IR200      
International Political Theory

This information is for the 2011/12 session.

Teacher responsible

Professor K Hutchings, CLM 4.07

Availability

Compulsory for BSc International Relations and BSc International Relations and History. Optional for BSc Environmental Policy and BSc Environmental Policy with Economics.

Course content

This is the core subject for specialists in international relations. It consists of a survey, in two parts, of thinking about international relations, with emphasis on the political aspects. The first part deals with classical theory, the second with modern.

Ways of explaining and understanding international relations from Vitoria, Grotius and Hobbes to the present day. The chief concerns are war, peace, international law and order, international justice, power, intervention and non-intervention, sovereignty, diplomacy, revolution and counter-revolution, nationalism and national self-determination, stability, change, human rights, international organization.

Teaching

There are 20 lectures (IR200) in the MT and LT and 22 classes, beginning in the third week of the MT (IR200.A).

Formative coursework

Students are required to write four essays of a maximum length of 1,500 words each to be set and marked by class teachers. They are also expected to give at least one class presentation.

Indicative reading

Chris Brown, Understanding International Relations; H Bull, The Anarchical Society; E H Carr, The Twenty Years' Crisis; I Clark, The Hierarchy of States; M Donelan, Elements of International Political Theory; F H Hinsley, Power and the Pursuit of Peace; M Wight, International Relations: The Three Traditions; K Hutchings, International Political Theory; C Brown, T Nardin & N Rengger, International Relations in Political Thought.

Supplementary materials

At the first lecture a full reading list will be distributed setting out the structure and content of the course and providing detailed guidance on reading, sample examination questions, suggested essay titles, and topics for class discussion.

Assessment

A three-hour examination paper in ST which requires that four questions be answered out of 12.

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