IN500: Introduction to International Studies

Spring 2012

Professor Jennifer EricksonTime: (1) 9-10:15am TTH

Phone: 617-552-2965Room:Carney 203

Email: ime:(2) 1:30-2:45pm TTH

Office: McGuinn 339Room:Campion 010

Office hours: 10:30-11:30 TTH All Tuesday sections: Carney 004

Website: BlackboardAll Wednesday sections: Carney 306

Course Introduction and Objectives

This course lays the theoretical groundwork for describing and explaining the ways in which international influences shape the world's economies, polities, and societies, and their consequences for global conflict and cooperation. Students will learn to distinguish among different theoretical explanations for understanding international politics, think critically about their strengths and weaknesses, and apply them to a range of historical and contemporary issues.

Teaching Assistants

Matthew Berry (); John Louis (); Tucker Risom ()

Lectures and Sections

Attendance in lectures and sections is mandatory. Lectures will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Sectionswill be held on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons. Lectures will complement – but not explicitly review – the readings. Sections are therefore a vital supplement to the lectures, in which students will evaluate the readings and theories in greater depth. Students must therefore come prepared to discuss the relevant readings in their weekly section.

Course Reading

This is a reading intensive course. At times, the reading may be intellectually demanding. Although lectures will not summarize the readings, they will explore concepts and facts discussed in the readings. Students are expected to come to class fully prepared with the reading completed by the first day for which the reading is listed on the syllabus. Sections are designed to help students understand the readings more explicitly. In both lecture and section, students must be prepared to engage in discussions drawing from the reading, which are primarily book excerpts and articles. All readings will be available through the course website. It is your responsibility to make sure you acquire all of the readings necessary for the class.

Course Requirements and Grading

This course consists of five graded components: midterm (25%); paper (25%); final (35%); and section attendance and participation (10%), and a reading summary (5%). Late papers will be graded down by one grade for every 12 hours (for example from an A- to a B+). Make-up exams will not be offered without a written request from the Dean.

Attendance and Participation

As an essential element of the learning process, students are expected to attend and participate in all classes. This means that you should arrive punctually, reading in hand and prepared in advance, be attentive to lectures, and participate actively in discussions. Obviously, regular participation requires regular attendance. If you miss more than two class sessions (except when excused in reasonable cases of documented medical or family emergencies), your participation grade will be negatively affected.

Respect and Discussion Rules

The study of international politics addresses complex and often contentious issues. Students should feel free to share their comments and questions in class and respect the right of their colleagues to do the same. In order to foster an atmosphere of thought, learning, and discussion, it is important that students express themselves in an appropriate manner, listen, and learn from the debates at hand.

Academic Integrity and Plagiarism

Academic integrity is an essential component of the university community. It is necessary to acknowledge the work and ideas of those that have gone before you with proper and consistent citations. Plagiarism is a serious offence, and no forms of borrowing without acknowledgement are acceptable. If it is suspected that you have misrepresented another’s work as your own, it will be investigated and punished accordingly. It is your responsibility to familiarize yourself with the academic code. In general, plagiarism consists of knowingly using the ideas or work of others as if they were your own. This can involve – but is in no way limited to – using a paper purchased on the internet or written by another student, or failing to cite ideas or information obtained from published sources, including online sources. Please familiarize yourself with the Boston College Code of Academic Integrity (see links) and see me if you have questions:

Course Requirements

Assignment / Date / Percentage / Purpose
Midterm Exam / March 15 / 25% / Assess knowledge of course materials and analytical skills
Short Paper / April 12 / 25% / Apply critical thinking and analytical skills
Final Exam / May 10/May 8 / 35% / Assess knowledge of course materials and analytical skills
Section / --- / 10% / Develop reading comprehension, critical thinking, analytical skills
Reading Summary / Set in section / 5% / Develop reading comprehension

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STUDY AID: CATEGORIZE TOPIC READINGS BY PARADIGM

TOPIC / RealisM / LIBERALISM / CONSTRUCTIVISM
World War I
Cold War Origins
Cuban Missile Crisis
Cold War End
Nuclear Weapons
Iraq War
Trade and Investment
Economic Globalization
International Institutions
International Law and NGOs
International Interventions
Environment
Terrorism
Power in US Foreign Policy

