POL 212: International Relations

VESALIUS COLLEGE             SPRING 2001

POL 212: INTRODUCTION TO INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Professor: Jean-Sébastien Rioux
Office: Triomflaan 36, 2nd floor; (02) 629.38.96
Email: [email protected]
Office Hours: Monday & Wednesday, 10:00-12:00 (or exceptionally by appointment)

Course objectives

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the major paradigms and theories of international relations. Many examples, drawn from history and current events, are used to illustrate and test their central assumptions in order to provide a framework that offers fundamental insights into the mechanisms and dynamics of world politics, which will be useful for the further study of international relations as well as more day-to-day dealings with international politics. To achieve these aims, this particular course focuses mostly (although not exclusively) on the interaction among states in the global political system, exploring the factors that make states behave: how leaders make foreign policy decisions; international conflict processes; international cooperation; and the changing structure of the international system. The prerequisite for this course is POL 101 or 102.

Required readings

There is a required textbook and a required reader:

- Textbook: Pearson, Frederic S., and J. Martin Rochester. 1998. International Relations 4th edition. New York & London: McGraw-Hill.
- Reader: POL 212 reader for Introduction to International Relations.

Teaching methodology

Class meetings are Mondays and Wednesdays, from 8:30 - 10:00 AM. Classes will be held in traditional lecture format, with ample time devoted to discussion and exchange. Attendance is imperative, and you will have to come to class prepared, having read the required readings for that day. To ensure this, there are five (5) surprise quizzes that will be given at any time. Your final grade will be computed as follows:

- Surprise quizzes   20% Format: five quizzes to monitor reading (lowest score dropped)
- Midterm examination 25% Format: concept definitions and short essays
- Term essay   25% Format: 3000-word paper (details further below)
- Final examination 30% Format: concept definitions and essays

Only well-documented excuses will get you out of the exams, e.g., a note from your physician dated that morning. Test & due dates are noted in the Course Schedule further below.

TERM PAPER ASSIGNMENT

Purpose

The main purpose of a term essay is for students to develop their writing, research and analytical skills, which are important in the “real world”. Furthermore, it is an opportunity to put into practice the knowledge acquired during the semester and to explore topics of current interest in the field of study. In this exercise, you will select one of the course topics and investigate in greater depth the theories, hypotheses, methodologies and findings in that research field.

General information

(1) You will notice in the Lecture and Reading Schedule further below (page 4) that course is divided into several “topics” (these have been broken down for you on page 3). You are to select one of these and write a term paper on the subject. The goal is for you to research the literature, identify the competing theories, hypotheses and methodologies, and then to sum up the ‘state of current knowledge’ of the topic. The essay is graded in two parts: the topic proposal (5%) and the term essay itself (20%).

(2) The due date for the topic proposal is Wednesday, February 7th (Week 5), in class; the term paper itself is due on Wednesday, April 18 (Week 13), in class. After the deadline, do not even bother handing them in as I do not accept late papers unless it is a documented emergency situation.

(3) The required length of the topic proposal is 1000 words (about 4 double-spaced pages). In it, you will describe the current theories & hypotheses and an annotated bibliography of your first 5-6 references. I expect these to be ‘classics’ in the literature.

(4) The term essay must have about 3000 words, which works out to about 12 double-spaced pages of text (excluding the title and bibliography!). As for style, please use parenthetical references (Jones 1989), and footnotes. You are required to have at least 10 scholarly sources consisting of books, journal articles or book chapters.

Your paper generally should contain the following, as a minimum:

? Title page: please identify your name, the course number and term, and your topic.
? Main body of the text:
? Introduction: 1-2 pages on the importance of this topic for International Relations;
? Background: about 4 pages to review of the literature;
? Analysis: about 5 pages on comparing methodologies, findings, etc.;
? Conclusion: about 1 page where you state clearly what you have learned.
? Bibliography and any appendices you may have (tables, figures, etc.)

The topic proposal will be graded on extent of research (50%); language & spelling (20%) and quality of documentation (30%). The final term essay will be evaluated in the following manner: logical structure of the paper (10%); extent of research (20%); extent of points covered and discussed (50%); presentation (5%); language & spelling (5%) and quality of documentation (10%).

(5) The assignment must be word-processed. Fonts and margins should be set as follows:

- 12 characters per inch, and 11 or 12 point fonts such as Times New Roman or Arial;
- 1 inch (2.5 cm) margins all around;
- NO ALL CAPS fonts;
- No all bold fonts (such as Bodoni Black and Arial Black);
- Your essays must be spell-checked.

(6) When you turn in your work, simply give me your term paper stapled in the upper-left corner. No fancy covers, please, I throw them out. Plastic covers make papers harder to read, and I simply find them annoying, not to mention how bad they are for the environment.

