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Summary History of International Relations

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Course
History Of International Relations (1200PSWHIP)

Institution
Universiteit Antwerpen (UA)

Summary about the History of International Relations course. This consists of the PowerPoint information, which was filled with notes (from each lesson). Notes from Mazower's book also supplement this summary. You can find a number of example questions that were discussed in our lessons. Finally, t...

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history
history of international relations

Institution
Universiteit Antwerpen (UA)
Education
Schakelprogramma Internationale Betrekkingen En Diplomatie
Course
History Of International Relations (1200PSWHIP)

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History of
international relations
SAMENVATTING
Academiejaar 2022-2023

Ella Konings

,1 Introduction
1.1 History of International Relations: Why?
Why is it useful for social scientists to study history?

• In order to understand the present, you need to know the past. There’s a causal relation. We’ll
look at how that relation exactly works.
• We study the past in order to cultivate political wisdom / to not make the same mistakes.

There are 2 ways in how the past has a causal relation with the present:

1. Historical legacies
e.g., ‘post-communist societies’
→ like eastern Germany, Georgia, Poland, Bulgaria,... (dominated by the Soviet Union). You
still see legacies of the communist past; it cannot be shaken off easily. You develop in certain
circumstances and that sticks with you.
E.g., colonization: the feelings of superiority and inferiority stays.
2. The politics of historical memories
e.g., Kiev and Russian foreign policy claims
The past is active in the present because of memories, f.e. trauma: something that happens in
the past, influences the behavior and thoughts of a person. It needs to be actively
remembered (not like historical legacies).
Example 1: when Russia tries to legitimate its invasion of Ukraine.
Example 2: how NATO expansion is being remembered → post cold war. They were actively
remembered and it motivates certain actions.

Political memories

• Propagated by ‘memory activists’
o Not spontaneous. People can become memory activists, f.e. feminists that want us to
remember the past. There are people pushing for a certain way of remembering the
past.
• Based on ‘selection and exclusion’
o Selection and exclusion: you forget some things. You have to dig up things from the
past. Example: history books are often rewritten and you teach them a particular
reading of history; you can build a museum. It takes an infrastructure if you want to be
good at this.
• 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’
→ A reason to study the history of international relations.
Example: sovereignty: we now live in a world of sovereign states and it’s common sense that
we now live in this. BUT in the past this wasn’t common sense, could it have developed in a
different way?
4. Lessons from history

2

,1.2 History of international relations: what?
• IR as a scholarly discipline is ‘presentist’
o focus on recent history
• IR as a scholarly discipline is ‘eurocentric’
o moving away from 20th century focus and focus on Europe

Is it a problem that IR as a discipline betrays a ‘presentist’ and a ‘eurocentric bias’?

It was a problem. See balance of power theory. It only came from European evidence. If they looked at
the theory from a non-Western view, it didn’t work out well.

• Non-Western powers are re-asserting themselves
o historical legacies
▪ There’s also historical legacy. How they did politics before, still has an
effect on the country today.
o historical memory
▪ We clearly observe that they (non-western countries) actively try to
remember their own history. They use historical references. Example:
Russia looks at their Russian path and tries to explain it to other countries.
→ Historical memory
• What is the logic of the international system?
o contingency of present arrangements
▪ There are sovereign states. Example: because of this, it’s sometimes
difficult to travel to other states; there’s a rule of non-interference; etc
▪ Conclusion: International politics has functioned differently in different
places and different times.
• What is an ‘international system’? What is ‘the logic’ of the international system?
o Basic unit: state, sovereign state
o Social practices: borders, flags, anthems
o Rules & norms: sovereign equality
o Implications: anarchy, security dilemma, violence

But this is an inadequate portrayal that generalizes too readily from European experience.

1.3 Course outline
• Introduction
• Five sessions on non-European international systems
o China and East Asia // India and Indianization // The Muslim Caliphates // The
Mongol Khanates // Africa
• Two sessions on how Europe came to rule the world
o European expansion // Belgian colonialism
• Three sessions on the European-Global international system
o Global governance in the nineteenth century // The League of Nations and its
‘failure’ // The United Nations and decolonization

3

, 2 Information regarding the exam
What to study?

• Ringmar’s Handbook (except: Japan, The Americas)
• Additional literature: the overall argument (plus particular arguments or ideas that we drew attention to)
o First set of classes versus second set of classes (from Belgian colonialism) → less easy to
make the distinction between first and secondary text
o Mark Mazower: primary text!
• PPT’S
o DO NOT REPLICY THE SLIDES
• Notes

3 types of questions

1. people, events and concepts
a. shorty situate the following events, concepts and people in their historical context and shortly
explain their historical significance (i.e. why the event, concept or person had been important in
the development of international politics or what it tells us about a certain period in international
politics)
i. include 3 elements
1. what or who
2. when (not always a precise year, sometimes a century would make sense →
do not name the chapter!)
3. why important
b. E.G.
i. Zheng He
ii. Benin bronze
2. Some short questions
a. Choose two/three from the three/four questions in section B. Do not answer all three/four
questions. If you answer all three/four questions, I will only grade questions 1-2/3
b. E.G
i. Why was the Warring States Period such a culturally dynamic period in Chinese
history?
ii. Questions can come from the end of each chapter of the book!!!
3. Essay questions
a. Make an argument → about the 3 classes from Zeger
b. Try to make some links between those 3 classes
c. Do not replicate!!!!
d. Make an essay
e. There is no answer but an argument that needs to be made
f. E.G
i. What is the importance of economy with both colonization and decolonization
1. Capitalism
2. Industrial revolution
3. Globalization
4. Make a point of these things
ii. What has been the role of religion in international affairs throughout international
history → example of earlier times → only an example
1. Expected an answer of not a list of moments when it features
2. Answers → as I scout international history I see 3 roles
a. Religion as a source of conflict
b. Religion as a source of pollical identity
iii. Some thinkers have argued that war is a productive force in society. Do you agree?
1. Review the course in a coherent argument

4

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