JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY
School of International Studies
M.A. IN POLITICS (INTERNATIONAL STUDIES)
MONSOON SEMESTER 2016
IS402N: Theory of International Relations
Course Teachers:
Professors Rajesh Rajagopalan & Jayati Srivastava
Class Hours:
Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 10:00 to 11:00 AM
Classroom:
Room 229, SIS-II
Office:
Prof. Rajesh Rajagopalan: Room 218, SIS-I
Prof. Jayati Srivastava: Room 316, SIS-II
Contact:
Prof. Rajesh Rajagopalan: [email protected]
Prof. Jayati Srivastava: [email protected]
Office Hours:
One hour after class & by appointment
Course Description
This course is intended to introduce postgraduate students to theoretical endeavour in the
discipline of International Relations. The objective is to deal with the major theoretical
orientations in the discipline and to give students an appreciation of the major intellectual
tools available to them in analysing world affairs.
Students are expected to go through the assigned reading before coming to class.
Although this is an introductory course, it is at the postgraduate level. For this reason,
almost all the assigned readings are original theoretical contributions, not textbooks.
Examinations and Grading
There will be one mid-semester examination and a final examination, of two hours and
three hours duration respectively. The mid-semester examination will be held in late
September (date will be announced in class). Since this is an introductory course, there will
be no term papers or classroom assignments. The final grade will be computed with 40%
weight to the mid-semester examination and 50% to the final examination. Snap tests,
worth the remaining 10%, will be held without advance notice. There will be no make up
for any of these tests except in cases of personal medical reasons, in which case a medical
report stating that you are unable to attend the test is needed from the JNU Medical
Centre.
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Course Outline and Reading List
Most reading materials are available through JSTOR and other electronic sources through
the JNU library website. It is your task to access these. Those materials that are not
available through these electronic sources will be available at the photocopying store in
SIS-II.
WEEK 1
Introduction to the Course
Kenneth N. Waltz, “Laws and Theories”, Kenneth N. Waltz, Theory of International
Politics (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1979), pp. 1-17.
The Great Debates
Morton Kaplan, “The New Great Debate: Traditionalism vs. Science in International
Relations”, World Politics, 19 (1), October 1966, pp. 1-20.
Ole Waever, “The Rise and the Fall of Inter-Paradigm Debate”, Steve Smith, Ken
Booth and Marysia Zalewski, eds., International Theory: Positivism and Beyond
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), pp. 149-185.
David A. Lake, “Theory is Dead, Long Live Theory: The End of the Great Debates
and the Rise of Eclecticism in International Relations”, European Journal of
International Relations 19 (3), 2013, pp. 567-587.
WEEK 2
The Three Images/Levels of Analysis
J. David Singer, “The Level-of-Analysis Problem in International Relations” World
Politics, 14 (1), October 1961, pp. 77-92.
Kenneth N. Waltz, Man, the State and War: A Theoretical Analysis (New York:
Columbia University Press, 1954), pp. 1-15 & 224-238.
Kenneth N. Waltz, “Reductionist and Systemic Theories”, Kenneth N. Waltz, Theory
of International Politics (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1979), pp. 60-78.
WEEK 3
Realism from Antiquity to WWII
Kautilya, The Arthashastra (trans. L.N. Rangarajan) (New Delhi: Penguin, 1992), pp.
541-579.
Sun Tzǔ, The Art of War (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1981), pp. 15-52.
Thucydides, “The Melian Dialogue”, History of the Peloponnesian War (trans. Rex
Warner) (London: Penguin, 1954), pp. 400-408.
Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince (trans. George Bull) (London: Penguin, 1961), pp.
50-58.
Edward Hallett Carr, The Twenty Years’ Crisis, 1919-1939: An Introduction to the Study
of International Relations (New York: Harper & Row, 1964 [1939]), pp. 41-94.
WEEK 4
Realisms: Classical and Structural
Hans J. Morgenthau, Politics Among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace (New
York: McGrawHill, 1993 [1948]), pp. 3-26.
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Kenneth N. Waltz, “Realist Thought and Neorealist Theory”, Journal of International
Affairs 44 (1) (Spring-Summer 1990), pp. 21-37.
Waltz, “Political Structures”, Theory of International Politics, pp. 79-101.
WEEK 5
Realisms: Defensive and Offensive
Fareed Zakaria, “Realism and Domestic Politics”, International Security, 17 (1)
Summer 1992, pp. 177-98.
Jack Snyder, Kier A. Lieber, “Correspondence: Defensive Realism and the ‘New’
History of World War 1”, International Security 33 (1), Summer 2008, pp. 17494.
