POL 3: Introduction to International Relations Fall 2011 Professor Zeev Maoz (zmaoz@ucdavis.edu) TR: 10:30-11:50 Office Hours: T,R 3:00-4:00 Office: 674 Kerr Hall Course Website: http://psfaculty.ucdavis.edu/zmaoz/international_relations.htm. 1. General The study of international relations concerns political, military, economic, social, and cultural processes, and institutions that affect ways in which nations, sub national, and supernational entities deal with each other across the world. This introduces the major actors, processes, problems, and issues in the global arena. This survey is done in the context of theoretical and empirical knowledge that evolved in the academic study of these matters over the years. In the lecture part of the course we will cover a multitude of issues at a general and fairly abstract level. The discussion sections will further illuminate these matters through case studies and empirical examples taken from both historical and current events. This course provides a broad overview of the key theoretical approaches and the major contemporary problems that characterize international relations. It examines the evolution of international relations over the past two centuries, the structure of the international system, the key actors (states, intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations, sub state actors, and multinational corporations). The discussions focus on the instruments of statecraft and the process of making policy in a complex and interdependent world. It reviews central phenomena and processes such as war and peace, international political economy, environmental and resource problems, and dilemmas and strategies of international cooperation. In addition to advancing students substantive knowledge about international relations, the course seeks to advance the students ability to think analytically and systematically about international problems, and to connect theoretical approaches to empirical events and processes. The course is divided into three parts, each deals with a fundamental aspect of the study and practice of international politics. 1. The setting of world politics. 2. The major instruments of politics and the key players in international relations. 3. Major problems in contemporary and future international politics. 2. Course Requirements The grade in the course will be based on the following requirements.
Introduction to International Relations 2 1. Section Grade 15% of the final grade. Students are not allowed to miss more than one session of the discussion section without prior written consent of the TA. Section participation includes (a) attendance, (b) active participation in the discussion, and (c) written work in section to be assigned by TA. 2. Midterm examination 30% of the final grade, October 27. The midterm will be a multiple choice exam. 3. Term paper 15% of the final grade. The paper will be a brief research paper (up to 4,000 words) on a topic selected from a list that will be posted on the course s website. Paper is due in class on November 22. 4. Final exam 40% of the final grade, Tuesday, December 6, at 8:00AM. The final will consist of both essay and multiple choice questions. 5. Section assignments (a) Quiz A. Brief (multiple choice) exam (Week of October 10-14), (b) Quiz B, brief paper (Due November 10 in lecture). Readings The readings for this course consist of four basic sources, two textbooks, one major daily newspaper that covers international affairs extensively, and one magazine that examines international affairs at more depth. Textbooks: Bruce Russett, Harvey Starr, and David Kinsella 2009. World Politics: The Menu for Choice. New York: Wadsworth Publishing 9 th edition (also available in Kindle edition). Hereafter Russett, Starr, and Kinsella Karen Mingst and Jack Snyder 2010. Essential Readings in World Politics. New York: W.W. Norton. Hereafter Mingst and Snyder. Both books are available in the UCD bookstore. Newspaper(s): At least one of the following newspapers should be read on a daily basis. The New York Times Washington Post Los Angeles Times The London Times International Herald Tribune Magazines At least one of the following magazines should be read on a weekly basis Times Newsweek U.S. News and World Report The Economist
Introduction to International Relations 3 Foreign Policy The final exam will contain a portion of multiple choice questions of people, places, events, and concepts concerning world events that had occurred or had received extensive media coverage over the quarter. Those who read the newspapers and magazines on a regular basis should have no problem mastering the questions of this section of the final. Course Schedule: Part 1: The Setting of International Relations September 22: What are International Relations? Defining international relations as a field of academic studies The history of the study of international relations Levels of analysis The rise of the field of international relations in the early years of the Twentieth Century political idealism International Relations between the two World Wars applied idealism and its demise The rise of political realism International Relations during the Cold War era applied political realism The rise of alternative approaches complex interdependence and neoliberalism The debate about international relations after the end of the Cold War neorealism, liberalism, and constructivism Other approaches The relationship between theory and reality in the study of international relations Russett, Starr, and Kinsella, pp. 3-25. Mingst and Snyder, pp. 2-10. September 27: The Evolution of the Modern International System, 1800-2005 General characteristics of international politics in the Westphalian system The Napoleonic Wars and their effect on international relations Major characteristics of international relations during 19 th century International politics in the twentieth century principal characteristics The advent of the third Millennium fundamental changes in international politics Key issues in the international politics in the past, present, and future Russett, Starr, and Kinsella, pp. 27-50. Mingst and Snyder, pp. 10-24.
