74682 - Theories Of International Relations

Learning outcomes

"The course provides an introduction to contemporary theories of International Relations. Its goals are (1) To present the study of International Relations as a field and to survey its main components; (2) To encourage the use of conceptual tools and theoretical insights in approaching issues in international politics. At the end of the semester students will be able to answer a set of important questions: what kinds of issues does International Relations theory address and about what kinds of problems? What methods are used to seek answers? What is the value of the answers? Where is this field headed and why? Accordingly, students will feel like they have a solid framework within which to read the major journals and are equipped with a set of conceptual and theoretical tools to interpret and explain the most relevant issues in contemporary international politics.

Course contents

The workload consists of twenty lectures, structured reading assignments, and a final in-class exam (see below).

PART I: INTRODUCTION TO THE FIELD

Week 1. Traditions of Thought: Political Philosophy and International Politics

Week 2. The Birth of a Discipline: «Utopianism» and Classical Realism

The Role and Methods of Theory in International Relations

PART II: SYSTEMIC THEORIES OF WORLD POLITICS

Week 3. Anarchy, Polarity, and Neorealism

Week 4. Strategic Bargaining, Conflict and Cooperation

Week 5. Liberal Institutionalism

Week 6. Systems and Change

PART III: INTERNATIONAL POLITICS, FOREIGN POLICY AND DOMESTIC POLITICS

Week 7. Domestic Institutions and Foreign Policy

Organizational and Bureaucratic Politics

Week 8. The Second Image Reversed

The Psychology of International Relations

PART IV: CURRENT PERSPECTIVES ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Week 9. The Constructivist Challenge

Ideology, Culture and International Affairs

Week 10. Traditional Theories and the Contemporary International System

Readings/Bibliography

PART I: INTRODUCTION TO THE FIELD

Week 1

Traditions of Thought: Political Philosophy and International Politics

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War (Penguin Edition), Book V, 84-116 (pp. 400-408: this is the so-called «Melian Dialogue»).

N. Machiavelli, «Words to Be Spoken on the Law for Appropriating Money» (1503), in Machiavelli. The Chief Works and Others, Duke University Press, 2005, vol. 3, pp. 1439-1443.

A. Wolfers and L. Martin (eds.), The Anglo-American Tradition in Foreign Affairs, Yale University Press, 1956: excerpts from various works of T. Hobbes, pp. 26-40; J. Bentham, pp. 180-191, J.S. Mill, pp. 206-220.

I. Kant, Perpetual Peace (1795), any edition.

W. Mommsen, Theories of Imperialism, Random House, 1980, pp. 29-65.

Week 2

2.1 The Birth of a Discipline: «Utopianism» and Classical Realism

A. Wolfers and L. Martin (eds.), The Anglo-American Tradition in Foreign Affairs, Yale University Press, 1956: excerpts from the writings of W. Wilson, pp. 263-279.

E. Carr, The Twenty Years' Crisis, 1919-1939, Macmillan, 1939 (any edition), chapts. 3-5.

L. Ashworth, «Where are the Idealists in Interwar International Relations?», Review of International Studies, XXXII, 2, 2006, pp. 291-308.

H. Morgenthau, Politics among Nations, Knopf, 1948 (any edition), chapt. 1.

S. Hoffmann, «Hans Morgenthau: The Limits and Influence of Realism», in S. Hoffmann, Janus and Minerva, Westview, 1987, pp. 70-81.

2.2The Role and Methods of Theory in International Relations

R. Aron, «What Is a Theory of International Relations?» (1967), in Politics and History (edited by M. Conant), Macmillan, 1978, pp. 166-185.

K. Waltz, «Realist Thought and Neorealist Theory» Journal of International Affairs, XLIV, 1, 1990, pp. 21–37.

K. Waltz, Man, the State and War, ColumbiaUniversity Press, 1959, pp. 224-238.

M. Hollis and S. Smith, Explaining and Understanding International Relations, Clarendon, 1991, pp. 45-91.

PART II: SYSTEMIC THEORIES OF WORLD POLITICS

Week 3

Anarchy, Polarity, and Neorealism

K. Waltz, Theory of International Politics, pp. 79-128; 161-193.

J. Mearsheimer, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, Norton, 2001, pp. 29-54.

C. Glaser, Rational Theory of International Politics: The Logic of Competition and Cooperation, Princeton University Press, 2010, pp. 51-92.

D. Fiammenghi, «The Security Curve and the Structure of International Politics: A Neorealist Synthesis», International Security, XXXV, 4, 2011, pp. 126-154.

Week 4

Strategic Bargaining, Conflict and Cooperation

G. Snyder, «"Prisoner's Dilemma" and "Chicken" Models in International Politics», International Studies Quarterly, XV, 1, 1971, pp. 66-103.

R. Axelrod, The Evolution of Cooperation, Basic Books, 1984, pp. 27-54.

T. Schelling, Arms and Influence, Yale University Press, 1966, pp. 1-125.

J. Fearon, «Rationalist explanations for war», International Organization, IL, 3, 1995, pp. 379-414

Week 5

Liberal Institutionalism

A. Hasenclever, P. Mayer and V. Rittberger, «Interests, Power, Knowledge: The Study of International Regimes», Mershon International Studies Review, IL, suppl. 2, 1996, pp. 177-205.

R. Keohane, After Hegemony, PrincetonUniversity Press, 1984, pp. 49-109.

G.J. Ikenberry, After Victory. Institutions, Strategic Restraint, and the Rebuilding of Order after Major Wars, Princeton University Press, 2001, pp. 50-79 and 257-273.

