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POLT 778/878
POLT 778/878 International Organization
Dr. Alynna J. Lyon
Phone: 862-0881
Email: Alynna.lyon@unh.edu
Spring 2007 TH 310-0600 PM HORT 325
Office: Horton 315
Office Hours: MW 1:00– 2:00
(and by appointment)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: Various forms of cooperation among nations on security, economic,
environmental and social issues through international organizations such as the United
Nations, NATO, the World Trade Organization and other global and regional bodies. Includes
examination of the role and influence of non-governmental international organizations. Credits:
4.00.
COURSE OBJECTIVES: International organizations are taking a predominant role in global
politics. As globalization creates new demands for governance, international organizations like
the United Nations are increasingly important in solving the global issues facing the world. This
seminar course will present students with the substance and theory of international
organization and multilateral relations in the contemporary global system. The course also
explores the practical issues and controversies that continue to dominate the study of
international organizations including mechanisms to control violent conflict, development, and
the influence of non-governmental organizations. Through readings, lectures, presentation, and
simulation the student will: (1) Trace the development of the study of international
organizations as a sub-discipline of International Relations (2) explore the primary theoretical
perspectives that address the role and impact of international organizations (3) become familiar
with the political context that led to the establishment of prominent IOs (the UN, EU, NATO),
as well as regional and non-governmental organizations (4) become aware of the structures and
political processes of the UN and; (5), develop analytic skills to examine and interpret
contemporary debates and issues concerning IOs and multilateral relations.
TEXTS: available at Durham Book Exchange
Karns, Margaret P. and Karen A. Mingst, International Organizations: The Politics and Processes of
Global Governance. Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2004. [hereafter: Karns and Mingst]
Donald Puchala, Katie Laatikainen, and Roger Coate, United Nations Politics: Responding to a
Challenging World. Prentice Hall, 2006 [hereafter: Puchala et al]
Thomas G. Weiss, Humanitarian Intervention. Cambridge, UK: Polity, 2007. [hereafter: Weiss]
**There are also additional reading materials that are available on Blackboard and online.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS: Students are evaluated on their performance in four areas: exams
(40%), written assignments (30%), simulation (20%) and classroom participation (10%).
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POLT 778/878
EXAMINATIONS: The course includes two exams. Each exam is worth 20% of the final grade.
The exams will cover both assigned readings and material presented in class. Although exams
are not cumulative, students are expected to be able to use concepts and apply theoretical
perspectives examined throughout the course. Make-up exams will only be given to those
students with a documented MEDICAL excuse (no exceptions) and who have prior instructor
approval. Late tests that do not meet both of these conditions will be penalized.
RESEARCH ASSIGNMENTS: Students will develop a seminar paper. In addition to your
own research, you will be a peer consultant on another person’s project. As a peer consultant,
you will read a seminar participant’s work before it is turned in, and write a constructive peer
review of the paper — similar to an article review for a journal. You will also act as a discussant
on the same paper during its final presentation in the seminar. More information will be
provided later in class. You will make a presentation of your research in the last week of the
class. Late assignments are penalized 10 points a day.
PRESENTATIONS, READINGS AND REVIEW ESSAYS: The course is an advanced seminar,
not a lecture course. Students will complete the weekly readings and actively participate in
class discussions. Each student will do one seminar presentation of approximately ten minutes
each, based on the readings assigned for that session (10 points of Review Essay Grade).
Presentations will not summarize the readings. Instead, they should focus on two or three issues or
controversies that arise from the readings, and evaluate the authors' theories, arguments or
conclusions. In addition, students will write review essays concerning the reading assignments.
Each essay should be ~2 pages in length. Student should pick one or two themes and then
critique/analyze the readings accordingly.
SIMULATIONS: Students will participate in a UN Security Council simulation exercise.
Simulation activities are worth 100 points and are determined by an actor profile, policy profile,
position paper, draft resolution, and participation in the simulation.
PARTICIPATION: This is an advanced seminar course and students are expected to actively
participate in classroom discussions. This includes frequent quality reflection and interaction
on reading assignments and lecture materials. Please feel free to talk to me about the class or
any other concerns you may have during office hours or a prearranged time. Participation is
worth 10% of final grade.
GRADING:
EXAMS
RESEARCH PAPER
SIMULATION
REVIEW ESSAYS
PARTICIPATION
Total
40%
20%
20%
10%
10%
100%
200
100 (100 paper/ 10 proposal)
100
50 (~3-5 at 10 points, and presentation)
50
500 points
Grade Scale
A
93-100
A90-92.9
B+
87-89.9
B
83-86.9
B80-82.9
C+
77-79.9
C
73-76.9
C70-72.9
D+
67-69.9
D
63-66.9
D60-62.9
Letter grades are defined as: “A” range indicates an outstanding performance in which
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there has been distinguished achievement in all phases of the course. “B” range indicates a good
performance in which there has been a high level of achievement in some phases of the course. “C” range
indicates an adequate performance in which a basic understanding of the subject has been demonstrated.
