PSMI 106: Introduction to International Relations: Theories, Concepts and
Debates
Learning Objectives
This paper introduces students to some key theories, concepts and debates of international
relations. While historically contextualizing the evolution of mainstream IR theories, students
will also learn about the leading debates aimed at de-centring and pluralizing the knowledge
base of IR. The debates and conversations on the genealogies of Indian perspectives on IR are
anchored in this backdrop. The students will learn how to critically engage with the Eurocentric
view of IR through decolonial accounts that foreground the agency of the colonial experience,
race and culture that not only identify proximately with the Global South but are also co-
constitutive of European modernity, the social sciences and the foundations of the IR discipline.
The course weaves in some of the major concepts power, sovereignty, empire and
international order that push the boundaries of the discipline through understandings derived
from diverse standpoints. The final segment Global IR and the relational turn in international
relations apprises the students with the new directions in the discipline
Learning outcomes
At the end of this course, the students would have acquired:
Familiarization with key theories, concepts, and debates of International Relations.
Comprehensive re-reading of the origin of IR and its mainstream theories and concepts,
with basic tools to question statist ontology and reification of eurocentrism.
Appreciation of decolonial accounts that challenge the mainstream and parochial
International Relations.
Understanding of the genealogy and contributions of the IR scholarship in India to the
disciplinary debates through a re-reading of its classical texts and, contemporary writings.
Analysis of the assumptions and key concepts of IR such as power, sovereignty, empire
and international order.
Learning about the new directions in IR via a critical engagement with Global IR and the
relational turn in IR.
UNIT I (12 Hours)
What is IR and, its Contested Origins
a. What is IR
b. Reading the Big Bangs
c. Bringing in De-colonial Accounts
d. Understanding the genealogy of IR discipline in India
UNIT II (15 Hours)
Theories of IR
a. Introduction to IR Theories
b. Realpolitik (Kautilya)/ Realism/ Neo-Realism
c. Liberalism/ Neo-liberalism
d. Marxism/ Neo-Marxism
e. Feminism
f. Constructivism
UNIT III (9 Hours)
Concepts
a. Power
b. Sovereignty
c. Empire
d. International Order
UNIT IV (9 Hours)
Exploring the Future Trajectories
a. Global IR
b. A Relational Turn?
Essential/recommended readings
Unit I. What is IR and the story of its contested origins
a. What is IR?
Essential Readings
Karen Smith (eds.) International Relations from the Global South: World of
Difference. Routledge: New York.
International Relations: Theories and Approaches, OUP: New York, pp.3-32.
Additional Readings
Nicholson, Michael (2002). International Relations: A Concise introduction, NYU
Press: NY. pp. 1-
15.
Richard Devetak (2012). An introduction to international relations: The origins and
Introduction to
International Relations, 2nd ed, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 1-19.
b. Reading the Big Bangs Essential readings
B. De Carvalho, H. Leira and J. M. Hobson (2011). The Big Bangs of IR: The Myths
that Your Teachers Still Tell You about 1648 and 1919. Millennium, 39(3): 735 758.
s in IR
495- 508.
Additional readings
The Making of Global International Relations Origins and Evolution of IR at its
Centenary,Cambridge University Press: UK. pp. 1 7.
-140.
Amitav Acharya and Barry Buzan
Evolution of IR at its Centenary, Cambridge University Press: UK. pp. 33-66.
c. Bringing in De-colonial Account
Essential Readings
A.B. Tickner and K. Smith (eds.) International Relations from the Global
South:Worlds of Difference, London: Routledge, pp. 56-74.
Smith (eds.) International Relations Theories: Discipline and Diversity, London:
OUP, pp. 219- 234.
Additional Readings
-Western
InternationalRelations Theory? -
Pacific,17(3): 341 370.
Zeynep Gulsah Capan (2017). Decolonising International Relations? Third World
Quarterly, 38
(1): 1-15.
ed
International Relations Postcolonial Perspectives, Routledge: NY, London.
challenge for The Global Tra -501.
a. Understanding the genealogy of IR discipline in India
Essential Readings
-
of theAsia- Pacific 7(3): 341-68.
Kanti P.
-38
Additional Readings
Penguin.pp. vii- ix.
-45.
Martin J. Bayly (2021). Lineages of Indian International Relations: The Indian
Council on World Affairs, the League of Nations, and the Pedagogy of
Internationalism, The nternational History Review, online first (pp. 1-17), DOI:
10.1080/07075332.2021.1900891.
and Siddharth Mallavarapu ed. International Relations: Perspectives for the Global
South (New Delhi: Pearson, 2012), pp.22-38.
Unit 2. Theories of IR
a. Introduction to IR Theories
Essential Readings
Foreign Policy, 110: 29 46. https://doi.org/10.2307/1149275.
S. Mallavarapu (2009) Development of International Relations
Theory in India. International Studies, 46 (1 2): 165 183.
