International Relations: Perspectives on Conflict and Cooperation
Political Science 294, Identical with Social Science 204 (Graduates: PS 374)
Charles Lipson, Pick 418b

Tuesday, 1:30-2:50: lectures
Thursday, 1:30-2:50: seminars
Charles Lipson <clipson@midway.uchicago.edu>
office hrs: Tuesday, 3-4 p.m. & by appt.
Section Leaders: Brian Portnoy, Seth Jones

This course introduces multiple perspectives on classic issues in international relations, especially the problems of conflict, cooperation, war and peace in the post-Cold War era. Lectures by Professor Lipson and other University faculty will introduce major analytic issues, such has anarchy, alliances, international institutions, revolutions, nationalism, ethnic conflict, and war.

The course is intended mainly for upper level undergraduates. It has no prerequisites. Enrollment is limited to 60. Graduate students are welcome if space is available. On Tuesdays, the class will meet together for lectures on major theories and policy controversies. On Thursdays, the class will meet in two seminar groupings, led by advanced graduate students.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS
The course has two main requirements. First, each student will write a one-page memo for each Thursday's seminar. These memoranda will form the basis for weekly group discussions. Second, each student will write a 10-15 page research paper on a topic approved by the seminar leader. One-page paper proposals should be given to the seminar leader on Thursday of Week 7. The final papers are due on Thursday of Exam Week, by 5 p.m.

 

LECTURE SCHEDULE AND TOPICS

THEORY AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Week 1 (Tuesday, September 28): Charles Lipson: Anarchy and Conflict in World Affairs
Week 1 (Thursday, September 30): Charles Lipson: Theories of International Politics
Week 2 (Tuesday, October 5): Charlie Glaser: Varieties of Realism

COOPERATION AND CONFLICT IN THE WORLD ECONOMY
Week 3 (Tuesday, October 12): Brian Portnoy: Overview IPE
Week 4 (Tuesday, October 19): Brian Portnoy: Cooperation and Conflict

FORGING INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
Week 5 (Tuesday, October 26): Duncan Snidal: International Interdependence and Public Goods
Week 6 (Tuesday, November 2): Duncan Snidal: Institutions and Cooperation

CAN INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS HELP?
Week 7 (Tuesday, November 9): Duncan Snidal and Charles Lipson: Rational International Institutions

Proposals for Research Paper due in Week 7, at Thursday class sessions

Week 8 (Tuesday, November 16): Lloyd Gruber: Do International Institutions Really Matter?
Week 9 (Tuesday, November 23): Brian Portnoy: Globalization: The Impact of International Institutions

Thanksgiving is November 25

Week 10 (Tuesday, November 30): Rashid Khalidi: Transnationalism in a Post-Colonial World
Week 11 (Thursday, December 9): EXAM WEEK (no classes; no exams)
Research papers due on Thursday

 

READINGS FOR PS 294
Week 1: Charles Lipson: Anarchy and Conflict in World Affairs
Kenneth N. Waltz, "The Anarchic Structure of World Politics," in Art and Jervis, pp. 49-69.
Michael W. Doyle, "Kant, Liberal Legacies, and Foreign Affairs," in Art and Jervis, pp. 95-107.
Charles Lipson and Benjamin J. Cohen, "Preface," in Lipson and Cohen, pp. 1-4.
Charles Lipson and Benjamin J. Cohen, "Contending Theoretical Perspectives," in Lipson and Cohen, pp. 5-8.

Week 2: Charles Glaser: Varieties of Realism
Joseph M. Grieco, "Anarchy and the Limits of Cooperation: A Realist Critique of the Newest Liberal Institutionalism," in Lipson and Cohen, pp. 9-31.
Supplementary Readings:
C. Glaser, "Realists as Optimists: Cooperation as Self-Help," in Michael E. Brown, Sean M. Lynn-Jones, and Steven E. Miller, eds., The Perils of Anarchy (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1995), pp. 377-417 Originally appeared in International Security 19 (Winter 1994/95), pp. 50-90.

