Selcuk University - Neba Wais Alqorni - International Politics Week 1, Assignments of Political Theory

Download Selcuk University - Neba Wais Alqorni - International Politics Week 1 and more Assignments Political Theory in PDF only on Docsity! 0 International Politics 1st Week: Introduction to the International Politics © Introduction to the course • Description of the course: • This course provides students with knowledge and skills of the field of International Politics to understand and evaluate complex problems in today's world. • It introduces the core issues of the world politics such as the state, power, world order, diplomacy, security, conflict, war, Cold War, peace, human rights, international law and international organizations, and also gives a solid grounding in historically informed international relations. • After this course, the students are expected to analyze and understand the major themes of international relations and global politics. Outline of the course: • 1st Week: Introduction to International Politics • 2nd Week: The Historical Context: From Westphalia to post-Cold- War Era • 3rd Week: The Modern State and Its Origins: Sovereignty and Westphalian Order • 4th Week: Nations and Nationalism • 5th Week: The Causes and Changing Character of War • 6th Week: International Security Outline of the course: • 7th Week: International Law • 8th Week: Human Rights • 9th Week: Diplomacy and Foreign Policy • 10th Week: International Organizations and Global Governance • 11th Week: Globalization and Global Economy • 12th Week: Gender in World Politics • 13th Week: Migration and Refugees • 14th Week: Global Environmental Politics and Climate Change An Introduction to International Relations (IR): The Origins of the Discipline • We will begin by outlining what is meant by international politics. • Second, we will learn the story of how and why the study of international relations emerged in the early twentieth century. • Third, we will discuss the new agenda of international politics. • There is a shift from «international relations» to «world politics» or «global politics». What is «international»? • The adjective ‘international’ was coined by the English political philosopher, Jeremy Bentham, in 1780. • The neologism’s purpose was to capture in a single word relations among nations (Suganami 1978 ). • Although ‘international’ literally means relations among nations, it has for most of its existence referred to relations among sovereign states . • In Bentham’s time ‘ nation ’ and ‘state’ were often used interchangeably, so his meaning was closer to what we should probably call ‘interstate’ relations. How international politics have been distinguished from domestic politics? • «[T]he difference between national and international politics lies not in the use of force but in the different modes of organization for doing something about it.» (Waltz, 1979 : 88). • What, then, are the modes of organisation? Waltz offers two organising principles: hierarchy and anarchy . • Relations between units (or actors) are either hierarchical , involving clear lines of authority and obedience, or they are anarchical involving no such lines of authority and obedience. Anarchy in international system • In international relations theory, anarchy is the idea that the world lacks any supreme authority. • The key is governance: Is there a supreme authority with the right to lay down and enforce the law? • If the answer is ‘yes’, then we must be in the hierarchical realm of domestic politics –politics within the state. • If the answer is ‘no’, then we must be in the anarchical realm of international relations – politics between states. • In international relations, anarchy is widely accepted as the starting point for international relations theories such as Realism, Neo-realism, Liberalism and Neo- liberalism. The study of international relations or politics • The study of international relations or politics emerged as an identifiable subject after the First World War. • Since then the techniques of many disciplines (notably history, law, philosophy and economies) have been used to enhance our understanding of the relations between states. • The underlying motive has almost always been the urge to comprehend and even to improve the methods states currently use to live in some kind of working relationship. The study of international relations or politics • A discipline comprises a distinctive focus, a set of institutions and traditions of thought. • Disciplines grow within institutions and grow their own institutions. Universities are the most obvious sites for the institutionalisation of the research and teaching of particular subjects. • The first department of International Relations (IR) was established in 1919 at the University of Wales, in UK. The London School of Economics and the University of Oxford followed shortly after, with the establishment of Chairs in 1923 and 1930 respectively. • In the US, the institutionalised study of IR began with the establishment of Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service in 1919, which was followed by the University of Southern California’s School of International Relations in 1924. Traditions of thought • A discipline draws upon traditions of thought that have developed and evolved around the subject matter. • What are the traditions of thought that have influenced the study of international relations? • During the discipline’s early years, the dominant classificatory scheme was of idealism or liberalism on the one hand and realism on the other. • Realists argue that states exist in a condition of anarchy that compels them to seek and to balance power to ensure their survival and security. They paint international relations as a tragic realm of ‘ power politics ’ where ‘ national interests ’ clash. • Liberals take a more optimistic view. If realists see history as static, liberals see it as progressive. They tend to emphasise humanity’s capacity to improve: they are committed to ideals of technological and economic as well as moral, legal and political progress. Origins and evolution of the IR discipline • A new legislative principle of justice emerged at this time which found concrete expression in these new institutions. • This idea of justice goes back to the eighteenth century – to the Enlightenment and to the American and French revolutions. • But it is arguable that it was only in the aftermath of the WW1 that a new diplomatic and legal order took shape based on contractual international law and multilateralism . • This is the general context in which the discipline of International Relations was established. It was a period of progressive institutionalisation of liberal– constitutional principles as a reaction to war. • The desire of «preventing future wars» is at the heart of the discipline’s origins. Origins and evolution of the discipline • More than just the study of the causes and conditions of war and peace, the study of international relations was guided by a purpose: to develop theories aimed at preventing or eliminating war. • Liberal–constitutional values and ideals thus set the agenda for the discipline in the inter-war years, the agenda against which E. H. Carr aimed his withering criticism. • First published in 1939, Carr’s The twenty years’ crisis, 1919–1939 (1946) has had a massive influence on the discipline of International Relations. • Carr believed utopianism (liberalism) utterly failed to take account of power in its analysis of international relations; it ignored Machiavelli’s injunction to deal with what is the case, rather than what ought to be the case (Carr 1946 : 63). A distinction between international relations and international politics • A distinction between the two terms, international relations and international politics, came to be made increasingly in the post– Second World War period. • Hans Morgenthau, the great Realist thinker, believed that the core of IR lies in the study of politics between and among nations. • It is the study of the continuous processes by which states adjust their national interests to accommodate those of other states.