Introduction
! Teksten moeten gelezen worden (argumenten die gebruikt worden), translation dictionary
can be brought to the exam (without explanations)! Altijd alles binnen zijn tijdskader zetten
dus niet zeggen WW1 maar data altijd vermelden ook altijd het belang van personen
uitleggen, waarom is deze persoon benoemenswaardig? Waarom belangrijk? ! Als je enkel
de powerpoints zal leren ga je teleurgesteld zijn met je eindresultaat. Het louter
reproduceren van bullet points zorgt voor gebuisd zijn
Examen: What has been the role of history in IR? How did this role develop over time? (met
intro-midden-slot werken). Boek kan gratis gedownload worden.
What will we be talking about (class question):
Concept: Eurocentrism, communism, migration, dynasties, isolationism, nationalism
Person: Woodrow Wilson, Thucydides, Gorbachev, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Henry Kissinger
Event: Treaty of Westphalia (1648), Suez crisis (Egypt nationalises the Suez Canal and starts
to raise taxes), the fall of the Roman Empire, the Club of Rome (climate change and urging
political leaders to take action), Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (SU), WW1 and WW2, Berlin
conferences (1885, division of Africa)
a) History of International Relations: why?
Why is it useful for social scientists to study history?
1. Historical legacies
e.g., ‘post-communist societies’
2. The politics of historical memories
e.g., Kiev and Russian foreign policy claims
Political memories
- Propagated by ‘ memory activists’
- Based on ‘selection and exclusion’
- Depends on the ‘efficiency of political pedagogy’
- Show a high degree of ‘homogeneity’
- Relies on symbols and rites that ‘enhance emotions of empathy and identification
3. The contingency of moral ideas and social arrangements
e.g., ‘gender equality’ or ‘natural slavery’ or ‘sovereignty’
4. Lessons from history
b) History of International Relations: what?
1
, - IR as a scholarly discipline is ‘presentist’
= everything is present, only the present is real (seeing Treaty of Westphalia as a beginning
point of IR)
- IR as a scholarly discipline is ‘Eurocentric’
Is it a problem that IR as a discipline betrays a ‘presentist’ and ‘Eurocentric bias’ YES
- Non-Western powers are re-asserting (herbevestigen) themselves
- Historical legacies
- Historical memory
- What is the logic of the international system? Consciousness about contingency, it
might be different in the future
- Contingency of present arrangements
What is an ‘international system’? What is ‘the logic’ of the international system?
- Basic unit: state, sovereign state
- Social practices: borders, flags, anthems
- Rules & norms: sovereign equality
- Implications: anarchy, security dilemma, violence
! But this is an inadequate portrayal that generalises too readily (te makkelijk) from
European experience! Deze kaart geeft het beeld dat landen homogeen zijn, wat niet het
geval is. Er zijn veel transnationale processen gaande waar hier geen rekening mee wordt
gehouden.
2
,Class 2: China and East Asia
Inhoudstafel:
1) Intro: what is China?
A. China is geen natiestaat
B. Wat is een Chinees internationaal systeem?
- Suzerainty: the Middle Kingdom
- Tribute system
- Overland system
2) The warring states period (475-221 VC)
A. Vooraf: shared set of rituals and seasonal celebrations
- Shang dynasty
- Zhou dynasty: mandate of heaven
B. Seven seperate states: always at war with each other
Qin: strongest state ‣ Sunzi: the art of war
Toch vooruitgang ‣ Intellectueel: the age of the hundred schools (Daionism, Legalism,
Confucianism, Mohism) ‣ Politiek & militair: bureaucraten, tax, administratie, zwaarden en
andere soorten wapens ‣ Economy: farming techniques en irrigatie projecten + ijzer +
munten
Qin Shi Hang: first emperor ‣ Legalism
3) The development of the Chinese state
A. Han
B. Tang
C. Song
D. Yuan
E. Ming
F. Qing
4) The overland system
5) The tribute system
1. What is China?
What China is not: a nation-state (historically) only until the end of the 19th century
China was:
- a set of different ethnicities within China who spoke multiple languages and there
was not a sense of national identity (elite people + ordinary people) at all
3
, - a set of imperial dynasties in the geographical space that we nowadays call China and
somehow there was continuity between them. They did not name themselves as
China but with the pretence of being the ‘middle kingdom’ (Zhongguo). They all
called themselves Zhongguo.
