Syllabus for ENVR 519: Climate Change Politics (2010)

The course introduces the main theories of international relations and applies the key concepts of international relations theories to international affairs. Topics of the course include the rise of China, the impact of international organizations, nuclear non-proliferation and the causes of conflict among nations.

This course emphasizes a critical approach toward different grand/major theories of international relations (IR)/ international politics. The course is designed with two convictions. First, all major theories (sometimes called schools, paradigms, or "isms") of IR are defective, one way or the other, in light of the fundamental paradigms of social sciences. Thus, we must keep a critical but open mind toward these big theories. Second, despite these defects, however, major theories are indispensable for understanding international politics: all of us use some (crude) form of these major theories as analytical tools when trying to make sense of international politics. Thus, a critical understanding of these major theories (or macro-tools) helps us taking a more critical view toward our own understanding of international politics.

A book like this relies on the input and patience of many colleagues and students. Our debts are suitably global and we would like to thank colleagues in the UK and Australia for the time they spent reading material and encouraging us to get on with it. In particular we would like to thank David Boucher, Peri Roberts, Bruce Haddock, Keiron Curtis, Edwin Egede, Stuart Shields, Jocelyn Mawdsley, Sophie Hague, Ian Hall and Andreas Gofas. Just as importantly we would like to thank Phil, Nicola, Victoria and Matthew for creating the space in their lives to let us write.

The third edition of this innovative textbook introduces students to the main theories in international relations. It explains and analyzes each theory, allowing students to understand and critically engage with the myths and assumptions behind them. Each theory is illustrated using the example of a popular film.

This course examines the main schools of thought in International Relations (IR) and their main theoretical debates on various aspects of world politics. Also, it evaluates the internal logic and coherence, historical evolution, and changing explanatory value of several mainstream theories grounded in different school of thought. The course ascertains how to organize mainstream theories of IR in order to make them more accessible to different research needs and applications. The aim is to move out of the epistemological "trench-mentality" and into the "tool-box" mode. The course treats theories as road maps to guide and facilitate research rather than to obfuscate the study and analysis of world politics. Hence, every effort will be made to connect theoretical abstraction and the theorybuilding enterprise with methodological implementation, problem-solving usefulness, and the promotion of empirical relevance. The style of the course is a reading-seminar. First, the instructor outlines and discusses basic themes, concepts, and theoretical implications in class. Second, students are urged in our weekly sessions to discuss questions and original writings of different IR theorists.

2016

Students come to study international relations at university driven by a variety of motives and active concern to study great contemporary issues, such as the causes and persistence of war, threats of nuclear proliferation and terrorism, the persistence of global poverty amid globalization's riches and longer-term threats to sustainable development.

2016