Classics in International Relations Theory: Professor Daniel Drezner

Classics in International Relations Theory (DHP H204)

Professor Daniel Drezner Spring 2007

OVERVIEW

Most international relations courses you will take focus on "cutting edge" research, filled with recent articles in the most respected journals. Others will focus on policy questions of the day, replete with deep thoughts from Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy from the statesmen of the day. Such approaches are valuable, but they often presuppose a familiarity with the classics of international relations that does not exist. Rare is the international relations class that reads any of Thucydides beyond the Melian dialogue, or anything at all by Norman Angell or Halford Mackinder.

Does this matter? Yes. To paraphrase John Maynard Keynes, buried at the core of any new policy idea are the thoughts of a long-dead international relations theorist. In order to genuinely appreciate current debates about international relations, one has to understand the history of thought in international relations. That is the goal of this course.

The basic plan of this course will be the great book approach. One week, one book — in most cases, the whole book. Note that we'll be proceeding chronologically, starting with Thucydides. This will give you a chance to measure how much progress the field has made in explaining international interactions. Most weeks, I have kept the amount of secondary readings to a bare minimum so we can talk about the texts themselves.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Your performance in this class is based on three components: class participation, one short paper, and one long paper. Class participation means several things. First, as I said, I am assuming you will have done the readings, digested their meaning, and ready to discuss them critically in class. Second, you will be expected to give one in-class presentation on the book of the week — what you think the core arguments are, and whether those arguments are used appropriately today.

A note about the readings. This is a seminar course for graduate students. This means that I expect you to have done all of the readings in advance and that you are prepared to discuss them in class. I place great importance on this: you will note that 35% of your grade is determined by your class participation. Read all of the assigned materials before class meets. I am aware that this is not the only course you will be taking this spring, and I have really, really tried to keep the number of pages per week down. Scanning the syllabus, you will probably believe this claim to be insincere, but trust me, there is a lot that is being left out.

You will also be writing one short paper and one longer paper. The short paper consist of a 3,000 word effort analyzing a text of international relations theory that's more than 20 years old (you need to clear the book with me beforehand) and addressing two questions:

• How does the author's theoretical approach mesh with its historical antecedents?
• To what extent does the current scholarly and policymaking literature use this work? Is this use slanted in any particular way?

Your longer paper assignment (up to 7,000 words) will be to choose a relatively well-known problem in world politics today and address two questions:

• Do any of the classic texts offer an insight into the problem that is lacking among current streams of thought?
• Would any of these texts suggest a useful policy for the United States to address this problem?

Possibilities for the short paper include:

• Graham Allison, Essence of Decision
• Raymond Aron, Peace and War: A Theory of International Relations
• Geoffrey Blainey, The Causes of War
• James Bryce, International Relations
• Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, The War Trap
• Carl von Clausewitz, On War
• G. Lowes Dickinson, Causes of International War
• William T.R. Fox, Theoretical Aspects of International Relations
• Robert Gilpin, War and Change in Wold Politics
• Robert Gilpin, U.S. Power and the Multinational Corporation
• Ernst Haas, Beyond the Nation-State
• Morton Halperin, Bureaucratic Politics and Foreign Policy
• Albert Hirschman, National Power and the Structure of Foreign Trade
• John A. Hobson, Imperialism: A Study
• Robert Jervis, Perception and Misperception in International Politics
• Morton Kaplan, System and Process in International Relations
• Robert Keohane and Joseph Nye, Power and Interdependence
• John Maynard Keynes, The Economic Consequences of the Peace
• Klaus Knorr, The Power of Nations
• Stephen D. Krasner, Defending the National Interest
• Harold Lasswell, World Politics and Personal Insecurity
• Walter Lippman, The Stakes of Diplomacy
• A.F.K. Organski, World Politics
• Harold Sprout and Margaret Sprout, Towards a Politics of the Planet Earth
• Sun Tzu, The Art of War
• Arnold Wolfers, Discord and Collaboration
• Quincy Wright, A Study of War

All told, your grade in this course will be determined as follows:

• Class participation: 35%
• Short paper: 25%
• Long paper: 40%

REQUIRED BOOKS

These books should be available at the Tufts university bookstore. An important note: you need to buy these editions. We'll be going to the texts rather often in class. It will be impossible for you to follow along if you're using the Penguin version of Thucydides, for example.

• Norman Angell, The Great Illusion (New York: Ayer, 1972)
• E.H. Carr. The Twenty Years' Crisis, 1919-1939 (New York: Palgrave, 2001).
• Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (New York: Penguin Classics, 1985)
• Immanuel Kant, Political Writings (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991)
• V.I. Lenin. Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism (New York: International Publishers, 1990).
• John Locke, Second Treatise of Government (New York: Hackett, 1990).
• Halford Mackinder, Democratic Ideals and Reality (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1996).
• Alfred Thayer Mahan, The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783 (Gretna, LA: Pelican, 2003).
• Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation (Boston: Beacon Press, 2001).
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau, A Discourse on the Origins of Inequality (New York: Hackett, 1992).
• Thomas Schelling. The Strategy of Conflict (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1960).
• Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996).
• The Landmark Thucydides : A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War, (Edited by Robert B. Strassler). New York: Touchstone Books, 1998).
• Kenneth Waltz. Man, the State and War: A Theoretical Analysis (New York: Columbia University Press, 1959).

