CENTRE FOR POLITICAL STUDIES

SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, JNU

MA COMPULSORY COURSE
INTERNATIONAL POLITICS (PO418N)

Introduction
The nature of international relations has witnessed a fundamental shift in the past decade. Two
major developments that have changed the course of inter-state relations are; the changing nature
of global trade and emergence of environmental concerns as the most serious challenge to the
humankind. In addition to these, the outbreak of corona pandemic and its global spread have also
impacted international relations in a fundamental way. These contemporary changes have not only
raised newer questions about the nature of international relations as a subject of analysis but also
posed serious questions over relevance of the traditionally dominant conceptual categories of the
discipline. This course aims at introducing the students to some of these developments and
encourage them to critically engage with some of these changes. The course also highlights the
ongoing transformation of the very idea of a sovereign nation-state system under the impact of
globalisation, international regulatory mechanisms and social movements. The inequality and
conflicts inbuilt into this system and the responses to the same are important components of this
study. Power is still a major arbitrator of relations between states in the World. Therefore, while
not denying the significance of the realistic approach to the study of international politics this
course suggests the necessity of bringing in the normative and critical approaches to the fore both
to understand the world closing upon itself and at the same time breaking loose to give place to a
myriad of distinct identities. Some of the concerns central to this course are explored by situating
South Asia in the ongoing global politics today.

Objectives of the course:

The primary objective of this course is to make students familiar with the nature, relevance and
complications of the international politics. The study of international politics has emerged as a
crucial area of social sciences with the expansion of challenges of states from the local conflict
issues to the global level conflicts over the question of trade, natural resources and questions of
territoriality. Though the course makes an attempt to cover a wide array of issues and theories of
international politics but given the time constraint it tries to focus more on three broad areas. The
first section of the course deals with the introduction, history and approaches to study of
international politics. In this section we will also discuss how the disciplined is being imagined or
what are the available units of analysis. Second section deals with the theoretical endeavours, and
contemporary issues in international politics. Finally, the course deals with the relevant issues in
case of South Asia.

Learning outcomes:

After completing this course students will be able to:

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 1. Understand debates around various conceptual categories in the discipline of International
Relations
2. Critically analyse various theories and approaches in the realm of international relations
3. Develop perspectives on recent developments in international relations
4. Analyze debates in the discipline of International Relations
5. Assess issues and challenges of engagements within the countries of the South Asian
region.

Course requirements:

Four lectures per week (M, T, T, F 9-10 am)

Mode of evaluation:

1. Mid semester exam- 25 %

2. Tutorial (Written assignment/group presentation) - 25 %
3. End Semester exam- 50 %

COURSE CONTENT

1. Imaging the discipline: History and conceptual categories (6 lectures)

a. History and evolution of the discipline: Going beyond the Peace of Westphalia
b. The levels of analysis problem
c. The centrality of nation-state?

Required Readings

Watson. A. 1992. The Evolution of International Society. London: Routledge (Introduction, chapter
7 and 12).

McWilliams, Wayne C. And Harry Piotrowski. 2014. The World Since 1945: History of
International Relations, Boulder, Colo: London

Levy, Jack S. 2011. “Theories and Causes of War”, in Christopher J Coyne and Rachel L. Mathers.
The Handbook on the Political Economy of War. Eds. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, pp/ 13-33

Lauterpacht Eli, “Sovereignty – Myth or Reality”, International Affairs, 73, No. 1 (Jan, 1997), pp.
137150.
Scholte Jan Arte, “Globalization and the State”, in Andrew Linklater, ed., International Relations:
Critical Concepts in Political Science, Routledge, New York, 2000.
Strange Susan, The Retreat of the State: The Diffusion of Power in the World Economy, Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, 1996.

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Halliday Fred, “Global Governance: Prospects and Problems” in D. Held and A. McGrew eds., The
Global Transformations Reader, Polity Press, 2000.

2. Causal explanations, generalizations and theorization in International Politics: Theories and

Approaches (7 lectures on theories, 5 lectures on approaches)

a. Realism and Neorealism

b. Liberalism and Neoliberal Institutionalism
c. Critical Approaches: Constructivist, Feminist, Political economy
d. Normative Approaches: Global Justice, Cosmopolitanism

Required Readings

Jeffrey Legro and Andrew Moravcsik. 1999. “Is Anybody Still a Realist?,” International Security,
24, 5–55.

