Ges-Introduction International Relations

GE2V20001, 7,5 ECTS, Level 2

Minor International Relations
2022-2023

Version online on 01/02/2023. Small details are subject to change

Mao meeting Sukarno on 30 September 1956, Picture in the Museum of Shaoshan (韶山)
(Mao’s Birth village)
© Frank Gerits, November 2018

 Dr. Frank PL. Gerits

 Dr. Lennart Bolliger
 Dr. Hannah Goozee


Frank Gerits, Lennart Bolliger, Hannah Goozee, 2023 – The information in this syllabus has been compiled with
the utmost care, but no rights can be derived from its contents.
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1. Short course Description

This course offers an introduction to the history of the modern state system with a
particular focus on themes such as diplomacy, war, conflict management,
international cooperation and regional integration (with a focus on the 19th, 20th and
21th century). This course furthermore offers an introduction to the main theories of
International Relations in sociology and political science. We will focus on the
development of the modern state system and the diplomatic history of the early
modern period, from the Westphalian Peace of 1648 until today. Originally state
sovereignty provided the basis for international relations. However, since the
20th century the centrality of the state has been undercut by the development of
international law, the establishment of international organizations and the rise of non-
state actors such as nongovernmental organizations. That shift will be analyzed in
this course. Furthermore, this course will introduce the discipline of International
Relations Theory and highlight researchers who have presented important
interpretations of the global system. The relation between historical research and
social science forms a red threat throughout this discussion. The tension between
these perspectives is at the core of the entire international relations minor and
therefore also part of this course.

This course will provide the basis for the other courses of the Minor International
Relations. Therefore it will offer a structured overview of the classical canon of the
methods, ideas and essential elements of IR theory and international history. At the
same time it will also introduce ‘new directions’ that are undercutting the
conventional and Eurocentric narratives of IR and international history, such as the
IR theory from the Global South and the study of ‘new security challenges’, like
climate change.

The course will thus fall into three parts. Part I IR Theory and International
History. The course wants to convey to students what the main IR theories of
international relations are and what the counter traditions are that have been
developed. Part II Historical Roots of IR Theory looks a the intellectual context and
the history which has influenced and fundamentally shaped IR theory as a discipline.
Part III Concepts and Case Studies identifies how the two approaches to ‘the
international’ – international history and IR theory – help us better understand key
concepts and cases of international relations.

PART I IR THEORY AND INTERNATIONAL HISTORY

CLASS 1: International History
CLASS 2: International Relations Theories

PART II HISTORICAL ROOTS OF IR THEORY

CLASS 3: IR in the Global South
CLASS 4: the Metternich System, the Bismarck System, the run-up to the
First World War and the Historical Roots of IR in the Global North

PART III CONCEPTS AND CASE STUDIES

CLASS 5: Core Concepts in IR: States, Power and Leadership

Frank Gerits, Lennart Bolliger, Hannah Goozee, 2023 – The information in this syllabus has been compiled with
the utmost care, but no rights can be derived from its contents.
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 CLASS 6: IR Beyond the State: Non-State Actors, International Law and
International institutions
CLASS 7: New Security Dilemmas: Environmental Security, Climate Change
and Global Challenges

Additional interesting (but not mandatory) reading can be found in Foreign Affairs
and Foreign Policy.

2. Course Goals

This course provides the basis for the other courses of the Minor IR: a course on
small states, a course on Human Rights and a course on transnationalism. By
acquiring a good level of knowledge and understanding of all IR theories and their
intellectual history as well as key episodes of the diplomatic history that have
informed IR theory and the study of international history, the student will be able to
understand what is innovative and what is an established approach in IR.

- Students will acquire knowledge about the history and theory of international
relations. This knowledge includes the most important elements of the
historiography
- Students will learn to apply theory to present-day events and historical cases
in international relations
- Students will acquire some insight in the applicability of International relations
in the work place.
- Students will develop a working attitude appropriate for the academic world.

This course want to give a solid basis to study IR theory and international history,
which is the unique approach at Utrecht University. It provides an excellent
preparation for the M.A. IR in historical perspective or the M.A. in Conflict Studies.

Knowledge is therefore an explicit element of this course.

To attain these goals this course is organized around three approaches to

learning coupled with a test to assess if the student has acquired the
appropriate level of knowledge and skill:

- Lectures– knowledge of IR and international history (content) – Exam

(evaluation): Lecture are mandatory and in-person.

