World Politics
Amherst College
Political Science 13 (26)
Fall
2007
Pavel Machala
Clark House 203
M 3:30-5:00 & F 3:00-5:00pm
(08-21-07)
pmachala@amherst.edu
www.amherst.edu/~pmachala/
542-2095 or 542-2318
This is an introductory course which examines the interaction of military, political,
economic, social and cultural forces in present-day world politics. Close attention is paid to
the complex relationship between two central components of this system: great power
relations and global capitalist dynamics. Among the topics covered are hegemonic stability
and the rise and fall of the great powers, the changing role of state sovereignty, the strengths
and weaknesses of international civil society, as well as the role of justice and
international/transnational legal institutions in world politics. Other issues to be discussed
include the relations of the world’s sole superpower (the United States) vis-à-vis the newly
emerging geopolitical centers of power, namely the European Union, China, India and
Russia, as well as such regions as the Middle East and Latin America. The course does not
rely on a single theoretical framework; instead, we will follow in the path of such world
classics as Kautylia, Sun Tzu, Thucydides, Clausewitz, Locke, Kant, and Karl Marx.
SYLLABUS AND READING ASSIGNMENTS

You can find the electronic version of this syllabus EITHER in
Blackboard/Course Information OR at http://www.amherst.edu/~pmachala/
syllabi.
 The course is divided into THREE major parts and 25
sections. Unless otherwise indicated, each section
corresponds to one class meeting.
 Blackboard and Webpage
Throughout the course we will be relying heavily on Blackboard
(https://blackboard.amherst.edu/webapps/login) and my webpage
(http://www.amherst.edu/~pmachala/ ). Therefore, it is incumbent upon you to
familiarize yourself with their basic features. For example, throughout the semester,
I will be posting on Blackboard's Course Information any new information about
course-related events, such as speakers. Notification of any new reading material
1
will be posted on Blackboard's Announcements. All assigned multilith readings can
be accessed through my webpage.
 Materials to be Read
o Throughout the course we will be referring to current events in world politics and
American foreign policy. Please try to read one major (U.S. or non-U.S.)
newspaper on a regular (preferably daily) basis.
o The following books are recommended for purchase at Amherst Books (corner
of Main and South Pleasant Street):
Immanuel Kant, Perpetual Peace and Other Essays (Hackett)
Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince (Crofts Classics)
Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto (Crofts
Classics)
Thucydides, On Justice, Power and Human Nature (Hackett)
o ALL OTHER required readings for this course exist in BOTH electronic and
paper forms. OPTIONAL readings exist only in an electronic form.
o You may purchase these required reading in two multilith packets. The first
volume is already available. The second volume multilith will be ready by
October 1. To purchase these multiliths go to the Political Science Office, Room
103 Clark House.
o You can also access the electronic version of the multilith readings through my
website (http://www.amherst.edu/~pmachala/ ). You can access these readings
by using the electronic version of the syllabus and then clicking on the texts’
hyperlinks (username: “student;” password: “student0708”).
o Books recommended for purchase are marked (P). Readings compiled in
multilith form are marked (M). Readings available in electronic are marked
(W).
o For those of you who are weak in political geography, I recommend that you
purchase a current political world map; several versions of such map are
available at A. J. Hastings, 45 South Pleasant Street and Staples. (One of the online quizzes is going to be political geography test! You can practice geography
test in Political Science 26 Blackboard/ External Links.)
2
1.
Introduction to the Course (Tuesday, September 4)
I. AMERICAN DISCOURSES OF WORLD POLITICS
2.
“The Rise and Fall of Great Powers” (Thursday, September 6)
Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of Great Powers, pp. xv-xxv; 86-100, 514-535 (W) (M)
Paul Kennedy, Mission Impossible?, New York Review of Books (06-10-04), 2004
(W)(M)
Colin Gray, In Defence of the Heartland: Sir Halford Mackinder and His Critics a
Hundred Years On, Comparative Strategy, Volume 23:Issue 9, 2004 (W) (M)
Henry Nau, “Why “Rise and Fall of Great Powers” Was Wrong,” Review of International
Studies, 27, 2001 (W) (M)
3.
“The End of History” and “The Democratic Peace Theory”
(Tuesday, September 11)
Francis Fukuyama, “The End of History?” National Interest, no.16, summer 1989 (W)
(M)
Francis Fukuyama, “The West Has Won,” Guardian, October 21, 2001 (W) (M)
John Fonte, “The Fracturing the West?,” Policy, Spring) 2002 (W) (M)
Jacques Attali, The Crash of Western Civilization, Foreign Policy, 107 Summer, 1997
(W) (M)
4.
“The Clash of Civilizations” (Thursday, September 13)
Samuel Huntington, “The Clash of Civilizations?” Foreign Affairs, summer 1993 (W) (M
Nathan Gardels with Samuel Huntington, Osama bin Laden Has Given Common Identity
Back to the West, New Perspectives Quarterly, 22(3) summer 2005 (W) (M)
Frances Fukuyama, “Clash of Cultures and American Hegemony,” (W)(M)
PHILIP SEIB, “The News Media and the “Clash of Civilizations,” (W) (M)
Orhan Pamuk, The Anger of the Damned, New York Review of Books, 2001 (W) (M)
Timothy Samuel Shah and Monica Duffy Toft, Why God is Winning, (W) (M)
3
DANIEL PHILPOTT, THE CHALLENGE OF SEPTEMBER 11 TO SECULARISM IN
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS (W) (M)
5.