Printing tip

Computer printers and hard drives abhor political science term papers and are known to crash the night before the due date. Therefore, please complete the paper at least a day or two before the due date, so that when your printer decides to break on April 17th, you will have time to print it at another location. Also, save your paper on a floppy diskette to avoid the same problem when your hard drive decides to crash the morning of the due date. Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part!

The actual assignment: your mission is to research, investigate and analyze one of the following topics surveyed in class:

Foreign policy

? States and power (discuss theories and concepts related to power and sovereignty)
? Determinants of foreign policy behavior
? Decision-makers I: individuals and rational actor models
? Decision-makers II: Bureaucracies and SOPs

Theories explaining state behavior

? Realism, structural realism and their critics
? Radical critiques: Marxism, Feminism, Constructivism, etc. (focus on one of them)

International conflict

? Individual-centered theories of escalation (Misperception, Expected Utility, Prospect Theory, etc)
? State-centered theories of conflict (Democratic Peace, Imperialism, etc.)
? Civil and ethnic conflicts (focus on theories and findings)
? Dyadic theories of conflict (Power Transition theory, Arms Races, etc.)
? Systemic theories (Balance of Power, Long Cycles, etc.)

International cooperation

? Theories of cooperation
? International law and the control of violence
? The United Nations (focus on GA/SC decision making OR Peacekeeping)
? The international economy in the post-WWII era (“Globalization”)
? Multilateral economic organizations & states (impact of World Bank, IMF, WTO on people)
? Regionalization and economic integration (focus on an aspect of the EU)
? The new North-South relationship
? Pollution, starvation, and human rights (e.g., “Human Security”)

Final word: if you cannot hand in a nicely typed term essay on the due dates, do yourself a favor and turn something—anything—in! You can have your mom or your significant other fax, email, or FedEx your draft or work in progress to me from your hospital bed. By giving me something, you get partial credit. By giving me nothing at all, you get a big, fat, ugly zero. That’s all I have to say about that. Good luck!

Course Lecture and Reading Schedule

I. THE GLOBAL SYSTEM AND ITS PRINCIPAL ACTORS

Week 1 : Welcome and introduction

Monday, Jan. 8 ? Introduction; distribution and reading of course syllabus

Wednesday, Jan. 10 ? “The study of international relations”
International relations is a broad and multidisciplinary field. In this lecture we will examine the definitions, breadth and scope of IR.
Read: Pearson & Rochester (henceforth called “textbook”), 3-35 (Chapter 1)

Week 2: States and the international system

Monday, Jan. 15 ? “Actors in the international system”
International relations are conducted by a variety of “actors”: states, international organizations, ethnic groups, and multinational corporations, for example. The lecture will list several of the principal actors and propose definitions for each.
Read: textbook, 37-78 (Chapter 2)

Wednesday, Jan. 17 ? “States and power”
The central actor in international relations is thought to be the state. Furthermore, the defining characteristic of states and of international relations is said to be power, especially in relation to other states. Definitions and concepts of power are examined.
Read: textbook, 79-121 (Chapter 3)

II. FOREIGN POLICY AND STATE BEHAVIOR

Week 3: Foreign policy-making

Monday, Jan. 22 ? “Determinants of foreign policy behavior”
States are the central actors in international politics and international relations are a result of states’ foreign policies.
Read: textbook, 123-252 (Chapters 4, 5, 6)

Wednesday, Jan. 24 ? “Decision-makers I: individuals and rational actor models”
Foreign policy is, after all, made by individuals and this lecture outlines some of the theories that explain how leaders make foreign policy decisions.
Read: textbook, 123-252 (Chapters 4, 5, 6, continued)

Week 4: Foreign policy-making, continued

Monday, Jan. 29 ? “Decision-makers II: Bureaucracies and SOPs”
This lecture shows that foreign policy decisions are also a result of other ‘forces’, such as bureaucratic politics.
Read: textbook, 123-252 (Chapters 4, 5, 6, continued)

Wednesday, Jan 31 ? “International diplomacy”
This lecture outlines the principles of diplomacy and outlines the structure of typical foreign ministries and their relationship to foreign policymaking.
Read: textbook, 253-291 (Chapter 7)

Week 5: Theories explaining state behavior

Monday, Feb. 5 ? “The development of international relations theory”
The discipline really took off as a scientific research enterprise between WWI and WWI. In this class we look at the inter-war debates that sparked the developments in the field, such as the ‘realism-idealism’ debate.
Read: reader #1, Dougherty & Pfaltzgraff (81-135)

Wednesday, Feb. 7   NOTE: ESSAY TOPIC DUE ? “The dominant paradigms since WWII: realism & structural realism”
We will examine the core tenants of realism and structural realism, and outline their arguments about the conduct of international affairs.
Read: reader #1, Dougherty & Pfaltzgraff (81-135)