Richardson, James L. 2008. “Ethics of Neoliberal Institutionalism” The Oxford Handbook of

International Relations, Ed. Christian Reus-Smit and Duncan Snidal (Oxford: Oxford University
Press)

Ian Hurd. 2008. “Constructivism” in Reus-Smit, Christian and Duncan Snidal. Ed. The Oxford
Handbook of International Relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pp. 298-316

Richard Price. 2008. “Ethics of Constructivism” in Reus-Smit, Christian and Duncan Snidal. Ed.
The Oxford Handbook of International Relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pp. 317-326.

Richard Devtak. 2005. “Critical Theory” in Scott Burchill, Andrew Linklater. Et al. Eds. Theories
of International Relations. Hampshire: Palgrave. Pp. 155-208

Suggested Readings

Enloe Cynthia, Bananas, Beaches and Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics,
University of California Press, Berkely, 2004.
John Rawls, The Law of Peoples with The Idea of Public Reason Revisited , Harvard University
Press, Cambridge: Mass., 1999
Maria L. and Jan Stefan Fritz eds., Value Pluralism, Normative Theory and International Relations,
Macmillan Press, Basingstoke, UK, 1999.
Waltz Kenneth, Theory of International Politics, Random House, New York, 1979

3. War and Peace, Global Governance (4 lectures)

a. Old and New Wars
b. Conflicts and Conflict Resolution

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Required Readings

Galtung, Johan. 2009. Theories of Conflict. Transcend International

Martha Finnemore and Kathreine Sikkink. 1998. “International Norm Dynamic and Political
Change.” International Organization 52(4):887–917

Barnett, Michael and Kathryn Sikkink. 2008. “From International Relations to Global Society” in
Reus-Smit, Christian and Duncan Snidal. Ed. The Oxford Handbook of International Relations.
Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pp. 62-83

Robert O. Keohane. 2001. “Governance in a Partially Globalized World “Presidential Address”,

American Political Science Association, 2000.” The American Political Science Review, Vol. 95,
No. 1 (March 2001). Pp. 1-13.

Suggested Readings

Ackermann Alice, “The Idea and Practice of Conflict Prevention”, Journal of Peace Research, Vol.
46, No. 3, 2003, pp. 339-347.
Cohen Frank S, “Proportional Versus Majoritarian Ethnic Conflict Management in Democracies”,
Comparative Political Studies, Vol. 30, 1997, pp. 607-630.
Dmoke W.K., War and the Changing Global System, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1988.
Raldor M., New and old Wars: Organised Violence in a Global Era, Cambridge, Polity Press, 1999.
Saighal Vinod, Dealing With Global Terrorism Way of Forward, 2003.

4. Contemporary concerns in International Politics (5 lectures)

a. Global Governance: International institutions and regimes in a Globalizing World (2
lectures)
b. Rising regionalism (1 lecture)
c. Environmental concerns and global debate on climate change (2 lectures)

Required Readings

Richardson, James L. 2008. “Ethics of Neoliberal Institutionalism” The Oxford Handbook of

International Relations, Ed. Christian Reus-Smit and Duncan Snidal (Oxford: Oxford University
Press)

Newhouse John, “Europe’s Rising Regionalism, Foreign Affairs, 76, No. 1 (JanFeb, 1997), 76-84

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Suggested Readings

Diehi Paul F, The Politics of Global Convergence: International Organisation in an Interdependent

World, Boulder, Lynne Rienner, 1997.
Martin Lisa L. and Beth A. Simmons, “Theories and Empirical Studies of International
Institutions”, International Organization, Vol. 52, 1998, pp. 729-757.
Pevehouse J.C., “With a Little Help from My Friends? Regional Organizations and the
Consolidation of Democracy”, American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 46, No. 3, 2002, pp.
611-626.

Stephen Krasner. 1983. “Structural Causes and Regime Consequences: Regimes as Intervening
Variables,” in Stephen Krasner, ed., International Regimes, Ithaca NY: Cornell University Press.

Hempel L.C., Environmental Governance: The Global Challenge, Island Press, Washington D.C,
1996.
5. South Asia and World Politics (6 lectures)
i) Foreign Policies of South Asian States (2 lectures)
ii) Major Powers and South Asia (2 lectures)
iii) Regional Cooperation in South Asia (2 lectures)

Required Readings

Behera, Navneeta C. Ed, 2008. International Relations in South Asia: Search for an Alternative
Paradigm. Sage Publications, New Delhi.
Hewitt Vernon, The New International Politics of South Asia, Manchester University Press,
Manchester, 1997.
Supplementary Readings
Bajpai Kanti P. and Harish C. Shukul, ed., Interpreting World Politics, Sage, New Delhi, 1995.
Baldwin D., ed., Neorealism and Neoliberalism: The Contemporary Debate, Columbia University
Press, New York, 1990.

Barry Buzan and Richard Little. 2001. “Why International Relations has Failed as an Intellectual
Project and What to do About It,” Millennium, 30, 1:19-40.