Week 3: Brian Portnoy: Overview of International Political Economy
Robert Gilpin, "The Nature of Political Economy" in Art and Jervis, pp. 269-85.

Robert O. Keohane, "Hegemony in the World Political Economy" in Art and Jervis, pp. 286-98.
Richard Rosecrance, "The Trading State: Then and Now" in Art and Jervis, pp. 340-51.
Arthur A. Stein, "The Hegemon's Dilemma" in Lipson and Cohen, pp. 283-314.

Week 4: Brian Portnoy: Cooperation and Conflict
John G. Ruggie, "International Regimes, Transactions, and Change" in Lipson and Cohen, pp. 245-81.
Beth V. Yarbrough and Robert M. Yarbrough, "Cooperation in the Liberalization of International Trade" in Cohen and Lipson, pp. 9-34.
Helen V. Milner and David B. Yoffie, "Between Free Trade and Protectionism" in Cohen and Lipson, pp. 121-54.
Michael C. Webb, "International Economic Structures, Government Interests, and International Coordination of Macroeconomic Adjustment Policies," in Cohen and Lipson, pp. 217-50.

Week 5: Duncan Snidal: Problems of Cooperation: Interdependence and Public Goods
Janice E. Thomson and Stephen D. Krasner, "Global Transactions and the Consolidation of Sovereignty," in Art and Jervis, pp. 319-339.
Richard Rosecrance, "The Trading State--Then and Now," in Art and Jervis, pp. 340-351.
Robert Keohane "Hegemony and World Political Economy," in Art and Jervis, pp. 286-298.
Per Magnus Wijkman "Managing the Global Commons," in Art and Jervis, pp. 466-485
Helen Milner, "A Critique of Anarchy," in Art and Jervis, pp. 70-75.

Week 6: Duncan Snidal: Institutions and Cooperation
Kenneth Oye, "Conditions for Cooperation," in Art and Jervis, pp. 81-94.
Stanley Hoffmann, "The Uses and Limits of International Law," in Art and Jervis, pp. 127-31.
Charles Lipson and Benjamin J. Cohen, "International Regimes," in Lipson and Cohen, pp. 143-46.
Robert O. Keohane "The Demand for International Regimes," in Lipson and Cohen, pp. 147-77.
Supplementary Readings:
Kenneth Oye, ed., Cooperation Under Anarchy (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985).
Stephen Krasner, ed., International Regimes (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1983).
John G. Ruggie, ed., Multilateralism Matters: The Theory and Praxis of an Institutional Form (New York: Columbia University Press, 1993).

Week 7: Duncan Snidal and Charles Lipson: Rational International Institutions
Barbara Koremenos, Charles Lipson, and Duncan Snidal, "Rational International Institutions" (will be posted at a web site)

Week 8: Lloyd Gruber: Do International Institutions Really Matter?
Joseph M. Grieco, "Anarchy and the Limits of Cooperation: A Realist Critique of the Newest Liberal Institutionalism," in Lipson and Cohen, pp. 9-31. (assigned in Week 2, please review)
Stephen Krasner, "Power vs. Wealth in North-South Economic Relations," in Art and Jervis, pp. 299-318.

Week 9: Brian Portnoy: Globalization: The Impact of International Institutions
Philip G. Cerny, "Globalization and the Changing Logic of Collective Action," in Lipson and Cohen, pp. 111-141.
Robert B. Reich, "Who is Us?" in Art and Jervis, pp. 352-66.
Louis W. Pauly and Simon Reich, "Enduring MNC Differences Despite Globalization" in Cohen and Lipson, pp. 155-84.
Jeffry A. Frieden, "Invested Interests: The Politics of National Economic Policies in a World of Global Finance" in Cohen and Lipson, pp. 189-215.
recommended:
Paul Krugman in Art and Jervis, pp. 386-95.

Week 10: Rashid Khalidi: Alternative Perspectives on International Relations

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REQUIRED BOOKS: All are paperbacks and are available at both the University of Chicago Bookstore and the Seminary Coop Bookstore, as well as Harper Library Reserve.