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Big Books and Major Statements in International Relations

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Big Books and Major Statements in International Relations Big Books and Major Statements in International Relations Seminar, 1st term 2017-18 Ulrich Krotz Richard Maher Professor, Chair in International Relations (SPS-RSCAS) Research Fellow Director, program on Europe in the World Robert Schuman Centre for Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies Advanced Studies European University Institute European University Institute [email protected] [email protected] Time of Class Meetings: Tuesdays, 17.00 – 19.00 Location: Seminar Room 3 (Badia Fiesolana) Please register online Contact: [email protected] Purpose This seminar scrutinizes some of the big books and major statements in International Relations over the past few decades. Next to the importance of the respective works, a focus on Europe and security affairs, both broadly conceived, informs the choice of readings. The course aims to help graduate students to master major writings and thinking in International Relations, and to fully grasp the nature and relevance of some of the main statements in these areas. The course will intertwine the reading and discussion of the “big books” with students’ own thinking and research projects. Thumbnail Scrutinizes some of the big books in International Relations and security affairs of the past several decades. Aims to help students master major writings and thinking in the field, and thereby to support their own Ph.D. dissertation projects. Requirements 1. Students are expected to come to class fully prepared and to have thoroughly completed the assigned readings before each week’s meeting, and to actively participate in class discussions. Regular seminar attendance goes without saying. Required readings will be discussed in class. The “Recommended Supplementary Readings” will not be discussed in class. They function as a guide for students who want to learn more about a given topic, or who wish to undertake independent research on the issue at hand. When appropriate, the course provider or a participant will present to the seminar a brief summary of work listed under “Recommended Supplementary Readings.” 2. Course participants are asked to write two or more literature critiques of around five pages each (say around 1,500 words or so). These “reaction papers” will introduce the reading(s) and will be discussed in class together with the readings themselves. The authors of these reviews need to send them via e-mail attachment to the other course participants no later than 24 hours before the seminar meetings. Authors will very briefly present their critique papers in seminar, followed by questions and discussion. Other requirements to be specified according to students’ interests and course enrollment. Prerequisites No formal prerequisites. However, the course design presumes that participants have a solid background in international relations, and international history and politics, or are willing to make up deficits through independent reading as the course proceeds. Students who are not willing or able to give serious consideration to, and engage with, a diverse range of thinking and types of argument—even when these are different from, and potentially contrary to, their own—are discouraged from taking this course. Access to Readings Students are encouraged to buy copies of the books assigned for this course. The books are readily available as paperbacks as well as hard copies. However, one or more copies of the relevant books are available on reserve in the library and/or are readily accessible as e-books through the library system. All other relevant course materials are available on the course web page. SYLLABUS Session 1 (Tuesday 3 October 2017) INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW Stanley Hoffmann, "An American Social Science: International Relations," Daedalus (Summer 1977), pp. 41-59. Reprinted as Stanley Hoffmann, "An American Social Science: International Relations," in Stanley Hoffmann, ed. Janus and Minerva: Essays in the Theory and Practice of International Politics (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1987), pp. 3-24. Read either. Daniel Maliniak, Susan Peterson and Michael J. Tierney, “TRIP Around the World: Teaching, Research, and Policy Views of International Relations Faculty in 20 Countries.” Teaching, Research, and International Policy (TRIP) Project, The Institute for the Theory and Practice of International Relations, The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA (May 2012) BACKGROUND and RECOMMENDED SUPPLEMENTARY READINGS Russel H. Fifield, “The Introductory Course in International Relations,” American Political Science Review Vol. 42, No. 6 (December 1948), pp. 1189-1196. Frederick Dunn, “The Present Course of International Relations Research,” World Politics Vol. 2, No. 1 (October 1949), pp. 80-95. 