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This is my first term at UBC as I’m a transfer student. The simplest reason why I register for this POLI367B in my first term at UBC is that I major in International Relations. I thought this course would provide me with the foundation of International Relation theories which help me understand the contents of other courses which satisfy IR major requirement. To be honest, I decided to major in International Relations without knowing what International Relations is clearly. I knew that International Relations is interdisciplinary, but through classes until today, I think that it is much more difficult to define International Relations than I thought before I was taking this courses as International Relations has been changing perpetually.

As an international student from Japan, I have lived in Canada for about 2 years. I realized more how liberal Canada is than when I was in Japan. While Canada accepts stateless people or people who have no safe house to return as refugees every year, Japan is really reluctant to do so. What is more, same-sex marriage is allowed in Canada, unlike Japan. I’m interested in how different approaches have impacts on global politics and national politics.

What interests me the most nowadays is the relation between North Korea and South Korea. Since Moon Jae-In became the South Korean President, the relation between the two countries has changed dramatically. This change of the relation results not only from new foreign policies of North Korea and South Korea but also from changes of approaches to this issue of other countries such as the USA. In fact, the US President, Donald Trump intervened in this problem. Moreover, this Korean relation influences the East Asian relations as China has had significant effects on North Korean policies, and the relation between North Korea an Japan will be impacted more by South Korea than in the past. This is another example of how the international relations is changing by taking different approaches.

I feel that this course is my most difficult course this term. However, through this course, I’d like to be able to deepen my understanding of International Relations theories and approaches such as Liberalism, Constructivism, and Marxism. What is more, I would like to know with no absolute global government, how the international organizations such as the United Nations and governments of individual states contribute to global politics by taking different approaches.

Hopefully, I can improve my writing skill too…