Theories of International Relations

The course introduces students to the academic field of International Relations (IR), its historical development, major theoretical perspectives, and key debates. Discussing themes from diplomacy and war to historical narratives and everyday world-making, the course presents IR as a field in conflict over interpretations of world politics, over the status of theory between practice, science, and critique, and over the links between knowledge, power, and society. The course offers students an overview of major theories, their insights, and their blind spots, from realism, liberalism, and the English School to Marxism, constructivism, and Feminism. In so doing, it taps into debates over the prospects for peace between power politics and multilateral institutions, dynamics of cooperation and change, and critiques of material exploitation and epistemic exclusion. As a field divided into many perspectives and agendas, IR reflects the stakes of mediating difference and of interpreting the world - and acting in it - differently.   

This course’s aim is to introduce students to the discipline of International Relations: the main objects of studies, concepts, and questioning, and to put these in practice through empirical examples.

This course introduces students to the field of IR, its main questions, concepts, and approaches. More specifically, students will:

• Receive a broad overview of the field's historical development, from the so-called "first debate" in the interwar period to its increased fragmentation
• Gain an understanding of key topics and themes in IR, from diplomacy and war to historical narratives and everyday world-making
• Become familiar with the main theoretical approaches in the field, from realism and liberalism to feminism and postcolonialism
• Develop a critical awareness of the contingency, insights, and blind spots of particular understandings of international relations
• Come to understand how theories and practices of international politics are intertwined in important ways

Connaissances et compétences pré-requises ou co-requises

The course presupposes a broad understanding of the history of world politics in the 20th century as well as basic notions of sociological theory, epistemology, and social science methodology. It is also important to keep up with current events in the news, to attend the lecture course regularly, and to read all assigned readings before class every week. 

The course will comprise 2h lectures. Assigned readings are mandatory and must be carefully read before each class.

There will be a continuous assessment with two exams during the terms with multiple choice questions (MCQ) and open questions.

Références, bibliographie et lectures recommandées

 

Support(s) de cours

• Université virtuelle

Informations complémentaires

 

Contacts

Campus

Solbosch

Méthode(s) d'évaluation

• Examen écrit

Examen écrit

• Examen hors-session

• Question fermée à Choix Multiple (QCM)
• Question fermée à Réponses Multiples (QRM)
• Question ouverte à développement long

Construction de la note (en ce compris, la pondération des notes partielles)

 

Langue(s) d'évaluation

• anglais