International Politics: Concepts and Theories
New York University
Department of Politics
Summer 2014
POL-GA 1700
Professor Shinasi A. Rama
Tuesday and Thursday: 18:00:00-20:30
Office: 529, 19 University Place
Email: shinasi.rama@nyu.edu
Office Hours: T. and Th. 17:00-18:00 and by appt.
Phone # (212) 998-8528
Course Description and Objectives:
This course offers a graduate-level introduction to theories of international politics and to some of
the important aspects of international politics. The class explores a variety of debates and findings
in the subfield of international relations. Coverage does not include every issue and approach, but
it addresses the core problems and perspectives animating mainstream IR in the United States
today. Students can expect to develop a sufficient understanding of the subfield to prepare for
further study and specialization, while advancing their knowledge of the substantive issues under
consideration.
The course is divided into two parts, though a sustained focus on theories, concepts, and central
debates extends throughout the semester. After an introduction to the broader debates and basic
epistemological questions, we begin with a critical examination of the leading theoretical
paradigms in IR. The remainder of the course is devoted to contemporary applications in various
areas of international security and political economy, weighted heavily toward the former. While
no explicit policymaking component is offered, students are encouraged to draw connections
between the course material and ongoing policy debates in world affairs.
Requirements and Grading:
You are expected to carefully read all the assigned material. Beyond that, you are required to
attend classes regularly, both the class and the recitation and to participate actively in discussions.
More than three absences will gravely affect your grade. Participation in the class discussions and
the recitations is mandatory. It also counts for 20% of your grade. You also are required to write
three short papers, 1500 words each (each counts for 20% of your grade). Four short take-home
assignments ask you to explain a historical or current IR event or problem with reference to the
theories presented in class and in the course readings.
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Readings:
There are a few books and many articles required for this course. The following books are
available for purchase at the NYU Bookstore. Aside from the books listed above, most of articles
are accessible through the Bobst Library Electronic Journals or in a course packet available for
purchase. Also, all readings are placed in the Bobst Library Reserve.
BOOKS:
Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, Alastair Smith, Randolph M. Siverson and James D. Morrow. The
Logic of Political Survival. Cambridge, MA.: MIT Press, 2004.
Hedley Bull, The Anarchical Society New York: Columbia University Press, 2003
John Mearsheimer, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics New York: Norton, 2003
Kenneth N. Waltz, Theory of International Politics, Addison-Wesley Press: Reading MA, 1979.
Edward Hallett Carr, The Twenty Years Crisis, 1919-1939 London: Macmillan, 1946 (we will be
using the most recent edition by Palgrave: London, 2001).
Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Power and Interdependence, 4rd edition New York:
Longman, 2011.
Jack Lewis Snyder, Myths of Empire, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1991.
Robert Gilpin. Global Political Economy: Understanding the International Economic Order.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001.
Scott D. Sagan and Kenneth N. Waltz. The Spread of Nuclear Weapons: A Debate Renewed. 2d
ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2003.
Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, New York:
Simon and Schuster, 1996.
Course Schedule:
Week 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE CLASS AND TO THE IR THEORIES
Edward Hallett Carr, “The Twenty Years' Crisis, 1919-1939, London: Palgrave 2001.
1. APPROACHES TO INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
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Week 2: COMPETING ASSUMPTIONS AND THE LEVELS OF ANALYSIS PROBLEM
IN IR THEORY
Thucydides, “The Melian Dialogue,” excerpt from The History of the Peloponnesian War, in
Richard K. Betts, ed., Conflict After the Cold War, 2nd ed., New York: Longman, 2008: 56-61.
Available at: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/melian.htm
Niccolo Machiavelli, “Doing Evil in Order to Do Good,” excerpt from The Prince, in Richard K.
Betts, ed., Conflict After the Cold War, 2nd edition New York: Longman, 2008: 61-66. and “On
the Duty of a Prince in Respect of Military Affairs” From The Prince Translated by N.H.
Thompson, New York: Collier, 1910: 48-51 and 57-59.
Thomas Hobbes, “The State of Nature and the State of War,” excerpt from Leviathan, in Richard
K. Betts, ed., Conflict After the Cold War, 2nd edition New York: Longman, 2002: 65-69.
Hugo Grotius, The Rights of War and Peace Translated by A.C. Campbell. New York: M. Walter
Dunne, 1901:55-57 and 62.
Immanuel Kant, “Perpetual Peace” in Richard K. Betts, ed., Conflict After the Cold War, 2nd
edition New York: Longman, 2008: 122-129.
Sigmund Freud, “Letter to Albert Einstein” The Collected Papers of Sigmund Freud edited by
James Strachey Volume 5 New York: Basic Books, 273-287. in Richard K. Betts, ed., Conflict
After the Cold War, 2nd edition New York: Longman, 2008: 171-179.