Globalization (Tuesday, September 18)
Thomas Friedman & Ignacio Ramonet, “Dueling Globalizations,” Foreign Policy, Fall
1999 (W) (M)
Thomas Friedman, “It’s A Flat World, After All,” New York Times, April 3, 2005
Mark Kesselman, “Globalization as a Contested Terrain,” (W) (M)
Alan Tonelson, “Globalization: The Great American Non-Debate” (W) (M)
Jan Aart Scholte, Global capitalism and the state, International Affairs, Volume 73:Issue
3 July, 1997 (W) (M)
Martin Wolf, Will the Nation-State Survive Globalization?, Foreign Affairs, Volume
80:Issue 1 January/February, 2001 (W) (M)
6.
Empire (Thursday, September 20)
George W. Bush, “The National Security Strategy of the United States,” September 17,
2002 September 20, 2002 Excerpts from President Bush's outline of "The National
Security Strategy of the United States." New York Times, September 20, 2002 (W) (M)
Patrick Tyler, “U.S. Strategy Plan Calls for Insuring No Rivals Develop – A OneSuperpower World, New York Times, March 8, 1992 (W) (M)
Excerpts from Pentagon’s Plan: “Prevent the Re-emergence of a New Rival,” New York
Times, March 8, 1992 (W) (M)
NSC 68: United States Objectives and Programs for National Security (April 14, 1950)
(W)
Thomas E. Ricks, “Empire or Not? A Quiet Debate Over U.S. Role,” Washington Post,
21 August 2001
Emily Eakin, “'It takes an empire,' say several U.S. thinkers,”
New York Times , April 2, 2002 http://www.amherst.edu/~pmachala/Archive/Eakin, It
takes an empire.doc (W) (M)
Ivo H. Daalder, James M. Lindsay, “American Empire, Not IF but What Kind,” New
York Times, May 10, 2003 (W) (M)
Neta C. Crawford, “The Road to Global Empire: The Logic of U.S. Foreign Policy After
9/11, (W) (M)
4
Robert Cooper, Imperial Liberalism, National Interest, Spring 2005, Issue 79 (W) (M)
Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., The American Empire? Not So Fast,” (W) (M)
John Hillen, The Mechanics of Empire (W) (M)
Doug Stokes, The Heart of Empire? Theorizing US Empire in an Era of Transnational
Capitalism, Third World Quarterly, Volume 26:Issue 2, 2005 (W) (M)
II. POLITICAL THEORY AND WORLD POLITICS
7.
Empire’s Justice (Tuesday, September 25)
Thucydides, On Justice, Power and Human Nature, chs. 1, 2, 4 and 6 (P) (Reserve)
RICHARD NED LEBOW AND ROBERT KELLY, “Thucydides and Hegemony:
Athens and the United States,” Review of International Studies (2001), 27, 593–609 (W)
(M)
8.
Reason of State (Thursday, September 27)
Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, (read Crofts Classics edition!!) chs. 1-10, 15-19, 21-26
(P) (Reserve)
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, ch. 13 (W) (M)
9.
War as an Extension Foreign Policy (Tuesday, October 2)
Karl von Clausewitz, On War, Book One, chapter one and two; chapter three, four, five,
and six (read Princeton Univ. Press edition Michael Howard) READ the text in BOTH
links (W) (M)
Michael Howard, "Clausewitz: Man of the Year", New York Times, 1/28/91 (W) (M)
HEW STRACHAN , A CLAUSEWITZ FOR EVERY SEASON: On misreading “On
War,” American Interest, 2007 (W) (M)
10.
Foreign Policy as an Extension of War (Thursday, October 4)
Roger Boesche, First Great Political Realist: Kautilya and his Arthashatra: chapter
one; chapter five and conclusion [READ texts in BOTH links (W) (M)
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Kautilya, Arthashastra (W) (M)
SUN TZU, THE ART OF WAR (W) (M)
Mark Danner, The Logic of Torture, New York Review of Books (06-24-04),
2004 (W) (M)
11.
Liberal Peace (Thursday, October 11)
Immanuel Kant, Perpetual Peace (Make sure that you read from the Hackett
edition; otherwise you will read the wrong pages !!), pp. 104-139 and pp. 33-37
(Reserve) (P) [Read all, including the First and Second Supplement and
Appendix I and II)
Roger Scruton, “Immanuel Kant and the Iraq War, Open Democracy, February
19, 2004 (W) (M)
Antje Vollmer, “Immanuel Kant and Iraq: reply to Roger Scruton,” Open
Democracy, April 1, 2004 (W) (M)
12.
Capitalist Peace (Tuesday October 16 )
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Communist Manifesto (make sure that you read
from the Crofts Classics edition; otherwise you may read the wrong chapters !!)
chs. 1-2 (Reserve) (P)
Karl Marx, The Future Results of British Rule in India, MECW, Volume 12:Issue
(W) (M)
John Cassidy, “The Return of Karl Marx,” New Yorker, October 20, 1997 (W)
(M)
David P. Calleo, "Restarting the Marxist Clock?" (excerpts) World Policy
Journal, Summer 1996 (W) (M)
13.
IN-CLASS EXAM (Tuesday, October 18)
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