- Seminars (teaching activity) – analytical skills and knowledge (content)

‘– Exam (evaluation): Students will discuss the content of the readings of a
particular week in a seminar setting. This is not a lecture, but a hands-on
seminar in which students are expected to participate. This seminar is
mandatory. Those discussions are focused on acquiring certain skill, but the
seminar is also a place were new content is brought forward and discussed.

Frank Gerits, Lennart Bolliger, Hannah Goozee, 2023 – The information in this syllabus has been compiled with
the utmost care, but no rights can be derived from its contents.
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 - Independent study (teaching activity) – applying IR (content) – paper on
a policy maker from the Global South: apply IR concepts and ideas to a
non-Eurocentric case. You will first look for an article written by a non-
European scholar and explain how the contribution of this scholar puts IR or
international history in different light. In a second paper you will analyze a
leader or intellectual from the Global South.

4. Time and Place of Classes

Our seminars, lectures and exam are in-person.

Wednesdays
09:00-10:45 Lecture (all students) – Drift 21 Room 032

11:00-12:45 Seminar Group 1 – Drift 23 Room 206 (mandatory) Frank

Gerits
13:15-15:00 Seminar Group 2 – Drift 23 Room 206 (mandatory) Lennart
Bolliger
15:15-17:00 Seminar Group 3 Drift 23 Room 206 (mandatory) Lennart
Bolliger
13:15-15:00 Seminar Group 4 Drift 23 Room 103 (mandatory) Hannah
Goozee

Your presence in these seminars and the lecture is mandatory. If you are absent
without sending an e-mail to your seminar teacher or if you are absent more than
twice in total (and notify the lecturer) you will automatically be excluded from the
course. This exclusion can happen at any moment during the course.

These rules are in line with the departmental rules and are based on the notion that
missing more than two classes in a 7 week block means you have an insufficient
notion of what is being offered in the course lectures and seminars.

Serious issues or problems that somehow prevent you from participating, always,
need to be brough to the attention of the study adviser. If you are ill of in case of an
emergency contact your seminar teacher and study adviser.

5. Exams, Papers and Grading

IR from the Global South Assignments (40%)

 Paper (40%): A Profile of a leader or intellectual in the Global South
o Date/deadline: 24 MARCH 2023, 17h (week 7) upload on blackboard
o Type: individual paper
o Content Description: a paper that clearly outlines the strategy and
worldview of a leader from the Global South between 1945 and today.
These leaders have attended many conferences, those conference
speeches often provide a valuable resource to get at the information

Frank Gerits, Lennart Bolliger, Hannah Goozee, 2023 – The information in this syllabus has been compiled with
the utmost care, but no rights can be derived from its contents.
4
 you need. An example of this is Gamal Abdel Nasser at the Bandung
Conference of 1955 or Mia Amor Mottley of Brabados at COP26.
 Q1: What are the foreign policy goals of this leader for his/her
country? [20]
 Q2: How do these goals differ from standard goals and ideas in
the Global North? [20]
 Q3: How does this leader view international relations, the
international system or the World in general? [20] Give a
concrete example to sustain your argument [10]
 Q4: What IR theory would fit this type of foreign policy? [20]
 Correct Language and correct bibliographic reference is
important [10]

Exam (60%)
 Date: Wednesday 29 MARCH 2023 17.00-20.00, Educatorium, Room Alfa
(week 8)
 Type: Closed-book exam. The exam will be in-person. It will not be with pen
and paper, but you will be assigned a laptop.
 Content Description: There will be a concept question (explain in a few words
four concepts), a few essay questions which will ask you to explain certain
parts of the course material (the essay will be structured with a, b, c, d, sub
questions, so you will have a guide about the way in which to answer the
questions), a question that will ask you to recognize an IR theory and
comment on it.

Grading
 To pass this class you have to participate in all the tests (the exam, the two
papers) and you have to pass all the tests. A passing grade is 5,5/10. If one
of these tests is 4/10 or higher, the student will be given an opportunity to
repair the paper or retake the exam. There will be a re-sit of the exam in the
first week of teaching period 4.
 A resit of the papers can only result in a max of 6,5/10. In the resit of the
exam you receive a new grade based on a new exam (the resit).
 Passing the course thus requires you to do all the tests and pass all the
tests.

