Fall Ø Course materials p p User name: p Password: panlaoshi. Chapter 1

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1 International Politics and Theories PAN Zhongqi 潘忠岐 Professor, SIRPA, Fudan R625, Wenke Building Tel: ; ; Fall 2015 Syllabus and Course Overview Ø Course materials p p User name: fudanirt@163.com p Password: panlaoshi Approaches to International Relations Chapter 1 Ø International events in everyday lives p Terrorist attacks in the United States p Bombings in Iraq and Afghanistan p Nuclear tests in both India and Pakistan p The G-20 summits p The economic crisis of 2008 p The growth of China s economy Ø Immediate relevance of remote events p Terrorist attacks in the United States p Bombings in Iraq and Afghanistan p Nuclear tests in both India and Pakistan p The G-20 summits p The economic crisis of 2008 p The growth of China s economy Ø Personal participation in IR p Living p Traveling p Shopping p Learning p Working 1

2 Ø Implications for IR p Actors in IR are various. p Nation-states are major but not the only actors. p Non-state actors IOs, NGOs, MNCs, and individual are all actors. p International relations is not just relations among nations. Ø Implications for IR p IR is the study of the interactions among the various actors that participate in international politics, including states, IOs, NGOs, subnational entities like bureaucracies and local governments, and individuals. p Other expressions of IR: international politics, world politics, global politics. Ø Foundational Questions of IR p How can human nature be characterized? p What roles does the individual play in IR? p What are the characteristics of the state? p What drives state s international behavior? p What are the characteristics of the international system? p How might international system be structured to achieve order? Ø Competing explanations of IR p Realism p Liberalism p Radicalism p Critical theory (constructivism) Ø Realism: a billiard table Ø Liberalism: a cobweb 2

3 Ø Radicalism: layers of cake? (material) Ø Critical theory (constructivism): layers of cake? (discourse ) Ø Stephen Walt p No single approach can capture all the complexity of contemporary world politics. Therefore we are better off with a diverse array of competing ideas rather then a single theoretical orthodoxy. Competition between theories helps reveal their strengths and weaknesses and spurs subsequent refinements, while revealing flaws in conventional wisdom. Ø History p Answers have been discovered in history. p History provides us a crucial background for the study of IR. p History not only provides detailed knowledge of specific events, but also serves as a yardstick to test generalizations. p Thucydides and his History of the Peloponnesian War p Plato ( B.C.) p Greek political philosopher who argued that the life force in man is intelligent. Only a few people can have the insight into what is good; society should submit to the authority of these philosopher-kings. Many of these ideas are developed in The Republic. p Aristotle ( B.C.) p Greek political philosopher who addressed the problem of order on the individual Greek city-state. The first to use the comparative method of research, observing multiple points in time and suggesting explanations for the patterns found. 3

4 p Hobbes ( ) p English political philosopher who in Leviathan described life in a state of nature as solitary, selfish, and brutish. Individuals and society can escape from the state of nature through a unitary state, a Leviathan. p Rousseau ( ) p French political philosopher whose seminal ideas were tested by the French Revolution. Described the state of nature in both national and international society. Argued that the solution to the state of nature is the social contract, whereby individuals gather in small communities where general will is realized. p Kant ( ) p German political philosopher key to the idealist or utopian school of thought. In Perpetual Peace, advocated a world federation of republics bound by the rule of law. Ø Alternative Approaches p Behavioralism Patterned ways of behavior EG: Singer and Small on the causes of war Ø Alternative Approaches p Critical theory Postmodernism: concept deconstruction EG: Weber on sovereignty Constructivism: discourse analysis EG: Katzenstein and The Culture of National Security Integrating the Answers Ø The Correlates of War project p Turning to statistical data to discover general patterns of wars Collect data. Generate specific testable hypotheses that might explain the outbreak of war. Connect all relationships that are found into a coherent theory of why wars occur. 4

5 Integrating the Answers Ø The Democratic Peace Debate p Whether democracies are more peaceful than non-democracies? Yes: since 1789 no wars have been fought strictly between independent states with democratically elective governments. No: democratic governments were not noticeably more peace-prone or passive. In Sum: Making Sense of IR Ø To ask and answer core foundational questions of IR, the realist, liberal, radical, critical theories provide frameworks. Ø To present explanations of international events, IR scholars turn to many other disciplines, including history, philosophy, behavioral psychology, and critical studies. History Philosophy Approaches to Studying IR Examine individual or multiple cases. Develops rationales from core texts and analytical thinking. Behavioralism Finds patterns in human behavior and state behavior using empirical methods. Critical Alternative Deconstructs major concepts and uses discourse analysis to build thick description. In Sum: Making Sense of IR Ø IR is a pluralistic and eclectic discipline. Ø To understand IR, we need the help of IR theory. Ø And to understand IR theory, we need to examine general stuff of diplomatic history. 5