A thorough summary of past papers with my suggested arguments and answers for the first year International Relations Theory exam. Arguments are linked to experts and scholarly papers. I used this summary to prepare for my exam and received a first. As these are my personal notes, they may be a bit ...
Internati onal Relati ons Theory: Exam Preparati on 2021
Contents
Past Papers............................................................................................................................................3
2018...................................................................................................................................................3
2017...................................................................................................................................................5
2016...................................................................................................................................................8
2015.................................................................................................................................................11
2014.................................................................................................................................................20
The Social Contract according to Hobbes (Week 3).............................................................................26
The Social Contract according to Rousseau (Week 4)..........................................................................26
Structural Realism (Week 5)................................................................................................................26
What is the benefit of focussing on the structural level of analysis?...........................................26
What is the role of IR theory for Neorealists? What makes a good theory?................................27
What makes Waltz’s argument about nuclear proliferation a structural realist argument?........27
Liberal Peace (Week 7)........................................................................................................................29
Has Liberalism constructed a separate peace?............................................................................29
Is democracy-promotion a mask for imperial power?.................................................................29
Is the Liberal international order in decline?...............................................................................30
Rights and War (Week 9).....................................................................................................................31
What makes a War Just (or Unjust)? ...........................................................................................31
Are Human rights more important than Sovereignty?.................................................................31
Why did Morgenthau argue that International Morality was a thing of the past in 1948, and how
relevant is his argument today?...................................................................................................32
International Society (Week 10)..........................................................................................................32
How can a society form amidst anarchy?....................................................................................32
Is there an International Order, how is it maintained?................................................................34
What is at stake in the debate between solidarist and pluralist thinkers?..................................36
Key Terms....................................................................................................................................38
Institutions (Week 11).........................................................................................................................39
Social Construction of Anarchy (Week 12)...........................................................................................39
How is international politics ‘socially constructed’?....................................................................39
What are the similarities and differences between Wendt’s ‘three cultures of anarchy’ and
Wight’s ‘three traditions of International Thought’?...................................................................40
What is the significance of Identity for International Relations?.................................................42
Power (Week 14).................................................................................................................................44
What is ‘Power’ in contemporary International Relations?.........................................................44
, Internati onal Relati ons Theory: Exam Preparati on 2021
Is ‘soft power’ more important than ‘hard power’?....................................................................44
How is prestige a form of power?................................................................................................45
Key terms.....................................................................................................................................46
, Internati onal Relati ons Theory: Exam Preparati on 2021
Past Papers
2018
1. ‘Traditional IR theory has been fundamentally undermined by the challenges posed by
critical IR theories.’ Is this a fair assessment?
function of IR:
o publicist roots
o prescriptive for policymakers
o reflection on biases and prejudices in IR Theory
critical theories meet the third category
realist criticism: no prescriptive purposes for IR
failures of prescriptive function in the past: common concern in the 1960s and 1970s was
that IR scholarship had become overly attentive to the needs of states, while ignoring
anyone else in international society, from legislators to the public sector or private actors in
multiple states, who would also find IR research useful
o scientific turn of IR
o one great truth about IR
independence of state: 1960s-1970s crisis of confidence
o interdisciplinary styles of scholarly presentation and communication which unsettled
the norms of Cold War foreign policy discourse helped re-establish academics’
independence from the state
o push-back was immediate: from the late 1980s, it became a widespread trope that
IR faced a danger of rising relativism about truth
no agreement on function of IR -> a lot of literature dedicated to inter-paradigm debates:
great debates of IR, no communication between fields
critical theories have valuable insight into IR theory, are not undermining: Marxist,
Constructivist, Feminist, Post-colonial
problem is with communication within the field and to the public
2. To what extent is ethical conduct possible in global politics? Discuss with reference to at
least two traditions of thought in IR.
realism
o ethical conduct is not possible
o roots in Thucydides: will for power is in human nature
o roots in Hobbes: state of nature is anarchy -> survival as the main goal
o acting in self-interest is to act morally
o “political” man as an abstraction of the whole
English School
o pluralist vs. solidarist
o intersubjective rules and institutions: agreement on norms is possible
o solidarist: overarching morals, world society
o just war theory
o agreements, treaties, institutions
Constructivist
, Internati onal Relati ons Theory: Exam Preparati on 2021
o morals are socially-constructed
o ethical conduct contingent on self-identification and identity of the ‘other’
o collective identity formation allows for ethical conduct
3. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Realist understanding of ‘power’?
strengths:
o elegant and logical theoretical framework: anarchy without higher authority,
security dilemma + uncertainty, self-help system, survival as a national interest
o manual for policymakers: focus on hard power, no need for ethical concerns,
nationalism
weaknesses:
o no room for cooperation (liberal institutionalism)
o no focus on soft power
o war-seeking
4. ‘From its inception, the Liberal tradition has been complicit in colonial relations.’ Discuss.
criteria for imperialist policies (Jahn)
o justification of interventions aimed at changing the cultural, economic, and
political constitution of a target society;
o an argument for disregarding a lack of consent on the part of the latter
o a principled willingness to deploy the threat or use of military force to bring
about the above-mentioned changes
democratic peace theory meets the three criteria (Jahn)
o reconfiguration of the security dilemma: liberals inside, aggressive states outside
o misreading of Kant for democracies as universal
o liberal ideas intrinsically “Western”
o lack of consent (for intervention or economic interaction)
misreading of Kant:
o Specifically, Kant's call for republican constitutions has no basis in the
contemporary world, yet liberals prioritize it.
o Where Kant attempts to overcome the security dilemma, liberals reproduce it
between liberal and non-liberal states.
o Where Kant limits the right to trade as a basis of imperialism, liberals propagate
it. This inversion thus reproduces every single element of the causes of war Kant
identified.
conclusion: democracy-promotion might be well-meaning, but “liberal” justifications for
intervention are imperialist
5. In what ways, if any, are Marxian theories still relevant in IR?
6. What is the significance of ‘intersectionality’ for IR theory today?
7. ‘The Constructivist claim that the political world is socially constructed has huge
consequences for study of global politics.’ Do you agree?
constructivism’s history in the end of the cold war (Theys)
anarchy is not rejected
primacy of national interest -> based on identity
social construction of identity
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