Course Introduction | Learning Objectives | Overview of Course Content | Conduct of the Class | Grading
| Required Readings | Course
Schedule | Administrative
Rules
IR 210 Fall 2004
Prof. Steven Lamy, Ph.D. Office:
VKC 330
Lecture: 10:00/ MWF THH 101 lamy@usc.edu
Office
Hours:
Monday: 8-9 and 2-3:30
Instructor's Discussion: Wed. and Fridays 8-9 AM- Open
to all to discuss anything
Friday: 1:30-3:00 when there is no faculty meeting
Introductory Theory and
Analysis in International Relations
There is one thing stronger than all the
armies in the world and that is an idea whose time has come.
Victor Hugo
The grim fact is that we prepare for war
like precocious giants and for peace like retarded pygmies.
Lester
Pearson
But we shall also do our part to build a
world of peace where the weak are safe and the strong are just. We are not
helpless before that task or hopeless of its success. John F. Kennedy
COURSE INTRODUCTION
This
course is designed as a comprehensive review of theoretical and analytical
developments in the field of international relations. IR 210 is required for
all majors and minors in the
Thus,
one major goal of this class is to introduce you to some critical and creative
thinking skills that will help you participate in the various communities that
you will encounter in the next 50+ years of your life. We want you to know
where to find information to verify claims made by leaders and we want you to
learn to think before acting. A second, perhaps more pragmatic goal of the
course, is to provide an introduction to terms, concepts, theoretical frameworks,
and issues in this field. This is a foundational course and at times you may
find it difficult. This course is not
about current events; instead, it will introduce you to the tools that are
essential for understanding the current events that splash across your video
and computer screens every minute of the day. We hope you will learn to become
a scholar and reject the ideological and polemical arguments we often hear on
radio talk shows and from many so media pundits and self-proclaimed experts. You may also learn how policy and theory
are related and how history shapes our ideas. In addition, we will do the
following:
1) Share with the students information
about traditional, modern, and contemporary worldviews and theories about man,
the state, the international system, and the global community.
2) Introduce students to basic tools of
analysis employed by scholars attempting to explain and understand the behavior
of state and non-state actors in the global community.
Professors are people who talk in other
peoples dreams. W.H.
Auden
What
we know about international relations is dependent upon developing sound
international relations theory. Without theories and time-tested analytical
models and frameworks, our explanations,
descriptions, predictions, and policy prescriptions are limited in
scope and are usually excessively normative. Above all, we hope that all
students in this class will learn to review
and analyze issues from the perspectives of all relevant actors.
Politics
is all about conflict and controversy.
People look at the world through different prisms that we will call worldviews. These worldviews are shaped by their environment, their histories, their
experiences and by the core beliefs that define their world. Discussions and
analyses of international relations are more contentious because of the
diversity of worldviews and the lack of consensus on such issues as governance,
the nature of human rights and how best to provide order and stability in an
anarchic system. What makes international relations different from domestic
politics is that it is more about survival and it is a constant search for
order and equity in an anarchic, unequal, and competitive global environment.
Theory
matters! Every decision-maker carries theories around in her/his head. Every individual uses theories to organize,
evaluate, and critically review contending positions in controversial policy
areas. Your confidence as a scholar or
policy-maker is increased if supported by theoretical positions that are in
turn formulated after a thorough understanding of historical evidence in a
given policy area.
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Learning Objectives
It
is hoped that after completion of this course, students will know more about
the international system and the issues that define the activities of
states. The course will be designed to
encourage students to approach international relations in a more sophisticated
and theoretically grounded manner. If
we are successful, students will:
* Develop
a more comprehensive understanding of the various theoretical positions and the
roles these theories play in our understanding of the international system.
(Knowledge-building)
*
Understand the relationship between theory and policy-making in the
international system. (Problem-solving)
* Develop
an appreciation of other worldviews or perspectives and theoretical
assumptions. (Values and attitudes)
* Enhance
their ability to understand the international system and thereby increase their
capacity to act or participate at various levels in the international system.
(Participation and action)
At
the end of the course you should be a seasoned critical thinker, capable
of analyzing issues from a variety of cultural, ideological, gender, and
historical perspectives. You should also be able to answer four very important
questions: Why did that happen? What has been done about it? What should I do? Who can help me do something about this situation?
Controversy rules in the field of
international relations. We disagree about what we study and how
we study the world around us. In our complex world, we cannot afford to dismiss
any legitimate source of information. People see the world through different
filters and they then use this information to evaluate, analyze, and
eventually, to act. Knowing the factors
that shape the various worldviews is
an important starting point for international relations scholars. The critical
question here: Who informs me? Why do I
believe this to be true?
