Concordia University Political Science 687A/A Knowledge in IR

Transcription

1 Concordia University Political Science 687A/A Knowledge in IR Elizabeth Bloodgood Hall Building Thursday 9:30 am-12:00 pm Office Hours: Thursday 12:00-1:00 and by appointment Course Description How is knowledge created, constructed, and utilized in foreign policy and international relations? How informed are decision-makers? Can better information (both quality and quantity) improve government policy and practice? Are decision-makers rationally uninformed? This course begins by looking at alternative conceptions of knowledge as information, expertise, ideas, and frames within political science and cognate literatures, including economics, sociology, and psychology. We look at questions regarding the production of knowledge, and the interrelated roles of scientists, epistemic communities, think tanks, and the media, as well as the relationship between reality, information, ideas, and norms in what we come to consider knowledge and expertise. We then examine alternative views on the use of knowledge and expertise in decision-making. Do rational decision-making models of international relations apply or are decisions based on alternative modes of decision-making, including the use of heuristics, reputation, and biases? How much of an effect does misperception have on the policy process and outcomes and do decisionmakers worry about this? Is objective policy-making possible or is the policy process just about framing and marketing positions? Throughout the course we will examine particular cases in which information, expertise, or knowledge might play an important role in determining the shape of foreign policy or international agreements and regimes as a means to assess the usefulness and applicability of alternative theories of knowledge, expertise, and information within international relations. There are 3 primary objectives for this course: Understanding and critical analysis of alternative conceptualizations of knowledge and expertise as well as the causal mechanisms international relations and related fields use to explain the effects of knowledge and expertise on foreign policy and international affairs Increased confidence in writing about and discussing these concepts, issues, and case studies. Improved analytic skills, particularly in applying theories to understand events as well as using empirical evidence to evaluate competing theoretical explanations. Course Requirements The course grade is composed of the following elements weighted as described: Class Participation 25% Discussion Papers (3 papers, 4-6 pages each) 30% Paper Proposal (2-4 pages) 10% Final Paper (20-25 pages) 35% 1) Class participation: Each member of the seminar is responsible for actively reading and enthusiastically discussing the assigned readings each week. To help encourage active reading and to kick off seminar discussion, each student is required to post a discussion question concerning the 1

2 week s readings on the course website (on Moodle) by Wednesday at noon. Each student will also be responsible for presenting a brief overview of the main themes and summarizing the arguments of the readings for one of the weeks (about 20 minutes). Students will sign up to present in pairs. 2) You will also choose three topics on which to write short discussion papers. These 4-6 page papers are due by noon on the Wed. before class. In each paper, students should present a question or theme presented in, or suggested by, the week s reading and possible answers or extensions. Discussion papers may also incorporate the supplemental readings. These papers will serve as the starting point for class discussion and provide students with a forum to set the agenda for the seminar and raise concerns and issues to be discussed in class. While the paper need not cover all of the assigned readings in a given week, you should touch on at least the majority of the material covered. You must attend the seminar during the weeks in which you submit a short paper or you will not receive credit for the short paper (and your participation grade will be docked). 3) Final Paper: You must select an issue of contemporary significance with international implications which has a strong knowledge component (knowledge defined to include some combination of technical and political expertise, ideas, and/or norms) and analyze the current state of the issue (regarding policy development, implementation, and international consensus/cooperation or conflict) and the impact/importance of knowledge in the path of development of this issue using at least 2 theories from this class. A more precise description of this exercise and its evaluation will be distributed in class. Final papers are due December 11 at 10 am. A short paper proposal which identifies the issue, theories, question and argument of your final paper, including a properly formatted, one-page bibliography, will be due in class on October 30. Readings The following books are available for purchase at the Concordia bookstore. Please note that not all books are required. You may also buy these books on-line at Amazon.ca among others. Hypertext links to journal articles can be found in the syllabus on the course website on Moodle. Required: 1) Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions 3 rd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996). 2) Irving Janis, Groupthink 2ed. (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1982). 3) Robert Jervis, Perception and Misperception in International Politics (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1976). 4) Sidney Tarrow, The New Transnational Activism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005). 5) POLI 687A Course Reader Recommended: 1) Adam Przeworski, Democracy and the Market (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991). The fine print: Absences The only excused absences are medically-related and require documentation from a doctor. This is particularly true in the case of a request to make-up an assignment. The Political Science Department will verify the authenticity of all doctor s notes. 2