“D” range indicates a minimal performance in which despite recognizable deficiencies there is enough to
merit credit. “F” indicates unsatisfactory performance
ACADEMIC RESPONSIBILITY: Students are expected to be familiar with the University of
New Hampshire Policy on Academic Honesty concerning cheating and plagiarism. In addition
to the penalties of the University Code, any student found engaging in academic dishonest
activities will receive a negative point equivalent for that assignment.
TENTATIVE READING AND LECTURE SCHEDULE
Week 1
1-28
PART ONE: The Global Context of International Organization
 Karns and Mingst, Ch.1, pp. 3-34
 Weiss, Ch. 3, pp. 59-87.
 UN High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change
http://www.un.org/secureworld/ (Summary)
 Wendell Bell, Humanity’s Common Values: Seeking a Positive Future, The Futurist,
September–October 2004 (BB)
Discussion: Current state of IOs and world politics.
Week 2
2-4
International Organizations and International Relations Theory
Anarchy, Governance, and Government
 Karns and Mingst, Ch.2, pp. 35-62
 Weiss, Ch. 1, pp. 5-30.
 Friedrich Kratochwil and John Gerard Ruggie, “International Organization: A State
of the Art on an Art of the State," International Organization 40:4 (Autumn 1986), pp.
753-775. (BB & JSTOR)
 Craig N. Murphy, “Global Governance: Poorly Done and Poorly Understood.”
International Affairs 76 (October 2000): 789-804. (BB)
GRAD
 J. Martin Rochester, “The Rise and Fall of International Organization as a Field of
Study,” International Organization 40:4 (Autumn 1986), pp. 777-813. (BB & JSTOR)
Discussion: Can there be Governance in Anarchy?
Week 3
2-11
Regime Theories, Functionalism, Epistemic Communities and the Birth of the EU
 Rittberger and Zangl, Ch. 2. pp. 14-24 (BB)
 Hedley Bull, "How is Order Maintained in World Politics?", The Anarchical Society:
A Study of Order in World Politics, 2nd edition (Columbia, 1995), pp. 51-73. (BB)
 Robert O. Keohane, "International Institutions: Can Interdependence Work?"
Foreign Policy, no. 110 (Spring 1998), pp. 82-96. (BB)
 Donald J. Puchala, "Of Blind Men, Elephants and International Integration," Journal
of Common Market Studies 10 (March 1972). (BB & EBSCO Host)
The Organizations of IO: Formal Institutions
PART II
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Week 4
2-18
The History and Creation of International Organizations
 Karns and Mingst, Ch. 3, pp. 63-96
 Puchala et al, Ch. 1-2, pp. 1-41
 Weiss, Ch. 2, pp. 31-58.
 Dorothy Jones, Toward a Just World (BB)
 Peruse Covenant of the League of Nations
GRAD

Kenneth W. Abbott and Duncan Snidal, “Why States Act Through Formal
International Organizations,” Journal of Conflict Resolution 42, 1 (February 1998), pp.
3-32. (BB)
Discussion: Was the United Nations Created Out of Realist or Idealist Thought?
Week 5
2-25
Institutional Structures of the United Nations
Lecture: Overview of UN System
 Karns and Mingst, Ch. 4, pp. 97-142
 Puchala et al, Ch. 3, pp. 42-63, Appendix A and B
 Alynna Lyon, “Moral Motives and Policy Actions: Dag Hammarskjöld at the
United Nations” Public Integrity 9:1 (2007): 79-96. (BB)
 Kofi Annan, “Nobel Lecture,” December 10, 2001 [Online
http://www.nobel.se/peace/laureates/2001/annan-lecture.html
 UN Organizational Chart at http://www.un.org/aboutun/chart.html
Discussion: Does the UN Structure reflect its mandate?
**** PAPER PROPOSALS DUE ****
Week 6
3-3
UN Politics and Performance
 Karns and Mingst, Ch. 7, pp. 249-276
 Puchala et al, Ch. 4, pp. 64-87
 Bruce Cronin, “The Two Faces of the United Nations”, Global Governance, Vol. 8
(2002), pp.53-71 (BB and EBSCOhost)
 Simon Chesterman, "Bush, the United Nations and Nation-building," Survival, 46, 1,
Spring 2004, 101-116. (Ingentia and BB)
 James Traub, “Ban Ki-moon vs. The Bad Guys” New York Times, 11/5/2006, Vol.
