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Theories and Theorists in International Relations
Course Organization
E263 - Autumn - 6 ECTS
Wednesdays 14:15-16:00
Barton, SGAS
Professor:
Cédric Dupont
cedric.dupont@graduateinstitute.ch
Tel. +41 22 908 5950
Office hours:
Wednesdays, 10:30-12:00
Rigot 34
Assistant:
Assia Alexieva
assia.alexieva@graduateinstitute.ch
Tel. +41 22 908 5948
Office hours:
Tuesdays, 14:30-16:30
Rigot 35
Course Description
This course provides students with some of the foundations of international relations as an analytical field of research. It is intended to give students a sense of how theories are constructed and, via logical reflection and empirical research, improved upon. Secondarily, the aim is also to introduce students to some of the major theoretical developments in the field of international relations since its inception as a self-conscious scholarly discipline in the 1920s.
Requirements and Assignments
This seminar places a strong emphasis on class discussions based on the set of required readings for each session. We will carefully look at how the various pieces are analytically constructed and how they connect to either previous work or to real world developments. Such discussions require students to have done the readings in advance of class and to have at a minimum a first understanding of the main arguments in the readings.
As assignments, students have to write three types of work:
a) two “review” papers (1200 words) that reflect upon the required readings of a specific session of class in parts II-IV; these papers should present the main arguments of the various pieces and identify their main strengths and weaknesses in comparative perspective; review papers are due before the beginning of the relevant class (email to Assia Alexieva); each paper is worth 15% of class grade.
b) one analytic paper (1800-2000 words) on one question (out of a choice of two) distributed in the second-half of November; the paper will ask students to reflect upon a topic that crosses over several sessions of class; students will be given one week to write the paper; worth 25% of class grade
c) a final take-home exam consisting of two essay questions (out of a choice of three) (1500 words each question) distributed during the last session of class and due December 29, 2008 (6pm, Geneva time); worth 45% of class grade
Readings
Course readings are obtainable in three forms. The required readings which are book chapters are assembled in a course reader, available for purchase at Imprimerie Minute. The required readings which are journal articles will be available (via a clickable link) from the course website. The Further readings (Optional) which are books will be placed on reserve at the library (some of them may still be in the ordering process though).
Course outline and readings
INTRODUCTION
Session 1 (Sept. 17): What the course is about
No required readings
Session 2 (Sept. 24): Precursors
Further readings (Optional):
- Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, book 1
- Rousseau, The State of War
- Locke, The Second Treatise of Civil Government
PART I: EPISTEMOLOGY
Session 3 (Oct. 1): What is IR theory?
- Waltz, Kenneth. Theory of International Politics, 1979, ch.1
- Nicholson, Michael. Causes and Consequences in International Relations, 1996 (chap 2-3)
- March and Lave, An Introduction to Models in the Social Sciences, 1975 (chap 2-3)
- Kahler, Miles. “Inventing International Relations: Intl Relations Theory after 1945” in Michael Doyle and John Ikenberry, New Thinking in International Relations Theory.
Further readings (Optional):
- Hedley Bull (1966) "International Theory: The Case for the Classical Approach." World Politics 18: 361-377
- Kuhn, T. S. (1962) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
- Lakatos, I. (1978) The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes, Vol. 1. London UK: Cambridge University Press.
- Popper, K. (1959) The Logic of Scientific Discovery. London, UK: Hutchinson.
Session 4 (Oct. 8): Levels of Analysis
- Singer, J. D. “The Level of Analysis Problem in International Relations,” World Politics, 14, 1 (1961)
- Waltz, Kenneth. Man, the State, and War (chap. 2, 4 and 6)
- Wendt, Alexander, “The Agent-Structure Problem in International Relations Theory,” International Organization, vol.41, Summer 1987, pp. 35-73
- Sagan, Scott, “Why Do States Build Nuclear Weapons? Three Models in Search of a Bomb,” International Security, vol.21, Winter 1996/97, pp. 54-86
PART II: ‘SYSTEMIC’ LEVEL
Session 5 (Oct. 15, rescheduled to Oct 13, 12:15-14:00, SGAS): Power and States
Further readings (Optional):
- Braumoeller, Bear F. 2008. "Systemic Politics and the Origins of Great Power Conflict." American Political Science Review 102(1): 77-93.
