INTS 100-03, Introduction to International Relations, Fall 2011

Abstract

“What made war inevitable was the growth of Athenian power and the fear which this cause in Sparta.” With this quote, Thucydides, an Athenian general and historian, explains the basic cause of international wars: insecurity. On the one hand, since ancient times, not much has changed in that war is still caused by insecurities of nations. On the other hand, everything else has changed since ancient times: we are not divided into castes anymore, we respect human rights for all, and we try war criminals. Hence, international relations is the study of analyzing how things have changed and how they have stayed the same in international politics. This co-­‐existence of change and stability in international politics is the subject of this class. This course is composed of four sections. In the first section, we will look at the historical development of the international political system and its evolution to its current state. In the second section, we will look at three theoretical approaches (realism, liberalism, constructivism) to understanding international relations and question how these varying approaches explain various international developments. In the third section, we will look at the four subfields of international relations: (1) international security that deals with questions of war and peace, (2) international norms and institutions that deals with questions of international cooperation, (3) international political economy that deals with questions of global economic interdependencies, and (4) foreign policy that deals with questions of how politicians make foreign policy decisions. In the last section of the class, we will look at various international developments around the world and question how they influence the average American.