156; p17-18, (BB)
Discussion: The UN in the Post-Cold War Period.
Video: Kofi Annan: Center of the Storm.
Week 7
3-10
Special Focus: The US and the UN: Unilateralism in a Multilateral Context
 Puchala et al, Ch. 5, pp. 88-116
 Richard Falk, 'After Iraq is there a Future for the Charter System?, Counterpunch,
July 2, 2003. http://www.counterpunch.org/falk07022003.html
 Charles Krauthammer, “American Unilateralism”
http://www.hillsdale.edu/newimprimis/2003/january/default.htm
 Shepard Forman and Stewart Patrick, “Multilateralism and U.S. Foreign Policy:
Ambivalent Engagement”
http://www.cceia.org/viewMedia.php/prmTemplateID/8/prmID/127
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Discussion: How has the Bush foreign policy conceived of IOs and the UN?
*SIMULATION SESSION 1 ?*
Week 8
3-17
SPRING BREAK
Week 9
3-24
**MIDTERM EXAM**
Week 10
3-31
International Organizations and Regionalism
Lecture: NATO and the Cold War.
 Karns and Mingst, Ch. 5, pp. 145—210
 Alan Dowd, "NATO after Kosovo," Policy Review, December 1999 [ONLINE]
http://www.policyreview.org/dec99/dowd_print.html
 Sir Ian Forbes, "Minding the Gap," Foreign Policy, March 2004, 76-77. [BB ]
 “Peace in Our Time,” The Economist, September 25, 2004
 Ivo Daalder and James Goldgeier, “Global NATO,” Foreign Affairs,

September/October 2006 [BB]
Katie Verlin Laatikainen and Karen E. Smith., "The European Union at the
United Nations: Intersecting Multilateralisms," [BB]
Peruse: NATO website at http://www.nato.int/.
Discussion: Is the Theory of Collective Defense Fundamentally Flawed?
*SIMULATION SESSION 2 ?*
Week 11
4-7
IOs, International Security and Peacekeeping
 Karns and Mingst, Ch. 8, pp. 277-354
 Puchala et al, Ch. 7-1, pp. 137-158
 Weiss, Ch. 4, pp. 88-118
 Eva Bertram, “Reinventing Governments: The Promise and Perils of United
Nations Peace Building,” The Journal of Conflict Resolution (39) 1995: 387-418
 Alynna Lyon, “Revisiting the Lessons of Multilateral Peacekeeping: A Critical
Analysis of UNAMIR and KFOR,” Global Society 19:3 (2005): 267-288 (BB)
 UN’s Department of Peacekeeping Operations at
http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/dpko/home.shtml
 Security Council Resolution 1441
Discussion: Is Multilateral Peacekeeping Doomed to Failure?
Week 12
4-14
NGOs, TANs, and TSMOs
 Karns and Mingst, Ch. 6, pp. 211-248
 Keck and Sikkink, "Transnational Advocacy Networks in International Politics," in
Activists Beyond Borders (Cornell, 1998), pp. 1-38. [BB]
 Andrew Natsios, “NGOs and the UN System” Third World Quarterly Vol. 16, No. 3.
1995 [BB]
 David Davenport, “The New Diplomacy,” Policy Review, December 2002
POLT 778/878
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http://www.policyreview.org/dec02/davenport_print.html
 Chadwick Alger, 'The Emerging Roles of NGOs in the UN System: From Article 71
to a People's Millennium Assembly', Global Governance, Vol. 8 (2002), pp.93-117.
[BB]
Discussion: Has New Diplomacy Replaced Old Diplomacy?
Week 13
4-21
IOs and Human Rights – In Theory and Practice
 Karns and Mingst, Ch. 10, pp. 413-458
 Puchala et al, Ch. 6, pp. 117-136
 Weiss, Ch. 4, pp. 88-118
 Thakur in Diehl, “Human Rights: Amnesty International and the UN” pp. 361-387
Peruse: Amnesty International (http://www.amnesty.org),
 The International Criminal Court for the Former Yugoslavia
(http://www.un.org/icty)
 The Rwanda Tribunal (http://www.ictr.org/)
Discussion: Is the Human Rights Regime Obsolete?
Film: Uncertain Soil: The Story of United Nations Peacekeeping
***Paper Drafts Due***
Week 14
4-28
IOs and Development
 Karns and Mingst, Ch. 9, pp. 355-412
 Puchala et al, Ch. 8, pp. 159-180
 Yunus, “The Grameen Bank” Scientific American pp. 191-194 (BB)
 “Angry and Effective,” The Economist, pp. 85-87 (BB)
 Geoffrey Cowley, “Medicine Without Doctors,” Newsweek, July 19, 2004(BB)
 Weber, “Reconstituting the 'Third World'?” Third World Quarterly, Feb2004, Vol. 25
Issue 1, p187 (BB & EBSCOhost)
Peruse: Millennium Development Goals at http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/
 United Nations Development Program at http://www.undp.org
 WTO at http://www.wto.org. IMF, http://www.imf.org) World Bank
(http://www.worldbank.org). Anti-globalization site
http://www.whirledbank.org/.
