International Relations Theory.

Lecturer: Scott McDonnald Pegg

(Professor, Department of International Relations, Bilkent University).

SCHEDULING NOTE: This schedule is made on the basis of a 6 day course, meeting for 5 hours a day with one short break during the 3 hour morning session, lunch and then a 2 hour afternoon session. Each day is broken down into 3 parts corresponding to the morning session before the break, the morning session after the break and the afternoon session. This schedule can be altered if necessary.

READINGS NOTE: There are three levels of readings and/or reading assistance envisioned for this course: 1) readings that should be done for this course; 2) a larger packet of readings which will be left with the students for their future benefit; and 3) a syllabus/bibliography of further readings beyond those in the reading packet that students might wish to consult on their own later. This proposed course outline only includes the first category – the readings that should be done for this course.

Day One: Theory

1) What is theory? What are the purposes of theory?

2) What is the relationship between theory and policy?

3) General overview of the historical development of IR Theory

Required readings:

1) Alexander George, Bridging the Gap: Theory and Practice in Foreign Policy, pp. 3-29 & 107-134;

2) Miles Kahler, ‘Inventing International Relations: International Relations Theory After 1945,’ in Michael W. Doyle and G. John Ikenberry, eds., New Thinking in International Relations Theory, pp. 20-53.

Day Two: Realism

1) Basic assumptions, premises of realism

2) Structural or neorealism

3) Distinctions, divergences within realism

Required readings:

1) Joseph M. Grieco, ‘Realist International Theory and the Study of World Politics,’ in Michael W. Doyle and G. John Ikenberry, eds., New Thinking in International Relations Theory, pp. 163-201;

2) Kenneth N. Waltz, Theory of International Politics, chapter five.

Day Three: ‘Governance’ Under Anarchy

1) International Society and the ‘English’ School

2) Hegemonic stability theory

3) International institutions and regimes

Required readings:

1) Hedley Bull, The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World Politics, chapter one;

2) Robert O. Keohane, After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World Political Economy, chapters three and four.

Day Four: Liberalism

1) Basic assumptions of liberalism, divergences within liberalism

2) Neorealism versus neoliberalism

3) The democratic peace

Required readings:

1) Either Mark W. Zacher and Richard A. Matthew, ‘Liberal International Theory: Common Threads, Divergent Strands,’ in Charles W. Kegley, ed., Controversies in IR Theory: Realism and the Neoliberal Challenge or Andrew Moravcsik, ‘Taking Preferences Seriously: A Liberal Theory of International Politics,’ International Organization, Vol. 51 # 4 (Autumn 1997): 513-553;

2) Michael W. Doyle, ‘Liberalism and World Politics,’ American Political Science Review, Vol. 80 # 4 (December 1986): 1151-1169.

Day Five: New Directions in IR Theory

1) Constructivism

2) Critical Theory and Postmodernism

3) New Directions in Security Studies

Required readings:

1) Alexander Wendt, ‘Anarchy is What States Make of It: The Social Construction of Power Politics,’ International Organization, Vol. 46 # 2 (Spring 1992): 391-425;

2) Robert W. Cox, ‘Social Forces, States and World Orders: Beyond International Relations Theory’ in Robert O. Keohane, ed., Neorealism and Its Critics, pp. 204-254.

Day Six: IR Theory During and After the Cold War

1) IR Theory during the Cold War

2) The post-Cold War challenges to IR Theory

3) General recap and overview of the entire course

Required readings:

1) K. J. Holsti, ‘Scholarship in an Era of Anxiety: The Study of International Politics During the Cold War,’ Review of International Studies, Vol. 24 (December 1998): 17-46;

2) John Lewis Gaddis, ‘International Relations Theory and the End of the Cold War,’ International Security, Vol. 17 # 3 (Winter 1992/93): 5-58.