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Présentation
No prerequisites.
The objective of the course is to familiarize students with International Relations' (IR) central concepts, classical texts, and field-defining debates.
What is the object of the study of International Relations (IR)? How did the (sub-)discipline originate and develop? Where is it headed and how does it relate to other approaches to the study of politics? The course provides an overview of the main theoretical approaches in the field of IR. The purpose is to familiarize students with its central concepts, classical texts, and field-defining debates. Spanning across the major theoretical paradigms of IR, the course is divided into two main sections. The first section examines the standard approaches to the study of international relations, including Realism, Liberalism, and Constructivism, which came to dominate the discipline. The second section focuses on some of the main critical approaches – Marxism, Feminism, and Post-colonialism – which challenge the mainstream approaches from the point of view of class, gender, and race, respectively. In the final session, we will look at the future of the discipline and its prospects for a pluralistic research program.
Modalités
The course is organized as a reading seminar, meaning that the emphasis is on exposing students to a wide range of IR readings and on facilitating active engagement with these readings in the form of class debates and short discussion essays.
COURSE POLICIES
Late work: Late assignments will automatically receive a one-point penalty for each started late hour.
Plagiarism: Please read the university’s policy on plagiarism and make sure to cite all sources (both when quoting and when paraphrasing) and use quotation marks when directly quoting the author. Evidence of plagiarism (including copying text from the web or another student) will result in a failing grade for the assignment (0/20) and the launch of official university plagiarism procedure.
Electronic devices: The use of electronic devices, including laptop computers, tablets, and phones, is not allowed during class as their use appears to hinder the ability to understand complex conceptual issues. Please use pen and paper to take notes in class (and try to get into the habit of making handwritten comments on the margins of the texts while reading to facilitate class discussion and remind yourselves of the authors’ main points when consulting the texts later). For more on this, please see:
- Mueller, Pam A. & Oppenheimer, Daniel M. (2014) “The Pen is Mightier than the Keyboard: Advantages of Longhand over Laptop Note Taking,” Psychological Science 25(6): 1159-1168;
- Rosenblum, Darren (2017) “Leave Your Laptops at the Door to My Classroom,” The New York Times, January 2.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
The final grade will be based on the following components:
(1) Class participation and evidence of consistent preparation for class (20%): Full attendance and active student participation in class discussions is expected. The instructor can call on students to summarize readings and answer questions, so be prepared to engage with the session’s readings, as well as with related readings discussed earlier in the semester.
(2) A short writing assignment (20%): Each student will write one short discussion paper of 2-3 pages (12pt font, double spaced, 2 cm margins) covering one of the ten substantive lessons of the course (Session 3 to Session 12). The essay should not summarize the assigned readings but, rather, choose a particular aspect or theme of the readings and develop an argument drawing on their strengths, shortcomings, and/or problematic implications. The assignment must be shared via e-mail with the entire class no later than 24 hours before the session takes place. This task also includes preparing 2 discussion questions (included in the document shared with the class and the instructor prior to the class) and serving as a “resident expert” or “authors’ advocate” who can be called upon to explain the authors’ arguments or clarify questions about the readings during the class. Discussion paper topics will be distributed at the beginning of the semester.
(3) The final exam (60%): At the end of the semester, students will sit for an in-class exam. The first part will be structured as multiple choice (20%), the second part will consist of two essay questions (20% each). The exam will cover all of the course readings.