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OVERVIEW OF COURSE CONTENT
The 43 lectures will be divided into three
interrelated sections:
I. The Cartography of International Relations: Four Worlds of IR
II.
Analytical Tools:
Explaining and understanding
III.
A Review of three issues areas
from the perspective of three worldviews
The real voyage of discovery consists not
in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.
Marcel Proust
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CONDUCT
OF THE CLASS
Lecture Sessions: The
decision to take this class is a decision to attend the class every time it
meets! I promise to be on time and to prepare for every lecture. I will do my
best to make certain that you have an opportunity to learn. Come to every
lecture to listen, think and respond!
TA Discussions:
This is where you will meet to discuss lectures and actually apply the
information from lectures and readings by completing several analytical
exercises. Learning theory suggests we all learn better when we are forced to
use or apply information. You will have 5 analytical exercises and these are
worth as much as an exam. Each will force you to think again about readings and
lecture material. You may not submit an assignment unless you
attend the TA sessions.
Ethical behavior:
We will not tolerate any form of
academic dishonesty. Any violation of the USC rules as articulated in SCampus will
result in an F for the class. We will attempt to create an atmosphere of
tolerance and open discussion in our class. We ask you to recognize every
individuals
right to have an opinion that might not be universally shared. However, we need
to recognize that even tolerance has its limits.
Please come to my office hours to
discuss your problems with the course or with the readings. There are solutions
to all problems. You need to make an effort to start a dialogue. I have had my
shots and will not bite you or yell at you. Get to know all of your professors
and begin a dialogue about learning.
Please turn off your cell phones!
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EXIT OPTIONS/Grading:
Dude, dont
take that class! Dude, I went to class once each week and I still got a D. And
Dude, he expects you to read. Comment made to an incoming student by a three time 210
veteran.
Everybody is ignorant, only
on different subjects. Will
1. Examinations
(50%)
1 midterm
..25 points
October 22 in class
1 final
.25 points December 13, 2004 at 8-10
AM !
2. Case Studies and Analytical Exercises
. 45
points
There will be three case studies and five
analytical exercises in the TA sessions
3. Participation 5 points
Service Learning option:
students may decide to participate in a service to the LA/USC
Community
through JEP or TIRP. You may earn up
to 10 points, not as extra credit,
but in lieu of two analytical exercises.
You must meet with Dr. Lamy to review progress at least two (2) times
during the semester.
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REQUIRED
The
required readings that will be available for purchase include:
·
J.
Baylis and S. Smith,
The Globalization of World Politics (2nd or 3rd Edition)
Please note assigned chapters are based on the 2nd edition. The
Third edition was not available when the syllabus was prepared!
·
Foreign Affairs Reader ( a collection of articles dealing with the Four worlds of
IR)
· Richard Falk, The Declining World Order, also appears as The Darkening World Order: America's Imperial Geopolitics
Politics cannot be divorced from power. Political action
must be based on a
co-ordination of morality and power.
E. H. Carr
·
Robert
Kaplan, Warrior
Politics
Optional Text-useful if you do not know anything about history post
1945
·
McWilliams
and Piotrowski, The
World Since 1945
Georgetown/Pew Case Studies : Available on
line- http://www.guisd.org/
Pew
Case # 708, Fairchild and
Fujitsu
Pew
Case # 266, The Rocky Road to
Debt Forgiveness
Pew
Case # 241, The Dutch in
Srebrenica
Please Note: All readings marked with R are on reserve in Leavey Library
Try
always to do key readings and ask which ones are most important!
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Course Schedule
We
will do our best to stay on schedule.
However, one can never anticipate major world events that might delay
our schedule. Last year it was a war
with
I.
The Cartography of International Relations: Four Worlds of IR
·
Week of August 23rd
Session
One: An introduction to the discipline and the
culture of the course
A
careful review of the syllabus and a discussion of the expectations we have for
students in this class.
Puzzle: Why war? Why inequality?
Session
Two: The Analytical Framework: Worldviews-DEPPP.
S. Lamy, Worldviews and IR Theory p.3-35 Reserve
in LVL
Baylis and Smith, The Globalization of World
Politics, Intro and chapter 1
Foreign Affairs Reader-Introductory Section
Session
Three: Critical Issues and Debates
Different worldviews and different priorities or why the war on terrorism is not everyones primary concern!
Read
for Monday: Captain Lawrence Rockwood in
End
of week questions:
·
What does it mean to be a critical thinker in IR?
·
Why study IR and how is the answer to that
question influenced by your worldview?
·
What are worldviews and theories and how do they
influence policy?
·
What worldviews dominate policy discussions?
