Pre-core course proposals and syllabi must explain how they provide the basic foundations for the above conceptual framework. The focus of the course is understanding and applying systemic approaches to viewing and understanding issues, situations, and the world in which we live. The concepts of systems theory including complex interdependency and causality will be illustrated and applied via course content. Systems overlap and influence each other in forming larger systems. Each course will address interactions among multiple systems.
Systems emerge, change, and end within historical contexts.
As constant change is a key characteristic of any system, historical perspective is vital to the understanding of current systems. How changing circumstances and ideologies place unexpected demands on existing organizations and how they respond. How tension within and among established systems and social organizations affect the way systems change. These courses should ask students to address a variety of questions including questions that don't easily find their home within a single academic discipline. The necessary broad analytical framework requires a variety of theoretical perspectives and methods.