Dr. Rohan Mukherjee

This course is available on the MSc in International Relations, MSc in International Relations (LSE and Sciences Po) and MSc in International Relations (Research). This course is not available as an outside option.

This course is a graduate-level introduction to the study of international relations. It has 5 objectives: (i) to enquire into the nature of international politics and the role of theory in advancing our understanding of it; (ii) to introduce students to the main contributions and debates in theories of international politics; (iii) to provide students with a range of concepts, ideas, and perspectives to enable them to widen and deepen their understanding and analysis of international politics; and (iv) to encourage critical, independent thought. At the end of the course students should be able to think, talk and write in an informed, precise and analytical manner about developments within the field of International Relations, past and present.

This course is delivered through a combination of lectures and seminars totalling a minimum of 20 hours in Michaelmas Term.

Students on this course will have a reading week in Week 6, in line with departmental policy.

Students will write one 2,000-word essay for their seminar teachers

• Jennifer Mitzen. Power in Concert: The Nineteenth-Century Origins of Global Governance. 2013
• Martha Finnemore and Kathryn Sikkink. International Norm Dynamics and Political Change. 1998
• Ayse Zarakol. Before the West: The Rise and Fall of Eastern World Orders. 2022
• James D. Fearon. Rationalist Explanations for War. 1995
• Robert Axelrod and Robert O. Keohane. Achieving Cooperation under Anarchy: Strategies and Institutions. 1985
• John J. Mearsheimer. The False Promise of International Institutions. 1994
• Joshua Shifrinson. Rising Titans, Falling Giants: How Great Powers Exploit Power Shifts. 2018
• Helen V. Milner. Interests, Institutions, and Information: Domestic Politics and International Relations. 1998

Essay (100%) in the LT.