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Summary Core module International Relations, all lectures & readings
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All notes of the lectures, readings, slides and books connected to the core module of International Relations.
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International Relations core module (specialization 2nd year)Universiteit van Amsterdam
73220031LY
Contents:
- All lecture notes
- Seminar notes
- Summaries of all readings
,Lectures
Lecture 1
Multi-level politics
Multilevel IR as truly global political interaction
- Decisionmaking at different levels of collectivity
- Actions at one level influence outcomes at other levels
- Incentives for strategic behaviour
- Different levels and forms of publicness, formality, hierarchy and means of political
influence
Core theoretical-empirical debates in IR
- Realism vs idealism
- Realism vs liberalism vs Marxism
- Interests vs institutions vs ideas
- Positivism vs constructivism
Realism and idealism applied
Idealism: international order (Goldgeier and McFaul)
Realism: primacy of state power (Mearsheimer and Waltz)
Idealism
- Rise motivated by the horrors of ww1
- Created IR as a discipline
- War and peace as foundational questions
- Promotion of democracy, self-determination, interdependence and institutions for
peace (Mill, Kant, Angell)
- Wilsons 14 points
, - League of nations and collective security
- Treaties ton outlaw war, Geneva protocols.
- BUT… continued racism, imperialism and euro-centrism
Critiques of idealism
- Great depression, rise of Nazism, world war 2, cold war
- Democracy incomplete, US isolationism, rise of protectionism
Realism
Carr, Morgenthau, Waltz
- People and states are self.interested and power-seeking Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini,
but also ordinary people.
- Lack of world government, struggle for power and survival.
- Stability through balance of power
- History as cyclical
Critique of realism
-consistent realism -> no room for normative prescriptions
-overlooks ignores or downplays cooperative elements
-primacy of the state and international politics questioned
Realism and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Russia feels threatened by NATO’s eastward expansion and Ukraine’s turn to the west. Putin
responds to an apparent shift in the balance of power between the west and Russia and
wants to secure a Russian sphere of influence around its borders. Russia defends the
interests of ethnic Russians in Ukraine and elsewhere and responds to Ukrainian attempts to
marginalize Russian minority. Russia wants to be taken seriously and considered as a great
power.
Idealism and Russias invasion of Ukraine
Foreign policy must be a values-first affair, which is why Russia loses credibility and
ligitzimacy since the invasion. And this shows the weakness of the realist approach. “putin
has the power, Zelensky has the legitimacy”. The whole world expected a quick and easy
victory for Russia, but in these analyses there was no room for the human spirit, loyalty,
love and freedom”.
- Underestimated Ukrainians willingness to resist and fight for their freedom and
values
- Underestimated the western ability to remain united and defend free and
democratic Ukraine
- Overestimated Russians willingness to fight for no convincing reason?
Idealism was dominant during the interwar period. Realism dominant until 1980s
- Neorealism waltz
Idealism inspires three liberal traditions
- Liberal domestic policy
- Liberal international politics
- Liberal economic politics
, Neo- neo synthesis (convergence of neorealism and neoliberalism since 1980s?
- Addresses the simplicity and reductionism of realism (primacy of states, impossibility
of cooperation, permanent distrust)
- But also the ingenuity or naivity of idealism (cooperation and progress, but always a
function of state power).
- Critique:
- From idealists: has little to do with fundamentals of idealism
- From realists: gives too much importance to supranational actors
Conclusion: will always remain a perennial debate
Lecture 2
Debate 2: the IPE debate; Realism, Liberalism vs. Marxism
International political economy
Greek depth crisis; challenge for EU and for imf
Soldiers in Iraq
Labor conditions in Bangladesh
Free trade agreements
Brexit
Export from china growing exponentially, new imperialism between great economic rocks in
the world
Trump, biden (inflation reduction act), supporting American industries to invest in
sustainability.
^All political economic issues
Comparing theories and theoretical debates
All theories have specific ideas on inequality and distribution of wealth.
The IPE debate
Not epistemological, no debate on the nature. Ontological.
All the perspectives are positivist in nature (realism, liberalism Marxism) we can make
objective claims about the world around us. Quite modest debate.
A debate full of positivist and normative values. Liberal: hard to change opinion, even if
someone is exchanging evidence. The three theories are closely related o the views people
hold. Emancipation, solidarity. More an ideological debate than theoretical.
Important focus: have and have not. Distribution of wealth.
Ipe: interaction between ….
The IPE debate: contentious issues
1. Relation politics <-> economy
Realism: politics -> economy
Liberalism: politics <-> economy
Marxism economy -> politics
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