5. Literature

 Jackson, Robert J. Global Politics in the 21st Century. Cambridge University

Press, 2013. (purple book)

 Readings provided through UUBlackboard

6. Program

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the utmost care, but no rights can be derived from its contents.
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At the end of the teaching block, you are expected to have a firm understanding of all
the concepts that have been discussed in the Jackson book and the articles. The
Power Point presentations will provide you with a structure to read the articles and
the book as well as indicate what is important and what is not. The reason the Power
Points follow the structure of the Jackson book and the articles provided, is precisely
to help you study more effectively.

Lectures will provide you with a somewhat classical overview of IR theory and
International history, the seminars are designed to deconstruct the conventional
narrative and invite you to think critically about IR and international history as
disciplines.

The lectures will present you with the canon and the seminars will be the space (a)
to ask questions about the lectures and the textbook, and (b) to engage with more
critical texts.

PART I IR THEORY AND INTERNATIONAL HISTORY

WEEK 1 CLASS 1: International History

Lecture This opening class will give an overview of what we plan to do

in this course. It will also give an overview of the global history
of international relations, from Old Athens to the Berlin Wall.
IR theorists often and unknowingly source their theoretical
tools from history. International history can furthermore
provide insight into how certain international systems have
developed and evolved. Moreover, we can analyze how
historical patterns have emerged and where certain
frameworks that policy makers use come from.

 Reading [55pp]:
- Jackson, Ch. 1 + 2 (p. 1-55)
(recommended reading: you can get a trial membership for
the economist: The Economist, bijv. via http://www.iss-
online.nl)

Seminar This seminar is a moment to get to know each other, get

information on the exam, assignments.

 Reading:
- No reading
- General introduction to the course
- Q&A about the course and the lecture

WEEK 2 CLASS 2: International Relations Theories

Lecture Western academia shaped what we know today as ‘classical
IR theory’. In the wake of World War I and the Cold War

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the utmost care, but no rights can be derived from its contents.
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 scholars began to look for ‘laws’ and certain ‘principles’ that
governed the international system. The social science of IR
was born in that moment. This class will provide an overview
of the different IR theories define and focuses on how these
theories define the individual, the state and the international
system.

 Reading [30pp]:
- Jackson, Ch. 3 (p. 56-86)

(Recommended reading: Drezner, Daniel W. Theories of

International Politics and Zombies.Princeton, N.J: Princeton
University Press, 2011.)
Seminar This seminar will teach you to identify different IR theories and
think critically about them.

Part I of the seminar

Do not read the articles in this list in depth, but link articles to
an IR theory and explain what aspects of the article made you
link a particular article to a certain IR theory. (The content of
the reading is not part of the exam, the entire point of this
seminar is to learn how to recognize IR theories).

We will do a quiz to determine what article employs what IR

theory.

Link article with the IR theory

- Aggestam, Lisbeth, en Adrian Hyde‐Price. “Double
Trouble: Trump, Transatlantic Relations and European
Strategic Autonomy”. JCMS: Journal of Common
Market Studies 57, nr. S1 (2019): 114–27
- Jervis, Robert. “Cooperation Under the Security
Dilemma.” World Politics 30, no. 2 (1978): 167–214.
https://doi.org/10.2307/2009958.
- Frank, Andre Gunder. “Third World War: A Political
Economy of the Gulf War and the New World Order.”
Third World Quarterly 13, no. 2 (1992): 267–82.
- Hurd, Ian. “Breaking and Making Norms: American
Revisionism and Crises of Legitimacy.” International
Politics 44, no. 2 (March 1, 2007): 194–213.
https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.ip.8800184.
- Stein, Arthur A. “Coordination and Collaboration:
Regimes in an Anarchic World.” International
Organization 36, no. 2 (1982): 299–324.
- Burke, Anthony. “Humanity After Biopolitics.” Angelaki

Frank Gerits, Lennart Bolliger, Hannah Goozee, 2023 – The information in this syllabus has been compiled with
the utmost care, but no rights can be derived from its contents.
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 16, no. 4 (December 1, 2011): 101–14.
https://doi.org/10.1080/0969725X.2011.641348.

The content of these articles is not part of the exam. The goal
of the exercise is to learn how to recognize an IR theory. This
will also be a question on the exam.