3 Assignments All assignments should be double-spaced, 12-point font, 1 inch margins, paginated, and stapled. Faxed and handwritten assignments will not be accepted. Late policy One third of a grade will be deducted for each day (24-hour period) that discussion papers are late. One full grade will be deducted for each day (24-hour period) that the final paper is late, starting from the deadline. Weekends count as two days. Course Website Course documents, readings, and notices will be posted on Moodle, which can be accessed via MyConcordia. Be sure to check for new information periodically. Disabilities Please see me as soon as possible to make appropriate arrangements for any disabilities or special needs. You should also contact the Office of Student Services as soon as possible so that this office can assist with any accommodations, if necessary. Extracurricular conflicts Your academic studies have priority over your extracurricular activities and as such extracurricular activities do not constitute an excused absence. Furthermore, the due dates for all assignments are pre-set at the beginning of the semester. I am very unlikely to change due dates or make exceptions for conflicts between course responsibilities and extracurricular activities. However, if you believe you are facing a conflict, the sooner you raise the issue, the more flexibility you provide, and the more likely we are to reach a mutually satisfactory solution. Religious Holidays You should see me as soon as possible (but certainly in advance of any holiday) to arrange a means of covering any class material you plan to miss for religious holidays. Plagarism The Department of Political Science has zero tolerance for plagiarism. If the instructor suspects a student of cheating, the assignment will be investigated and the grade may be lowered to an F as well as brought to official channels in accordance with University policy. Professors Lipson and Schofield of the Political Science Department have put together detailed information on plagiarism with examples and how to avoid it. It can be found at: Changes of the I reserve the right to amend the schedule of meetings and assignments listed in this syllabus as might become necessary based on events throughout the semester. Any changes to the syllabus will be announced and students will receive an amended syllabus in writing. Copies of the most up to date syllabus can be found on the course website on Moodle. 3

4 Course Schedule September 4: Introduction and Review of September 11: Concepts of Knowledge Information, Norms, and Ideas September 18: Creators of Knowledge Experts and Expertise September 25: Creators of Knowledge Scientists and Government October 2: Creators of Knowledge Epistemic Communities Expanded October 9: Knowledge in the Policy Process 1 Rational Decision-making and Rational Choice Models October 16: Knowledge in the Foreign Policy Process 2 Groupthink and Crisis Decision-making October 23: Knowledge in the Foreign Policy Process 3 Perception and Misperception October 30: Knowledge in the Policy Process 4 Incomplete Information and Bureaucratic Politics October 30: Paper Proposal Due In-Class November 6: Knowledge in the Policy Process 5 Ideas and Learning November 13: Knowledge in International Relations 1 International Regimes and Information November 20: Knowledge in International Relations 2 Transnational Advocacy Networks and Norms November 27: Knowledge in International Relations 3 Norms and Diffusion December 11: Final Paper Due, 10 am, to my Mailbox in the Political Science Department 4

5 Readings September 4: Introduction and Review of Concepts of Knowledge September 11: Information, Norms, and Ideas 1) Judith Goldstein and Robert Keohane, Ideas and Foreign Policy: An Analytic Framework, Ideas and Foreign Policy (Cornell University Press, 1993), pp ) Thomas S. Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions 3d ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), pp. 1-51, , ) Albert Yee, The Causal Effects of Ideas on Politics, International Organization 50:1 (Winter 1996), pp Stable URL: 4) Thomas Risse-Kappen, The Power of Norms versus the Norms of Power: Transnational Civil Society and Human Rights, in Ann Florini, ed. The Third Force (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2000), pp Creators of Knowledge September 18: Experts and Expertise 1) Imre Lakatos, Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes, in Lakatos and Musgrave, eds. Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970), ) Philip Tetlock, Expert Political Judgment (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005), chapters 1 and 2 (pp. 1-66). 3) Karen T. Litfin, Power and Scientific Discourse, Ozone Discourses (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994), pp ) Paul N. Edwards, Representing the Global Atmosphere: Computer Models, Data, and Knowledge about Climate Change, in Changing the Atmosphere: Expert Knowledge and Environmental Governance, ed. Clark Miller and Paul Edwards (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2001), pp ) Sally Eden, Public Participation in Environmental Policy: Considering Scientific, Counter- Scientific, and Non-Scientific Contributions, Public Understanding of Science 5 (1996): September 25: Scientists and the Government 1) Sheila Jasanoff, The Fifth Branch: Science Advisors as Policymakers (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1990) pp. 1-19,