R. Keohane, «Twenty Years of Institutional Liberalism», International Relations, XXVI, 2, 2012, pp. 125-138.

Week 6

Systems and Change

R. Aron, Peace and War: A Theory of International Relations, Doubleday, 1973, pp. 94-104.

J. Gaddis, «The Long Peace», International Security, X, 4, 1986, pp. 99-142.

R. Gilpin, «The Theory of Hegemonic War», in R.I Rotberg and T.K. Rabb (eds.), The Origin and Prevention of Major Wars, Cambridge University Press, 1989, pp. 15-37.

W. Wohlforth, « No One Loves a Realist Explanation: The Cold War’s End Revisited», International Politics, XLVIII, 4/5, 2011, pp.441-459.

R. Jervis, «Unipolarity: A Structural Perspective», World Politics, LXI, 1, 2009, pp. 188-213.

PART III: INTERNATIONAL POLITICS, FOREIGN POLICY AND DOMESTIC POLITICS

Week 7

7.1 Domestic Institutions and Foreign Policy

J. Owen, «How Liberalism Produces Democratic Peace», International Security, XIX, 2, 1994, pp. 87-125.

S. Rosato, «The Flawed Logic of Democratic Peace Theory», American Political Science Review, XCVII, 4, 2003, pp. 585-602.

A. Gat, «The Democratic Peace Theory Reframed: The Impact of Modernity»,World Politics, LVIII, 1, 2005, pp. 73-100.

7.2 Organizational and Bureaucratic Politics

G. Allison and P. Zelikov, Essence of Decision. Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis, 2 ed. Longman 1999, pp. 197-242 and 325-366.

B. Bernstein, «Understanding Decision-making, U.S. Foreign Policy and the Cuban Missile Crisis: A Review Essay», International Security, XXV, 1, 2000, pp. 134-164.

S. Sagan, The Limits of Safety: Organizations, Accidents, and Nuclear Weapons, Princeton University Press, 1993, pp. 156-203.

Amy Zegart, Spying Blind: The CIA, the FBI, and the Origins of 9/11, Princeton University Press, 2007, pp. 101-119.

Week 8

8.1 The “Second Image Reversed”

P. Gourevitch, «The Second Image Reversed», International Organization, XXXII, 4, 1978, pp. 881-912.

S. Lobell, N. Ripsman and J. Taliaferro (eds.), Neoclassical Realism, the State, and Foreign Policy, Cambridge, 2009, «Introduction», pp. 1-41.

M. Mastanduno, D. Lake and G.J. Ikenberry, «Toward a Realist Theory of State Action», International Studies Quarterly, XXXIII, 4, 1989, pp. 457-474.

K. Waltz, «Globalization and American Power», The National Interest, no. 59, Spring 2000 (https://nationalinterest.org/article/globalization-and-american-power-1225 )

8.2 The Psychology of International Relations

R. Jervis, «War and Misperception», Journal of Interdisciplinary History, XVIII, 4, 1988, pp. 675-698.

I. Janis, Groupthink, Houghton Mifflin, 1982, pp. 2-13; 72-96; 174-197.

Y. Khong, Analogies at War, PrincetonUniversity Press, 1992, pp. 3-68.

J. Mercer, «Prospect Theory and Political Science», Annual Review of Political Science, 8, 2005, pp. 1-21.

PART IV: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AFTER THE COLD WAR

Week 9

9.1 The Constructivist Challenge

A. Wendt, «Anarchy Is What States Make of It: The Social Construction of Power Politics», International Organization, XLVI, 2, 1992, pp. 391-425.

M. Finnemore and K. Sikkink, «International Norms Dynamics and Political Change», International Organization, LII, 4, 1998, pp. 887-918.

M. Keck and K. Sikkink, Activists beyond Borders, Advocacy Networks in International Politics, Cornell University Press, 1998, pp. TBA.

D. Fiammenghi, «“Anarchy Is What States Make of It”: True in a Trivial Sense; Otherwise, Wrong», International Politics, LVI, 1, 2019, pp. 17-32.

9.2 Ideology, Culture and International Affairs

F. Fukuyama, «The End of History?», The National Interest, 16, Summer 1989, pp. 3-16.

S. Huntington, «The Clash of Civilizations?», Foreign Affairs, LXXII, 3, 1993, pp. 22-49.

D. Held and A. McGrew, «The End of the Old Older? Globalization and the Prospects for World Order», Review of International Studies, XXIV, 5, 1998, pp. 219-245.

J. Grygiel, «The Primacy of Premodern History», Security Studies, XXII, 1, 2013, pp. 1-32.

Week 10

Traditional Theories and the Contemporary International System

G.J. Ikenberry, Liberal Leviathan, PrincetonUniversity Press, 2011, pp. 333-360.

J. Mearsheimer, «Bound to Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Liberal International Order», International Security, XLIII, 4, 2019, pp. 7-50.

S. Brooks and W. Wohlforth, «The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers in the Twenty-First Century: China’s Rise and the Fate of America’s Global Position», International Security, XL, 3, 2015/16, pp. 7–53.

B. Posen, «From Unipolarity to Multipolarity: Transition in Sight?», in G.J. Ikenberry, M. Mastanduno and W. Wohlforth (eds.), International Relations Theory and the Consequences of Unipolarity, Cambridge University Press, 2011, pp. 317-341.

J. Mearsheimer, «Can China Rise Peacefully?», The National Interest, April 2014, http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/can-china-rise-peacefully-10204

J. Kirshner, «The Tragedy of Offensive Realism: Classical Realism and the Rise of China», European Journal of International Relations, XVIII, 1, 2010, pp. 53-75

Teaching methods

Lectures

Assessment methods

Final, in-class, comprehensive written exam (3 hours). Students will be asked to write two essays, and will be expected to demonstrate knowledge that goes well beyond their lecture notes.

Teaching tools

None

Office hours

See the website of Marco Cesa