Part II of the seminar

Discuss David Lake's article “Why ‘isms’ Are Evil: Theory,

Epistemology, and Academic Sects as Impediments to
Understanding and Progress” in the second half.

- David A. Lake, "Why ‘isms’ Are Evil: Theory,

Epistemology, and Academic Sects as Impediments to
Understanding and Progress", International Studies
Quarterly, 55, 2 (2011), 465-80.

PART II THE HISTORICAL ROOTS OF IR THEORY

WEEK 3 CLASS 3: IR in the Global South
Lecture The Origins of IR theory as a discipline is highly contested.
While often located in the aftermath of World War I and World
War II in Western Europe, recently authors have begun to
criticize this narrative. IR theory in Western Europe were seen
as motivated by maintaining a white world order through their
work. Critics have identified the origins of a counter-tradition
at Howard University and at universities in South Africa.

 Reading [41pp] :
- Introduction: A Mongrel American Social Science, 1-
24), Vitalis, Robert. White World Order, Black Power
Poxlitics: The Birth of American International
Relations. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2015.
- ‘4. IR and the making of the white man’s world’ Peter
Vale and Vineet Thakur, in Tickner, Arlene B.
International Relations from the Global South: Worlds
of Difference. Illustrated Edition. Abingdon, Oxon ;
New York, NY: Routledge, 2020.

(Additional information: Utrecht University also has a

Decolonisation Group which looks into these issues, you can
check them out at www.decolonisationgroup.com)

Seminar Theorists and diplomats have fundamentally different

conceptions of the international system. In this seminar we
will explore how a key concepts in IR can be criticized.

- Errol A. Henderson, "Hidden in Plain Sight: Racism in

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the utmost care, but no rights can be derived from its contents.
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 international relations theory" in Alexander Anievas,
Nivi Manchanda, and Robbie Shilliam (eds.), Race
and Racism in International Relations: Confronting the
Global Colour Line (London: Routledge, 2015), 19-43.

WEEK 4 CLASS 4: the Metternich System, the Bismarck System,

the run-up to the First World War and the Historical Roots
of IR in the Global North
Lecture This class is going to look at four ‘alliance systems’ that led up
to World War I because they implicitly inform IR’s central
theory. In 1815 when Napoleon was defeated, the
international system was fundamentally redrawn by the ‘big
powers’ who wanted to destroy the anti-monarchal legacy of
the French revolution and create a system that managed
revolutionary movements. After German and Italian
unification, this system fell apart and was replaced by
competing nation states who wanted to manage the threat of
armed conflict by setting up alliances: the Bismarck system.

 Reading [58pp]:
- Chapter 4 the Concert of Europe: Great Britain,
Austria, and Russia (78-102)
- “Alliances Prewar”, in: The European Powers in the
First World War, an Encyclopedia 38-42)
- Chapter 6: Realpolitik Turns on Itself (Kissinger, 137-
167)

Seminar In the seminar we will study the details of the different

systems and we will also figure out how the history of the run
up to world war I has shaped some of the central theories in
IR (realism, liberalism and Marxism). We will also look at how
DuBois wrote about the war.

- W.E.B. Du Bois, "The Worlds of Color", Foreign

Affairs, 3, 3 (1925), 423-44.

PART III CONCEPTS AND CASE STUDIES

WEEK 5 CLASS 5: Core Concepts in IR: States, Power and
Leadership
Lecture This class will study some of the key concepts of IR theory.
What these concepts mean, how different IR theories define
them and how they are applied in analysis. These concepts
are ‘the state’, ‘power’ and ‘Leaders’

Frank Gerits, Lennart Bolliger, Hannah Goozee, 2023 – The information in this syllabus has been compiled with
the utmost care, but no rights can be derived from its contents.
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  Reading [34pp]:
- Jackson, Ch. 4 (p. 87-121)

Seminar This seminar will study feminism in IR and how it changes and
challenges core concepts in IR.

 Cynthia Enloe,The Curious Feminist: Searching for

Women in a New Age of Empire (Berkeley: University
of California Press, 2004), 1-13.
 Marysia Zalewski, "Feminist International Relations:
Making sense…", in Laura J. Shepherd (ed.), Gender
matters in global politics: a feminist introduction to
international relations (Second Edition) (London:
Routledge, 2015), 3-13.