- China was a civilisational zone sharing a set of ritual practices:
1. Shared ritual calendar
2. Shared political vocabulary: dynasties ruled with the mandate of heaven,
‘sons of heaven’. It can be withdrawn at any time!
3. A similar set of characters in the writing system across this geographical space
What is does not mean to identify a Chinese international system: it is not encompassing, it
is not unchanging and it is not unquestionably Confucian
- Overland system to a small extent organized along Confucian lines
- Tribute system to a large extent organized along Confucian lines
"Confucian lines" verwijst meestal naar de morele en sociale normen die zijn afgeleid van
het confucianisme, een filosofisch en ethisch systeem ontwikkeld door de Chinese denker
Confucius (551-479 v.Chr.). In deze context betekent het handelen binnen de grenzen of
kaders van confucianistische waarden en principes, die een grote invloed hebben gehad op
de Chinese en Oost-Aziatische samenlevingen.
2. The ‘warring states period’ (not the starting point of Chinese history!)
475 – 251 BCE: Intense competition, including military competition, recurrent warfare
Qin appear to achieve dominance => other ‘polities’ (states) must respond
Book: Sunzi, The Art of War: explains how a state should organize itself military. Underlines
the importance of intelligence, subterfuge and dissimulation (uitvlucht en misleiding).
multiple independent city states with intense competition (like Italy during Machiavelli,
Sunzi during the ‘warring states period’ is the equivalent of Machiavelli during the
renaissance)
The warring state period was a period of violent and intense political-military competition
and yet it was a period in which China flourished. How is this possible?
You always need to try to be one step ahead of your competition, in a military, innovative
(new technologies) and financial way. If you need to develop new technologies then you
need a good economy with good financial resources to finance the war. Investment in your
economy is required, which implies raising taxes. All of this requires a properly organized
government.
Apart from these investments but also cultural development/intellectual development =>
the development of multiple philosophical schools:
a) Kongzi / Confucianism:
4
! Teksten moeten gelezen worden (argumenten die gebruikt worden), translation dictionary
can be brought to the exam (without explanations)! Altijd alles binnen zijn tijdskader zetten
dus niet zeggen WW1 maar data altijd vermelden ook altijd het belang van personen
uitleggen, waarom is deze persoon benoemenswaardig? Waarom belangrijk? ! Als je enkel
de powerpoints zal leren ga je teleurgesteld zijn met je eindresultaat. Het louter
reproduceren van bullet points zorgt voor gebuisd zijn
Examen: What has been the role of history in IR? How did this role develop over time? (met
intro-midden-slot werken). Boek kan gratis gedownload worden.
What will we be talking about (class question):
Concept: Eurocentrism, communism, migration, dynasties, isolationism, nationalism
Person: Woodrow Wilson, Thucydides, Gorbachev, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Henry Kissinger
Event: Treaty of Westphalia (1648), Suez crisis (Egypt nationalises the Suez Canal and starts
to raise taxes), the fall of the Roman Empire, the Club of Rome (climate change and urging
political leaders to take action), Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (SU), WW1 and WW2, Berlin
conferences (1885, division of Africa)
a) History of International Relations: why?
Why is it useful for social scientists to study history?
1. Historical legacies
e.g., ‘post-communist societies’
2. The politics of historical memories
e.g., Kiev and Russian foreign policy claims
Political memories
- Propagated by ‘ memory activists’
- Based on ‘selection and exclusion’
- Depends on the ‘efficiency of political pedagogy’
- Show a high degree of ‘homogeneity’
- Relies on symbols and rites that ‘enhance emotions of empathy and identification
3. The contingency of moral ideas and social arrangements
e.g., ‘gender equality’ or ‘natural slavery’ or ‘sovereignty’
4. Lessons from history
b) History of International Relations: what?
