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 (30 hours with Prof. Dian)

1. What is IR theory?
2. Classic Realism
3. Structural realism and hegemonic stability
4. Deterrence and rational bargaining theories
5. Security Alliances
6. Nuclear Weapons
7. Liberalism, democracy, trade and institutions
8. Liberalism and the liberal order
9. Decline of the Liberal International Order 1: The EH Carr Crisis
10. Decline of the Liberal International Order 1: The Polanyi Crisis
11. Constructivism
12. Identity and collective memory 1
13. Identity and collective memory 2
14. Critical IR
15. The English School

10 hours with Prof. Andreatta

Contemporary topics in International Affairs (reading materials will be assigned via Virtuale)

1. NATO’s Expansion and Adaptation

2. Russia’s War Against Ukraine: Origins

3. Russia’s War Against Ukraine: Global Reactions

4. Rise of China and Territorial Disputes

5. China’s Vision for Security

6. The Belt and Road Initiative

7. North Korea and Nuclear Weapons

8. “Former Pacifists” and the Role of Middle Powers: Italy

9. “Former Pacifists” and the Role of Middle Powers: Germany

10. “Former Pacifists” and the Role of Middle Powers: Japan

11. BRICS and the Rise of the Global South

12. Military Interventions, R2P, and the West (Libya and Syria)

13. Military Interventions, R2P, and Non-Western Powers (Libya and Syria)

 

 

Readings/Bibliography

Lectures on theories

1. What is IR theory? The great debates

   Jackson, R. H. & Sørensen, G. (2013). Introduction to international relations: theories and approaches. Oxford University press. (ch. 1-2 Selected parts).

2. Classic Realism and Structural realism

   Kirshner, J. (2022). An unwritten future: Realism and uncertainty in world politics. Princeton University Press. (Ch1 What is Classical Realism? Thucydides and its Descendants)

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

3. Hegemonic stability

   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.

4. Deterrence and rational bargaining theories

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

   Reiter, D. (2023). Bargaining and War. In D. Reiter (Ed.), Understanding War and Peace (pp. 13–43). chapter, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

5. Security Alliances

   Lanoszka, A. (2022). Military alliances in the twenty-first century. John Wiley & Sons. (introduction, conclusion, abandonment)

6. Nuclear Weapons

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

   Horowitz, M. C. (2023). Nuclear Weapons. In D. Reiter (Ed.), Understanding War and Peace (pp. 339–370). chapter, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

   Talmadge, C. (2022). Multipolar deterrence in the emerging nuclear era. In V. Narang & S. D. Sagan (Eds.), The fragile balance of terror: Deterrence in the new nuclear age (pp. 13–38). Cornell University Press.

7. Liberalism, democracy, trade and institutions.

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

8. Liberalism and the liberal order

   Kundnani, H. (2017). What is the Liberal International Order?. German Marshall Fund of the United States.

   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.

9. Decline of the Liberal International Order 1: The Polanyi Crisis

   Flaherty, T. M., & Rogowski, R. (2021). Rising inequality as a threat to the liberal international order. International Organization, 75(2), 495-523.

   Milanovic, B. (2016). Global inequality: A new approach for the age of globalization. Harvard University Press. (ch1).

   Farrell, H. & Newman, A. (2025). The weaponized world economy: surviving the new age of economic coercion. Foreign Affairs, 104(5), 8-25.

10. Decline of the Liberal International Order 2: The EH Carr Crisis

    Ikenberry, G. J. (2018). The end of liberal international order?. International affairs, 94(1), 7-23.

    Walt, S. M. (2026). The predatory hegemon: the predatory hegemon: how Trump wields American power. Foreign Affairs, 105(2), 8-23.

11. 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.

12. Identity and collective memory 1

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

13. Identity and collective memory 2

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

    Soroka, G., & Krawatzek, F. (2021). When the past is not another country: The battlefields of history in Russia. Problems of Post-Communism, 68(5), 353-367.

14. 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.

15. The English School

Dian, M. (2021) US-China relations, the English School and the renegotiation of the international order. (unpublished working paper). From La Cina, gli Stati Uniti, e il Futuro dell’Ordine Internazionale Il Mulino Bologna 2021.

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

The readings for the seminars will be provided via Virtuale

Teaching methods

Lectures and seminars.

 

Attendance and active participation are highly recommended.

Assessment methods

 

Oral Exam on theories and 4 historical or contemporary case studies.

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