WEEK 6 CLASS 6: IR Beyond the State: Non-State Actors,

International Law and International institutions
Lecture While the state, with its national interest, is the key actor in IR
theory, other actors self-evidently also are part of international
relations. How they are approached in IR theory is part of this
lecture.

 Reading [54pp]:
- Jackson, Ch 7 (p. 188-210) Non-state actors and
transnational networks
- Jackson, Ch. 8 (p. 211-243)

Seminar Beyond the state there are not only non-state actors, there
are also courts and international institutions. How those are
defined is what will concern us here.

- Lora Anne Viola, Duncan Snidal, and Michael Zürn,

"Sovereign (In)Equality in the Evolution of the
International System" in Stephan Leibfried, Evelyne
Huber, Matthew Lange, Jonah D. Levy, Frank
Nullmeier, John D. Stephens (eds.), The Oxford
Handbook of Transformations of the State (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2015), 237-52. 15

WEEK 7 CLASS 7: New Security Dilemmas: Environmental

March 2021 Security, Climate Change and Global Challenges

Lecture IR is ‘classically’ concerned with the questions of peace and

war. Since 1945 and even more pronounced after the end of
the Cold War in 1989, however, new security challenges have
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the utmost care, but no rights can be derived from its contents.
10
 emerged more clearly: environmental destruction and
pandemics are all issues that require international cooperation
and create international tensions. How IR theory addresses
those challenges is what concern us here.

 Reading [56 pp]:

- Jackson, Ch 15 + 16 (p.470-526) Religion, Global
Challenges and Ethics

Seminar
Part I
Discuss
- Louis Kriesberg, "Social Movements and Global
Transformation" in Jackie Smith, Charles Chatfield,
and Ron Pagnucco (eds.). Transnational Social
Movements and Global Politics: Solidarity Beyond the
State (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1997), 3-
18.

Part II
Let’s Play “Guess Who?”
- 1 team will tell the group who they are. The group can
ask yes and no questions and need to figure out who
IR theorist the student is (a realist, liberal etc.)
-
WEEK 8 Exam week
March 2021
Exam

WEEK 9 April NO CLASS

2021
Week 10 April NO CLASS
2021

7. Rules Exam, Papers and Deadlines

 Paper (40%): A Profile of a leader or intellectual in the Global South
o Date/deadline: 24 MARCH 2023, 17h (week 7) upload on blackboard

 Exam (60%): Wednesday 29 MARCH 2023 17.00-20.00 (week 8)

(Educatorium – Room Alfa)
o Re-sit of the exam (if you fail the exam), Wednesday 12 April 2023
13.30-16.30

Frank Gerits, Lennart Bolliger, Hannah Goozee, 2023 – The information in this syllabus has been compiled with
the utmost care, but no rights can be derived from its contents.
11
 This will be an exam on location with Remindo (laptop on location
exam)

Rules for exam

If you are sick for the first exam or unable to take the exam, you are allowed to take
part in the re-sit only if you have contacted the study adviser and Frank Gerits. This
needs to be done before the exam in an e-mail in which you explain your situation.
No e-mail means exclusion from the exam and the re-sit. Not participating in the
exam means no participation in the re-sit. No other opportunities to do the exam will
be provided.

Participation

You have to make all the deadlines and hand in all assignment. If you do not hand in
the assignments or do the peer-review, you will be excluded from the course based
on the ‘inspanningsverplichting’. If you cannot make the deadline you have to inform
the lecturer with a reason why.; Moreover the Education and Examination
Regulations also specifies the ‘obligation to attend and contribute actively’ (the so-
called “inspanningsverplichting”). “Each student is expected to participate actively in
the course for which he or she has registered” and “In the event of insufficient
qualitative or quantitative participation, the course coordinator may exclude a student
from further participation in a course or part of it.” The failure to comply with
deadlines or a refusal to hand in assignments or read the literature assigned are part
of this and can thus all result in an exclusion from the course if no sufficient
explanation is provided.

When a student does not hand in an assignment or does not participate in the peer-
review, without a valid reason provided in writing, this can lead to exclusion from the
course.

