POLS 311

Proseminar in International Relations

Tuesday 1:30-4 - Fall 1999

Dr. Mark A. Boyer

Phone: 486-3156; email: boyer@uconnvm.uconn.edu

This course is designed to be an introduction to the study of international relations at the graduate level. We will survey many of the theoretical and methodological approaches used in international relations research and attempt to evaluate critically the strengths and weaknesses associated with each. As a result, one of the central goals of this course is to provide the student with the beginnings of a set of analytical tools for use in rigorously and systematically examining the problems of international relations. Put more simply, this course aims to teach you how to think about international relations in innovative, unusual, and more rigorous ways than you have in the past.

Because the field is so vast, the reading list only encompasses a small percentage of the literature that exists both in terms of breadth and depth of material. As a result, I will try to make clear during the course of the semester what topics have been omitted and where they fit substantially with material covered. In addition, I encourage you to delve deeper into any one topic if you are so inclined and I will try to point you in the right direction.

Assignments

There will be four different grades during the semester. The first two will be for a short (6-8 pages) papers due as marked on the syllabus. Both of these papers will focus on the theoretical material discussed during the first part of the course. More details will be given in class. Each of these papers will be worth 25% of your grade. The third will a take home final exam that will incorporate the theory of the class with the cases discussed during the last four weeks of the course. The final will be worth 40% of your grade. Class participation accounts for the remaining 10%, reflecting the fact that active participation by all students is essential to a successful class. Participation is even more essential in a class such as this that has the dual tasks of critically analyzing the assigned readings and collectively analyzing the cases assigned later in the course.

Given the nature of this course and its assignments, incompletes should not be necessary. Students are expected to have read the assigned material before the relevant class session. Some weeks are heavier than others, so plan accordingly. When we arrive at the case portion of the course, if you have not read the assigned cases, do not come to class. All readings will be placed on reserve in Babbidge library.

The following reading materials are in the COOP:

• Ferguson, Yale H. and Richard W. Mansbach. (1996) Polities: Authority, Identities, and Change. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press.
• Tickner, J. Ann. (1992) Gender in International Relations. New York: Columbia University Press.
• Vasquez, John.  (1998) The Power of Power Politics.  Cambridge:   Cambridge University Press.
• Case packet from the COOP.

Reading Assignments

Sept. 7 - Introduction

Sept. 14 - Some Thoughts about Diversity in International Studies Research

• Brecher, Michael. (1999) "International Studies in the Twentieth Century and Beyond," International Studies Quarterly, 43(2):213-264.
• Bobrow, Davis B. (1996) "Complex insecurity: implications of a sobering metaphor," International Studies Quarterly, 40:435-50.
• Singer, J. David. (1969) "The Level of Analysis Problem in International Relations," in James N. Rosenau, ed. International Politics and Foreign Policy. New York: The Free Press.
• Viotti, Paul and Mark V. Kauppi, eds. (1993) International Relations Theory. New York: MacMillan, pp. 123-141 (selection titled "Explaining War" by Waltz).
• Rosenau, James N. and Mary Durfee. (1995) Thinking Theory Thoroughly. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Chapters 1 and 8.

Grand Theory

Sept. 21 - The Dominant Paradigm: Realism and Beyond

• Vasquez, John.  (1998) The Power of Power Politics.  Cambridge:   Cambridge University Press. PART I.
• Viotti, Paul and Mark V. Kauppi, eds. (1993) International Relations Theory. New York: MacMillan, pp. 35-65.

Sept. 28 - The Neo-Liberal Challenge

• Vasquez, John.  (1998) The Power of Power Politics.  Cambridge:   Cambridge University Press. PART II.
• Kegley, Charles W. Jr., ed. (1995) Controversies in International Relations Theory: Realism and Neoliberal Challenge. New York: St. Martin's Press, pp. 1-34.
• Viotti, Paul and Mark V. Kauppi, eds. (1993) International Relations Theory. New York: MacMillan, pp. 401-421 (Keohane and Nye).
• Weber, Steven. (1997) "Institutions and Change," in Michael W. Doyle and G. John Ikenberry, eds. New Thinking in International Relations Theory, Boudler, CO:   Westview Press.

Oct. 5 - Economic Critiques

• Scholte, Joan Aart. (1997) "The Globalization of World Politics," in John Baylis and Steve Smith, eds. The Globalization of World Politics, Oxford:   Oxford University Press, pp. 13-30.
• Hobden, Steve and Richard Wyn Jones. (1997) "World-System Theory," in John Baylis and Steve Smith, eds. The Globalization of World Politics, Oxford:   Oxford University Press, pp. 125-146.
• Pauly, Louis W. and Simon Reich. (1997) "National Structures and Multinational Corporate Behavior: Enduring Differences in the Age of Globalization," International Organization, 51(1):1-30.
• Viotti, Paul and Mark V. Kauppi, eds. (1993) International Relations Theory. New York: MacMillan, pp. 449-467.
• ***First paper due at class time***

Oct. 12 - A Feminist Critique

• Tickner, J. Ann. (1992) Gender in International Relations. New York: Columbia University Press.
• Murphy, Craig N. (1996) "Seeing Women, Recognizing Gender, Recasting International Relations," International Organization, 50(3):513-38.
• Der Derian, James. (1997) "Post-Theory:  The Eternal Return of Ethics in International Relations," in Michael W. Doyle and G. John Ikenberry, eds. New Thinking in International Relations Theory, Boudler, CO:  Westview Press.
• Elshtain, Jean Bethke. (1997) "Feminist Inquiry and International Relations, in Michael W. Doyle and G. John Ikenberry, eds. New Thinking in International Relations Theory, Boudler, CO:  Westview Press.

