©FYNDLAY EXAM SOLUTIONS 2024/2025
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Introduction to International Relations -
Leiden University IRO. Exam Questions And
Answers (Guaranteed A+)
Why are IR concepts contested? - answer✔- Definitions are rarely consensual
- Meanings not fixed in time
- Ethnocentrism
Why are IR concepts useful? - answer✔- Makes sense of reality
- Makes sure we're talking about the same thing
- Ensure some degree of constructive dialogue
- To develop and evaluate theories
What are theories? - answer✔- Goes beyond mere description
- Interprets data
- Identify patterns, regularities across space & time
- An explanation, answer to "why this happened?"
- Helps to describe, explain, anticipate, and prescribe
Why do we need theories? - answer✔Real life is too complex
- Too many data points
- Too many variables
- Too many moving parts
Definition of a State - answer✔According to Montevideo Convention in 1933, four
qualifications:
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- A permanent population
- A defined territory
- Government
- Capacity to enter relations with other states
Problems with definition of a state - answer✔1. Declarative vs. constitutive theory of statehood
2. Internal vs. external sovereignty
3. Creation of the state in practice - dynamic (can differ)
Therefore, in IR theory, states are units of analysis - entities with well-defined territory and
recognized political authority
The "Relations" in IR? - answer✔- Interactions (war and peace, trade, intl. agreements)
- Bilateral vs. multilateral
- Any state actions (or inactions) which affect other states
- Not simply interstate relations (also transnational relations, NSAs...)
Levels of Analysis - answer✔1. International
2. National/domestic
3. Individual
In a globalized world, this distinction matters from a theoretical perspective:
- National order vs. intl. anarchy
- Self-help
- "Level of analysis" framework is a type of theorizing
- Analytical tool to think & organize IR
Why is history important for IR? - answer✔- Background to contemporary events
- Distinguishing continuity from change
- Providing context behind theories and concepts
2|Page
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- Dating/benchmarking/periodization of IR is already interpreting & theorizing
Significant historical IR dates - answer✔1500 - increase in communication skills in trade
1648 - Peace of Westphalia
1919 - end of WW1, Treaty of Versailles
1945 - end of WW2
1989 - Fall of Berlin Wall, led to end of Cold War
Emergence of Westphalian System - answer✔1648 considered a benchmark:
- Foundations in theory/practice of contemporary IR
- Historical origins of modern sovereign state
- Institutionalization of domestic vs. international perspectives
Westphalia - important peace conference
- Outcome of Thirty Years' War
- "Whose realm, his religion"
Ideas of a Westphalian sovereign state:
1. Territoriality
2. Sovereignty
3. Autonomy
What is the myth of Westphalia? - answer✔- 400 years long process of implementation of
"Westphalian" principles
- Eurocentrism: example being similar changes in China 770-221 BC, during its feudal period,
where Qin states' victory led to a centralized, bureaucratic empire
- Multiple other regional international orders (Lawson) - other types of political units & inter-
units organization
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Alternative argument about emergence of the sovereign state - answer✔- Charles Tilly - "Wars
made the state and the state made war"
- Evolutionary argument: explains that states compete for population, territory and survival
1. Threat of war - rulers forced to defend borders
2. Larger, more centralized states, increased tax collection & military recruitment
3. Expand representative rule & bureaucracy
4. Strong states survive, weak perish
Explanation for emergence of states & "state systems"
Legacies of the long 19th century - answer✔1. Rise of the West and the "great divergence"
(Pomeranz)
- Not in isolation, but due to previous global networks
- Industrialization (& de-industrialization)
- Evolution of the state
- Tech changes (steamships, trains, telegraph
- Imperialism & colonialism
2. Emergence of unified intl. order
- Interdependence
- First IOs, international standards set
- Exploitation & inequality at global level
3. Why does this matter today?
- Manjari Miller's "Wronged by Empire"
- Early stages (historical context) of globalization & inequalities
- 1905: rise of the rest?