6 2) John Lewis Gaddis, Nuclear Weapons and the Early Cold War, We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), pp ) Matthew Evangelista, Unarmed Forces (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1999), pp ) Kai Henrik-Barth, Catalysts of Change: Scientists as Transnational Arms Control Advocates in the 1980s, Osiris 21 (2006): ) Michael Dennis, Earthly Matters: On the Cold War and the Earth Sciences, Social Studies of Sciences 33 (2003): Case: Nuclear weapons, strategy, and control, part I October 2: Epistemic Communities Expanded 1) Peter Haas, Banning Chlorofluorocarbons: Epistemic Community Efforts to Protect Stratospheric Ozone, International Organization 46 (1992): Stable URL: 2) Matthew Auer, Colleagues or Combatants? Experts as Environmental Diplomats, International Negotiation 3 (1998): ) Clair Gough and Simon Shackley, The Respectable Politics of Climate Change: The Epistemic Communities and NGOs, International Affairs 77 (2001): Stable URL: 4) Patrik Marier, Empowering Epistemic Communities: Specialized Politicians, Policy Experts, and Policy Reform, West European Politics 31 (2008): (focus on the argument, skim the evidence) ) Reiner Grundmann, Climate Change and Knowledge Politics, Environmental Politics 16 (2007): Case: Environmental degradation (ozone depletion) Recommended: 1) John Gribbins, A Hole in the Sky (New York: Bantam Books, 1988). 2) Karen Litfin, Framing Science: Precautionary Discourse and Ozone Treaties, Millennium 24 (1995): ) Richard Benedick, Ozone Diplomacy (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1991). 6

7 Knowledge in the Policy Process October 9: Rational Decision-making and Rational Choice Models 1) James Morrow, Specifying a Game, Game Theory for Political Scientists (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994), pp ) Vincent Crawford and Joel Sobel, Strategic Information Transmission, Econometrica 50 (1982): (Don t let the math and appendices scare you, the basic idea isn t that difficult). Stable URL: 3) James Johnson, How Not to Criticize Rational Choice Theory, Philosophy of the Social Sciences (1996): (On Moodle website) 4) Adam Przeworski, Democracy and the Market (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), p ) Susanne Lohmann, A Signaling Model of Information and Manipulative Political Action, American Political Science Review 87 (1993): Stable URL: OR 4) Barry Nalebuff, Rational Deterrence in an Imperfect World, World Politics 43 (1991): Stable URL: 5) Robert Powell, Nuclear Deterrence Theory, Nuclear Proliferation, and National Missile Defense, International Security 27 (2003): Case: Democratization and Democratic Processes or Nuclear Deterrence Recommended: 1) David M. Kreps, The Successes of Game Theory, Game Theory and Economic Modeling (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990), pp ). October 16: Groupthink and Crisis Decision-making 1) Richard Snyder, H.W. Bruck, and Burton Sapin, The Decision-Making Approach to International Politics, in James Rosenau, ed., International Politics and Foreign Policy, rev. ed. New York: Free Press, 1969, pp (On Moodle website) 2) Sidney Verba, Assumptions of Rationality and Non-Rationality in Models of the International System, in James Rosenau, ed., International Politics and Foreign Policy, rev. ed. New York: Free Press, 1969, pp (On Moodle website) 3) Irving Janis, Groupthink 2 nd ed. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1982), pp , ,

8 4) Ole R. Holsti, Crisis Decision-Making, in Behavior, Society, and Nuclear War, edited by Philip E. Tetlock, Jo L. Husbands, Robert Jervis, Paul C. Stern, and Charles Tilly, vol. 1 (1989), pp. 8-84, New York: Oxford University Press. (On Moodle Website) Case: Cuban Missile Crisis October 23: Perception and Misperception 1) Robert Jervis, Perception and Misperception in International Politics (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1976), pp. 1-10, , ) Y. F. Khong, Analogies at War (Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992), pp. 3-18, ) Ole R. Holsti (1962). The Belief System and National Images: A Case Study. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 6: Stable URL: 4) Thom Shanker, Bush Challenged on Iraq-Vietnam Analogy, International Herald Tribune, Case: Vietnam and Iraq October 30: Incomplete Information and Bureaucratic Politics 1) Graham Allison and Morton Halperin, Bureaucratic Politics: A Paradigm and Some Policy Implications, World Politics 24 (1972): Stable URL: 2) Daniel Drezner, Ideas, Bureaucratic Politics, and the Crafting of Foreign Policy, American Journal of Political Science 44 (2000): ) Denis Saint-Martin, The New Managerialism and the Policy Influence of Consultants in Government: A Historical-Institutionalist Analysis of Britain, Canada, and France, Governance 11 (1998): ) James Ferguson, The Anti-Politics Machine (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1994), pp. xiii-21, ) Michael Barnett and Martha Finnemore, The Power, Politics, and Pathologies of International Organizations, International Organization 53:4 (1999), pp Stable URL: Case: Economic Development October 30: Paper Proposal Due In-Class 8

