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Field Seminar in International Relations Theory
Provides an overview of the field of international relations. Each week a different approach to explaining international relations is examined. Surveys major concepts and theories in the field to assist in the preparation for further study in the department's other graduate offerings in international relations.
Fall 2011 · Field Seminar: International Relations Theory
Topics
- Introduction and Organization
- Overview of the Field
- Material Approaches
- Rationalist Approaches
- Ideational and Identity-Based Approaches
- Cognitive and Bureaucratic Approaches
- Domestic Institutions and Preferences
- War and Conflict
- Peace and International Cooperation
- War, Peace, and Domestic Institutions
- Nuclear Proliferation and Deterrence
- Unipolarity
- Rationalism Revisited
Readings
- SES #: 1 · TOPICS: Introduction and organization · READINGS: No readings
- Morgenthau, Hans. Chapters 1 and 2 in Politics Among Nations . Revised by Kenneth Thompson. Alfred A. Knopf, 1948.
- Schmidt, Brian C. “On The History and Historiography of International Relations.” In Handbook of International Relations . Edited by Walter Carlsnaes, Thomas Risse, and Beth A. Simmons. SAGE, 2002, pp. 3–22. ISBN: 9780761963059.
- Waltz, Kenneth. Chapter 1 in Theory of International Politics . Waveland Press, Inc., 2010. ISBN: 9781577666707.
- Waltz, Kenneth. Chapters 5, 6 and 8 in Theory of International Politics . McGraw-Hill, 1979. ISBN: 9780075548522.
- Mearsheimer, John J. Tragedy of Great Power Politics . W. W. Norton, 2001, pp. 1–54. ISBN: 9780393020250.
- “Symposium on Realism as a Degenerative or Progressive Research Program.” American Political Science Review 91, no. 4 (1997): 899–935.
- Schelling, Thomas C. Arms and Influence . Yale University Press, 1967, pp. 1–125. ISBN: 9780300002218.
- Bull, Hedley. Chapter 1-3 in The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World Politics . Palgrave Macmillan, 1977. ISBN: 9780333199152.
- Schelling, Thomas. Arms and Influence. Yale University Press, 1967, pp. 1–125. ISBN: 9780300002218.
- Glaser, Charles. “Why Do Strategists Disagree about the Requirements of Strategic Nuclear Deterrence.” In Nuclear Arguments: Understanding the Strategic Nuclear Arms and Arms Control Debates . Edited by Lynn Eden and Steven E. Miller. Cornell University Press 1989, pp. 109–71. ISBN: 9780801494994.
- Bell, Mark and Nicholas LeSuer Miller. “Questioning the Effect of Nuclear Weapons on Conflict.” Unpublished Manuscript (2011).
- Special Issue, World Politics , January 2009, Selected Articles.
Prerequisites & course information
Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Fall) 3-0-9 units
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026–2027
- MIT OpenCourseWare ↗Fall 2011
- MIT OCW calendar ↗
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.