in at a healthy 408 pages - next week's assignment (which I don't have yet and hope to acquire within the next 24 hours) is Marcel Foucault's "Society Must be Defended," relatively lighter at 336 pages, but probably a great deal denser and dull. That's for... one class.

The other three require me to consult three or four books -- for each class, for each week -- and a handful of journal articles/course packet readings.

I'm nearly done reading "State, Power and Politics in the Modern Middle East" for the MEast/NAfrican course, though I also need to do some reading about the Gulf Cooperation Council for tomorrow's seminar. Apparently it wouldn't hurt to also look at, "A Peace to End All Peace," "History of the Arab Peoples," "The Origins of Alliances," and "Security Communities." For this week.

For History of Thought, I re-read Machiavelli's The Prince, though I also need to pick up Guicciardini's The Discourses and Botero's Reason of State. Before Thursday's seminar, I'll hopefully have read Francisco de Vittoria's section on "De potestate civili" in The Spanish Origins of International Law. For this week.

And lastly, US Foreign Policy - I've started to read "Writing Security: US Foreign Policy and the Politics of Identity," but I shouldn't forget about "Promised Land, Crusader State: The American Encounter with the World since 1776," "American History: A Drama of Sweep and Majesty," "Surprise, Security and the American Experience," "Colossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire" and "Who Are We: The Challenges to America's National Identity." And if I want more to read... Thomas Paine's "Common Sense," "The American Dream," "Public Opinion and Foreign Policy in the US," "Ideology and US Foreign Policy" and the speech of Col. Frederick Kienle at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC, on October 5, 2005, all are heartily recommended. For this week.

As you can see, I've frittered away more than a precious hour cataloging the very books that I ought to be reading. Shame, shame!