Week 6: Theories explaining state behavior, continued

Monday, Feb. 12 ? “Mainstream critiques of realism: pluralism and interdependence”
Some very influential theories have taken issue with some of the core assumptions of realism. These are examined in this lecture.
Read: reader #1, Dougherty & Pfaltzgraff (81-135)

Wednesday, Feb. 14 ? “Radical critiques: Constructivism, Feminism and Post-Behavioralism”
In this final survey of theories, we will focus on some of the modern critical theories in the field of international relations.
Read: reader #2, Dougherty & Pfaltzgraff (223-271)

Week 7: MIDTERM EXAMINATIONS WEEK

Monday, Feb. 19 ? Midterm wrap-up and review session
Read: please ensure that you are caught up in all the readings!

Wednesday, Feb. 21 MIDTERM EXAMINATION

III. INTERNATIONAL CONFLICT: A LEVEL-OF-ANALYSIS APPROACH

Week 8: International conflict I

Monday, Feb. 26 *** NO CLASS: VECO ACADEMIC HOLIDAY ***

Wednesday, Feb. 28 ? “Introduction to the study of conflict; individual-level theories”
What causes international conflict? In the next few lectures we will examine some of the most prominent theories that explain the causes of war. This lecture focuses on definitions of conflict, crisis and war, and introduces the ‘first image’ of war.
Read: textbook, 293-330 (Chapter 8)

Week 9: International conflict II

Monday, Mar. 5 ? “State-centered theories of conflict”
It is said that certain types of states are more war-prone than others. Is this true?
Read:

Wednesday, Mar. 7 ? “Civil and ethnic conflicts”
Most conflicts these days occur within states rather than between states. We look at this.
Read: reader #5, Carment & James

IV. COOPERATIVE INTERNATIONAL INTERACTIONS

Week 10: International cooperation I

Monday, Mar. 12 ? “Theories of cooperation”
What causes sovereign entities to cooperate in an anarchic environment when they really don’t have to? In this lecture we examine why states cooperate.
Read: textbook, 331-363 (Chapter 9)

Wednesday, Mar. 14 ? “International law and the control of violence”
In this lecture we examine the evolution of international law through the ages, especially as a regime to control international violence.
Read: textbook, 413-465 (Chapters 11-12)

Week 11: International Cooperation II

Monday, Mar. 19 ? “International organizations: the League of Nations and the United Nations”
Following from the two preceding lectures, we look at two of the most important attempts at creating global organizations to control violence: the League of Nations and the UN.
Read:

Wednesday, Mar. 21 ? “The United Nations II: structure and functions”
In this lecture we will look at the makeup of the UN: its various organisms and what they do to promote peace and cooperation.
Read: textbook, 365-410 (Chapter 10, continued)

Week 12: SPECIAL ACTIVITIES

Monday, Mar. 26 *** NO CLASS: MODEL UNITED NATIONS IN ISTANBUL***
Special Activity: you are expected to use this time to visit the library and to advance in your term paper.

Wednesday, Mar. 28 *** NO CLASS: MODEL UNITED NATIONS IN ISTANBUL***
Special Activity: you are expected to use this time to visit the library and to advance in your term paper.

SPRING RECESS FROM APRIL 2nd –13th…..NO CLASSES

V. CURRENT TOPICS IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Week 13: The "new" international order

Monday, Apr. 16 *** EASTER MONDAY: NO CLASS ***

Wednesday, Apr. 18 NOTE: TERM ESSAY DUE TODAY ? “The international economy in the post-WWII era: World Bank, IMF, WTO”
At the same time that the UN was created, various economic organs were being put into place to ‘control’ the international economy. What do they do and how do they work?
Read: textbook, 467-512 (Chapter 13)

Week 14: The "new" international order II

Monday, Apr. 23 ? “Regionalization and economic integration”
The focus of this lecture is on economic integration and how it relates to politics. The example used in class is the European Union.
Read: reader #3, Klaus-Dieter Borchardt.

Wednesday, Apr. 25 ? “The North-South relationship”
Why is the South getting poorer and the North getting richer? What can the North do about this situation? How can the South help itself?
Read: textbook, 513-550 (Chapter 14)

Week 15: Problems & challenges in International Relations

Monday, April 30 ? “Pollution, starvation, and human rights”
According to many experts, the next obstacle to global human development (after the alleviation of poverty) is the lack of “human security.”
Read: textbook, 551-580 (Chapter 15)

Wednesday, May 2 ? “Conclusions and final examination review”
What do we know now about ‘international relations’? Where is the world headed? Can we make predictions about our predicament? The course will   end with a final exam review.
Read: textbook, 581-598 (Chapter 16)

Week 16: FINAL EXAM WEEK: final exam time & place to be announced