B0305 - THEORIES OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS (ADVANCED)

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

"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.

Contenuti

PART I: INTRODUCTION TO THE FIELD

Week 1

1.1 Political Philosophy and International Politics

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

Week 2

2.1 The Role and Methods of Theory in International Relations

PART II: SYSTEMIC THEORIES OF WORLD POLITICS

2.2 Anarchy, Polarity, and Neorealism, part 1

Week 3

3.1 Anarchy, Polarity, and Neorealism, part 2

3.2 Strategic Bargaining, Conflict and Cooperation

Week 4

4.1 Neoliberal Institutionalism, part 1

4.2 Neoliberal Institutionalism, part 2

Week 5

5.1 Systems and Change, part 1

5.2 Systems and Change, part 2

PART III: INTERNATIONAL POLITICS, FOREIGN POLICY AND DOMESTIC POLITICS

Week 6

6.1 Domestic Institutions and Foreign Policy

6.2 Organizational and Bureaucratic Politics

Week 7

7.1 The Second Image Reversed

7.2 The Psychology of International Relations

PART IV: CURRENT PERSPECTIVES ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Week 8

8.1 The Constructivist Challenge

8.2 Anarchy vs. Hierarchy – and War

Week 9

9.1 A Globalized World?

9.2 The Liberal International Order and Its Critics

Week 10

10.1 Unipolarity and the Rise of China

10.2 The Ukrainian War

Testi/Bibliografia

PART I: INTRODUCTION TO THE FIELD

Week 1

1.1 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.

V. Lenin, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism (1917), any edition, chapt. VII.

1.2 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.

Week 2

2.1 The 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, Columbia University Press, 1959, pp. 224-238.

S. Van Evera, Guide to Methods for Students of Political Science, Cornell University Press, 1997, pp. 7-48.

PART II: SYSTEMIC THEORIES OF WORLD POLITICS

2.2 Anarchy, Polarity, and Neorealism, part 1

K. Waltz, Theory of International Politics, Addison-Wesley, 1979, pp. 79-128 and 161-193.

Week 3

3.1 Anarchy, Polarity, and Neorealism, part 2

J. Snyder, Myths of Empire. Domestic Politics and International Ambition, Cornell University Press, 1991, pp. 1-20.

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

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

3.2 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.

C. Achen and D. Snidal, «Rational Deterrence Theory and Comparative Case Studies», World Politics, XLI, 2, 1989, pp. 143-169.

T. Schelling, Arms and Influence, Yale University Press, 1966, pp. 35-55 and 69-116.

G. Snyder, «Process Variables in Neorealist Theory», in B. Frankel (ed.), Realism: Restatements and Renewal, Cass, 1996, pp. 167-192.

Week 4

4.1 Neoliberal Institutionalism, part 1

R. Gilpin, The Political Economy of International Relations, Princeton University Press, 1987, pp. 72-80.

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

4.2 Neoliberal Institutionalism, part 2

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.

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 5

5.1 Systems and Change, part 1

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

R. Jervis, «Cooperation under the Security Dilemma», World Politics, XXX, 2, 1978, pp. 167-214.

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

5.2 Systems and Change, part 2

A.F.K. Organski and J. Kugler, The War Ledger, University of Chicago Press, 1980, pp. 13-63.

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.

PART III: INTERNATIONAL POLITICS, FOREIGN POLICY AND DOMESTIC POLITICS

Week 6

6.1 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.

6.2 Organizational and Bureaucratic Politics

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

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

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

Week 7

7.1 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.

7.2 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, Princeton University Press, 1992, pp. 3-68.

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

J. Gross Stein, «The Micro-Foundations of International Relations Theory: Psychology amd Behavioral Economics», International Organization, LXXI, Supplement 1, 2017, pp. 249-263.

PART IV: CURRENT PERSPECTIVES ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Week 8

8.1 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.

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

8.2 Anarchy vs. Hierarchy – and War

D. Lake, Hierarchy in International Relations, Cornell University Press, 2009, pp. 45-62.

H. Wagner, War and the State. The Theory of International Politics, University of Michigan Press, 2007, pp. 12-52 and 122-125.

J.G. Ikenberry and D. Nexon, «Hegemony Studies 3.0: The Dynamics of Hegemonic Orders», Security Studies, XXVIII, 3, 2019, pp. 395-421.

J. Fearon, «Cooperation, Conflict, and the Costs of Anarchy», International Organization, LXXII, 3, 2018, pp. 523-559.

Week 9

9.1 A Globalized World?

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.

K. Waltz, «Globalization and American Power», The National Interest, no. 59, Spring 2000, pp. 46-56.

9.2 The Liberal International Order and Its Critics

H. Bull, The Anarchical Society. A Study of Order in World Politics, MacMillan, 1977, pp. 3-22.

G.J. Ikenberry, Liberal Leviathan. The Origins, Crisis, and Transformation of the American World Order, Princeton University Press, 2011, pp. 33-117 and 333-360.

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

D. Lake, L. Martin and T. Risse, «Challenges to the Liberal Order: Reflections on International Organization», International Organization, LXXV, 2, 2021, pp. 225-257.

Week 10

10.1 Unipolarity and the Rise of China

W. Wohlforth, «The Stability of a Unipolar World», International Security, XXIV, 1, 1999, pp. 5-41.

N. Monteiro, «Unrest Assured. Why Unipolarity Is Not Peaceful», International Security, XXXVI, 3, 2011-12, pp. 9-40.

J. Mearsheimer, «Can China Rise Peacefully?», The National Interest, October 2014

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.

J. Levy, «Power Transition Theory of the Rise of China», in R. Ross and Z. Feng (eds.), China’s Ascent: Power, Security and the Future of International Politics, Cornell University Press, 2008, pp. 11-33.

10.2 The Ukrainian War

Metodi didattici

Lezioni frontali

Modalità di verifica e valutazione dell'apprendimento

Final, comprehensive, oral exam. Students will be expected to demonstrate knowledge that goes well beyond their lecture notes.

Strumenti a supporto della didattica

Nessuno

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Marco Cesa