Introduction to International Relations 4 September 29: The International System Structural Approaches to International Relations What is systems theory? The functions of systems Structural versus micro-approaches to the study of international relations Types of structural approaches realism, neorealism, Marxism and World Systems approaches Structural realism How structure affects international processes Models of the international system Power transition as a systemic theory Empirical evidence on systems and conflict Russett, Starr, and Kinsella, pp. 75-104. Mingst and Snyder, pp. 98-129. Part II: The Instruments and Actors of International Relations October 4: States as International Actors Definition of states The history of states Models of state formation Principal characteristics of states Groupings of states: power-grouping, development-grouping, regime-grouping, regional groupings Cycles in national life patterns rise, growth, change, decay, and collapse of states Alternative approaches to the definition of states States and non-state actors The future of the nation-state Russett, Starr, and Kinsella, pp. 51-66. Mingst and Snyder, pp. 130-151. October 6: Power The role of power in politics and in international relations Definitions of power The content of national power Measures of national power Power politics Paradoxes of power
Introduction to International Relations 5 Challenges to power politics Russett, Starr, and Kinsella, pp. 105-123. Mingst and Snyder, pp. 64-89. October 11: Domestic Sources of Foreign Policy What is foreign policy? Approaches in the study of foreign policy Formal and informal actors in the making of foreign policy The executive, the legislature and the judiciary The bureaucracy and bureaucratic politics Public opinion and foreign policy The military-industrial complex and foreign policy The logic of political survival and foreign policy Russett, Starr, and Kinsella, pp. 135-162. Graham T. Allison 1971. Conceptual Models and the Cuban Missile Crisis. American Political Science Review, 63(3): 698-718. October 13: Foreign Policy Decision Making Decision making definitions Stages of the decision making process A decision-making conception of international relations Levels of analysis in decision making research Models of decision making rational choice, organizational decision making, cognitive theories Factors affecting decision making processes Russett, Starr, and Kinsella, pp.163-188. Mingst and Snyder, pp. 191-221. October 18: The Instruments of Foreign Policy: International Conflict and War Conflict, Crisis, Militarized Interstate Disputes (MIDs) and war Types of war Fundamental theories of war: realism, liberalism, and revisionism Who fights whom, when, and why? The democratic peace Diversionary theories of conflict Selection approaches to conflict and war
Introduction to International Relations 6 Power transition and war Russett, Starr, and Kinsella, pp.191-226. Mingst and Snyder, pp. 320-334, 349-375. October 20: The Instruments of Foreign Policy: Diplomacy and Negotiation Defining diplomacy and negotiation The evolution of the art of diplomacy in history The functions of diplomats Old and New diplomacy How diplomacy changed International negotiation definition and structure Theories of negotiation International mediation Russett, Starr, and Kinsella, pp. 123-134. Michael Watkins 1999. Negotiating in a Complex World, Negotiations Journal, 15(3): 229-244. (Available on line). October 25: The Instruments of Foreign Policy: Alliances, Foreign Aid, and Propaganda Defining alliances Types of alliances Factors facilitating alliance formation Alliances and conflict Ally s Paradox and Free Rider Problem Foreign aid as an instrument of policy The impact of foreign aid on international cooperation The nature of international propaganda Propaganda in wartime and peacetime The impact of propaganda Thomas J. Christensen and Jack L. Snyder. Chain Gangs and Passed Bucks: Predicting Alliance Patterns in Multipolarity. International Organization, 44(2): 137-168. Ben D. Mor 2007. The rhetoric of public diplomacy and propaganda wars: A view from self-presentation theory. European Journal of Political Research, 46(5): 661-683. October 27: Midterm Examination, No readings.
