PhD Seminar Jack Donnelly
The Social Construction of International Relations Spring 1998
This course seeks to explore recent theoretical work in the field of international relations that treats international society and its practices as social constructs. The course is open to students in Comparative Politics, but its focus is almost exclusively on international politics. (You may, however, do a paper that is national, rather than international, in focus). In addition, while the course is open to second year students, it is not likely to be appropriate to most people pursuing a terminal MA degree. The course is highly theoretical.
Grades will be based principally on a research paper on a topic of your choice. Class participation (quantity not quality) will also be taken into account in assigning a final grade.
I will be out of the country for the first class meeting. And there is a LOT of reading for the second meeting -- so get to it!
Background
I will assume that you are familiar with the following basic theoretical literature. Please fill in any holes in your reading immediately. These readings are on reserve for my INTS 4900 course.
Kenneth N. Waltz, Man, the State and War, ch. 1.
J. David Singer, "The Levels of Analysis Problem in International Relations," in Klauss Knorr and Sidney Verba (eds.), The International System.
Hans Morgenthau, Politics Among Nations (any edition after the first), pp. 4-13.
Kenneth N. Waltz, Theory of International Politics, Chs. 4-6 (in Keohane (ed.) Neorealism and its Critics, ch. 3-5).
Robert Jervis, "Cooperation Under the Security Dilemma," World Politics, 30 (January 1978) as excerpted in Art and Waltz (eds.) The Use of Force, pp. 34-64.
Robert O. Keohane, "Theory of World Politics: Structural Realism and Beyond," in Keohane (ed.), Neorealism and Its Critics, ch. 7.
John Gerard Ruggie, "Continuity and Transformation in the World Polity: Toward and Neorealist Synthesis," in Keohane (ed.), ch. 6.
Hedley Bull, The Anarchical Society, ch. 1-4.
Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye, Power and Interdependence, ch. 1-3.
Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye, "Power and Interdependence Revisited," International Organization 41 (Autumn 1987), 725-53 (reprinted in the second edition of Power and Interdependence).
Kenneth Oye (ed.), Cooperation Under Anarchy, chapters by Oye, pp. 1-27 and Axelrod and Keohane, pp. 226-254. (Reprinted from World Politics October 1985.)
Alexander E. Wendt, "The Agent-Structure Problem in International Relations Theory," International Organization 41 (Summer 1987), 335-370.
Pauline Rosenau, "Once Again into the Fray: International Relations Confronts the Humanities." Millennium 19 (Spring 1990): 83-110. [or some other minimal familiarity with post-modern approaches]
PART ONE: EPISTEMOLOGICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS
Weeks 1-2: Beyond Positivism
Mark Neufeld, The Restructuring of International Relations Theory.
Martin Hollis and Steven Smith, Explaining and Understanding International Relations
Steve Smith, "Positivism and Beyond," in Smith, Ken Booth and Marysia Zalewski (eds.), International Theory: Positivism and Beyond.
Michael Nicholson, "The Continued Significance of Positivism?" in Smith, Booth, and Zalewski.
Week 3: Rules, Norms, and Decisions
Friedrich V. Kratochwil, Rules, Norms, and Decisions.
PART TWO: THREE POST-MODERN EXAMPLES
Week 4: Inside/Outside
R. B. J. Walker, Inside/Outside: International Relations as Political Theory.
Week 5: A Genealogy of Sovereignty
Jens Bartelson, A Genealogy of Sovereignty.
Week 6: Anti-Diplomacy
James Der Derian, Anti-Diplomacy
PART THREE: OTHER CONSTRUCTIVIST STYLES
Week 7: Constructivism Closer to the Mainstream
Audie Klotz and Cecilia Lynch, "Conflicted Constructivism: Positivist Leanings vs. Interpretivist Meanings," xerox.
Emanuel Adler, "Seizing the Middle Ground: Constructivism in World Politics," European Journal of International Affairs 3 (September 1997): 319-363.
Rey Koslowski and Friedrich Kratochwil, "Understanding Change in International Politics: The Soviet Empire's Demise and the International System," International Organization 48 (Spring 1994): xxx.
Christian Reus-Smit, "The Constitutional Structure of International Society and the Nature of Fundamental Institutions," International Organization 51 (Autumn 1997): xxx.
Audie Klotz, "Norms Reconstituting Interests: Global Racial Equality and U.S. Sanctions against South Africa," International Organization 49 (Summer 1995): xxx.
Peter Katzenstein (ed.), The Culture of National Security: Norms and Identity in International Politics, selected chapters.
Week 8: Wendt, Structuration, and Scientific Realism
Alexander Wendt, xxx. Xerox of latest version of book ms.
Week 9: The English School and Constructivism
Martin Wight, International Theory: The Three Traditions.
Tim Dunne, xxx
Andrew Linklater, xxx.
Week 10: On the Causes of War
Hidemi Suganami, On the Causes of War.
Supplementary Topics:
All of the following have appeared on earlier versions of this course. Their inclusion here reflects less changes in the field in the past couple years than the fact that I have been including more and more of this material in other courses.