STUDY AID: CATEGORIZE READINGS BY PARADIGM AND LEVEL OF ANALYSIS

LEVEL OF ANALYSIS / RealisM / LIBERALISM / CONSTRUCTIVISM
INDIVIDUAL
DOMESTIC
INTERNATIONAL

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Course Schedule

Week 1: January 17-19

Tuesday: Introduction

Thursday: Concepts in International Relations

  • Singer, J. David. 1960. International Conflict: Three Levels of Analysis. World Politics 12 (3). (9p)
  • Walt, Stephen M. 1998. International Relations: One World, Many Theories. Foreign Policy (Spring). (15p)

Week 2: January 24-26

Tuesday: Realism

Thursday: Realism

  • Morgenthau, Hans J. 1964. A Realist Theory of International Politics. Politics among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace, 3rd Ed. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. (13p)
  • Waltz, Kenneth N. 1979. Political Structures. Theory of International Politics. Addison-Wesley: Reading, MA. (23p)
  • Gilpin, Robert. 1988. The Theory of Hegemonic War. Journal of Interdisciplinary History 18 (4). (24p)
  • Mearsheimer, John J. 2001. Anarchy and the Struggle for Power. The Tragedy of Great Power Politics. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company. (26p)

Week 3: January 31-February 2

Tuesday: Liberalism

  • Doyle, Michael W. 1983. Kant, Liberal Legacies, and Foreign Affairs. Philosophy and Public Affairs 12 (3). (32p)
  • Rosecrance, Richard. 1986. The Worlds of International Relations: The Military-Political World, the Trading World. The Rise of the Trading State: Commerce and Conquest in the Modern World. Basic Books: New York. (22p)
  • Keohane, Robert O. 1998. International Institutions: Can Interdependence Work? Foreign Policy (Spring). (13p)

Thursday: Domestic Liberalism

  • Moravcsik, Andrew. 2008. The New Liberalism. In The Oxford Handbook of International Relations, edited by Christian Reus-Smit and Duncan Snidal. New York: Oxford University Press. (18p)

Week 4: February 7-9

Tuesday: Constructivism

Thursday: Constructivism

  • Wendt, Alexander. 1992. Anarchy is What States Make of It. International Organization 46 (2). (35p)
  • Katzenstein, Peter J. 1996. Introduction: Alternative Perspectives on National Security. In The Culture of National Security: Norms and Identity in World Politics, edited by Peter J. Katzenstein. New York: Columbia University Press. (30p)
  • Checkel, Jeffrey T. 1999. Norms, Institutions, and National Identity in Contemporary Europe. International Studies Quarterly 43 (1). (26p)
  • Hurd, Ian. 2008. Constructivism. In The Oxford Handbook of International Relations, edited by Christian Reus-Smit and Duncan Snidal. New York: Oxford University Press. (16p)

Week 5: February 14-16

Tuesday: Explaining World War I

Thursday: Explaining World War I

  • Keylor, William R. 2006. Germany’s Bid for European Dominance (1914-1918). The Twentieth Century World and Beyond: An International History since 1900. 5th Ed. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. (26p)
  • Gordon, Michael R. 1974. Domestic Conflict and the Origins of the First World War: The British and the German Cases. Journal of Modern History 46 (2). (36p)
  • Sagan, Scott D. 1986. 1914 Revisited: Allies, Offense, and Instability. International Security 11 (2). (25p)

Week 6: February 21-23

Tuesday: Explaining the Origins of the Cold War

  • Calvocoressi, Peter. 2001. The Superpowers. World Politics: 1945-2000. 8th Ed. New York, NY: Longman. READ: 3-33. (26p)
  • X (Kennan, George F.). 1947. The Sources of Soviet Conduct. Foreign Affairs (July). (17p)
  • Kennan, George F. 1994. The Failure in Our Success. The New York Times (March 14). (3p)
  • Jervis, Robert. 2001. Was the Cold War a Security Dilemma? Journal of Cold War Studies 3 (1). (25p)

Thursday: Cuban Missile Crisis

  • Allison, Graham T. 1969. Conceptual Models and the Cuban Missile Crisis. American Political Science Review 69 (3). (30p)
  • Weldes, Jutta. 1996. Constructing National Interests. European Journal of International Relations 2 (3). (29p)