Oct. 19 - Other Grand Alternatives

• Ferguson, Yale H. and Richard W. Mansbach. (1996) Polities: Authority, Identities, and Change. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, Chaps. 1, 2, and 15 and 2 of the cases.
• Wendt, Alexander. (1992) "Anarchy is What States Make of It: The Social Construction of Power Politics," International Organization, 46:391-425.
• Wendt, Alexander. (1994) "Collective Identity Formation and the International State," American Political Science Review, 88(2):384-396

Theories of Interstate Interaction

Oct. 26 - Rational Choice Approaches

• Olson, Mancur (1965) The Logic of Collective Action. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. pp. 1-3, 9-16.
• Kaul, Inge, Isabelle Grunberg, and Marc A. Stern. (1999) "Defining Global Public Goods," in Inge Kaul, Isabelle Grunberg, and Marc A. Stern, eds. Global Public Goods. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 2-19.
• Kaul, Inge, Isabelle Grunberg, and Marc A. Stern. (1999) "Global Public Goods:   Concepts, Policies and Strategies,"  in Inge Kaul, Isabelle Grunberg, and Marc A. Stern, eds. Global Public Goods. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 450-507.
• Martin, Lisa L. (1999) "The Political Economy of International Cooperation," in Inge Kaul, Isabelle Grunberg, and Marc A. Stern, eds. Global Public Goods. New York: Oxford University Press, pp.  51-64.
• Keohane, Robert. (1984) After Hegemony. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Chapter 3.

Nov 2 - Theories of International Conflict, Crisis, and War

• Chan, Steve. (1997) "In Search of Democratic Peace: Problems and Promise," Mershon Review of International Studies, 41(Suppl. 1, May):59-92.
• Vasquez, John A. (1987) "The Steps to War," World Politics, 40(1):108-145.
• Hermann, Charles F. (1994) "The Concept of Crisis," in Phil Williams, Donald M. Goldstein, and Jay M. Shifritz, eds. Classic Readings of International Relations. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., pp. 288-297.
• Jervis, Robert. (1994) "War and Misperception," in Phil Williams, Donald M. Goldstein, and Jay M. Shifritz, eds. Classic Readings of International Relations. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., pp. 367-384.
• Homer-Dixon, Thomas F. (1994) "Environmental Scarcities and Violent Conflict: Evidence from Cases," International Security, 19(1):5-40.
• Gagnon, V.P. Jr. (1994/95) "Ethnic Nationalism and International Conflict," International Security, 19(3):130-166.

Nov. 9 - Deterrence

• Downs, George W. (1989) "The Rational Deterrence Debate," World Politics, 41:225-238.
• Lebow, Richard Ned and Janice Gross Stein. (1989) "Rational Deterrence Theory: I think, Therefore I Deter," World Politics, 41:208-224.
• Huth, Paul K. and Bruce Russett. (1984) "What Makes Deterrence Work? Cases from 1900 to 1980," World Politics, 36:496-526.
• Morgan, Patrick M. (1983) Deterrence: A Conceptual Analysis, 2nd ed. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications. Chap. 2.
• Russett, Bruce. (1963) "The Calculus of Deterrence," Journal of Conflict Resolution, 7:97-109.

Nov. 16 - Theories About International Change

• Huntington, Samuel. (1993) "The Clash of Civilizations," Foreign Affairs, 72(3):56-73.
• Rosenau, James N. and Ernst-Otto Czempiel, eds. (1992) Governance Without Government:  Orde and Change in World Politics. Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press.  Chapters 1 and 10 both by Rosenau.
• Richards, Diana. (1993) "A Chaotic Model of Power Concentration in the International System," International Studies Quarterly, 37(1):55-72.
• Snyder, Jack. (1991) Myths of Empire. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, Chapters 1 and 8.
• ***Second paper due at class time***

Applying Theory to Practice: Case Discussions

Nov. 30 -

• Pew Case 401 - Beagle Channel Negotiations

Nov. 23 - No class - remember: Tuesday is Something else this week in UConn's infinite wisdom.

Dec. 7 -

• Pew Case 450 - The Making of United Nations Security Council Resolution 242

Dec. 14 -

• Pew Case 129 - Korean Joggers
• Pew Case 154 - Ivory Trade

***Final Paper Due During Final Exam Week at a time and date set by Prof. Boyer.***