81295 - INTERNATIONAL POLITICS

Learning outcomes

The course aims to provide students with knowledge of the major theories and approaches to the analysis of international relations. In order to do so, it will focus on the structure of the international system, the dynamics of cooperation and conflict in the international arena, and the evolution of war in international politics. At the end of the course, students will be able to distinguish the key factors underpinning cooperation and conflict in world politics and to use the major theories in international relations to understand contemporary international political phenomena.

Course contents

Course contents

The course introduces students to the main theoretical traditions in international relations, including realism, liberalism, constructivism, the English School, and critical approaches to IR. It explores how these traditions conceptualize power, security, interests, institutions, and ideas, and how they contribute to our understanding of international politics.

Students will engage with the core theories of the discipline, such as balance of power, hegemonic stability, institutionalism, democratic peace, and capitalist peace. The course also examines the constructivist emphasis on norms and identity, the English School’s analyses of the evolution of the international order, as well as critical IR perspectives, which challenge mainstream theories by highlighting issues of inequality and colonialism

Lectures on theories

1. Classic realism
2. Structural Realism and hegemonic stability
3. Alliances, deterrence, nuclear weapons.
4. Liberalism: democracy, trade and institutions.
5. Liberalism and Liberal order
6. Constructivism
7. Identity and Collective memory.
8. Marxism-Critical IR
9. The English School
10. How to interpret events through IR theory and how to present them

History/empirics for seminars (reading materials will be assigned via Virtuale)

10 hours with Prof. Andreatta , 10 hours with Prof. Dian

Each student will select a case study to be interpreted and analysed through the lenses provided by a theoretical framework.

1. Origin of World War 1
2. The failure of Versailles and the origin of World War 2
3. The origin of the Cold War
4. The End of the Cold War
5. Building the LIO
6. NATO’s expansion and adaptation
7. LIO and its crisis (the Polanyi crisis)
8. LIO and its crisis (the E.H. Carr crisis).
9. Russia’s war against Ukraine (origin)
10. Russia’s war against Ukraine, global reactions.
11. Rise of China and territorial disputes
12. China’s vision for security
13. The Belt and Road Initiative.
14. North Korea and nuclear weapons
15. “Former Pacifists” and middle powers’ role (one between Italy, Germany and Japan)
16. BRICS and the rise of the Global South
17. Military Interventions and R2P (Libya and Syria) and the West
18. Military Interventions and R2P (Libya and Syria) and the Non Western powers.

 

Readings/Bibliography

Lectures on theories

1. Classic Realism

   Andreatta, F. (2017). Classic works in international relations [Morgenthau and Waltz]. Bologna: Il Mulino.

   Bell, D. (2017). Political realism and international relations. Philosophy Compass, 12(2), e12403.

2. Structural realism and hegemonic stability

   Andreatta, F. (2017). Classic works in international relations [Gilpin]. Bologna: Il Mulino.

   Friedberg, A. (2022). The growing rivalry between America and China and the future of globalization. Texas National Security Review, 5(1), 1–26.

   Mearsheimer, J. (2006). China’s unpeaceful rise. Current History.

3. Alliances, deterrence and nuclear weapons

   Andreatta, F. (2017). Classic works in international relations [Schelling]. Bologna: Il Mulino.

   Weitsman, P. A. (2010). Alliances and war. In Oxford research encyclopedia of international studies.

   Bell, M. S. (2024). The Russia–Ukraine war and nuclear weapons: Evaluating familiar insights. Journal for Peace and Nuclear Disarmament, 7(2), 494–508.

   or

   Narang, V. (2022). Seeking the bomb: Strategies of nuclear proliferation [Intro]. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

4. Liberalism, democracy, trade and institutions.

   Dunne, T. (2020). International relations theories: Discipline and diversity [Liberalism, by Bruce Russett] (5th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

   Ikenberry, G. J. (2020). A world safe for democracy: Liberal internationalism and the crises of global order [Chapter 2, Liberal Democracy and International Relations]. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

   OR

5. Liberalism and the liberal order

   Ikenberry, G. J. (2020). A world safe for democracy: Liberal internationalism and the crises of global order. Yale University Press. (chapter 5 OR 6)

   OR

   Lake, D. A., Martin, L. L., & Risse, T. (2021). Challenges to the liberal order: Reflections on international organization. International organization, 75(2), 225-257.

6. Constructivism

   Andreatta, F. (2017). Classic Works in International Relations, Bologna, Il Mulino, (Wendt)

   Wunderlich, C., Lucenti, F., Lantis, J. S., & Ducci, C. (2025). Contestation in prism: An introduction. In Contestation in prism: The evolution of norms and norm clusters in contemporary global politics (pp. 1-21). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.

   Stensrud, E. E., & Mennecke, M. (2024). On the 20th anniversary of the responsibility to protect: Can small states save R2P from failure and oblivion?. Nordic Journal of Human Rights, 42(4), 435-444.

7. Identity and collective memory

   Dian, M. (2017). Contested Memories in Chinese and Japanese Foreign Policy. Oxford: Elsevier. (ch.1).

   Olick, J. (2016). The Sins of the Fathers: Germany, Memory, Method. The University of Chicago Press. (Introduction).

8. Marxism and Critical IR

   Capan, Z. G. (2017). Decolonising international relations?. Third World Quarterly, 38(1), 1-15.

   Parmar, I. (2018). The US-led liberal order: imperialism by another name?. International Affairs, 94(1), 151-172.

   Sabaratnam, M., & Laffey, M. (2023). Complex indebtedness: justice and the crisis of liberal order. International Affairs, 99(1), 161-180.

9. The English School

   Dian, M. (2021) US-China relations, the English School and the renegotiation of the international order. (unpublished working paper).

   Buzan, B. (2023). Making global society: a study of humankind across three eras. Cambridge University Press. (selected parts)

10. How to interpret events through IR theory and how to present them

The readings for the seminars will be provided via Virtuale

Teaching methods

Lectures and seminars.

 

Attendance and active participation are highly recommended.

Assessment methods

In class presentation (1/3 of the grade).

Assignments will be evaluated on: 1) historical accuracy, 2) theoretical accuracy, 3) coherence in the theory’s application to the historical event in question, 4) theoretical breadth (you should mention at least one recommended item not in the required readings), 5) quality of the presentation. It is advised to start with the theory and then move to the historical interpretation.

Oral Exam (2/3) of the grade on theories and 4 cases among the list presented below.

Students will be asked to discuss different theories and to discuss some of the cases from the perspective of one or more of the theories.

Non attending students may take the oral exam on thories and readings on 8 case studies

Final grade: 30/30L Excellent knowledge of the theories and ability to apply them; 25-29 Good knowledge of the theories and ability to apply them; 21-24 Average knowledge of the theories and ability to apply them; 18-20 Sufficient knowledge of the theories and ability to apply them;

Teaching tools

Virtuale, Presentations.

Office hours

See the website of Matteo Dian

See the website of Filippo Andreatta