Week 7: February 28-March 1

Tuesday: Explaining the End of the Cold War

  • Keylor, William R. 2006. Moscow, Washington, and the End of the Soviet Empire. The Twentieth Century World and Beyond: An International History since 1900. 5th Ed. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. (16p)
  • Wohlforth, William C. 1994/95. Realism and the End of the Cold War. International Security 19 (3). (39p)
  • Koslowski, Rey and Friedich V. Kratochwil. 1994. Understanding Change in International Politics: The Soviet Empire’s Demise and the International System. International Organization 48 (2). (33p)

Thursday: Nuclear Weapons

  • Sagan, Scott D. and Kenneth N. Waltz. 2010. Is Nuclear Zero the Best Option? The National Interest (September-October). (9p)
  • Tannenwald, Nina. 2007. Introduction: The Tradition of Nuclear Non-Use. The Nuclear Taboo: The United States and the Non-Use of Nuclear Weapons since 1945. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. (28p)

Week 8: NO CLASS – SPRING BREAK

Week 9: March 13-15

Tuesday: Explaining the Iraq War

  • Mazarr, Michael J. 2007. The Iraq War and Agenda Setting. Foreign Policy Analysis 3. (21p)
  • Shannon, Vaughn P. and Jonathan W. Keller. 2007. Leadership Style and International Norm Violation: The Case of the Iraq War. Foreign Policy Analysis 3 (1). (21p)

Thursday: IN-CLASS MIDTERM (Covers weeks 1-7)

Week 10: March 20-22

Tuesday: Trade and Investment

Thursday: Trade and Investment

  • Gilpin, Robert. 1971. The Politics of Transnational Economic Relations. International Organization 25 (3). (22p)
  • Hymer, Stephen. 1972. The Multinational Corporation and the Law of Uneven Development. In Economics and World Order from the 1970s to the 1990s, edited by Jagdish N. Bhagwati. New York: Macmillan. (10p)
  • Best, Jacqueline. 2010. Bringing Power Back In: The IMF’s Constructivist Strategy in Critical Perspective. In Constructing the International Economy, edited by Rawi Abdelal, Mark Blyth, and Craig Parsons. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
  • Mosley, Layna and David Andrew Singer. 2009. The Global Financial Crisis: Lessons and Opportunities for International Political Economy. International Interactions 35 (4):420-29. (8p)

Week 11: March 27-29

Tuesday: Economic Globalization

  • Keohane, Robert O. and Joseph S. Nye. 2000. Globalization: What’s New? What’s Not? (And So What?). Foreign Policy (Spring). (15p)
  • Waltz, Kenneth N. 2000. Globalization and American Power. National Interest (Spring). (11p)
  • Frankel, Jeffrey. 2000. Globalization of the Economy. In Governance in a Globalizing World, edited by Joseph S. Nye Jr. and John D. Donahue. Cambridge, MA: Visions of Governance for the 21st Century. (22p)
  • Barber, Benjamin R. 1992. Jihad vs. McWorld. The Atlantic Monthly (March). (8p)
  • Altman, Roger C. 2009. Globalization in Retreat. Foreign Affairs 88 (4). (8p)

Thursday: Globalization and Illicit Economies

  • Andreas, Peter. 2002. Transnational Crime and Economic Globalization. In Transnational Organized Crime and International Security: Business as Usual?, edited by Mats Berdal and Mónica Serrano. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner. (14p)
  • Naím, Moisés. 2003. The Five Wars of Globalization. Foreign Policy (Jan-Feb): 28-37. (8p)

Week 12: April 3-5

Tuesday: International Institutions and Global Governance

  • Ikenberry, G. John and Thomas Wright. 2008. Rising Powers and Global Institutions. New York: Century Foundation. (28p)
  • Mearsheimer, John J. 1994/95. The False Promise of International Institutions. International Security 19 (3). (45p)
  • Johnston, Alastair Iain. 2001. Treating International Institutions as Social Environments. 45. (26p)

Thursday: NO CLASS – EASTER BREAK

Week 13: April 10-12

Tuesday: International Law and Global Governance

  • Hathaway, Oona. 2002. Do Human Rights Treaties Make a Difference? Yale Law Journal 111(8): 1935-2042. READ: 1937-1965. (31p, heavily footnoted –i.e., less text)

