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Lecture notes to Introduction to International Relations
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Introduction to International Relations –Lecture Notes
Leiden
University Dr.
Nicolas Blarel
01. Introduction Lecture
Course Goals:
1. To introduce key issues, theories, and debates in International Relations
2. To apply this knowledge to understand international relations
3. To teach students specific academic skills (workgroups): How to identify and relate core
elements comprising scientific research articles; How to find literature and correctly refer to
literature in academic texts
Office Hours
Monday, 17-19:00
Thursday, 15-16:00
What is a good source?
Highly encouraged to do further readings (see list on Syllabus... and beyond)
Traditional outlets: Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, The Diplomat, New York Times,
Washington Post, Economist, The Atlantic, Politico (US and EU editions) …
Websites and blogs: Think tanks, War on the Rocks, The Monkey Cage, e-international
relations, Vox, The Disorder of Things, Political Violence at a Glance, Relations
International...
Videos & Podcasts: Theory Talks, The Un-Diplomatic Podcast, Foreign Policy First Person,
Women in Foreign Policy, The Truth of the Matter, World in 30 minutes, Deep Dish, Horns
of a dilemma, Power Problems, Sound Strategic, Big World
Be part of the debate: share on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram articles of interest with
#IIRLeiden2020
How to succeed in the class:
Show up, regularly watch videos, take notes etc.
Final exam will be based on the assigned readings + material from the lectures
Multiple choice exam – Online exam
The final exam counts for 60% of your grade, 40% is based on workgroup assignments.
Ground rules
Regularly watching the video material, reading assigned texts, and taking notes
Not everything discussed in class will be captured by the assigned readings; therefore,
you need to be alert and take notes when watching the video lectures.
No sharing of video material (Lecture slides will be posted online)
,Interactive
Main content will be the recorded online lectures
But some instruments to complement lectures and ensure some degree of interaction:
1. Online office hours
2. Discussion forums
3. Emails (n.r.j.b.blarel@fsw.leidenuniv.nl)
4. Class questions
5. Sharing and discussing news/articles on social media via #IIRLeiden2020
We are actors of IR as we speak
IR helps you ask (and tentatively answer) the right questions. It teaches us to think
theoretically when answering.
Useful concepts: transnationalism, migration, soft power, public diplomacy, sovereignty,
hegemony...
Teaser
COVID-19 Crisis?
Realism: COVID-19 pandemic only confirms anarchy in world politics. States cannot
trust each other and look for their own solutions. They compete rather than cooperate.
Liberalism: Institutions and interdependence will ensure that states will cooperate. They all
work together to find a vaccine that can help mitigate the risk.
Constructivism: COVID-19 is what states make of it. For instance, is COVID-19 a foreign
virus/threat? Leaders will decide to either frame it as a global health crisis and ask for
cooperation or they will treat it as a (foreign) threat (f.i. the U.S. blaming China).
Leaders decide what they want to make of a crisis.
The objective of the IR course is to give you some tools to make sense of events in our daily lives. Are
existing ideas, concepts, theories useful for us to ask and answer the right questions about
international events?
Lecture slides:
https://brightspace.universiteitleiden.nl/d2l/le/lessons/15302/topics/657191
, Class 2: Why do we need Concepts and Theories of
International Relations?
Why do we need concepts?
Concepts are contested because:
Their definition is rarely consensual - they often disagree on certain definitions
Their meaning is not fixed in time – it evolves over time
Of ethno-centrism – they might only be able to explain it from a particular side of the world.
They’re useful to
Make sense of complex realities – it simplifies complex phenomenons
Make sure we are talking about the same things – When you talk about it, you’re sure the
other scholar knows you’re talking about the same thing.
Ensure some degree of constructive dialogue
Develop and evaluate theories
In short: They give more clarity when speaking on certain topics*
What are theories and why do we need them?
In short: Real life is too complex. There’s too much happening and a lot of factors impacting it. You
can use it to learn from the past or prevent/predict certain things from happening in the future.
They can give us a simple explanation on why things happen.
Theory:
Goes beyond mere description
Is an explanation: an answer to “why did this happen?”
Interprets data – Builds up on your own assumptions
Identifies patterns, regularities across time & space – They don’t look at all the variables.
They look at certain variables, simplify reality and look at it from a certain point.
Helps us describe, explain, anticipate and, eventually, prescribe – They do describe events,
but they go beyond that; they provide an explanation to make us understand what
happened. Therefore we can anticipate future events that could evolve and therefore could
give a policy prescription.
Casual explanations are derived from theories (set of assumptions). It leads to long-term debates.
There are many different theoretical perspectives/traditions in IR: different lenses.
What are International Relations?
1. Who? (what type of actors are we focussing on?)
What is the state in IR. According to international law (Montevideo convention 1993) the state as a
person of international law should possess the following qualifications:
A permanent population
A defined territory
Government (by its people)
A capacity to enter into relations with other states (diplomacy)
Problems:
, Declarative vs. Constitutive theory of statehood (A state declares itself autonomous because
it fulfills the four qualifications mentioned above vs. A state only exists once it’s recognized
by other states. Constitutive theory says you need recognition on top of the other
qualifications)
How is the “state” created in practice? - If it’s created out of succession from another state,
it is highly likely that military force was used. That might influence other states to recognize
this state.
Internal vs. External sovereignty – Internal sovereignty means that the state has the final
authority within their territory. The state is the absolute ruler authority. It monopolizes,
within their territory, certain functions. It controls legitimate use of force within its
territory.
It controls money on a national scale. It makes and enforces rule within its territory. It
decides who is a citizen or not. It’s not contested within its own internal boundry.
External sovereignty means that there’s no intervention from external powers against the
legitimacy of the state. They need autonomy in the international system as well.
Sovereignty in IR today – There can still be instances or external influences limiting the external and
possibly internal sovereignty of certain governments or political authorities.
In IR theory, states are simply a unit of analysis. Entities with well-defined territory and recognized
political authority. Sovereignty is never completely obsolute/recognized.
2. What is a state (and what not)?
State v. Nation – A nation is not a state. A nation-state is an attempt to combine both concepts. A
nation is more of a group of people who see themselves as a unit based on shared historical criteria.
They're socially-constructive units that are not formed by nature. They’re bound together by notions
of unity that in most cases pivot around religion, ethnic identity, cultural practices, historical
milestones etc. They find something that links them and build a common destiny together (rise of
nationalism). A nation is not necessarily limited within a state. A nation can spill over multiple states.
States are not nations, not every nation is a state. They don’t always overlap.
A nation state is the idea of a homogenous nation governed by its own sovereign state where each
state only contains one nation. This idea is almost never achieved. Nation building could be defined
as the process of which the boundries of the model state, those of the national community, become
coherent. The desired outcome is to achieve national integration to create a homogenous
community within a specific delimited (?) territory.
State v. non-state actors – Non-state Actors are moderated by commercial needs or incentives (not
political), for instance MNO’s, the VOC, pirates etc.
State and sovereignty
One issue of sovereignty and states is a failed/fragile state. Are they real states? Because
they can’t control important parts of their own territory, they can’t fulfill basic services.
It creates a lot of problems about the degree of autonomy and legitimacy in a lot of
these states
Globalization also creates a problem because the states lost control of a lot of traditional
perrogative and control. It can’t control borders, monopoly, information etc. It interrupts
the traditional definition of a sovereign state.
Supra-national and global governance
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