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 (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1997), pp. 20-53. Michael W. Doyle, Ways of War and Peace: Realism, Liberalism, and Socialism (New York: Norton, 1997). Peter J. Katzenstein, Robert O. Keohane and Stephen D. Krasner, eds., Exploration and Contestation in the Study of World Politics (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1999). Walter Carlsnaes, Thomas Risse and Beth A. Simmons, eds., Handbook of International Relations (Thousand Oaks: Sage, 2002). Brian C. Schmidt, "On the History and Historiography of International Relations," in Walter Carlsnaes, Thomas Risse and Beth A. Simmons, eds., Handbook of International Relations (Thousand Oaks, Cal.: Sage, 2002), pp. 3-22. Donald J. Puchala, Theory and History in International Relations (New York: Routledge, 2003). 2 ■ Big Books and Major Statements in International Relations, 1st term 2017-18 Susan Peterson and Michael J. Tierney (with Daniel Maliniak), “Teaching and Research Practices, Views on the Discipline, and Policy Attitudes of International Relations Faculty at U.S. Colleges and Universities,” Typescript, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA (August 2005 or February 2007 or latest version). Available at http://mjtier.people.wm.edu/intlpolitics/teaching/surveyreport.pdf or http://mjtier.people.wm.edu/intlpolitics/teaching/papers.php (web page Michael Tierney) Christian Reus-Smit and Duncan Snidal, eds., The Oxford Handbook of International Relations (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008). Gunther Hellmann, “International Relations as a Filed of Study.” In International Encyclopedia of Political Science, edited by Bertrand Badie, Dirk Berg-Schlosser, Leonardo Morlino (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2011). QUESTIONS and TOPICS for Research and Class Discussion In what ways is International Relations still “an American social science”? In what ways is it not? What might be some of the most promising areas of research in international relations and world politics in the years and decades ahead? What are some of the most under-researched topics today in international relations, foreign policy, political science, or the social sciences more broadly? Session 2 (Tuesday 10 October 2017) VISIONS OF THE FUTURE Francis Fukuyama, "The End of History?" The National Interest, No. 16 (Summer 1989), pp. 3-18. Charles Krauthammer, “The Unipolar Moment,” Foreign Affairs, Vol. 70, No. 1 (1990/91), pp. 23-33. Samuel P. Huntington, "The Clash of Civilizations?" Foreign Affairs, Vol. 72, No. 3 (Summer 1993), pp. 22-49. Naazneen Barma, Ely Ratner, and Steven Weber, ‘A World without the West’, National Interest, no. 90, July/August 2007, pp. 23-30. Ulrich Krotz and Richard Maher, “Europe in an Age of Transition,” Global Affairs (forthcoming). Brief presentation by uk on think pieces of this type BACKGROUND and RECOMMENDED SUPPLEMENTARY READINGS Reinhart Koselleck, Vergangene Zukunft: Zur Semantik geschichtlicher Zeiten (Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp, 1979). (Translated and with an introduction by Keith Tribe as Reinhart Koselleck, Futures Past: On the Semantics of Historical Time (New York, NY: Columbia University Press). Paul Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of Great Powers (New York: Vintage, 1989). Henry Kissinger, Diplomacy (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994). Thomas L. Friedman, The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1999). 3 ■ Big Books and Major Statements in International Relations, 1st term 2017-18 Robert D. Kaplan, The Coming Anarchy: Shattering the Dreams of the Post-Cold War World (New York: Random House, 2000). Robert Kagan, Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order (New York: Vintage Books, 2004). Robert Cooper, The Breaking of Nations: Order and Chaos in the Twenty-First Century (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2004). Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics (New York: PublicAffairs, 2004). Amy Chua, Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance—and Why They Fall (New York: Doubleday, 2007). Thérèse Delpech, Savage Century: Back to Barbarism (Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2007). Fareed Zakaria, The Post-American World: Release 2.0 (New York: W. W. Norton, 2012). QUESTIONS and TOPICS for Research and Class Discussion What aspects or trends of the post-Cold War world did Fukuyama, Krauthammer, and Huntington get right? What did they miss (or misinterpret)? Why were Fukuyama’s and Huntington’s articles so controversial? Do they deserve their notoriety? How useful is it to make forecasts in international politics? What would you call this genre: Journalistic “coffee talk” or informed commentary rooted
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