Why do countries go to war? Are individuals, organizations, and governments driven by their interests or their ideas? What role does power play in international relations and is there any role for justice in global politics? What are the causes and consequences of an increasingly globalized world economy? These questions are central to the study of international relations, yet different theoretical approaches have been developed in an attempt to answer them. Often these approaches disagree with one another, leading to markedly different policy prescriptions and predictions for future events. This course provides the conceptual and theoretical means for analyzing these developments in international politics. By the end of this class, you will be able to understand the assumptions, the logics, and the implications of major theories and concepts of international relations. These include realism, liberalism, institutionalism, constructivism, critical security studies, feminist theory, queer IR theory, post-colonial theory, indigenous approaches to international relations, and neo-Marxism. A special effort is made to relate the course material to world events, developments, or conflicts in the past decade or so.
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