Woodrow Wilson, "Fourteen Points" Address to Congress, January 8, 1918 in
http://www.lib.byu.edu/rdh/wwi/
Francis Fukuyama, "The End of History,” National Interest, No. 16 Summer 1989:3-18.
Raymond Aron, "What is a Theory of International Relations?" Journal of International Affairs,
XXI, 1967: 185-206.
Stanley Hoffmann, "An American Social Science: International Relations," Daedalus 106/3 1977:
41-60.
Martin. Wight, ‘Why is There No International Theory?” in Diplomatic Investigations, ed. M.
Wight and H. Butterfield, London: G. Allen and Unwin, 1966.
Arnold Wolfers, Discord and Collaboration: Essays on International Politics Baltimore: The
Johns Hopkins Press, 1962: 3-24.
Bruce Bueno De Mesquita, “Christopher Columbus and International Relations”, in Principles of
International Politics, Washington DC: CQ, 2010.
Robert Jervis, “Perception and the Level of Analysis Problem” Perception and Misperception in
International Politics Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1976: 13-31.
Scott Sagan, “Why Do States Build Nuclear Weapons? Three Models in Search of a Bomb”
International Security Volume 21 Winter 1996-1997:54-86.
Week 3: CLASSICAL REALISM
Hans Morgenthau, Politics Among Nations, 5th Ed., New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1973: 1-55.
William C. Wohlforth, “Realism and the End of the Cold War,” International Security Volume 19
Number 3 Winter 1994-95: 91-129.
Gideon Rose. October 1998. “Neoclassical Realism and Theories of Foreign Policy,” World
Politics, Vol. 51, No. 1, pp. 144-172.
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Stephen G. Brooks. Summer 1997. “Dueling Realisms,” International Organization, Vol. 51, No.
3, pp. 445-477
Week 4: NEOREALISM AND THE STRUCTURE OF INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM
Kenneth N. Waltz, Theory of International Politics, Addison-Wesley Press: Reading MA, 1979.
Chapter 5-9.
John Mearsheimer, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics New York: Norton, 2003.
Robert Keohane, “Realism, Neorealism and the Study of World Politics” and “Theory of World
Politics: Structural Realism and Beyond,” in Keohane, ed., Neorealism and Its Critics. New York:
Columbia University Press, 1986, chs. 1, 7.
Week 5: LIBERALISM, NEO-LIBERALISM, NEOLIBERAL INSTITUTIONALISM:
INTERDEPENDENCE, REGIMES, & INSTITUTIONS
Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Power and Interdependence, 4rd edition AddisonWesley, 2011 (chapter 1-3 and 7-10).
Michael Doyle, “Liberalism and World Politics,” from American Political Science Review Volume
80, Number 4, December 1986: 1151-1169.
Helen Milner, “The Assumption of Anarchy in International Relations Theory: A Critique.”
Review of International Studies Volume 17 January 1991:67-85.
Robert Jervis, “Realism, Neoliberalism, and Cooperation: Understanding the Debate,”
International Security, Vol. 24, No. 1, Summer 1999: 42-63
Tony Smith, “National Security Liberalism and American Foreign Policy” in G. John Ikenberry,
American Foreign Policy 4th edition New York: Longman, 2004: 258-274.
Donald J. Puchala, “The Integration Theorists and the Study of International Relations” in Charles
W. Kegley and Eugene Wittkopf eds., The Global Agenda, 2nd ed. 1988:198-215
Week 6: CONSTRUCTIVISM AND THE ENGLISH SCHOOL
Hedley Bull, The Anarchical Society New York: Columbia University Press, 2003 (chapters 1-2
and 5-10, and the conclusion).
Alexander Wendt, “Constructing International Politics,” International Security, Vol. 20, No. 1
Summer 1995: 71-81.
John Gerard Ruggie, “What Makes the World Hang Together? Neo-Utilitarianism and the Social
Constructivist Challenge,” International Organization Volume 54, Number 4, Autumn 1998: 855888.
Jeffrey Checkel, “The Constructivist Turn in International Relations Theory” World Politics
Volume 50, Number 2, 1998: 324-348.
Ronald Jepperson, Alexander Wendt, and Peter J. Katzenstein, "Norms, Identity, and Culture in
National Security," chap. 2 in Peter J. Katzenstein, ed., The Culture of National Security: Norms
and Identity in World Politics New York: Columbia University Press, 1996.