1. Anarchy and International Society
Hedley Bull, The Anarchical Society, Chapters 1-3.
Alexander E. Wendt, "Anarchy is What States Make of It: The Social Construction of Power Politics," International Organization 46 (Spring 1992): 391-426.
Nicholas Greenwood Onuf, World of Our Making, Chapter 5.
Stephen D. Krasner, "Westphalia and All That," in Judith Goldstein and Robert O. Keohane (eds.), Ideas and Foreign Policy.
Janice E. Thomson, Mercenaries, Pirates, and Sovereigns, ch. 1 and 6.
Hayward Alker, "The Presumption of Anarchy in World Politics: On Recovering the Historicity of World Society," in Rediscoveries and Reformulations: Humanistic Methodologies for International Studies.
Highly recommended (semi-essential):
Terry Nardin, Law, Morality, and the Relations of States, Chapters 1-5.
Nicholas Greenwood Onuf, World of Our Making, Chapter 6.
Charles Tilly, "War Making and State Making as Organized Crime," in Peter B. Evans, Dietrich Reuschemeyer, and Theda Skocpol (eds.), Bringing the State Back In.
R. B. J. Walker, "Sovereignty, Identity, Community: Reflections on the Horizons of Contemporary Political Practice," in Walker and Saul Mendlovitz (eds.), Contending Sovereignties.
Richard Ashley, "Untying the Sovereign State: A Double Reading of the Anarchy Problematique." Millenium 17 (Summer 1988): 227-262.
R. B. J. Walker, "State Sovereignty and the Articulation of Political Space/Time." Millenium 20 (Winter 1991): 445-461.
Recommended:
Martin Wight, Systems of States.
Nicholas Onuf, "Intervention for the Common Good," in Gene Lyons and Michael Mastanduno (eds.), Beyond Westphalia?.
Robert H. Jackson, "International Community beyond the Cold War," in Lyons and Mastanduno.
Lyons and Mastanduno, "State Sovereignty and International Intervention."
N. J. Rengger, "A City Which Sustains All Things? Communitarianism, International Society and Legitimacy." Millenium 21 (Winter 1992): 253-270.
Ronnie D. Lipschutz, "Reconstructing World Politics: The Emergence of Global Civil Society." Millenium 21 (Winter 1992): 389-420.
Hedley Bull and Adam Watson (eds.), The Expansion of International Society.
James N. Rosenau, "Before Cooperation: Hegemons, Regimes, and Habit-Driven Actors in World Politics," International Organization 40 (Autumn 1986): 849-894.
Robert H. Jackson, "Martin Wight, International Theory and the Good Life." Millenium 19 (Summer 1990): 261-272.
2. Ideas, Knowledge, and Power
Robert O. Keohane, "International Institutions: Two Approaches," International Studies Quarterly 32 (December 1988): 379-396.
Goldstein and Keohane, Ideas and Foreign Policy, Chapters 1 and 2.
Peter M. Haas, "Introduction: Epistemic Communities and International Policy Coordination," International Organization 46 (Winter 1991): 1-36.
Emanuel Adler and Peter M. Haas, "Conclusion: Epistemic Communities, World Order, and the Creation of a Reflective Research Program," International Organization 46 (Winter 1991): 367-390.
James F. Keeley, "Toward a Foucauldian Analysis of International Regimes," International Organization 44 (Winter 1990): 83-105.
Michel Foucault, "Truth and Power," in Power/Knowledge (reprinted in Paul Rabinow (ed.), The Foucault Reader).
Robert W. Cox, "Gramsci, Hegemony and International Relations: An Essay in Method," Millennium 12 (Summer 1983): 162-175.
Case Studies (read some):
Audie Klotz, Norms in International Relations: the Struggle Against Apartheid.
G. John Ikenberry, "A World Economy Restored: Expert Consensus and the Anglo-American Postwar Settlement," International Organization 46 (Winter 1992): 289-322.
Geoffrey Garrett and Barry Weingast, "Ideas, Interests, and Institutions: constructing the European Community's Internal Market," in Goldstein and Keohane, Ideas and Foreign Policy.
Emanuel Adler, "The Emergence of Cooperation: National Epistemic Communities and the International Evolution of the Idea of Nuclear Arms Control," International Organization 46 (Winter 1992): 101-146.
Richard Price, "A Genealogy of the Chemical Weapons Taboo," International Organization 49 (Winter 1995): 73-103.
Robert Jackson, "The Weight of Ideas in Decolonization: Normative Change in International Relations," in Goldstein and Keohane (eds.).
Janice E. Thomson, "State Practices, International Norms, and the Decline of Mercenarism," International Studies Quarterly 34 (March 1990): 23-48.
Kathryn Sikkink, "The Power of Principled Ideas: Human Rights Policies in the United States and Western Europe," in Goldstein and Keohane (eds.).
Kevin Hartigan, "Matching Humanitarian Norms with Cold, Hard Interests: The Making of Refugee Policies in Mexico and Honduras, 1980-89," International Organization 46 (Summer 1992): 709-730.