Study advisor

If you are struggling with personal issues or need council do not hesitate to contact
the study advisers of you own study program (https://students.uu.nl/en/hum/history-
ba/contact/study-advisor)

Plagiarism

Utrecht University considers any form of academic dishonesty to be a very serious

offense. Utrecht University expects each student to be familiar with and to observe
the norms and values that ensure academic integrity. The most serious forms of
deception that can impair this integrity are fraud and plagiarism. Plagiarism is a form
of fraud and is defined as the wrongful appropriation of another author’s work without
proper citation. The link below provides further elaboration on what may be
considered fraud or plagiarism, along with a number of concrete examples. Please
note that this is not a comprehensive list. If the university discovers a case of fraud

Frank Gerits, Lennart Bolliger, Hannah Goozee, 2023 – The information in this syllabus has been compiled with
the utmost care, but no rights can be derived from its contents.
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or plagiarism, then the study programme’s Examination Committee may implement
sanctions on the offender. The most serious sanction that the Examination
Committee may implement is the submission of a request for expulsion to the
Executive Board.

The use of AI bots is also forbidden.

Link: https://students.uu.nl/en/practical-information/policies-and-procedures/fraud-
and-plagiarism

Deadlines and Late papers

If you are late and you do not make the deadline for your paper you will receive a -1
for every 24 hours that you are late (This kicks in at 17h01 after the deadline)

Guidelines Reading
Each week you are expected to do the reading. As a way to prepare you should
have a discussion statement ready.

You will be called upon in the seminar to further explain your discussion statement.
You do not need to upload your statement on Blackboard

If you cannot present a statement, it is grounds for the exclusion from this course
(‘inspanningsverplichting)

9. Guidelines IR in the Global South Assignments

In this section you can find a more detailed description of the assignments

Paper (40%): A Profile of a leader or intellectual in the Global South (a

maximum of 2000 words, not including footnotes)

The maximum amount of words means there is no minimum requirement of words.

(if you can say what you want to say in 100 words, you are free to do so)

This is an assignment that is a bit larger and requires some more work.

o Date/deadline: 24 MARCH 2023, 17h (week 7) upload on blackboard

o Type: individual paper
o Content Description: a paper that clearly outlines the strategy and
worldview of a leader from the Global South between 1945 and today.
You may also go back earlier (before 1945, but it might be a bit more
difficult to do). These leaders have attended many conferences, those
conference speeches often provide a valuable resource to get at the
information you need. The work of key intellectuals can help you to get
an idea of what drives intellectuals. An example of this is Gamal Abdel
Nasser at the Bandung Conference of 1955 or Mia Amor Mottley of

Frank Gerits, Lennart Bolliger, Hannah Goozee, 2023 – The information in this syllabus has been compiled with
the utmost care, but no rights can be derived from its contents.
13
 Brabados at COP26. Intellectuals that were influential are Frantz
Fanon, Aimé Césaire, Marcus Garvey and Amilcar Cabral.
 Q1: What are the foreign policy goals of this leader for his/her
country? [20]: define a maximum of three goals.
 Q2: How do these goals differ from standard goals and ideas in
the Global North? [20]: make sure you address the differences.
Or if you think there are no differences: the similarities.
 Q3: How does this leader view international relations, the
international system or the World in general? [20]: Is North
dominating South? Why? Is South influencing North? Why is
East and West influencing the south Why? Who has power?
Who hasn’t? What does a map of the world look like?
 Q4: What IR theory would fit this type of foreign policy? [20]:
choose an IR theory and explain. The argument is what counts,
so be sure to explain what you mean. Do not just list an IR
theory.
 Correct Language and correct bibliographic reference important
[20]: no in-text citations. Use only Chicago Manual of style
footnotes. (violation of this rule will result in a -1 on the total
grade of the paper)
IMPORTANT MANDATORY: be sure to include a photo of the
person you are analyzing + Use subtitles to identify each section
of the paper. (violation of this rule will result in a -1 on the total
grade of the paper)

TIPS ON HOW TO WRITE A PAPER

Structure / Composition
o Title: does the paper have an arresting main title with an explanatory subtitle?
o Do the introduction and the conclusion form a logical whole? Are all questions that
are asked in the introduction answered in the conclusion?
o Is the division of chapters balanced?
o Sub-headings: do they accurately represent the content of the body (i.e. do they
include keywords that cover the content)?
o Is there a logical division into paragraphs?

