western theories of international...

Western Theories of International Relations

Spring 2018

PAN Zhongqi 潘忠岐 Professor, SIRPA, Fudan R625, Wenke Building Tel: 13917273597; Email: [email protected]

Gustaaf Geeraerts Professor, SIRPA, Fudan R718, Wenke Building Tel: 13761743128 Email: [email protected]

Syllabus and Course Overview

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Zhongqi Pan/Gustaaf Geeraerts 2


Approaches to

International Relations (IR)

Chapter 1


International Relations in Daily Life

Ø International events in everyday lives p The civil war in Syria p Terrorist attacks by IS p The North Korean nuclear crisis p The G-20 summits p The economic crisis of 2008 and the

Great Recession p The growth of China’s economy



Ø Immediate relevance of remote events p The civil war in Syria p Terrorist attacks by IS p The North Korean nuclear crisis p The G-20 summits p The economic crisis of 2008 and the

Great Recession p The growth of China’s economy



Ø Personal participation in IR p Living p Traveling p Shopping p Learning p Working



Ø Implications for IR p Actors in IR are various. p Nation-states are major but not the only

actors. p “Non-state actors” – IOs, NGOs,

MNCs, and individuals are all actors. p International relations is not just

relations among nations.



Ø Implications for IR p IR is the study of the interactions

among the various actors that participate in international politics, including states, IOs, NGOs, sub-national entities like bureaucracies and local governments, and individuals.

p Other appellations for IR are: international politics, world politics, global politics.



Ø Foundational Questions of IR p How can human nature be characterized? p What roles does the individual play in IR? p What are the characteristics of the state? p What drives states’ international

behavior? p What are the characteristics of the

international system? p How might international system be

structured to achieve order?

Why bother about theories?

Ø Theories are instruments to analyse the world around us.

Ø We see ourselves confronted with a host of questions about international relations.

Ø How to answer them? Ø That is where IR theories come in.


What do theories do?

Ø They organize the world in a certain way. Ø They indicate what is more or ress

important. Ø They allow us to ponder important

questions. Ø They help us to order our knowledge

about important problems and do that in a way that stimulates us to find answers to those very problems.


A wonder medecin?

Ø Theories are helpful, but certainly do not solve all our problems.

Ø They do not tell us which theory to choose. Ø We can try to develop criteria for the selection of

theories (epistemology) but these are always controversial up to some point.

Ø Whenever we use a theory we need to be aware of its assumptions (and thus its limitations).

Ø The course aims to help you in developing this ability.


What is this thing called “theory”?

Ø Speculation Ø Abstraction, generalization and making

connections Ø System of empirically tested hypotheses

(empirical theory) Ø A system of generalizations (laws)

obtained through empirical observation (positivism)


What is this thing called “theory”?

Ø Theories explain general tendencies, that is recurring conjunctions between variables generated by underlying mechanisms (scientific realism)

Ø An image of how the world should be (normative theory)

Ø A critique of the present order, while at the same time, offering a perspective of change and emancipation (radical and critical theory, Marx, Wallerstein, Cox)


Evaluating theories

Ø Understanding of a given process or problem

Ø Explanatory power Ø Anticipation of future developments

(prediction?) Ø Consistency and coherence Ø Scope and depth Ø The level of critical self-reflection and

intellectual engagement with competing theories


Some rules of thumb for judging theories

Ø A sound theory is/has p Consistent p Lucid p Explicit p Scope p Depth



Thinking Theoretically

Ø You need to be clear as to whether what kind of theory you are dealing with (causal, constitutive, normative).

Ø You need to understand what an underlying mechanism is. Scientific analysis is in essence about processes and phenomena that are not directly observable.



Ø When you study a given phenomenon or process you need to always ask yourself of what it is an instance, the larger pattern or process it belongs to.

Ø You must be ready to appreciate and accept the need to sacrifice detailed descriptions for broad observations. Theory is about more than mere description.



Ø You must be tolerant of ambiguity, concerned about probabilities, and distrustful of absolutes.

Ø You must be playful about international phenomena.

Ø You must be genuinely puzzled by international phenomena.

Ø You must be constantly ready to be proven wrong.



Ø Competing explanations of IR p Realism p Liberalism p Radicalism (Marxism) p Critical theory (constructivism)



Ø Realism: a billiard table



Ø Liberalism: a cobweb



Ø Radicalism: layers of cake? (material)



Ø Critical theory (constructivism): layers of cake? (discourse )

26

Structure (culture)

Agents

Shapes/ Maintains/ Transforms

Influences



Ø Stephen Walt p No single approach can capture all the

complexity of contemporary world politics.

p Therefore we are better off with a diverse array of competing ideas rather then a single theoretical orthodoxy.

p Competition between theories helps reveal their strengths and weaknesses and spurs subsequent refinements, while revealing flaws in conventional wisdom.


