Class notes International Relations (5182V8IR)

Lecture Notes:

International Relations




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, Lecture 1: Introduction to International Relations 4
Reading: Introducing Global Politics (Chapter 1) 4
Reading: Strategic Dilemma of a World Adrift (Crocker) 10
The Changing Nature of World Order 11
Summary of Reading: A World Adrift… A ‘Policy Analysis’ 12
Thinking about IR 13
Lecture 2: Critical Introduction to IR Theory 15
Reading: Heywood Chapter 3 15
Reading: Singing Our World into Existence 19
Why do we need IR theory? 20
Realism 21
Liberalism 22
Constructivism 23
Beyond the Mainstream 24
Lecture 3: The Cold War and its Legacy 27
Reading: Heywood Chapter 2 27
Reading: The Cold War and Int’l History of the 20th Century (Westad) 27
About Politics and History 28
Major Interpretations and Key Features of the Cold War 29
The End of the Cold War and its Aftermath 32
Lecture 4: Nuclear Proliferation & Rogue States 34
Reading: Why Not Invade North Korea? 34
Background: Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) 35
North Korea: A ‘Rogue’ State? 37
Strategies vis-a-vis ‘Rogue States’ 37
From Accommodation to Containment 38
Lecture 5: Nationalism, State Formation and International Order 41
Reading: The Nation in a Global Age 41
Reading: Identity, Culture and Challenges to the West 42
Reading: Nationalism and the Marketplace of Ideas 44
What is Nationalism + IS Relevance 46
Nationalism and IR Theory 47
Nationalism: 3 Major Discussions 48
Lecture 6: The Legacies of Decolonization + The Non-Aligned Movement
51
Poverty, Inequality & Development 54
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, Critical Approaches to Development 56
The Third World in the Cold War 57
‘Failed States’ & the Securitization of Development 60
Lecture 7: Globalization and Neoliberalism – Origins, Impacts and
Alternatives 62
Reading Notes: The Economy in a Global Age 62
Globalization 64
Neoliberalism 66
(Neo) Marxism, Globalization & IPNs 68
Neogramscianism, Hegemony, & Transformation? 69
Tutorial Reading Notes 72
Lecture 8: War and Peace 73
War: What is it, and why? 73
Explanations of War 74
‘Just Wars’ and ‘Humanitarian Intervention’ 75
Cyber Con ict: A ‘Revolution’ in IR? 78
Lecture 9: Global Politics and Regionalism 80
The State in IR 80
Regionalism 81
Analyzing the EU 83
Lecture 10: Shifting Powers 86
What is power in global politics? 86
About ‘Power Shifts’ and ‘Emerging Powers’ 88
How to recognize emerging powers 90
‘Global Order’: Chinese and Russian Perspectives 92
Lecture 11: Global Politics in an Age of Terror 95
De ning Terrorism 95
O ensive Liberalism & US Imperialism 98
Writing the ‘War on Terror’ - Spatiality & Temporality 99
Ethicality 101
Lecture 12: Global Politics of the Environment 103
Environmental World-views 103
Climate Change + Climate Capitalism 106
Paris Climate Accords 108
Water Wars 110


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, Lecture 1: Introduction to International Relations

Reading: Introducing Global Politics (Chapter 1)

International vs. Globalization Paradigm:

• International Paradigm: States are taken to be the essential building blocks of world politics,

meaning that world affairs boil down, essentially, to the relations between states

• Globalization (Emerging):

• Definition: The emergence of a complex web of interconnectedness that means that our lives

are increasingly shaped by events that occur, and decisions that are made, at a great distance

from us

• World affairs have been transformed in recent decades by the growth of global

interconnectedness and interdependence. In this view, the world no longer operates as a

disaggregated collection of states, or ‘units’, but rather as an integrated whole, as ‘one world’.

(1)



Defining Global Politics

Global: (i) worldwide significance

(ii) all elements within a system, not just to the system as a whole




Dimensions of Global Politics ———>




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