- Fearon, James, “Rationalist Explanations for War,” International Organization 49, Summer 1995
- Gilpin, Robert. “The Theory of Hegemonic War.” Journal of Interdisciplinary History 18, 4 (Spring 1988): 591-613
- Schweller, Randall, “Unanswered Threats: A Neoclassical Realist Theory of Underbalancing,” International Security 29, 2 (2004)
Session 6 (Oct. 22, rescheduled to Oct 24, 10:15-12:00, SGAS): Power, States and Institutions
Session 7 (Oct. 29): Ideas, Culture and Constructivism
- Fearon, James and Alexander Wendt, “Rational v. Constructivism: A Skeptical View,” in Walter Carlesnaes, Thomas Risse, and Beth Simmons, Handbook of IR.
- Alexander Wendt, “Anarchy Is What States Make of It,” International Organization, 46,2 (1992)
- Emanuel Adler, Seizing the Middle Ground: Constructivism in World Politics, European Journal of International Relations, Sept 1997
- Price, Richard 2008. "Moral Limit and Possibility in World Politics." International Organization 62(Spring): 191-220.
- Devlen, Balkan, Patrick James, et al. 2005. "The English School, International Relations, and Progress." International Studies Review 7: 171-197.
Further readings (Optional)
- Alexander Wendt, A Social Theory of Intl Politics, ch.6
- Martha Finnemore and Kathryn Sikkink, “Taking Stock: The Constructivist Research Program in IR and Comparative Politics,” Annual Review of Political Science, vol. 4 2001, pp. 391-416.
- Ruggie, John, "What Makes the World Hang Together? Neo-Utilitarianism and the Social Constructivist Challenge," introduction to Ruggie, Constructing the World Polity: Essays on International Institutionalization, pp. 1-39.
Session 8 (Nov. 5): Alliances vs. Security Communities
- Walt, Stephen. The Origins of Alliances, 1987, ch.1, 2, 5 and 8
- Deutsch, Karl W. et al., Political Community and the North Atlantic Area: International Organization in the Light of Historical Experience (Princeton: Princeton University Press 1957) (chap 1-3)
- Adler, Emanuel 2008. "The Spread of Security Communities: Communities of Practice, Self-Restraint, and NATO's Post-Cold War Transformation." European journal of International Relations 14(2): 195-230.
- Adler, Emanuel and Michael Barnett, eds., Security Communities (1998) (chap2)
Further readings (Optional):
- Christensen/Snyder, “Chain Gangs and Passed Bucks: predicting alliance patterns in multipolarity,” International Organization 44.2, 1990
Session 9 (Nov. 12): Governance and International Organization
- Haas, Ernst. B. (1980). "Why Collaborate? Issue-Linkage and International Regimes." World Politics 32: 357-405.
- Koromenos, Barbara, Charles Lipson, and Duncan Snidal, "The Rational Design of International Institutions," International Organization 55, 4 (Autumn 2001)
- Cooper, Scott, Darren Hawkins, et al. 2008. "Yielding Sovereignty to International Institutions: Bringing System Structure Back In." International Studies Review 10: 501-524.
- Duffield, John S. 2007. "What are International Institutions?" International Studies Review 9: 1-22.
PART III: DOMESTIC LEVEL
Session 10 (Nov. 19): Democratic Peace
- Russett, Bruce and John O’Neal, Triangulating Peace: Democracy, Interdependence, and International Organizations (2001), (chap. 1-5)
- Rosato, Sebastian, "The Flawed Logic of Democratic Peace Theory," American Political Science Review 97, 4, (2003)
- Edward Mansfield and Jack Snyder, "Democratization and the Danger of War," International Security, vol. 20, Summer 1995, pp. 5-38.
- Walker, Thomas C. 2008. "Two Faces of Liberalism: Kant, Paine, and the Question of Intervention." International Studies Quarterly 52: 449-468.