4|Page
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Introduction to International Relations -
Leiden University IRO. Exam Questions And
Answers (Guaranteed A+)
Why are IR concepts contested? - answer✔- Definitions are rarely consensual
- Meanings not fixed in time
- Ethnocentrism
Why are IR concepts useful? - answer✔- Makes sense of reality
- Makes sure we're talking about the same thing
- Ensure some degree of constructive dialogue
- To develop and evaluate theories
What are theories? - answer✔- Goes beyond mere description
- Interprets data
- Identify patterns, regularities across space & time
- An explanation, answer to "why this happened?"
- Helps to describe, explain, anticipate, and prescribe
Why do we need theories? - answer✔Real life is too complex
- Too many data points
- Too many variables
- Too many moving parts
Definition of a State - answer✔According to Montevideo Convention in 1933, four
qualifications:
1|Page
, ©FYNDLAY EXAM SOLUTIONS 2024/2025
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
- A permanent population
- A defined territory
- Government
- Capacity to enter relations with other states
Problems with definition of a state - answer✔1. Declarative vs. constitutive theory of statehood
2. Internal vs. external sovereignty
3. Creation of the state in practice - dynamic (can differ)
Therefore, in IR theory, states are units of analysis - entities with well-defined territory and
recognized political authority
The "Relations" in IR? - answer✔- Interactions (war and peace, trade, intl. agreements)
- Bilateral vs. multilateral
- Any state actions (or inactions) which affect other states
- Not simply interstate relations (also transnational relations, NSAs...)
Levels of Analysis - answer✔1. International
2. National/domestic
3. Individual
In a globalized world, this distinction matters from a theoretical perspective:
- National order vs. intl. anarchy
- Self-help
- "Level of analysis" framework is a type of theorizing
- Analytical tool to think & organize IR
Why is history important for IR? - answer✔- Background to contemporary events
- Distinguishing continuity from change
- Providing context behind theories and concepts
2|Page
, ©FYNDLAY EXAM SOLUTIONS 2024/2025
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
- Dating/benchmarking/periodization of IR is already interpreting & theorizing
Significant historical IR dates - answer✔1500 - increase in communication skills in trade
1648 - Peace of Westphalia
1919 - end of WW1, Treaty of Versailles
1945 - end of WW2
1989 - Fall of Berlin Wall, led to end of Cold War
Emergence of Westphalian System - answer✔1648 considered a benchmark:
- Foundations in theory/practice of contemporary IR
- Historical origins of modern sovereign state
- Institutionalization of domestic vs. international perspectives
Westphalia - important peace conference
- Outcome of Thirty Years' War
- "Whose realm, his religion"
Ideas of a Westphalian sovereign state:
1. Territoriality
2. Sovereignty
3. Autonomy
What is the myth of Westphalia? - answer✔- 400 years long process of implementation of
"Westphalian" principles
- Eurocentrism: example being similar changes in China 770-221 BC, during its feudal period,
where Qin states' victory led to a centralized, bureaucratic empire
- Multiple other regional international orders (Lawson) - other types of political units & inter-
units organization
3|Page
, ©FYNDLAY EXAM SOLUTIONS 2024/2025
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Alternative argument about emergence of the sovereign state - answer✔- Charles Tilly - "Wars
made the state and the state made war"
- Evolutionary argument: explains that states compete for population, territory and survival
1. Threat of war - rulers forced to defend borders
2. Larger, more centralized states, increased tax collection & military recruitment
3. Expand representative rule & bureaucracy
4. Strong states survive, weak perish
Explanation for emergence of states & "state systems"
Legacies of the long 19th century - answer✔1. Rise of the West and the "great divergence"
(Pomeranz)
- Not in isolation, but due to previous global networks
- Industrialization (& de-industrialization)
- Evolution of the state
- Tech changes (steamships, trains, telegraph
- Imperialism & colonialism
2. Emergence of unified intl. order
- Interdependence
- First IOs, international standards set
- Exploitation & inequality at global level
3. Why does this matter today?
- Manjari Miller's "Wronged by Empire"
- Early stages (historical context) of globalization & inequalities
- 1905: rise of the rest?
4|Page