Introduction
o Is the subject presented clearly [and, for example, the time span of the study
explained]?
o Does the beginning of the thesis motivate the reader to keep reading?
o Have the hypothesis and the sub-questions been worded in clear, concrete terms
and has the connection between the main question and the sub-questions been
made sufficiently clear?
o Is it clear on which literature and/or sources the answer to the main question is
based? (Additional information should also be provided about the methodology, if
appropriate.)
o Is the relevance, academic or otherwise, of the topic explained?
o Is the hypothesis embedded in existing academic (historiographical) discourse?
Avoid using the word ‘I’.

Argumentation/originality
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o Does the division into chapters follow logically from the hypothesis? In other words,
are the main question and sub-questions presented in a logical order and addressed
in the essay?
o Is the essay analytical, and not merely descriptive?
o Has a clear distinction been drawn between the author's opinion and the opinions
of the authors of the secondary literature they are drawing on? (In other words, is it
clear at all times who is talking?)
o Are citations used effectively and are they introduced properly?
o Do the author's conclusions follow logically from the examples presented (sources
and literature)?
o Has the reasoning been theoretically substantiated?
o Does the essay consistently address the main question throughout?
o Has the author made the different stages of their thought process sufficiently clear
for the reader?

Conclusion
o Does the conclusion satisfactorily address the question from the introduction?
o Does the conclusion follow logically from the essay content? The conclusion
should not contain any new information.
o Does the conclusion include a reflection on the study undertaken by the author
(methodology, theory, literature and sources)?
o Is the paper rounded off well?

Style
o Is the tone appropriate to the intelligent reader of a quality newspaper (in other
words, is it at the higher-education level)?
o Are there places where the author assumes too much existing knowledge
on the part of the reader?
o Which terms should be explained in greater detail?
o Which people or organisations should be discussed at greater length?
o Are there recurring language mistakes? Distinguish between:
-spelling;
-grammar;
-punctuation.
o Is the style clear and scholarly? Pay attention to the following:
-clear sentence structure. Do not discuss more than one topic per sentence;
-whether sentences are linked up. You can indicate the relationship between
sentences [and paragraphs] by using signal words and transitions;
-variation in vocabulary;
-avoid using terms like 'one'. To whom does this generalised 'one' refer?
-appropriate tone (no colloquialisms).

Bibliography and use of sources

o Are the sources and literature used:
-academically sound?
-as current as possible?
-different in type (primary/secondary: book, article)?
-relevant? (i.e. no 'footnote filler' material?)

Technical aspects [part of Bibliography and use of sources]

Frank Gerits, Lennart Bolliger, Hannah Goozee, 2023 – The information in this syllabus has been compiled with
the utmost care, but no rights can be derived from its contents.
15
o Are all sources, literature, illustrations, graphs etc. annotated?
o Are the footnotes in the right place?
o Are the footnotes and the bibliography presented correctly (according to the
research guide)?
o Has the word count been adhered to?
o Are the sources cited correctly (no plagiarism)? Is each quotation introduced
properly, so that its purpose within the essay is clear?
!!NO IN-TEXT CITATIONS!!

GRADING RUBRIC

ASPECT 2-10 11-12 13-14 15-16 17-20

Foreign Mistakes in Goals Goals with Goals with Defines 20
goals without clear example but explanation Foreign
policy goals examples insufficient policy goals
explanation with clear
examples.
Different Mistakes in goals stated Goals Goals stated Goals stated 20
explanation with no stated with with good with
from goals example incoherent examples that excellent
and ideas in examples clear show the examples
the Global point
North?
View of the Mistakes in Worldview Worldview Worldview Worldview 20
explanation clearly clearly state stated with stated with
international stated with good examples excellent
system incoherent that clear show examples
examples the point
IR theory fit IR is wrong IR is correct IR is correct IR is explained IR is 20
(works for (works for will with an explained
this this example that with depth
example) example) works well and
but poorly and precision
explained explained and
well provides a
new insight
with an
example
that is
enlightening
Correct Mistakes in Small One or two No mistakes in No mistakes 20
bibliography mistakes in mistakes in bibliography in
language bibliography bibliography bibliography
and Wrong Not well
bibliographic references Difficult Difficult to written, but Well written.
language. understand understandable
references (mistakes but and readable.
make it readable. Still 1 or two
difficult to Some weird weir
read) sentences sentences.
and typos.
Some No grammar
grammar mistakes
mistakes
TOTAL 100

Frank Gerits, Lennart Bolliger, Hannah Goozee, 2023 – The information in this syllabus has been compiled with
the utmost care, but no rights can be derived from its contents.
16