Puzzle: Is the national interest ever the same as the human interest?
One of the most time consuming things to have is an enemy. E.B. White
TA Sessions: Introductions and Overview of
Assignments: Professor Coopers World Order
·
Week of
August 30
Session
Four: The Defining Tensions in the Field of
International Relations
Rockwood case
Puzzle: Is the state system the reason for order and simultaneously, the cause of human suffering?
The
Four Worlds of International Relations
Session
Five: The Economic World: actors, belief systems and
controversies
Baylis and Smith, Globalization
and World Politics Chapters 13, 26
and 24
Foreign Affairs Reader-Economic World Section
Case: Mama Dou Dou
Session
Six: The Economic World
Same as above
Second TA Sessions: Exploring Economic Controversies: The
Globalization Debates (5 points)
Problem:
Can we manage globalization and address the problems associated with uneven
globalization?
End
of week questions:
·
What are the primary issues that define our
global economic world?
·
Is the state inconsequential in this economic
world? What is a trading state?
·
Why is inequality increasing in this global
economy?
·
What is uneven globalization?
·
What are the factors that may cause this system
to collapse?
September 6th USC Holiday-Labor
Day (Think about those who work to pay your tuition and come to class. Do not
waste their money!)
·
Rest of the week: September 8 and 10
Session
Seven: Economic World- Issues and Controversies
Case
Study: Fairchild and Fujitsu (5 points)
Puzzle: Will capitalism lead to peace?
Session Eight: The
Political and Military World: Actors- states, systems and regimes
Baylis and Smith, Globalization
of World Politics, Chapters 12 and 19
Foreign Affairs Reader-Political-Military
World section
Richard Falk, The Declining
World Order, TBA
No TA Sessions this Short Week
·
Week of September 13-17
Intelligence is not all that important in the exercise of power, and is often, in point of fact, useless.
Henry Kissinger
It is easier to be brave from a safe
distance. Aesop
Session
Nine: The Political and Military World: key issues and
controversies
Session
Ten:
The new security challenges, new and old wars and issues of
just war
Robert Kaplan, Warrior Politics, Chapter 1
Puzzle: Does empire fit with US
Session
Eleven: American Empire: Costs and Benefits
Third TA Sessions: Sources of Information: Critical IR Resources (5 points)
End
of week questions:
What
differentiates a state from other organizations?
Is
the state obsolete? Is the political process shifting away from the state?
What
does power mean? Hegemony? Balance of Power? Security?
What
is the security dilemma?
Why
war? Will it ever be obsolete?
Differences
between old and new wars?
·
Week of September 20th
Session Twelve: The
Cultural World: actors and issues
Baylis and Smith, The
Globalization of World Politics, Chapters 20 and 21
Foreign Affairs reader-Cultural World section
Session
Thirteen: The Cultural World: controversies
A major difference among societies today
is their respective conceptions of individual-social-group relationships.
Freedom of religion, for example, can only be granted in societies where
religion has lost its primary importance as a formative ideology, where it is
no longer the basic cement that holds the society together. Religion in some
societies is what social security is in the West. Werner Daum
Fourth TA Sessions: Review IR Resources List
Session
Fourteen: How cultures shape world politics?
Puzzle:
Why has fundamentalism and intolerance
taken hold across the world?
Northern California Migration: Trojans
spending time on the Farm!
·
Week of September 27th
Session Fifteen:
The Social World- Global Civil Society
Baylis and Smith, Globalization of World Politics,
Chapter 17 and 29
R. Falk, Predatory Globalization, Chapter 9. R
Foreign Affairs
reader-Social World section
Session
Sixteen: The Human Security Movement: ICBLM and ICC
Session Seventeen:
Summing up the four worlds-areas of collision and areas of congruence
At its core, the human
security agenda is an effort to construct a global society in which the safety
and well being of the individual is an international priority and a motivating
force for international action.
Lloyd Axworthy
Puzzle: Are politics shifting away from the state? If so, why?
Fifth
TA Sessions: Global Issues Networks or TANS (5 points)
·
Week of October 4th
Session Eighteen: An
overview of the intellectual history of the field of IR
Baylis and Smith, Globalization
of World Politics, Chapters 2-6
Session
Nineteen: Still surfing the waves of IR theory development
Sixth TA Sessions: A Critical Review of your proposed TANS
Session Twenty: Marginalized
Voices in IR: A special guest lecture
One of the simplest and most disturbing feminist insights is that
personal is political. Disturbing because it means that relationships we once
imagined were private or merely social are in fact infused with power, usually
unequal power backed by public authority. Prof. Cynthia Enloe
Baylis and Smith, The
Globalization of World Politics, Chapter 27
Puzzle:
How are minority voices marginalized?