9 November 6: Ideas and Learning 1) Peter Hall, Policy Paradigms, Social Learning, and the State, Comparative Politics (1993): Stable URL: 2) Jack Levy, Learning and Foreign Policy: Sweeping a Conceptual Minefield, International Organization 48 (1994): Stable URL: 3) James Morrow, Game Theory for Political Scientists (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994), chapter 6, pp ) G. John Ikenberry, Creating Yesterday s New World Order: Keynesian New Thinking and the Anglo-American Postwar Settlement, Goldstein and Keohane, Ideas and Foreign Policy, pp ) Jeffrey Chwieroth, Neoliberal Economists and Capital Account Liberalization in Emerging Markets, International Organization 61 (2007): journals.cambridge.org.mercury.concordia.ca/action/displayabstract?frompage=online&aid= &fulltextType=RA&fileId=S Case: Economic ideas post-world War II Knowledge in International Relations November 13: International Regimes and Information 1) Robert Keohane, After Hegemony (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984), pp ) Barbara Koremenos, Charles Lipson, and Duncan Snidal, The Rational Design of International Institutions, International Organization 55 (2001): Stable URL: 3) Clark Miller, Democratization, International Knowledge Institutions, and Global Governance, Governance 20 (2007), ) Richard Calland, Prizing Open the Profit-Making World, in Ann Florini, ed. The Right to Know: Transparency for an Open World Order (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007), pp ) Fredrik Galtung, A Global Network to Curb Corruption: The Experience of Transparency International, in Ann Florini, ed. The Third Force: The Rise of Transnational Civil Society (Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2000), pp

10 6) Wayne Sandholtz and Mark Gray, International Integration and National Corruption, International Organization 57 (2003), pp Stable URL: Case: MNCs and Corruption November 20: Transnational Advocacy Networks and Framing 1) Margaret Keck and Kathryn Sikkink, Advocacy Beyond Borders (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1998), pp ) Sidney Tarrow, New Transnational Activism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), pp. 1-34, ) Sell, Susan, and Aseem Prakash, Using Ideas Strategically: The Contest Between Business and NGO Networks in Intellectual Property Rights, International Studies Quarterly 48 (2004): f20-b6e3-cebf %40sessionmgr9 4) Daniel Drezner, Globalization and Policy Convergence, International Studies Review 3 (2001), pp ) David Strang and Sarah A. Soule, Diffusion in Organizations and Social Movements: From Hybrid Corn to Poison Pills, Annual Review of Sociology (1998): Stable URL: Case: Globalization and Anti-globalization November 27: Norms and Diffusion 1) Martha Finnemore and Kathryn Sikkink, International Norm Dynamics and Political Change, International Organization 52:4 (1998), Stable URL: 2) Jeffrey Checkel, International Norms and Domestic Politics: Bridging the Rationalist- Constructivist Divide, European Journal of International Relations 3 (1997): ) Susanne Lohmann, The Dynamics of Informational Cascades, World Politics 47 (1994): Stable URL: 4) Thomas Risse, Let s Argue! Communicative Action in International Relations, International Organization 54 (2000): Stable URL: 10

11 5) Frank Dobbin, Beth Simmons, and Geoffrey Garrett, The Global Diffusion of Public Policies: Social Construction, Coercion, Competition or Learning? Annual Review of Sociology (2007): Case: Human rights Recommended: 1) Ann Florini, Evolution of Norms, International Studies Quarterly 40 (1996): ) Cortell, Andrew, and James W. Davis, Jr How Do International Institutions Matter? The Domestic Impact of International Rules and Norms. International Studies Quarterly 40: December 11: Final Paper Due, 10 am, to my Mailbox in the Political Science Department 11