1
, - IR as a scholarly discipline is ‘presentist’
= everything is present, only the present is real (seeing Treaty of Westphalia as a beginning
point of IR)
- IR as a scholarly discipline is ‘Eurocentric’
Is it a problem that IR as a discipline betrays a ‘presentist’ and ‘Eurocentric bias’ YES
- Non-Western powers are re-asserting (herbevestigen) themselves
- Historical legacies
- Historical memory
- What is the logic of the international system? Consciousness about contingency, it
might be different in the future
- Contingency of present arrangements
What is an ‘international system’? What is ‘the logic’ of the international system?
- Basic unit: state, sovereign state
- Social practices: borders, flags, anthems
- Rules & norms: sovereign equality
- Implications: anarchy, security dilemma, violence
! But this is an inadequate portrayal that generalises too readily (te makkelijk) from
European experience! Deze kaart geeft het beeld dat landen homogeen zijn, wat niet het
geval is. Er zijn veel transnationale processen gaande waar hier geen rekening mee wordt
gehouden.
2
,Class 2: China and East Asia
Inhoudstafel:
1) Intro: what is China?
A. China is geen natiestaat
B. Wat is een Chinees internationaal systeem?
- Suzerainty: the Middle Kingdom
- Tribute system
- Overland system
2) The warring states period (475-221 VC)
A. Vooraf: shared set of rituals and seasonal celebrations
- Shang dynasty
- Zhou dynasty: mandate of heaven
B. Seven seperate states: always at war with each other
Qin: strongest state ‣ Sunzi: the art of war
Toch vooruitgang ‣ Intellectueel: the age of the hundred schools (Daionism, Legalism,
Confucianism, Mohism) ‣ Politiek & militair: bureaucraten, tax, administratie, zwaarden en
andere soorten wapens ‣ Economy: farming techniques en irrigatie projecten + ijzer +
munten
Qin Shi Hang: first emperor ‣ Legalism
3) The development of the Chinese state
A. Han
B. Tang
C. Song
D. Yuan
E. Ming
F. Qing
4) The overland system
5) The tribute system
1. What is China?
What China is not: a nation-state (historically) only until the end of the 19th century
China was:
- a set of different ethnicities within China who spoke multiple languages and there
was not a sense of national identity (elite people + ordinary people) at all
3
, - a set of imperial dynasties in the geographical space that we nowadays call China and
somehow there was continuity between them. They did not name themselves as
China but with the pretence of being the ‘middle kingdom’ (Zhongguo). They all
called themselves Zhongguo.
- China was a civilisational zone sharing a set of ritual practices:
1. Shared ritual calendar
2. Shared political vocabulary: dynasties ruled with the mandate of heaven,
‘sons of heaven’. It can be withdrawn at any time!
3. A similar set of characters in the writing system across this geographical space
What is does not mean to identify a Chinese international system: it is not encompassing, it
is not unchanging and it is not unquestionably Confucian
- Overland system to a small extent organized along Confucian lines
- Tribute system to a large extent organized along Confucian lines
"Confucian lines" verwijst meestal naar de morele en sociale normen die zijn afgeleid van
het confucianisme, een filosofisch en ethisch systeem ontwikkeld door de Chinese denker
Confucius (551-479 v.Chr.). In deze context betekent het handelen binnen de grenzen of
kaders van confucianistische waarden en principes, die een grote invloed hebben gehad op
de Chinese en Oost-Aziatische samenlevingen.
2. The ‘warring states period’ (not the starting point of Chinese history!)
475 – 251 BCE: Intense competition, including military competition, recurrent warfare
Qin appear to achieve dominance => other ‘polities’ (states) must respond
Book: Sunzi, The Art of War: explains how a state should organize itself military. Underlines
the importance of intelligence, subterfuge and dissimulation (uitvlucht en misleiding).
multiple independent city states with intense competition (like Italy during Machiavelli,
Sunzi during the ‘warring states period’ is the equivalent of Machiavelli during the
renaissance)
The warring state period was a period of violent and intense political-military competition
and yet it was a period in which China flourished. How is this possible?
You always need to try to be one step ahead of your competition, in a military, innovative
(new technologies) and financial way. If you need to develop new technologies then you
need a good economy with good financial resources to finance the war. Investment in your
economy is required, which implies raising taxes. All of this requires a properly organized
government.
Apart from these investments but also cultural development/intellectual development =>
the development of multiple philosophical schools:
a) Kongzi / Confucianism:
4