John J. Mearsheimer, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics (New York: W.W. Norton,
2001), chapters 1 & 2.
WEEK 6
Realisms: Neoclassical and Hegemonic
Gideon Rose, “Neoclassical Realism and Theories of Foreign Policy”, World Politics,
51 (1), 1998, pp. 144-72.
William C. Wohlforth et al, “Testing Balance-of-Power Theory in World History”,
European Journal of International Relations 13 (2), 2007, pp. 155-85.
Robert Gilpin, “The Theory of Hegemonic War,” Journal of Interdisciplinary History
18 (4 ), Spring 1988, pp. 591-613.
WEEK 7
Realisms: Third World
Mohammed Ayoob, “Subaltern Realism: International Relations Theory Meets the
Third World”, Stephanie Neuman, ed., International Relations Theory and the
Third World (London: Macmillan, 1998), pp. 31-54.
Carlos Escude, “An Introduction to Peripheral Realism and its Implications for the
Interstate System”, Stephanie G. Neuman, International Relations Theory and
the Third World (London: Macmillan, 1998), pp. 55-75.
Michael Barnett, “Radical Chic? Subaltern Realism: A Rejoinder,” International
Studies Review, 4 (3), Autumn 2002, pp. 49-62.
WEEK 8
Liberal Institutionalism
Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye, Power and Interdependence, 2nd edn. (New
York: Longman: 1989), pp. 23-37.
Kenneth A. Oye, “Explaining Cooperation under Anarchy: Hypotheses and
Strategies”, World Politics, 38 (1), October 1985, pp. 1-24.
Susan Strange, “Cave! Hic Dragones: A Critique of Regime Analysis”, International
Organization, 36 (2), Spring, 1982, pp. 479-496.
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WEEK 9
Liberal Institutionalism: Regime Theory
Stephen D. Krasner, “Structural Causes and Regime Consequences: Regimes as
Intervening Variables”, International Organization, 36 (2), Spring 1982, pp.
185-205.
Security Regimes
Robert Jervis, “Security Regimes”, International Organization, 36 (2), Spring 1982, pp.
357-378.
Economic Regimes
John Gerard Ruggie, “International Regimes, Transactions, and Change: Embedded
Liberalism in the Postwar Economic Order”, International Organization, 36 (2),
Spring 1982, pp. 379-415.
WEEK 10
REVIEW AND MID-TERM TEST
WEEK 11
Social Constructivism
Ian Hurd, ‘Constructivism’, Christian Reus-Smit and Duncan Snidal, eds., Oxford
Handbook of International Relations, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008, pp.
298-316.
Alexander Wendt, “Anarchy is What States Make of It: The Social Construction of
Power Politics”, International Organization 46 (2), Spring 1992, pp. 391-425.
International Society/English School
Alex J. Bellamy, “Introduction: The English School and International Society”, Alex
J. Bellamy (ed.), International Society and its Critics (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2005), pp. 1-26.
Hedley Bull, “The Emergence of a Universal International Society” & “The Revolt
Against the West”, Hedley Bull and Adam Watson, eds., The Expansion of
International Society, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989, pp. 117-126 & 217-228.
WEEK 12
Marxism in International Relations
Vendulka Vubálková and Albert Cruickshank, Marxism and International Relations
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1985), pp. 1-24 & 205-248.
Alex Callinicos, “Does Capitalism Need the State System?”, Cambridge Review of
International Affairs 20 (4), 2007, pp. 533-549.
Frank, Andre Gunder, “The Development of Underdevelopment”, Monthly Review,
18, September, 1966, pp. 17-31.
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WEEK 13
Gramsci & International Relations
Robert W. Cox, “Gramsci, Hegemony and International Relations: An Essay in
Method”, Millennium: Journal of International Studies 12, 1983: 162-75.
Post-Positivism: Critical Theory
Richard Devetak, “Critical Theory”, Scott Burchill and Andrew Linklater, eds.,
Theories of International Relations (London: Macmillan Press, 1996), pp. 145178.
Critical Security Studies
Ken Booth, “Security and Self: Confessions of a Fallen Realist”, Keith Krause and
Michael C. Williams, eds., Critical Security Studies: Concepts and Cases
(London: UCL Press, 1997), pp. 83-120.
WEEK 14
Feminism in International Relations
Jacqui True, “Feminism”, Scott Burchill and Andrew Linklater, eds., Theories of
International Relations (London: Macmillan Press, 1996), pp. 210-251.
