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International Relations Theory

POLI 240

Course materials, syllabi, and other resources.

Course Mechanics

Week 1: Paradigms and Progress in IR

  1. Zinnes, Dina. 1980. "Three Puzzles in Search of a Researcher." International Studies Quarterly, 24(3): 315–42.
  2. Bueno de Mesquita, Bruce. 1985. "Toward a Scientific Understanding of International Conflict: A Personal View." International Studies Quarterly, 29(2): 121–36.
  3. Gaddis, John Lewis. 1992/93. "International Relations Theory and the End of the Cold War." International Security, 17(3): 5–58.
  4. Schmidt, Brian. 2013. "On the History and Historiography of International Relations," in Walter Carlsnaes, Thomas Risse, and Beth A. Simmons. (Eds.) Handbook of International Relations, 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, pp. 3–28.
  5. McNamara, Kathleen R. 2009. "Of Intellectual Monocultures and the Study of IPE," Review of International Political Economy, 16(1): 72–84.
  6. Katzenstein, Peter J., Robert O. Keohane, and Stephen D. Krasner. 1998. "International Organization and the Study of World Politics," International Organization, 52(4): 645–85.

    7. Recommended:
  7. Wæver, Ole. 1998. "The Sociology of Not So International Discipline: American and European Developments in International Relations," International Organization, 52(4): 687–727.
  8. Kristensen, Peter Marcus. 2018. "International Relations at the End: A Sociological Autopsy," International Studies Quarterly, 62(2): 245–59.

Week 2: Levels of Analysis and Strategic Choice

  1. Waltz, Kenneth. 1959. Man, the State, and War: A Theoretical Analysis. New York: Columbia University Press. Chapters 2, 4, and 6.
  2. Singer, J. David. 1961. "The Level-of-Analysis Problem in International Relations." World Politics, 14(1):77-92.
  3. Moul, William B. 1973. "The Level of Analysis Problem Revisited." Canadian Journal of Political Science, 6(3): 494-513
  4. Lake, David A., and Robert Powell. 1999. "International Relations: A Strategic-Choice Approach," in Lake and Powell, Strategic Choice and International Relations. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Week 3: The Environment: Anarchy, Hierarchy, and Sovereignty

  1. Waltz, Kenneth. 1979. Theory of International Politics. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press. Chapters 5-8.
  2. Powell, Robert. 1994. "Anarchy in International Relations Theory: The Neorealist-Neoliberal Debate," International Organization, 48(2): 313-44.
  3. Wendt, Alexander. 1992. "Anarchy is What States Make of It: The Social Construction of Power Politics," International Organization, 46(Spring): 391-425.
  4. Bull, Hedley. 1977. The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World Politics. New York: Palgrave. Chapters 1-3.
  5. Krasner, Stephen D. 1999. Sovereignty: Organized Hypocrisy. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Chapters 1-2.
  6. Lake, David A. 2009. Hierarchy in International Relations. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Chapters 1-2.

    7. Recommended:
  7. Milner, Helen V. 1991. "The Assumption of Anarchy in International Relations Theory: A Critique," Review of International Studies, 17: 67-85.
  8. Ashley, Richard K. 1984. "The Poverty of Neorealism," International Organization, 38(2): 225-81.
  9. Reus-Smit, Christian. 1997. "The Constitutional Structure of International Society and the Nature of Fundamental Institutions," International Organization, 58(4): 555-89.
  10. Mattern, Janice Bially, and Ayşe Zarakol. 2016. "Hierarchies in World Politics," International Organization, 70(3): 623-54.

Week 4: Conflict with States as Unitary Actors

  1. Jervis, Robert. 1978. "Cooperation Under the Security Dilemma." World Politics, 30(2): 167-214.
  2. Glaser, Charles. 1997. "The Security Dilemma Revisited." World Politics, 50(1): 171-201.
  3. Gilpin, Robert. 1988. "The Theory of Hegemonic War." Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 18(4): 591-614.
  4. Wagner, R. Harrison. 2007. War and the State: The Theory of International Politics. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Chapters 3-5.
  5. Fearon, James D. 1995. "Rationalist Explanations for War." International Organization, 49(3): 379-414.
  6. Leventoğlu, Bahar, and Branislav L. Slantchev. 2007. "The Armed Peace: A Punctuated Equilibrium Theory of War," American Journal of Political Science, 51(4): 755-71.

    7. Recommended:
  7. Morgenthau, Hans J. 1949. Politics among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace. New York: Knopf. Chapters 1-3, 9-15, 19-20, and 25.
  8. Herz, John H. 1950. "Idealist Internationalism and the Security Dilemma," World Politics, 2(2): 157-80.
  9. James, Patrick. 1995. "Structural Realism and the Causes of War." Mershon International Studies Review, 39(2): 181-208.
  10. Powell, Robert. 2002. "Bargaining Theory and International Conflict," Annual Review of Political Science, 5: 1-30.

Week 5: Cooperation with States as Unitary Actors & International Institutions

  1. Hirschman, Albert O. 1970. Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Chapters 1-5.
  2. Slantchev, Branislav L. 2005. "Territory and Commitment: The Concert of Europe as Self-Enforcing Equilibrium," Security Studies, 14(4): 565-606.
  3. Keohane, Robert O. 1984. After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World Political Economy. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Chapters. 4-6.
  4. Keohane, Robert and Joseph Nye. 1989. Power and Interdependence: World Politics in Transition. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 4th ed. Chapters 1-3.
  5. Barbara Koremenos, Charles Lipson, and Duncan Snidal. 2001. "The Rational Design of International Institutions," International Organization 55(4): 761-799.
  6. James Fearon. 1998. "Bargaining, Enforcement, and International Cooperation," International Organization, 52(2): 269-305.
  7. Christina J. Schneider and Branislav L. Slantchev. 2013. "Abiding by the Vote: Betwee-Groups Conflict in International Collective Action," International Organization, 67(4): 759-796.