Developing the Answers

Ø History p Answers have been discovered in history. p History provides us a crucial background

for the study of IR. p History not only provides detailed

knowledge of specific events, but also serves as a yardstick to test generalizations.

p Thucydides (460-400 BC) and his History of the Peloponnesian War



Ø Philosophy p Plato (427-347 B.C.) p Greek political philosopher. The Republic, is a Socratic dialogue, written by Plato around 380 BC, concerning justice, the order and character of the just, city-state, and the just man.



Ø Philosophy p Plato (427-347 B.C.) p Greek political philosopher. In the book's dialogue, Socrates discusses the meaning of justice and whether or not the just man is happier than the unjust man. They consider the natures of existing regimes and then propose a series of different, hypothetical cities in comparison. This culminates in the discussion of Kallipolis, a hypothetical city-state ruled by a philosopher king.



Ø Philosophy p Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) p Greek political philosopher who addressed the problem of order in the individual Greek city-state. The first to use the comparative method of research, observing multiple points in time and suggesting explanations for the patterns found.



Ø Philosophy p Hobbes (1588-1679) p English political philosopher who in Leviathan described life in a state of nature as solitary, selfish, and brutish. Individuals and society can escape from the state of nature through the establishment of a strong authority embodied in the state, a Leviathan.



Ø Philosophy p Rousseau (1712-1778) p French political philosopher whose Social

Contract helped inspire political reforms or revolutions in Europe, especially in France. The Social Contract argued against the idea that monarchs were divinely empowered to legislate. Rousseau asserts that only the people, who are sovereign, have that all-powerful right.



Ø Philosophy p Rousseau (1712-1778) p Rousseau posits that the political aspects

of a society should be divided into two parts. First, there must be a sovereign consisting of the whole population, women included, that represents the general will and is the legislative power within the state.



Ø Philosophy p Rousseau (1712-1778) p The second division is that of

the government, being distinct from the sovereign. This division is necessary because the sovereign cannot deal with particular matters like applications of the law. Doing so would undermine its generality, and therefore damage its legitimacy.



Ø Philosophy p Rousseau (1712-1778) p Thus, government must remain a separate

institution from the sovereign body. When the government exceeds the boundaries set in place by the people, it is the mission of the people to abolish such government, and begin anew.



Ø Philosophy p Kant (1724-1804) p German political philosopher who is a

central figure in modern philosophy. Kant argues that the human mind creates the structure of human experience and that reason is the source of morality, In Perpetual Peace, he advocated a world federation of constitutional republics bound by the rule of law.



Ø Alternative Approaches p Behavioralism (positivism) •  Finding patterned ways of behavior

(inductivism) EG: Singer and Small on the causes of war

•  Explaining recurring patterns of behavior (deductivism)

EG: Waltz’s balance of power theory



Ø Alternative Approaches p Critical theory •  Postmodernism: concept deconstruction EG: Cynthia Weber on sovereignty

•  Constructivism: discourse analysis EG: Peter Katzenstein and The Culture of National Security


Integrating the Answers

Ø The Correlates of War project p Turning to statistical data to discover

general patterns of wars •  Collect data. • Generate specific testable hypotheses that

explain the outbreak of war. •  Connect the relationships that are found

into a coherent theory of why wars occur.


Integrating the Answers

Ø The Democratic Peace Debate p Whether democracies are more peaceful

than non-democracies? • Yes: since 1789 no wars have been fought

between independent states with democratically elective governments.

• No: democratic governments were not noticeably more peace-prone.


In Sum: Making Sense of IR

Ø To ask and answer core foundational questions of IR, the realist, liberal, radical, and critical theories provide frameworks.

Ø To find explanations of international events, IR scholars also use insights from many other disciplines, including history, philosophy, economics, behavioral psychology, and critical studies.

Approaches to Studying IR History Offers a rich source for examining individual or

multiple cases.

Philosophy Offers reasoned expositions about the world around us as they can be found in the work of famous philosophers

Behaviouralism (positivism)

Finds patterns in human behavior and state behavior using empirical methods (induction) Explains these recurring patterns on the basis of general assumptions (deduction)

Critical Alternative Deconstructs major concepts and uses discourse analysis to build thick description.


In Sum: Making Sense of IR

Ø IR is a pluralistic and eclectic discipline. Ø To understand IR, we need the help of IR

theory. Ø And to understand IR theory, we need to

examine general “stuff” of diplomatic history.

western theories of international...

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