Thursday: NGOs and Global Governance

  • Keck, Margaret E. and Kathryn Sikkink. 1998. Introduction. Activists beyond Borders. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. (38p)
  • Kaldor, Mary. 2000. “Civilising” Globalisation? The Implications of the “Battle in Seattle.” Millennium 29: 105-14. (9)
  • Price, Richard. 1998. Reversing the Gun Sights: Transnational Civil Society Targets Landmines. International Organization 53 (2). (30p)

Week 14: April 17-19

Tuesday: International Interventions

  • Betts, Richard K. 1996. The Delusion of Impartial Intervention. In Managing Global Chaos: Sources and Responses to International Conflict, edited by Chester A. Crocker and Fen Osler Hampson with Pamela Aall. (9p)
  • Walker, Thomas C. 2008. Two Faces of Liberalism: Kant, Paine, and the Question of Intervention. International Studies Quarterly 52. (18p)
  • Finnemore, Martha. 1996. Constructing Norms of Humanitarian Intervention. In The Culture of National Security: Norms and Identity in World Politics, edited by Peter J. Katzenstein. New York: Columbia University Press. (32p)

Thursday: Libya and the Responsibility to Protect (R2P)

  • Bellamy, Alex J. 2011. Libya and the Responsibility to Protect: The Exception and the Norm. Ethics & International Affairs 25 (3):263-69. (7p)
  • Responsibility to Protect: The Lessons of Libya. 2011. The Economist (19 May). (3p)
  • Foreign Policy: Intervention after Libya. 2011. The Guardian (23 Aug.). (2p)
  • Barkawi, Tarak. 2011. Intervention without Responsibility. Al Jazeera (23 Nov). (3p)

Week 15: April 24-26

Tuesday: Environment

  • Hardin, Garrett. 1968. The Tragedy of the Commons. Science (December). (6p)
  • Zarsky, Lyuba. 1997. Stuck in the Mud? Nation-States, Globalization and the Environment. Globalisation and Environment Study. OECD Economics Division: The Hague, The Netherlands. (16p)
  • Homer-Dixon, Thomas F., Jeffrey H. Boutwell, and George W. Rathjens. 1993. Environmental Change and Violent Conflict. Scientific American (February). (8p)
  • May, Bernhard. 2010. Energy Security and Climate Change: Global Challenges and National Responsibilities. South Asian Survey 17 (1):19-30. (11p)
  • Clark, Pilita. 2011. Climate Change: The Great Regrouping. Financial Times (14 Dec.) (7p)

Thursday: Terrorism and the War on Terror

  • Crenshaw, Martha. 1981. The Causes of Terrorism. Comparative Politics 13 (4): 379-99. (19p)
  • Rose, William, Rysia Murphy, and Max Abrahms. 2007. Does Terrorism Ever Work? The 2004 Madrid Train Bombings. International Security 32 (1). (8p)
  • Fukuyama, Francis. 2002. History and September 11. In Worlds in Collision: Terror and the Future of Global Order, edited by Ken Booth and Tim Dunne. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. (9p)
  • Mamdani, Mahmood. 2002. Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: A Political Perspective on Culture and Terrorism. American Anthropologist 104 (3). (9p)

Week 16: May 1-3 Explanations, Power in International Politics

Tuesday: Explanations

  • Katzenstein, Peter and Rudra Sil. 2008. Eclectic Theorizing in the Study and Practice of International Relations. In The Oxford Handbook of International Relations, edited by Christian Reus-Smit and Duncan Snidal. New York: Oxford University Press. READ pp109-111; 116-26 (14p)

Thursday: Power in US Foreign Policy

  • Wohlforth, William C. 2002. US Strategy in a Unipolar World. In America Unrivaled: The Future of the Balance of Power, edited by G. John Ikenberry. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. (21p)
  • Johnson, Chalmers. 2000. Blowback. The Costs and Consequences of American Empire. New York: Metropolitan Books. (30p)
  • Zakaria, Fareed. 2008. The Future of American Power. How America Can Survive the Rise of the Rest. Foreign Affairs (May/June). (26p)

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