Ethan A. Nadelman, "Global Protection Regimes: The Evolution of Norms in International Society," International Organization 44 (Autumn 1990): 479-526.
Peter M. Haas, "Do Regimes Matter? Epistemic Communities and Mediterranean Pollution Control," International Organization 43 (Summer 1989): 377-404.
M. J. Peterson, "Whalers, Cetologists, Environmentalists, and the International Management of Whaling," International Organization 46 (Winter 1992): 147-186.
Recommended:
Ernst B. Haas, When Knowledge is Power, Chapters 1, 2, 4-8.
Emanuel Adler, "Cognitive Evolution: A Dynamic Approach for the Study of International Relations and Their Progress," in Emanuel Adler and Beverly Crawford (eds.), Progress in Postwar International Relations.
G. John Ikenberry and Charles A. Kupchan, "Socialization and Hegemonic Power," International Organization 44 (Summer 1990): 283-316.
George Modelski, "Is World Politics Evolutionary Learning?" International Organization (Winter 1990): 1-24.
Peter M. Haas, "Banning Chloroflurocarbons: Epistemic Community Efforts to Protect the Stratospheric Ozone," International Organization 46 (Winter 1992): 187-224.
Gary Goertz and Paul F. Diehl, "Toward a Theory of International Norms," Journal of Conflict Resolution 36 (December 1992): 634-664.
Ethan Barnaby Kapstein, "Between Power and Purpose: Central Bankers and the Politics of Regulatory Convergence," International Organization 46 (Winter 1992): 265-288.
Joseph S. Nye, Jr., "Nuclear Learning and U.S.-Soviet Security Regimes," International Organization 41 (Summer 1987): 371-402.
Raymond F. Hopkins, "Reform in the International Food Aid Regime: The Role of Consensual Knowledge," International Organization 46 (Winter 1992): 225-264.
Kathryn Sikkink, "Codes of Conduct for Transnational Corporations: The Case of the WHO/UNICEF Code," International Organization 40 (Autumn 1986): 815-840.
Judith Goldstein, "Ideas, Institutions, and American Trade Policy," International Organization 42 (Winter 1988): 179-218.
Judith Goldstein, "The Impact of Ideas on Trade Policy: The Origins of U.S. Agricultural and Manufacturing Policies," International Organization 43 (Winter 1989): 31-72.
3. Other Post-Modern Examples (in no particular order)
Richard K. Ashley, "Living on Border Lines: Man, Poststructuralism, and War," in James Der Derian and Michael J. Shapiro (eds.), International/Inter-Textual Relations.
Richard K. Ashley and R. B. J. Walker, "Reading Dissidence/Writing the Discipline: Crisis and the Question of Sovereignty in International Studies," International Studies Quarterly 34 (September 1990): 367-416.
R. B. J. Walker, "State Sovereignty and the Articulation of Political Space/Time." Millennium 20 (Winter 1991): 445-461.
Cynthia Weber, Simulating Sovereignty, ch. 1-3, 7.
Michael J. Shapiro, "Textualizing Global Politics," in James Der Derian and Michael J. Shapiro (eds.), International/Inter-Textual Relations.
Richard K. Ashley, "The Geopolitics of Geopolitical Space: Towards a Critical Social Theory of International Politics." Alternatives 12 (October 1987).
R. B. J. Walker, "Genealogy, Geopolitics and Political Community: Richard K. Ashley and the Critical Social Science of International Politics." Alternatives 13 (January 1988): 84-88.
Richard K. Ashley, "Geopolitics, Supplementary Criticism: A Reply to Professors Roy and Walker." Alternatives 13 (January 1988): 88-102.
Christine Sylvester, Feminist Thoery and International Relations in a Postmodern Era.
V. Spike Peterson, "Transgressing Boundaries: Theories of Knowledge, Gender and International Relations." Millenium 21 (Summer 1992): 183-206.
V. Spike Peterson, Gendered States: Feminist (Re)visions of International Theory.
Roxanne L. Doty, "Foreign Policy as Social Construction: A Post-Positivist Analysis of U.S. Counter-Insurgency Policy in the Philippines," International Studies Quarterly 37 (September 1993): 297-320.
Michael J. Shapiro, "Representing World Politics: The Sport/War Intertext," in Der Derian and Shapiro (eds.).
Bradley S. Klein, "After Strategy: The Search for a Post-Modern Politics of Peace." Alternatives 13 (July 1988): 293-318.
Timothy W. Luke, "'What's Wrong with Deterrence?': A Semiotic Interpretation of National Security Policy," in Der Derian and Shapiro (eds.).
Der Derian, James. "S/N: International Theory, Balkanisation and the New World Order." Millenium 20 (Winter 1991): 485-506.
Michael J. Shapiro, "The Obscure Object of Violence: Logistics, Desire, War." Alternatives 17 (Fall 1992): 453-477.
David Campbell, "Global Inscription: How Foreign Policy Constitutes the United States." Alternatives 15 (xxx 1990): 263-286.