IMPORTANT: THE FIRST ASSIGNMENT
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II. STRUCTURES, ISSUES AND PROCESSES OF THE
INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM
WEEK 7: SOVEREIGNTY AND THE STATE
Gianfranco Poggi, The State: Its Nature, Development and Progress Stanford: Stanford University
Press, 1990: 1-69.4
Steven D. Krasner, “Sovereignty and Its Discontents” in Sovereignty: Organized Hypocrisy
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999:3-43.
Hendrick Spruyt, “The Origins, Development and Possible Decline of the Modern State” in Annual
Review of Political Science Number 5 2002:127-149.
Charles Tilly, “War Making and State Making as Organized Crime” in Bringing the State Back In.
Edited by Theda Skocpol, Peter Evans, and Dietrich Rueschemeyer. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1985:169-192.
Edward Carr, “States and Nationalism: The Nation in European History” in David Held et al.,
States and Societies London: Blackwell, 1985: 181-195.
Robert Kaplan, “The Coming Anarchy” The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 273, Number 2, February
1994: 44-76.
Robert Rotberg, Failed States, Collapsed States, Weak States: Causes and Indicators” Brookings
Institution Press, 2003: 1-25. (Chapter 1) available at:
http://www.brookings.edu/press/books/chapter_1/statefailureandstateweaknessinatimeofterror.pdf
Week 8: ALLIANCES AND THE BALANCE OF POWER
Robert Jervis, "Cooperation Under the Security Dilemma," World Politics, 1978: 167-214.
Hans Morgenthau, “Balance of Power” Politics Among Nations, Fifth Edition, New York: Alfred
A. Knopf, 1973: 165-225
Stephen M. Walt, “Alliance formation and the balance of power.” International Security Volume 9
Spring 1985: 3–43.
A.F.K. Organski, ‘Criticism of Balance of Power Theory” in World Politics, 2nd ed. New York;
Knopf, 1968: 282-290.
Robert A. Pape, “Soft Balancing against the United States”, International Security Volume 30,
Issue 1, Summer 2005: 7-47.
T. V. Paul, “Soft Balancing in the Age of U.S. Primacy” International Security Volume 30, Issue
1, Summer 2005: 47-71.
Week 9: THE CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS, GROUPS AND IDEOLOGY
Ann Swidler, “Culture in Action: Symbols and Strategies,” American Sociological Review
Volume 51 1986: 273-286.
Huntington, Samuel P. The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, New York:
Simon and Schuster, 1996.
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Jack Snyder, Myths of Empire, Ithaca: Cornell, 1991. chapters 1, 2, 3, 8.
George F. Kennan, "The Sources of Soviet Conduct," in George Kennan, American Diplomacy,
1900-1950 Mentor Books, 1951: 89-105; reprinted in Foreign Affairs, Spring 1987: 852-68.
IMPORTANT: THE SECOND ASSIGNMENT
Week 10: and NATIONALISM DECISION-MAKING AND FOREIGN POLICY
Margaret Keck and Kathryn Sikkink, Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in
International Politics Ithaca: Cornell, 1998.
Richard Price, "Reversing the Gun Sights: Transnational Civil Society Targets Land Mines,"
International Organization Volume 52, Number 3, Summer 1998: 613-44.
Peter M. Haas, "Introduction: Epistemic Communities and International Policy Coordination,"
International Organization Volume 46, Number 1, Winter 1992: 1-36.
David Held, “Democracy, the Nation-State, and the Global System,” Economy and Society
Volume 20, 1991: 138-171.
IMPORTANT: THIRD ASSIGNMENT
Week 11: INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMY
Robert Gilpin, International Political Economy Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001.
Bruce Bueno De Mesquita “The International Political Economy of Trade” in Bruce Bueno De
Mesquita, Principles of International Politics, Washington DC: CQ, 2010: 273-315.
Week 12: WAR, NUCLEAR WEAPONS, STRATEGY, DETERRENCE, AND
PROLIFERATION
Robert Gilpin, War and Change in World Politics Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981:
1-49; and 156-244.
Robert Jervis, “Theories of War in an Era of Leading-Power Peace,” American Political Science
Review 96, no. 1 March 2002: 1-14.
Bruce Bueno De Mesquita “Perceptions and Deterrence” in Bruce Bueno De Mesquita, Principles
of International Politics, Washington DC: CQ, 2006: 373-395
Scott D. Sagan and Kenneth N. Waltz, The Spread of Nuclear Weapons: A Debate Renewed, 2d
ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2003.
Moedd Youssef, Predicting the Future of Nuclear Weapons:
http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2009/01_nuclear_proliferation_yusuf.aspx
Thomas Schelling, “The Diplomacy of Violence,” from Arms and Influence, New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1966-1-35.
George Downs, "The Rational Deterrence Debate," World Politics Volume 41 1989: 225-239.
IMPORTANT: THE FOURTH ASSIGNMENT
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