International Relations

Overview

This course introduces the relevant theories and practicum to understand political events at an international level. It will examine the behaviour, formal and informal rules, and the evolving organization of the international society of nation-states. Moreover, the course will look at the consequences of hyper-globalization for nation-states’ activities, and their engagement with each other.

Lectures and Readings

1. The Development of the Nation State [handout]

Held, D. (1992) “Democracy: From City-States to a Cosmopolitan Order?”, Political Studies 40: 10-39.
James, A. (1999) “The Practice of Sovereign Statehood in Contemporary International Society”, Political Studies 47(3): 457-473.

2. Nationalism and Sovereignty [handout]

Osiander, A. (2001) “Sovereignty, International Relations and the Westphalian Myth”, International Organization 55(2): 251-287.
Krasner, S. (2001) “Sovereignty”, Foreign Policy 122: 20-29.

3. National Interest and the Balance of Power [handout]

Ferguson, N. (2003) “Hegemony or Empire?”, Foreign Affairs (September/October).
Layne, C. (2012) “This Time It’s Real: The End of Unipolarity and the Pax Americana”, International Studies Quarterly 56: 203-213.

4. Processes and Mechanisms of International Co-operation [handout]

Snyder, J. (2004) “One World, Rival Theories”, Foreign Policy (November/December): 53-62.
Der Derian, J. (2003) “War as Game”, Brown Journal of World Affairs 10(1): 37-48.

5. Economic Statecraft [handout]

Rodrik, D. (2000) “How Far Will International Economic Integration Go?”, The Journal of Economic Perspectives 14(1): 177-186.
Yan, K. (2021) “The Railroad Economic Belt: Grand Strategy, Economic Statecraft, and a New Type of International Relations”, British Journal of Politics and International Relations 23(2): 262-279.

6. Legal and Moral Rules [handout]

Hasmath, R. (2012) “The Utility of Regional Peremptory Norms in International Affairs”, Presented at American Political Science Association Annual Meeting (New Orleans, USA), August 30-September 2.
Wyzycka, N. and Hasmath, R. (2017) “The Impact of the European Union’s Policy Towards China’s Intellectual Property Regime”, International Political Science Review 38(5): 549-562. [audio paper: video and podcast]

7. Reforming Global Governance for 21st Century Challenges [handout]

Kahler, M. (2017) “Regional Challenges to Global Governance”, Global Policy 8(1): 97-100.
Weiss, T.G. and Wilkinson, R. (2014) “Rethinking Global Governance? Complexity, Authority, Power, Change”, International Studies Quarterly 58: 207-215.

8. International Hierarchy and the United Nations [handout]

Ikenberry, G.J. (2018) “The End of Liberal International Order?”, International Affairs 94(1): 7-23.
Acharya, A. (2017) “After Liberal Hegemony: The Advent of a Multiplex World Order”, Ethics and International Affairs 31(3): 271-285.

9. Alliances, Neutrality and Collective Security [handout]

Mansfield, E. and Snyder, J. (2002) “Democratic Transitions, Institutional Strength, and War”, International Organization 56(2): 297-337.
Taillat, S. (2019) “Disrupt and Restraint: The Evolution of Cyber Conflict and the Implications for Collective Security”, Contemporary Security Policy 40(3): 368-381.

10. International Organizations and Non-State Actors [handout]

Lee, G. and Ayhan, K. (2015) “Why Do We Need Non-State Actors in Public Diplomacy?: Theoretical Discussion of Relational, Networked and Collaborative Public Diplomacy”, Journal of International and Area Studies 22(1): 57-77.
Hasmath, R., Hildebrandt, T. and Hsu, J. (2019) “Conceptualizing Government-Organized Non-Governmental Organizations”, Journal of Civil Society 15(3): 267-284. [audio paper: video and podcast]

11. Regionalism [handout]

Krahmann, E. (2003) “National, Regional and Global Governance: One Phenomenon or Many?”, Global Governance 9(3): 323-346.
Hasmath, R. (2017) “White Cat, Black Cat or Good Cat? The Beijing Consensus as an Alternative Philosophy for Policy Deliberation”, China’s World 2(1): 12-24. [audio paper: video and podcast] [public talk: video and podcast]

12. The Global World [handout]

Horner, R. (2020) “Towards a New Paradigm of Global Development? Beyond the Limits of International Development”, Progress in Human Geography 44(3): 415-436.
Flew, T. (2020) “Globalization, Neo-Globalization and Post-Globalization: The Challenge of Populism and the Return of the National”, Global Media and Communication 16(1): 19-39.

13. Global Trade [handout]

Copeland, D.C. (1996) “Economic Interdependence and War: A Theory of Trade Expectations”, International Security 20(4): 5-41.
Bagwell, K., Bown, C.P. and Staiger, R.W. (2016) “Is the WTO Passe?”, Journal of Economic Literature 54(4): 1125-1231.

14. The Impact of the Environment [handout]

Levy, M. (1995) “Is the Environment a National Security Issue?”, International Security 20(2): 35-62.
Pelletier, N. (2010) “Of Laws and Limits: An Ecological Economic Perspective on Redressing the Failure of Contemporary Global Environmental Governance”, Global Environmental Change 20(2): 220-228.

15. Global Poverty [handout]

Hickel, J. (2017) “Is Global Inequality Getting Better or Worse? A Critique of the World Bank’s Convergence Narrative”, Third World Quarterly 38(10): 2208-2222.
Sumner, A. (2019) “Global Poverty and Inequality: Change and Continuity in Late Development”, Development and Change 50(2): 410-425.