Baylis John and Steve Smith, The Globalisation of World Politics: An Introduction to International
Relations, Oxford University Press, New York, 2001.

Brian Schmidt. 2002. “On the History and Historiography of International Relations,” in Handbook
of International Relations (London: Sage).

Bull Hedley, The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World Politics, Macmillan, London,
1977.

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Duncan Snidal. 1985. “The Limits of Hegemonic Stability Theory,” International Organization,
39(4):579–614.

Easterly William, “Can Institutions Resolve Ethnic Conflict?” Economic Development and
Cultural Change, Vol. 49, July 2001, pp. 687 – 706.
Goor Luc Van De, Rupesinghe Kumar and Sciarone Paul, eds., Between Development and
Destruction: An Enquiry into the Causes of Conflict in Postcolonial States, Macmillan, London,
1996.
Greenhood C., “Is there a Right of Humanitarian Intervention”, The World Today, Vol. 49, 1993.
Guicherd Catherine, “International Law and the War in Kosovo”, Survival, Vol. 41: 2, Summer
1999, pp. 19-34.
Gurr Ted Robert, “Peoples against States: Ethnopolitical Conflict and the Changing World System:
1994 Presidential Address”, International Studies Quarterly, Vol. 38, No. 3, September 1994, pp.
347-377.
Habermas J, The Inclusion of the Other: Studies in Political Theory, MIT Press, 1998.
Harshe Rajen, Twentieth Century Imperialism: Shifting Contours and Changing Conceptions,
Sage, New Delhi, 1997.
Held David, Democracy and the Global Order: From the Modern State to Cosmopolitan
Governance, Polity Press, Cambridge, 1995.
Hironaka Fran D J, and E. Schofer, “The NationState and the Natural Environment over the
Twentieth Century”, American Sociological Review, Vol. 65, No. 1, 2000, pp. 96-116.
Ignatieff M., Human Rights as Politics and Idolatry, Princeton University Press, 2001.

Jeffrey Legro and Andrew Moravcsik. 1999. “Is Anybody Still a Realist?,” International Security
24, 5–55.

Jeong Reitter, Dan and Allan C. Stam. 2015. “Democracy, Peace and War”, in The Oxford
Handbook of Political Economy, ed, Donald A Wittman and Barry R. Weingast (Oxford: Oxford
University Press)

John Mearsheimer. 2001. The Tragedy of Great Power Politics. New York: Norton. Chs. 1,2,
conclusions

Kenneth Waltz. 2001. Man, the State, and War (Revised Edition), (New York: Columbia University
Press).

Michael Hoel, “International Environment Conventions: The Case of Uniform Reductions of

Emissions”, Environmental and Resource Economics, Vol. 2:2, March 1992, pp. 141-159.
Muni S D, Understanding South Asia, South Asian Pub., New Delhi, 1994.

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Niarchos C N, “Women, War and rape: Challenges facing the International Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia”, Human Rights Quarterly, 1995, pp. 649-690.
Ohmae Kenichi, The Borderless World: Power and Strategy in the Interlinked Economy, Harper
and Collins, New York, 1991.
Pogge Thomas, “World Poverty and Human Rights”, Ethics and International Affairs, Vol. 19,
Issue 1, August 2006, pp. 1-7.
Preis AnnBelinda S., “Human Rights as Cultural Practice: An Anthropological Critique”, Human
Rights Quarterly, 18, 1996, pp. 286-315.
Ramakrishnan A.K., “Neoliberalism, Globalisation and Resistance: The Case of India”, in Elvind
Hovden and Edward Keene, eds., Globalisation of Liberalism?, Macmillan, London.
Rosenau, J.N., Turbulence in World politics, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1990.

Stephen Krasner. 1976. “State Power and the Structure of International Trade,” World Politics
28(3):317–343.

Steve Smith. 2007. “Introduction: Diversity and Disciplinarity in International Relations Theory”
in Tim Dunne, Milja Kurki and Steve Smith, eds. International Relations Theories: Discipline and
Diversity, (New York: Oxford University Press).

UNDP, Human Development Reports.

Key Journals on the International Relations

Security, Security Studies, International Organization, International Interactions, Journal of

Conflict Resolution, Journal of Peace Research, Security Dialogue, Millennium, Orbis, Review of
International Studies, International Studies, European Journal of International Relations, American
Political Science Review, and Alternatives.

Useful Websites

http://www.theory-talks.org/2013/10/theory-talk-59.html

www.foreignaffairs.org

http://www2.etown.edu

www.wto.og

http://www.un.org/en/index.html

www.mea.gov.in