Further readings (Optional):
- Dan Reiter and Allan Stam, Democracies at War, ch.1-2, 8
- Doyle, "Liberalism and World Politics," American Political Science Review 80 (1986):1151-69.
- Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, James Morrow, Randolph Siverson, and Alastair Smith, "An Institutional Explanation of the Democratic Peace," APSR, vol. 93, December 1999, pp. 791-807.
- James Fearon, "Domestic Political Audiences and the Escalation of International Disputes," American Political Science Review, vol. 88, September 1994, pp. 577-592.
Session 11 (Nov. 26): Bureaucratic/Organizational Politics
- Simon, Herbert. Administrative Behavior, 4th edition, 1997 (chap. 1-4).
- Allison, Graham. "Conceptual Models and the Cuban Missile Crisis," American Political Science Review, vol. 63, September 1969, pp. 689-718
- Bendor, Jonathan and Thomas H. Hammond, "Rethinking Allison’s Models," American Political Science Review, Vol. 86, No. 2. (June 1992), pp. 301-322.
- Michael Barnett and Martha Finnemore, Rules for the World: International Organizations in Global Politics (2004), ch. 2.
- Steinbruner, John D. The Cybernetic Theory of Decision: New Dimensions of Political Analysis (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press 1974), ch. 3.
Further readings (Optional):
- Olsen, Johan P., "Garbage Cans, New Institutionalism, and the Study of Politics," American Political Science R. 95, 1 (2001): 191-8.
- Frieden, Jeffry. "Invested Interests," International Organization, vol. 45, Autumn 1991, 425-52.
PART IV: INDIVIDUAL LEVEL
Session 12 (Dec. 3): Leaders and Personalities
- Byman, Daniel and Kenneth Pollack, "Let Us Now Praise Great Men: Bringing the Statesman Back In," International Security, vol. 25, Spring 2001, pp. 107-46.
- Hermann, Margaret, "Explaining Foreign Policy Behavior Using the Personal Characteristics of Political Leaders," International Studies Quarterly, 24, pp.7-46 (1980)
- Kaarbo, Juliet and Margaret G. Hermann, "Leadership Styles of Prime Ministers: How Individual Differences Affect the Foreign Policymaking Process." Leadership Quarterly, 9, 243-263.
- Hermann, Margaret, Thomas Preston, Baghat Korany and Timothy Shaw, "Who Leads Matters: The Effects of Powerful Individuals," International Studies Review, 3 (2), Summer 2001: 83-132.
Session 13 (Dec. 10): Cognition and Psychology
- Jervis, Robert. Perception and Misperception in International Politics, ch.1, 2
- Paul 't Hart, Eric Stern and Bengt Sundelius, "Foreign Policy-Making at the Top: Political Group Dynamics," in Paul 't Hart, Eric Stern and Bengt Sundelius (Eds.), Beyond Groupthink (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1997), chap 1&3
- Levi Ariel and Philip E. Tetlock. "A Cognitive Analysis of Japan's 1941 Decision for War" The Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 24, No. 2. (June 1980), pp. 195-211.
- Vertzberger, Yaacov Y. I. "Foreign Policy Decisionmakers As Practical-Intuitive Historians: Applied History and Its Shortcomings," International Studies Quarterly, Vol. 30, No. 2. (June 1986), pp. 223-247.
Further readings (Optional)
- Janis Irving L., Groupthink. 2nd rev. ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1982.
Snyder, Richard. Perceptions of the Security Dilemma in 1914 in Psychology and Deterrence, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985
- Khong, Yuen Foong, Analogies at War: Korea, Munich, Dien Bien Phu, and
the Vietnam Decisions of 1965. Princeton University Press, 1992.
- James Goldgeier and Philip Tetlock, "Psychology and International Relations Theory," Annual Review of Political Science, 2001, vol. 4, pp. 67-92.
- Russett, Bruce and John O’Neal, Triangulating Peace: Democracy, Interdependence, and International Organizations (2001), (chap. 1-5)
CONCLUSION
Session 14 (Dec. 17): New Frontiers in IR and Political Theory
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