J. Ann Tickner, “Hans Morgenthau’s Principles of Political Realism: A Feminist
Reformulation”, Millennium: Journal of International Studies 17 (3), 1988, pp.
429-440.
V. Spike Peterson, “A Gendered Global Hierarchy”, Grey Fry and S O’ Hagan, eds.,
Contending Images of World Politics, London: McMillan Press, 2000, pp. 199213.
WEEK 15
Normative Theory
Marvyn Frost, “A Turn Not Taken: Ethics in IR at the Millennium”, Review of
International Studies, 24 (5), 1998, pp. 119-132.
Molly Cochran, Normative Theory in International Relations: A Pragmatic Approach,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1-20.
Jean-Marc Coicaud and Daniel Warner, “Introduction: Reflections on the Extent and
Limits of Contemporary International Ethics”, Jean-Marc Coicaud and
Daniel Warner, eds., Ethics and international Affairs: Extent and Limits (New
York: United Nations Press, 2001), pp. 1-13.
WEEK 16
IR Theory Beyond the West
Amitav Acharya and Barry Buzan, ‘Why is there No Non-Western International
Relations Theory?’, International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, 7 (3), 2007, pp.
287-312.
Non-Alignment
K.P. Misra, “Towards Understanding Non-Alignment”, International Studies 20 (1-2),
January-June 1981, pp. 23-37.
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M.S. Rajan, “Institutionalization of Non-Alignment: Widening Gulf between the
Belief and the Prospect”, International Studies 20 (1-2), January-June 1981, pp.
39-55.
Sunil Khilnani, Rajiv Kumar, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, et al, NonAlignment 2.0: A
Foreign and Strategic Policy for India in the 21st Century, New Delhi: Penguin,
2014.
WEEK 17
Ancient Chinese Thought and International Relations Theory
Yan Xuetong, “A Comparative Study of Pre-Qin Interstate Political Philosophy”, in
Yan Xuetong [Daniel A. Bell and Sun Zhe, eds., Edmund Ryden, trans.],
Ancient Chinese Thought, Modern Chinese Power (Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press, 2011), pp. 21-69.
Ancient Indian Thought and International Relations Theory
Deepshikha Shahi and Gennaro Ascione, “Rethinking the Absence of Post-Western
International Relations Theory in India: ‘Advaitic Monism’ as an Alternative
Epistemological Resource”, European Journal of International Relations, 2015,
pp. 1-22.
Islamic Thought and International Relations Theory
Shahrbanou Tadjbakhsh, “International Relations Theory and the Islamic
Worldview”, Amitav Acharya and Barry Buzan, eds., Non-Western
International Relations Theory: Perspectives on and Beyond Asia (Abingdon:
Routledge, 2010), pp. 174-196.
Further Readings
A J R Groom and Margot Light, eds., Contemporary International Relations: A Guide to Theory
(London: Pinter 1994).
Alexander Wendt, Social Theory of International Politics (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1999).
Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci, [edited and translated
by Quintin Hoare & Geoffrey Nowell Smith] (New York: International Publisher,
1975).
Charles W. Kegley, Jr., Controversies in International Relations Theory: Realism and the Neo-Liberal
Challenge (London: Macmillan, 1995).
Cynthia Weber, International Relations Theory: A Critical Introduction, third edn., (London:
Routledge, 2003).
David A. Baldwin, ed., Neo-Realism and Neo-liberalism: The Contemporary Debate (New York:
Columbia University Press, 1993).
David Held, Anthony Mcgrew, et al, Global Transformations: A Reader (London: Polity, 2000).
David S. McLellan, William C Olson and Fred A Sondermann, eds., The Theory and Practice of
International Relations (Englewoods: Prentice Hall, 1974).
Ever Neumann and Ole Waever, eds., Future of International Relations (London: Routledge,
1997).
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Friedrich V. Kratochwil, Rules, Norms, and Decisions: On the Conditions of Practical and Legal
Reasoning in International Relations and Domestic Affairs (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1991).
H. Butterfield and Martin Wight, eds., Diplomatic Investigations (Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 1966).
Hedley Bull, The Anarchical Society (New York: Columbia University Press, 1995).
Immanual Wallerstein, The Modern World System, 4 vols. (New York: Academic Press, 1974).
James E. Dougherty, Robert L Pfaltzgraff, Contending Theories of International Relations: A
Comprehensive Survey (Pearson Higher Education, 2000).
Karen Mingst and Jack Snyder, eds., Essential Readings in World Politics (New York: W W Norton
Co., 1991).
Klaus Knorr and James Rosenau, Contending Approaches to International Politics (Princeton,
Princeton University Press, 1969).