Introduction to International Relations 7 November 1: International Politics Viewed from Above the Perspective of Great Powers Characteristics of status in international relations The great power game balancing and system change Efforts at world order the Congress of Vienna, the Treaty of Versailles, the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences, the post Cold War Order Great powers as instruments of system change Napoleon, Bismarck, Hitler, Gorbachev Great powers and minor powers the politics of patronage The rise and decline of great powers in international relations Lawrence R. Jacobs and Benjamin I Page 2005. Who Influences American Foreign Policy? American Political Science Review, 99(1): 107-123. Daniel S. Nexon and Thomas Wright 2007. What s at Stake in the American Empire Debate? American Political Science Review, 101(2): 253-271. November 3: International Politics Viewed from Below the Perspective of Minor Powers Different types of minor powers regional powers, ordinary states, small states Development and Underdevelopment the economic and political grouping of states Characteristics of developing states From underdevelopment to development who made it and why? Developing states and failed states Surviving in a world of superpower competition Surviving in a world of political hegemony Russett, Starr, and Kinsella, pp. 431-463. Mingst and Snyder, pp. 493-515. November 8: Nonstate Actors in International Relations International Governmental Organizations (IGOs), Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs), and Multinational Corporations (MNCs). Definition of nonstate actors International Governmental Organizations Types, Functions, Effects Non Governmental Organizations is the state system compromised? Multinational Corporations Types and interaction with developing and developed states. Nonstate actors and globalization the continued debate. Challenges to sovereignty the virtual state
Introduction to International Relations 8 Section Paper Due Russett, Starr, and Kinsella, pp. 66-74. Mingst and Snyder, pp. 224-233, 292-319. November 10: International Political Economy International politics and international economics differences and convergence Theories of trade The Bretton Woods System and its collapse Interdependence, sovereignty, and conflict and cooperation International economic institutions Rich and poor in international politics Russett, Starr, and Kinsella, pp. 363-396. Mingst and Snyder, pp. 484-515, 554-573. Part III: Principal Problems of International Relations November 15: International Cooperation, International Integration, and Globalization The problem of international cooperation Theories of international cooperation realism, liberalism, constructivism Patterns of international cooperation security cooperation, economic cooperation, administrative cooperation Institutions and international cooperation International integration theory and evidence The promise and perils of globalization Russett, Starr, and Kinsella, pp. 397-430. Mingst and Snyder, pp. 516-542. November 17: The Continuing Problem of International Conflict Is war obsolete? Nuclear weapons and the future of war The changing nature of warfare wars of the third and fourth kind International terrorism Civil and international war
Introduction to International Relations 9 Who may fight whom, when, and why? Speculations about the future of international conflict in an interdependent world Russett, Starr, and Kinsella, pp. 227-260 Mingst and Snyder, pp. 392-444. November 22: Population Growth and Environmental Decay Population trends and the population momentum Demographic pyramids in the industrialized and developing world Population, food, and other pressures Environmental problems a typology of threats to humankind Pollution Depletion of resources Global warming How do we deal with collective problems? Institutions, agreements, and the future Russett, Starr, and Kinsella, pp. 475-480. Mingst and Snyder, pp. 575-596. November 29: The United States and the Future of International Relations Competing American perspectives of international politics: Realism, Liberalism, Multilateralism, Unilateralism The United States and the clash of civilizations US hegemony dilemmas and challenges Strategies for global management The United States and the developed world The United States and the developing world Does the US have a global responsibility? Paul T. McCartney 2004. American Nationalism and U.S. Foreign Policy from September 11 to the Iraq War. Political Science Quarterly, 119(3): 399-423. December 1: Concluding Remarks the Study and Practice of International Relations No Readings.