II. Analytical Tools: Explaining and Understanding
·
Week of October 11th
Happy
Canadian Thanksgiving!
Session Twenty-one:
Two Stories of IR: Explaining and Understanding
Nye, Understanding
International Conflicts, Chapter Two. R
Beckman, World Politics in
the 20th Century, Chapter 9. R
Session Twenty-two:
Rationalists and Reflectivists Approaches
Agnew and Pyke, The Science
Game, selected sections on reserve.
Baylis and Smith, Globalization,
Chapter 9 and 11
Seventh TA Sessions: Why Did it Happen? A Two Part Exercise
Part One: Picking Puzzles (5
points)
Session Twenty-three: Case
II: Pew 266-The
Wherever one turns, the world is at odds
with itself. If differences in civilizations are not responsible for these
conflicts what is? Samuel Huntington
Puzzle: Most Americans believe that mainstream television is too
liberal. How would you prove that?
·
Week of October 18th
Everyone thinks of changing the world, but
no one thinks of changing himself.
Leo Tolstoy
Session Twenty-four: Level I: The
human dimension-explaining the behavior of states
Do
we act rationally or do other factors shape our decision-making?
Margaret Hermann, Effects
of Personal Characteristics of Political Leaders on Foreign Policy R
Foreign Policy, Chapter by Hermann and Hagan (Spring 1998 ) R
Session
Twenty-five: Level I variables (continued)
Professor Lamy will conduct review
sessions on Sunday, October 17th, Wednesday. October 20th
and Thursday, October 21st -location and time TBA
No TA Sessions this week!
Session Twenty-six: Midterm Exam
End
of week questions:
How
do belief systems influence decision-makers?
What
is an operational code? How does it shape decision-making?
When
do individual level factors matter most?
What
is cognitive dissonance and how does it shape decision-making?
Facing the limits of our resources and our
interests means giving up the illusion that we can solve all the worlds problems, cure all the worlds ills.
Jeane
J. Kirkpatrick
·
Week of October 25th
Session Twenty-seven: Level II:
Domestic sources as independent variables
Baylis and Smith, The
Globalization of World Politics, Chapters, 20 and 21.
Graham Allison, Essence of
Decision, selected sections R
Session
Twenty-eight: Domestic Sources-puzzles
Session
Twenty-nine: Domestic sources (continued)
Eight TA Sessions: Why Did it Happen: Part II: Developing Testable
Hypotheses
Puzzle: How would you explain the decision by
End
of week questions:
Are
all international politics now domestic?
Do
politics no longer stop at the waters edge?
What
domestic forces are most important in the area of foreign policy?
What
is the difference between national attributes and domestic politics?
·
Week of November 1st
Session Thirty: Level III - System
Approaches
R. Putnam, Two Level Games: The
Impact of Domestic Politics On
Transatlantic Bargaining
in Haftendom & Tuschhoff
an Era of Change R
Baylis and Smith, Chapters 14 and 16
No matter how good their intentions,
policy-makers must bear in mind the implications of the third image, which can be stated in summary as follows: each state
pursues its own interests, however defined, in ways it judges best. Force is a
means of achieving the external ends of states because there exists no
consistent, reliable process of reconciling the conflicts of interest that
inevitably arise among similar units in a condition of anarchy. Kenneth Waltz
Session Thirty-one: Level IV -
Global and Transnational Factors
R. North, War, Peace and Survival, Chapter 8 R
Baylis and Smith, Chapters 25 and 30
Empire is materializing before our eyes.
Over the past several decades, as colonial regimes were overthrown and then
precipitously after the Soviet barriers to the capitalist world market finally
collapsed, we have witnessed an irresistible and irreversible globalization of
economic and cultural exchanges. Along with the global market and global
circuits of production has emerged a global order, a new logic and structure of
rule-in short, a new form of sovereignty. Empire
is the political subject that effectively regulates these global exchanges, the
sovereign power that governs the world.
Hardt
and Negri, in Empire
Ninth TA Sessions: Explaining Decisions in the Srebrenica case study
III. Issues and Worldviews
Session Thirty-two: The Importance
of Worldviews
K. Boulding, The Image, pp. 3-18, 97-114 R
S. Lamy, Worldviews and IR Theory R
G. Fisher, Mindsets, Chapters 1 & 2 R
·
Week of November 8th
Session Thirty-three: Case Study: The Dutch in Srebrenica
Session Thirty-four: The search for security:
Maintainer views
Foundational Voices
Realism section in Baylis and Smith
Realism section in class reader
Kaplan, Warrior Politics
Session
Thirty-five: Maintainer views on security (continued)
Tenth TA Sessions: Contending views on
international issues (5 points)
Here is the ultimate tyranny: those who
resist aggression are forced to imitate, and perhaps even to exceed, the
brutality of the aggressor. Michael Walzer
Puzzle: Why is realism still the dominant
worldview?