COURSE OUTLINE The Origins of International Relations (1/30)

• Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, all.
• Roger Scott, "Imperialist Democracy, Ancient Athenians and the US Presence in Iraq," Australian Journal of International Affairs 59 (September 2005): 335-350.
• David A. Welch, "Why International Relations Theorists Should Stop Reading Thucydides," Review of International Studies 29 (July 2003): 301-319.

Anarchy and the State of Nature (2/6)

• Hobbes, Leviathan, Book One, chapters 1-8, 10-17, 29-31
• Locke, Second Treatise of Government, chapters 1-9, 15-19.
• Rousseau, A Discourse on the Origins of Inequality, all.
• Jack Snyder, "Anarchy and Culture: Insights from the Anthropology of War." International Organization 56 (Winter 2002): 7-45.
• Optional: Alexander Wendt, Social Theory of International Politics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), chapter six.

The Democratic Peace (2/13)

• Immanuel Kant, "Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Purpose" and "Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch," in Kant: Political Writings.
• Michael Doyle, "Kant, Liberal Legacies, and Foreign Affairs, Parts I and II." Philosophy and Public Affairs 12 (Summer/Fall 1983): 205-235, 323-353.
• John Oneal, "The Kantian Peace: The Pacific Benefits of Democracy, Interdependence, and International Organizations, 1885-1992," World Politics 52 (October 1999): 1-37.
• Ivo Daalder and James Lindsey, "Democracies of the World, Unite!" The American Interest 2 (January/February 2007).

Geopolitics, part one (2/20)

• Mahan, The Influence of Sea Power upon History, Preface, Introduction, chapters 1-2, 8-14.
• George Modelski, "The Long Cycle of Global Politics and the Nation-State." Comparative Studies in Society and History 20 (April 1978): 214-235

Marxism and Imperialism (2/27)

• Lenin, Imperialism.
• Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, "Manifesto of the Communist Party."
• Daniel W. Drezner, "Globalizers of the World, Unite!" The Washington Quarterly 21 (Winter 1998): 209-225.
• John R. Oneal and Frances H. Oneal, "Hegemony, Imperialism, and the Profitability of Foreign Investments." International Organization 42 (Spring 1988): 347-373.
• Desmond King, "When an Empire is not an Empire: The US Case," Government and Opposition 41 (Spring 2006): 163-196.

Interdependence and Conflict (3/6)

• Angell, The Grand Illusion.
• Susan McMillan, "Interdependence and Conflict," Mershon International Studies Review 41 (May 1997): 33-58.
• David M. Rowe, "World Economic Expansion and National Security in pre-World War I Europe," International Organization 53 (Spring 1999): 195-231.
• Zbigniew Brzezinski and John Mearsheimer, "Clash of the Titans," Foreign Policy 146 (January/February 2005): 46-50.
• Zheng Bijian, "China's 'Peaceful Rise' to Great Power Status," Foreign Affairs 84 (September/October 2005): 18-24.

Geopolitics, take two (3/13)

• MacKinder, Democratic Ideals and Reality
• Peter Liberman, "The Spoils of Conquest," International Security 18 (Fall 1993): 125-153.
• Mearsheimer, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics (New York: Norton, 2001), p. 114-128.

Carl Schmitt and the Clash of Civilizations (3/27)

• Schmitt, The Concept of the Political (including Strauss' response)
• Samuel Huntington, "The Clash of Civilizations?" Foreign Affairs 72 (Summer 1993): 22-49.
• Jennifer Mitzen, "Ontological Security in World Politics: State Identity and the Security Dilemma," European Journal of International Relations 12 (September 2006): 341-370.
• Dominique Moisi, "The Clash of Emotions," Foreign Affairs 86 (January/February 2007)

The Resurgence of Realism (4/3)

• Carr, The Twenty Years Crisis.
• Hans Morgenthau, Politics Among Nations, Chapters 1-2.
• Charles Glaser, "Realists as Optimists: Cooperation as Self-Help." International Security 19 (Winter 1995): 50-70.

Globalization and Its Discontents (4/10)

• Polanyi, The Great Transformation
• Peter Gourevitch, "The Second Image Reversed: The International Sources of Domestic Politics." International Organization 32 (Autumn 1978): 881-912.
• Rawi Abdelal and Adam Segal, "Has Globalization Passed Its Peak?" Foreign Affairs 86 (January/February 2007): 103-114.

Levels of Analysis (4/17)

• Waltz, Man, the State and War
• J. David Singer, "The Level-of-Analysis Problem in International Relations." World Politics 14 (October 1961): 77-92.
• Andrew Moravcsik, "Taking Preferences Seriously: A Liberal Theory of International Politics," International Organization 51 (Autumn 1997): 513-553.

Rational Choice and International Relations (4/24)

• Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict.
• Stephen Walt, "Rigor or Rigor Mortis? Rational Choice and Security Studies." International Security 23 (Fall 1999).