Cato Sluyts
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
Prof. Eugenia Baroncelli
CLASS 19/02/24 - 1
First part, lectures (19th February – 3rd of may)
1. Introduction to the study of IR
2. Realism
3. Liberalism
4. English school
5. Constructivism and post-positivist approaches
6. IPE/ global governance
7. Foreign policy analysis
Second part, seminars (8th April – 24th of May)
1. The transformation of security between empirical reality and theoretical reflection
2. The rise and fall of the great powers: old and new realisms on the ‘China rise’ issue
3. The future of liberal international order: realism vs liberalism
4. IR and the politics of difference: race and racism
5. The EU as a global actor in the regime complex for development financing
6. IR and global environmental politics
7. Great powers and environmental stewardship
8. Neoliberal trends in global climate governance
9. Decolonizing the climate crisis
10. Writing ecological security
11. A political ecology approach to natural resource conflicts
12. Towards a post-human IR?
13. Course wrap-up
à Presentation on a topic within groups (22nd of April)
à Prepare for each discussion with readings
Written midterms
à 3rd of April; 5 mcq, 2 open, computer-based 45min 40%
à 15th – 19th of May essay (2500 words total) 40%
à Handbook and slides
à AlmaEsami list enrolment
à Two make-up dates in June
Final oral exam 20% (with presentation + participation)
à 2 dates in June, 1 in July, 1 in September
Digital mock exam for first midterm
à 21st of March on EOL platform
Workshop on essay writing
à 7th of May
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International relations (IR) is
- The discipline that studies IR is International Relations
- The empirical referent (object of analysis) of the discipline is international relations
The (9) actors of IR
- States
- Regions (e.g., substates)
- Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
- Multination’s corporations (MNCs)
- Terrorist organizations
- International organizations (IOs)
- Rebels/ state liberators etc.,
- Individuals (e.g., Pope)
- Supranational organization (EU)
We need to be able to tell a difference between ‘us’ and ‘them’ to create an internal and
external space. If we cannot make a distinction, we may not be looking at IR
à Case example: Republic of Venice and the emperor in the 13th century
IR and other disciplines
- Political science deals with relations within a state (domestic policy)
- History deals with the peculiar reconstruction of certain events, whereas IR tracks
regularities of the internationally relevant players in order to provide generalizations
- International law deals with cooperation at the intergovernmental level with
different goals and methodologies
- Economics deals with (mathematical) formulization
- Post-positivist critique challenges i.e. IR’s notion of excluding normative analysis, and
leading to the discipline being in flux
IR uses history as its main domain of empirical cases, to prove of disprove theories, but
studies it through the lenses of multiple disciplines à retrospective application
IR definitions & perspectives
- Struggle for power – Morgenthau (German realist), 1948
à IR is an arena, pointing out conflictual power based within politics
- Relations between political units (states or others) claiming right to go to war – Aron
(French realist), 1962
à Role/power of ideas as an important factor in IR, and idea of equality to overtake
a system and mobilize an army, possibility is a key element
- Cross-border relations (including non-political and non-military ties between civil
societies) – Nicholson, 1998
à Transnational relations = operations across borders
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, Cato Sluyts
CLASS 20/02/24 – 2
Why study IR?
The majority of the world’s population lives in sovereign states
- Interpret current events in international politics
à But also events in the past, across time and space
- Understand complex dynamics
à Relation between domestic and systemic occurrence: internal-external dimension
à Interrelation of different dynamics e.g. political-economic dimension
à 2008 global economic crisis because of domestic problems; analyze
scientifically systemic events (characteristics)
à 1929 crash of house market of economic system and its global effect
à IPE (international political economy)
- Knowledge-skills to build one’s professional profile
IR in the XXI century: old and new challenges
à Powerful states/national leaders, supranational and international organizations, social
movements, race (no longer a domain of domestic politics), gender politics (rising to high
politics), migration (modern sovereign boundaries as a new challenge, global security)
Liberal illusions & Russian invasion of Ukraine
à Steven Walt (YouTube video)
à Realism
à Critique against liberal illusions
à IOs, NATO, EU
à Expansive aggressive foreign policies
à Where do you put the limit
à Conflict management; the difficulty of bargaining
The evolution of inter-state relations
- Since 1648 peace of Westphalia – ending 30 years’ war
- Inter-state (Westphalian) anarchic relations
- Anarchy: domestic vs international level
- 2 meanings:
- Chaos
- Absence of superior control
- Competitive success: global international system
Anarchy = An-arche = without power
à Characteristic of international system is no superior power
à But order in anarchy in the international system, no chaos
à Domestic level has hierarchy and order, no anarchy
Background: the religious divisions of Europe
- 1555 peace of Augsburg – ending the wars of religion
- Charles V vs Schmalkald League; Huegenots vs Catholics in France, etc.
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Background: opposition to Hapsburg’s hegemonic attempt
- 1618-1648 Thirty years’ war
The peace of Westphalia (1648) and its consequences on the international system
1. Separation between politics and religion (secularization of politics): peace of Ausburg
1555: ‘cuius regio eius regio’
à Princes are free to choose their religion within the roman empire, but citizens
within their municipalities have to oblige by the choice of their leaders
2. Recognition of the states as ‘optimal unit’ and sovereignty principle
à Philippe I tried to break this
3. Revolution in the conduct of war
à War stopped being a matter of princes’ quarrels or a private affair of families as in
in middle ages, it became a national; (political) issue. Armies were enlisted in a more
gradual fashion, and more socially inclusive
à Major technological innovations; wars were fought behind fortifications and there
was a gradual decline of heavy cavalry, increased reliance on infantry (agile), and use
of gunpower and iron casts instead of bronze
4. European expansion to other continents
à Money for wars came from these continents
Organized (legitimate) violence and state-making
- “War made the state, the state made war” – Tilly, 1975
à War and making armies was important for leaders to exert power over these
armies and their families, but also to expand to other continents and finance their
European expansion
à Mass extermination of natives citizens due to the export of germs to which
Europeans have become immune
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