Klaus Knorr and Sidney Verba, eds., The International System (Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 1969).
Marvin E Olsen, Power in Societies (New York: Macmillan, 1970).
Marvyn Frost, Ethics in International Relations: A Constitutive Theory, (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1996).
Michael Banks, ed., Conflict in World Society (New York: Wheat Sheaf, 1984).
Michael W. Doyle and Ole Waever, eds., Future of International Relations (London: Routledge,
1997).
Nicholas Onuf, World of Our Making: Rules in Social Theory and International Relations, (South
Carolina: Univ, of South Carolina Press, 1989).
Peter Evans, Harold K. Jacobson and Robert Putnam, eds., Double-Edged Diplomacy (Berkley:
University of California Press, 1993).
Phil Williams, et al, Classic Readings of International Relations (Belmount: Wasdsworth, 1999).
R. B. J. Walker, Inside Outside: International Relations as Political Theory (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1993).
Raymond Aron, Peace and War: A Theory of International Relations (New York, Anchor Books,
1973).
Rebecca Grant, et al, Gender and International Relations (Buckingham: Open University Press,
1991).
Robert Cox and T. Sinclair, Approaches to World Order (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1996).
Robert J. Art and Robert Jervis, eds., International Politics: Enduring Concepts and Contemporary
Issues, fifth edn. (New York: Longman, 1999).
Robert Keohane, After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World Political Economy
(Princeton, N J.: Princeton University Press, 1984).
Robert O Keohane, ed., Neorealism and its Critics (New York: Colombia University Press, 1986).
Simon Bromley, William Brown and Suma Athreya, eds., Ordering the International: History,
Change and Transformation (London: Pluto Press, 2004).
Stephanie Neuman eds, International Relations Theory and the Third World (London: Macmillan,
1998).
Stephen D. Krasner, eds., International Regimes (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1983).
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Stephen Gill, ed., Gramsci, Historical Materialism and International Relations (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1993).
Tim Dunne, Michael Cox and Ken Booth, eds., The Eighty Years Crisis: International Relations 1919-1999 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998).
William C Olson and A. J. R. Groom, International Relations Then and Now (London: Harper Collin,
1992).
Textbooks are actively discouraged in this course. In the examinations, you will be tested for your
knowledge and understanding of the original theoretical writings. However, for those students who find
it impossible to cut the umbilical cord, some of the latest – and better – textbooks in IR Theory are listed
below. Each student would be expected to have a distinct comfort level with different textbooks.
Students are therefore advised to sample the textbooks listed below and choose those that they find the
most helpful. Do remember that not all topics are covered equally well in a single textbook.
Bruce Mazlish, and Akire Iriye, eds., The Global History Reader (New York: Routledge, 2005).
Chris Brown, and Kirsten Ainley, Understanding International Relations, 3rd edn. (New York:
Palgrave Macmillan, 2005).
Christian Reus-Smit, and Duncan Snidal, eds., The Oxford Handbook of International Relations
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008).
Cynthia Weber, International Relations Theory: A Critical Introduction, 3rd edn., (London: Sage,
2010).
Jenny Edkins, and Maja Zehfuss, eds., Global Politics: A New Introduction (New York:
Routledge, 2009).
John Baylis, Steve Smith and Patricia Owens, eds., The Globalization of World Politics: An
Introduction to International Relations, 5th edn. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011).
Martin Griffiths, et al., International Relations: The Key Concepts, 2nd edn., (New York: Routledge
2008).
Paul R. Viotti, and Mark Kauppi, International Relations and World Politics, 3rd edn., (New Delhi:
Pearson, 2007).
Peter Calvocoressi, World Politics Since 1945, 9th edn., (New York: Routledge, 2008).
Scott Burchill et al., Theories of International Relations, 2nd edn., (New York: Palgrave Macmillan,
2001).
Tim Dunne, Milja Kurki and Steve Smith, eds., International Relations Theories: Discipline and
Diversity, 3rd edn., (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013).
Wayne C. McWilliams, and Harry Piotrowski, The World since 1945: a History of International
Relations, 7th edn., (London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2009).
Key International Relations journals include World Politics, International Studies Quarterly,
International Security, Security Studies, International Organization, International Interactions,
Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of Peace Research, Security Dialogue, Millennium, Orbis,
Review of International Studies, International Studies, European Journal of International Relations,
American Political Science Review, and Alternatives.
Even though this is an introductory course, it is never too early to fall into the good habit of
regularly reading the best learned journals in your field of study. They are all accessible on the
Internet, so take full advantage of JNU’s electronic subscription.
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