    8. Recommended:
  8. Jervis, Robert. 1985. "From Balance to Concert: A Study of International Security Cooperation," World Politics, 38(1): 58-79.
  9. Taylor, Michael. 1987. The Possibility of Cooperation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chapters 1-3.
  10. Baldwin, David. 1979. "Power Analysis and World Politics: New Trends Versus Old Tendencies." World Politics, 31(January): 471-506.
  11. Kenneth A. Oye. 1985. "Explaining Cooperation Under Anarchy: Hypotheses and Strategies," World Politics 38(1): 1-24.

Week 6: Domestic Organizations and International Behavior

  1. Allison, Graham T. 1969. "Conceptual Models and the Cuban Missile Crisis," American Political Science Review, 63(3): 689-718. (With some background on the crisis).
  2. Bendor, Jonathan, and Thomas H. Hammond. 1992. "Rethinking Allison's Models," American Political Science Review, 86(2): 301-22.
  3. Rogowski, Ronald. 1999. "Institutions as Constraints on Strategic Choice," in Lake and Powell, Strategic Choice and International Relations. Princeton: Princeton University Press, Ch. 4, pp. 115-36.
  4. Fey, Mark, and Hein E. Goemans. 2007. "Risky but Rational: War as an Institutionally Induced Gamble," The Journal of Politics, 71(1): 35-54.
  5. Bueno de Mesquita, Bruce, et al. 1999. "An Institutionalist Explanation for the Democratic Peace," American Political Science Review, 93(4): 791-807.
  6. Weeks, Jessica. 2012. "Strongmen and Straw Men: Authoritarian Regimes and the Initiation of International Conflict," American Political Science Review, 106(2): 326-47.
  7. Putnam, Robert D. 1988. "Diplomacy and Domestic Politics: The Logic of Two-Level Games," International Organization, 42(3): 427-60.
  8. Leventoğlu, Bahar, and Ahmer Tarar. 2005. "Prenegotiation Public Commitment in Domestic and International Bargaining," American Political Science Review, 99(3): 419-33.

    9. Recommended:
  9. Tilly, Charles. 1990. Coercion, Capital, and European States, AD 990--1990. New York: Blackwell. Chapters 1, 3, and 6.
  10. Spruyt, Hendrik. 1994. The Sovereign State and Its Competitors: An Analysis of Systems Change. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Chapters 1, 2 and 8.

Week 7: Preferences, Interest Aggregation, and Foreign Policy

  1. Frieden, Jeffry A. 1999. "Actors and Preferences in International Relations," in Lake and Powell, Strategic Choice and International Relations. Princeton: Princeton University Press, Ch. 2, pp. 39-76.
  2. Moravcsik, Andrew. 1997. "Taking Preferences Seriously: A Liberal Theory of International Politics," International Organization, 51(4): 513-53.
  3. Gourevitch, Peter. 1978. "The Second Image Reversed: The International Sources of Domestic Politics," International Organization, 32(4): 881-912.
  4. Doyle, Michael W. 1983a. "Kant, Liberal Legacies, and Foreign Affairs," Philosophy & Public Affairs, 12(3): 205-35.
  5. Doyle, Michael W. 1983b. "Kant, Liberal Legacies, and Foreign Affairs, Part 2," Philosophy & Public Affairs, 12(4): 323-53.
  6. Russett, Bruce, and John R. Oneal. 2000. Triangulating Peace: Democracy, Interdependence, and International Organizations. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. Chapters 2-5.
  7. Milner, Helen V. 1997. Interests, Institutions, and Information: Domestic Politics and International Relations. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Chapters 2-4.
  8. Frieden, Jeffry A., and Ronald Rogowski. 1996. "The Impact of the International Economy on National Policies: An Analytical Overview," in Keohane, Robert O., and Helen V. Milner, eds. Internationalization and Domestic Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Chapter 2, pp. 25-47.
  9. Baum, Matthew A., and Philip B.K. Potter. 2008. "The Relationships Between Mass Media, Public Opinion, and Foreign Policy: Toward a Theoretical Synthesis," Annual Review of Political Science, 11: 39-65.

Week 8: Leaders as Units of Analysis

  1. Downs, George W., and David M. Rocke. 1995. Optimal Imperfection? Domestic Uncertainty and Institutions in International Relations. Princeton: Princeton University Press, Chapter 3, pp. 56-75.
  2. Miles Kahler. 1998. "Rationality in International Relations," International Organization, 52(4) 919-41.
  3. Giacomo Chiozza and H.E. Goemans. 2011. Leaders and International Conflict. New York: Cambridge University Press, Chapters 1-4, pp.11-116.
  4. Rose McDermott. 2004. "Prospect Theory in Political Science: Gains and Loses From the First Decade," Political Psychology, 25(2): 289-312.
  5. Janice Gross Stein. 2017. "The Micro-Foundation of International Relations Theory: Psychology and Behavioral Economics," International Organization , 71(S1): S249-63.
  6. Horowitz, Michael C., and Allan C. Stam. 2014 "How Prior Military Experience Influences the Future Militarized Behavior of Leaders," International Organization, 68(3): 527-59.
  7. Elizabeth N. Saunders. 2009. "Transformative Choices: Leaders and the Origins of Intervention Strategy," International Security, 34(2): 119-61.
  8. Keren Yarhi-Milo. 2013. "In the Eye of the Beholder: How Leaders and Intelligence Communities Assess the Intentions of Adversaries," International Security, 38(1): 7-51.

Week 9: Transnational Actors and Violence

Week 10: International Change

Useful & Distracting