·
Week of November 15th
Session Thirty-six: The search for security: Reformist views
A. Stein, Why Nations Cooperate, Chapter 1 R
R. Rosecrance, The Rise of the Trading State,
pp. 22-63 R
Baylis and Smith, Chapter 8 and 9
Keohane & Nye, Power and Interdependence,
Chapter 1 & 2 R
The passions that incline men to peace are
fear of death, desire of such things as are necessary for commodious living and
a hope by their industry to obtain them. Thomas Hobbes
But of the 191 members of the UN, seven
countries are responsible for half of the worlds trade, 2/3 of the worlds economic output, and nearly 3/4 of the
worlds defense expenditures. These great powers still shape the
world. Robert Pastor
Session
Thirty-seven:
Reformist Views
C. Pratt, Middle Power
Internationalism and Global Poverty, Middle Power
Internationalism, pp. 3-24 R
Baylis and Smith, Chapters 8, 22, and 23
Session Thirty-eight: Transformer
views on global security
A. Tickner, Searching for the
Princess, Harvard International Review
( Fall 1999) R
________, Why Women Cant
Run the World International Studies
Review R
Baylis and Smith, Chapters 10 and 11
S. Hunt and C. Posa, Women Waging Peace,
Foreign Policy (May/ June 2001) R
Richard Falk, The Declining World Order
Final TA Sessions: Worldviews and Issues
Presentations
·
Week of November 22nd
Session Thirty-nine: A Review of three views on national, human and global
security
But among the traits characteristic of man
is an impelling desire for society, that is, for the social life-not of any and
every sort, but, peaceful, and organized according to the measure of his
intelligence, with those of who are of his own kind. Hugo Grotius
Session Forty: Contending worldviews
and the search for ecological balance
Review
critical readings in each worldview category
Happy Thanksgiving! The Clash of Civilizations: The Fighting Methodists vs. the
Fighting Irish
The bourgeoisie has through its exploitation of the world
market given a cosmopolitan character to production and consumption in every
country. The bourgeoisie draws all, even the most barbarian nations, into
civilization. Karl Marx
·
Week of November 29th
Session Forty-one: Should we
intervene in other countries to protect human rights?
Session Forty-two: Three views of
the future
of international relations
Session Forty-three: Why Should I Care? Ten Rules for the Road for Global Survivors and Leaders
A Worldview
Analysis of the UCLA-USC Game
If you act like there is no possibility
for change, you guarantee that there will be no change.
Noam Chomsky
Review Sessions:
Friday
Dec. 10th and Saturday the 11th
The understanding of the world in the
twenty-first century that prevails in core countries-the liberal theory of history consists of two propositions. One is that
democracies tend to conduct peaceful
foreign policies. The other is that where free
markets are established, their working, over time, tends to promote
democracy.
Michael
Mandelbaum
Final Examination: Monday, December 13 at 8 AM
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Incompletes:
Remember, the University says there are no incompletes unless you have a
medical excuse or a family tragedy. You
must also submit a contract signed by Professor Lamy.
We will be very strict on
due dates. You will lose one (1)
point for every day an exercise is late, unless, you have discussed the issue
with me and I have given you permission to submit the paper late.
Grades: Please
do not come in at the end of the course and complain about your grade. Keep in touch with me about your
progress. Please keep communication
lines open throughout the semester.
Grades will not be changed unless there are clear errors in
computation or interpretation of your answers. If you appeal your grade, I will review all
of your work and then submit it to another professor for review. Your points
might increase of decrease. That is a chance that you must be willing to take.
Written Assignments and Examinations
You must be in class on time to
participate in case studies!
You must be in
attendance at the TA sessions to
participate in the analytical exercises. When an exercise is spread over two
weeks, you MUST be there for both sessions.
These rules apply in all
cases unless you have an approved excuse for your absence. Professor Lamy is
the only one who can grant you an exception. DO NOT ask the TA.
USC Statement on Disabilities:
Students requesting
academic accommodations based on disability are required to register with Disability Services and
Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved
accommodations can be obtained from DSP when adequate documentation is filed.
Please be sure the letter is delivered to me-NOT the TA as early as
possible. DSP is in STU 301, call
213-740-0776.
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Education In Progress: Turn Off Your Cell Phones!
Ron Barrett. New York Times. 26 June 2004 |
