AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT
Department of Political Studies and Public Administration
PSPA 310: Theories of International Relations
Professor Waleed Hazbun,
Office hours: Tues & Thurs 2-3 pm
Jesup Hall, Room No. 205
Spring 2007
Fridays 3 pm-5:30 pm
Nicely 327
This seminar presents a critical survey of international relations (IR) theory. We will cover
major theoretical approached to IR beginning with Realism, Liberalism and Constructivism
and then study diverse critical approaches including Green theory, post-colonialism, and
post- structuralism. Through these weeks that seek to cover the major outlines of these
approaches, we will also consider a text that relates one of these approached to the context of
the Middle East. While this is not a course about contemporary politics, in class discussion
students are welcome to relate these approaches to recently events in international politics.
The last weeks of the course will survey IR approaches to the study of the Middle East.
Textbook - Tim Dunne, Milja Kurki, and Steve Smith, (eds.) International Relations Theories:
Discipline and Diversity (Oxford, 2007).
Requirements:
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Seminar attendance and participation, 20% of final course grade
Five short (3 page) critical review/comment papers (on weeks of your choice), 10% each
Final paper (20 pages), 30% of final grade
Week 1. Introducing IR Theory
Week 2. Political Theory and IR: An overview
Dunne, Kurki, and Smith, (eds.) IR Theories: Introduction, Ch 1, 2, 15
Stephen Walt, “International Relations: One world, Many theories,” Foreign Policy, 110 (1998):
29-35
Week 3. Classical Realism and Structural Realism: Explaining the causes of war
Dunne, Kurki, and Smith, (eds.) IR Theories: Ch 2, 3
Kenneth N. Waltz, “The Origins of War in Neorealist Theory” Journal of Interdisciplinary
History, 18, Spring 1988: pp. 615–28
Week 4 “Subaltern realism:” Realism and IR of the developing world
Mohamed Ayoob, “Sublatern realism: International Relations theory meets the Third World,” in
International Relations theory and the Third World S.G. Neumann (St Martin’s Press, 1998)
Malik Mufti, Sovereign creations: Pan-Arabism and political order in Syria and Iraq (Cornell,
1996) 1-16
Steven R. David, “Why the Third World Still Matters,” International Security, Vol. 17, No. 3.
(Winter, 1992-1993), pp. 127-159.
Week 5. Liberalism and Neoliberalism: Re-explaining war, cooperation, and peace
Dunne, Kurki, and Smith, (eds.) IR Theories: Introduction, Ch 5, Ch 6
Robert O. Keohane, “International Institutions: Can Interdependence Work?” Foreign Policy,
(Spring 1998).
Robert O. Keohane,“The Globalization of Informal Violence, Theories of World Politics, and the
‘Liberalism of Fear’,” Dialogue IO, Spring 2002, 29-43
Week 6. The English School and international society
Dunne, Kurki, and Smith, (eds.) IR Theories: Introduction, Ch 7
Barry Buzan, “From International System to International Society: Structural Realism and
Regime Theory Meet the English School,” International Organization 47 (1993): 327-352.
Barry Buzan, “The Middle East Through English School Theory”
Week 7. Marxism and Gramscian perspectives
Dunne, Kurki, and Smith, (eds.) IR Theories: Introduction, Ch 8
Robert W. Cox, “Social Forces, States, and World Orders,” in Robert O. Keohane (ed.),
Neorealism and Its Critics, (Columbia, 1986), pp. 204-54.
Mark Rupert and M. Scott Solomon,” Globalization, Imperialism, and Terror,” in Globalization
and international political economy, (Roman & Littlefield, 2006) 107-135
Week 8. Constructivism
Dunne, Kurki, and Smith, (eds.) IR Theories: Introduction, Ch 9
Alexander Wendt, “Anarchy is what states make of it: The social construction of power politics,”
International Organization 46,2 (1992):391-425.
BREAK
Week 9. Feminism and Green Theory
Dunne, Kurki, and Smith, (eds.) IR Theories: Introduction, Ch 10 and 13
J. Ann Tickner , “Feminist Perspectives on 9/11,” International Studies Perspectives 3,4 (Nov.
2002): 333–350.
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Week 10. Post-structuralism
Dunne, Kurki, and Smith, (eds.) IR Theories: Ch 11
Timothy Luke, "The Discipline of Security Studies and the Codes of Containment: The case of
Kuwait,” Alternatives Vol 16 (1991): 315-344.
Week 11. Post-Colonialism
Dunne, Kurki, and Smith, (eds.) IR Theories: Introduction, Ch 12
Tarak Barkawi and Mark Laffey “Retrieving the Imperial: Empire and International Relations”
Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 31,1 (2002)
Week 12. Globalization, Cosmopolitanism, and IR theory
Dunne, Kurki, and Smith, (eds.) IR Theories: Introduction, Ch 14
Week 13 The Middle East as an IR subsystem (Reading list tentative)
Fred Halliday, The Middle East in international relations: power, politics and ideology
(Cambridge, 2005). Chapter 1
Paul C. Noble, “The Arab System: Pressures, Constraints and Opportunities,” in Bahgat Korany
and Ali E. Hillal Dessouki (eds.), The Foreign Policies of Arab States, (Westview Press,
1984/1991)
F. Gregory Gause III “Systemic Approaches to Middle East International Relations,”
International Studies Review, Vol. 1, No. 1. (Spring, 1999), pp. 11-31.
Greg Gause, “Rereading Paul Nobles’ Arab System” in Bassel Salloukh and Rex Brynen (eds.)
in Persistent permeability? (Ashgate 2004)
Hinnebusch and Ehteshami (eds), The Foreign Policies of Middle East states
Week 14 Constructivist approaches to Middle East politics
Steve Niva, “Contested Sovereignties and Postcolonial Insecurities in the Middle East,” in Jutta
Weldes et al. (eds.) Cultures of Insecurity (Minnesota, 1999), pp. 147-172.
Michael Barnett. “Identity and Alliances in the Middle East” in Katzenstein (ed.) The Culture of
National Security, pp. 400-447.
Marc Lynch, “Jordan’s Identity and Interests” in. in Telhami and Barnett (eds.) Identity and
Foreign Policy in the Middle East, (Cornell, 2002), pp. 26-57.
See also: Fouad Ajami, “The End of Pan-Arabism,” Foreign Affairs (Winter 1978/79): 355-373.
Week 15. Discussion of student paper project and/or discussion of readings of student
choice
Week 16. Discussion of student paper project and/or discussion of readings of student
choice
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