Discussion: Do IOs Hurt or Help Development?
***Review of Paper Drafts Due***
Week 15
5-5
Conclusion
 Karns and Mingst, Ch. 12, pp. 499-520
 Puchala et al, Ch. 9, pp. 181-199
 Weiss, Ch. 5, pp. 119-154
 Kranser, Stephen, “Sovereignty: Think Again” Foreign Policy, Jan/Feb 2001 pp. 2029 (BB & CIAO Online)
 Strategies for World Peace: The View of the UN Secretary-General, Kofi A. Annan,
The Futurist, May/June 2002
Recommended:
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
Franceschet, Antonio, “Justice and International Organization: Two Models of
Global Governance.” Global Governance Jan-Mar2002, Vol. 8 Issue 1, p19 (BB &
EBSCO)
Discussion: What is the future of International Organizations?
Presentation of research papers
**FINAL PAPERS DUE**
Week 16
5-12
Presentation of research papers
May 20 Final Exam 1:00-3:00
There are hundreds of international organizations with a web presence. A meta-list of
international organizations can be found at
http://www.library.northwestern.edu/govpub/resource/internat/igo.html. Some of the most
well known include:
Amnesty International (Human rights promotion INGO) http://www.amnesty.org/
Arab League (Official) http://www.arableagueonline.org/arableague/index_en.jsp
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC—Official) http://www.apecsec.org.sg
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN—Official) http://www.asean.or.id
Atlantic Online (Contemporary affairs publication) http://www.theatlantic.com/foreign/
Commonwealth (Official) http://www.thecommonwealth.org/
Euroguide (Guide to the European Union, United Kingdom) http://www.euroguide.org/
European Governments Online (from the EU)
http://europa.eu.int/abc/governments/index_en.html
European Union Online (Official) http://europa.eu.int/index_en.htm
Francophonie (Organization of French-speaking countries—Official)
http://www.francophonie.org/oif.cfm
Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA—Official) http://www.ftaa-alca.org/Alca_e.asp
Freedom House (NGO) http://www.freedomhouse.org/
G-8 Information Center from the University of Toronto (Unofficial)
http://www.g7.utoronto.ca/
G-77 (Group of 77 developing countries—Official) http://www.g77.org/
Global Policy Forum (NGO working on UN affairs) http://www.globalpolicy.org/
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC, Persian Gulf states—Official) http://www.gccsg.org/index_e.html
International Labor Organization (ILO—Official) http://www.ilo.org/
Missions to the UN (with links to missions’ websites) http://www.un.int/indexen/webs.html
Non-Aligned Movement (Official) http://www.nam.gov.za/
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO—Official) http://www.nato.int
Organization of American States (OAS—Official) http://www.oas.org/
Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC—Official) http://www.oic-oci.org
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC—Official)
http://www.opec.org/homepage/frame.htm
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC—Official) http://www.saarc-
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sec.org/
South Center (IO of developing countries) http://www.southcentre.org/
Transparency International (INGO working against corruption)
http://www.transparency.org/
United Nations (Official) http://www.un.org/english/
United Nations Documentation Center http://www.un.org/documents/
United Nations News (Official) http://www.un.org/News/
United Nations News (Yahoo!) http://dailynews.yahoo.com/fc/World/United_Nations/
US Mission to the United Nations http://www.un.int/usa/
US Department of State, International Organization Affairs (Official)
http://www.state.gov/p/io/
World Bank (Official) http://www.worldbank.org/
World Trade Organization (WTO—Official) http://www.wto.org
World Wide Web Virtual Library (WWWVL) International Affairs Resources
http://www.etown.edu/vl/
Periodicals, Scholarly Journals, and US Government Publications
At the same time, periodicals and scholarly journals still form the backbone of our academic
work. Periodicals and journals that you may find helpful for the study of International
Organizations and International Affairs include:
American Political Science Review
Asian Survey
European Journal of International Relations
Foreign Affairs
Foreign Policy
Global Governance
Global Society
International Organization
International Security
International Studies Quarterly
International Studies Review
Journal of Conflict Resolution
PS Political Science
Pacific Review
Survival
Washington Quarterly
World Politics
EU Observer (News about the EU)
http://www.euobserver.com/
New York Times http://www.nytimes.com
(site requires registration, but it’s free)