Additional Readings
Karen A. Mingst, Ivan M. Arreguín-Toft (2019).
Essentials of International Relations (8th edition), Norton: Canada: pp. 3-18.
MiljaKurki, and Steve Smith (eds.) International Relations: Theories, Discipline and
Diversity. Oxford University Press: UK, 3rd edition. pp. 36-58.
a. Realpolitique (Kautilya)/ Realism/ Neo-Realism
Essential Readings
Eclectic -Western IR
Theory, Springer International Publishing; Palgrave Pivot. pp. 95-126.
(eds.).
International Relations: Theory and Practice, Sage Publications, India. Pp.151-170.
T. Dunne, M. Kurki and S. Smith (eds.) (2013). International Relations Theories,
Discipline and Diversity. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 3rd edition. (Ch 3:
Classical Realism, pp. 59- 76 by Richard Ned Lebow; and Ch 4: Structural Realism
by John J. Mearsheimer- pp.77- 93).
Affairs Editorial Board, Vol.44, No.1, pp.21-37.
Additional Readings
S. Kalyanar
Knowledge: Kautilya and His Vocabulary, Volume 1, Pentagon Press: India, pp.1-4.
PradeepKumar Gautam et. al. (eds.) Indigenous Historical Knowledge: Kautilya and
His Vocabulary, Volume 2, Pentagon Press: New Delhi, pp. 20-31.
the permissive cause of
Routledge, pp. 13-36.
a. Liberalism/ Neo-liberalism
Essential Readings
eds.)
International Relations: Theories, Discipline and Diversity, 3rd Edition, Oxford:
Oxford University Press, pp. 94-113.
Jennifer Sterling-
Smith (eds.) International Relations: Theories, Discipline and Diversity, 3rd Edition,
Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 114-131.
Additional Readings
Relations, Theories and Approaches, Oxford University Press: New York, pp.107-
142.
Jon C. W. Pevehouse and Joshua S. Goldstein (2018). International Relations, 11th
Edition, Pearson: US (Liberal and Social Theories, pp.83-121).
b. Marxism/ Neo-Marxism
Essential Readings
Milja Kurki, and Steve
Smith (eds.) International Relations Theories, Discipline and Diversity.
Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 3rd edition. pp.153-170.
-
International Relations Theory: A Critical Introduction, 3rd edition, New York:
Routledge, pp.131- 158.
Additional Readings
Stephanie Lawson (2015). Theories of International Relations, Contending
Approaches toWorld Politics, Polity Press: Cambridge, UK (Chapter 6-Marxism,
Critical Theory and World Systems Theory, pp.121-144). Andrew Linklater (2005).
Relations, Palgrave Macmillan, UK, US:pp. 110-137.
Feminism
Essential Reading
Owens (eds.). The Globalization of World Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
pp. 262- 277.
-
Milja Kurki, and Steve Smith (eds.) International Relations Theories, Discipline and
Diversity. Oxford University Press: UK, 3rd edition. pp.205-222.
Additional Reading
globalisation of world Politics An introduction to international relations, Oxford
University Press, 8th Edition. pp 145-159.
Chandra T. Mohanty (2003). Feminism without Borders Decolonizing Theory,
-Decolonization,
Anticapitalist Critique, and -16).
Constructivism
Essential Readings
-
Steve Smith, The Globalisation of World Politics: An Introduction to International
Relations, Oxford University Press, 8th Edition. pp. 192-206.
International Relations, Theories and Approaches, Oxford University Press: New
York, pp. 161-177.
Additional Readings
K. M. Fierke (2013). Constructivism in T. Dunne, M. Kurki, and S. Smith (eds.),
International Relations: Theories Discipline and Diversity, OUP: NY, pp. 187-204.
S. Lawson (2015). Theories of International Relations, Contending Approaches to
World Politics, Polity Press: Cambridge (Ch 7: Social Theories of International
Relations, pp.145- 171).
Unit 3. Concepts
Power
Essential Readings
in
Handbook of
International Relations, eds. Walter Carlsnaes, Thomas Risse, and Beth A.
Simmons,Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications, pp. 273 274 & p. 280.
M. Barnett and R. Duvall (2005) Power in International Politics. International
Organization 59 (1): pp. 39 75.
Additional Readings
tional Relations: Understandings and
Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29922-4_2
Jan-
Contemporary International E-internationalRelations, May 14.
Available at: https://www.eir. info/2014/05/14/the-
effectiveness-of-soft-hard-power-in- contemporary-internationalrelations/
Sovereignty
Essential Readings
International Relations from the Global South: Worlds of Difference, London:
Routledge: pp.139-160.
f Politics and International Relations, 11 (1): 23-37.
Additional Reading
- Feb): pp. 20-29. A.
Osiander (2001). Sovereignty, International Relations, and the Westphalian Myth.
International Organization, 55(2): pp.251-287.
Empire
Essential Readings
T. Barkawi (2010). Empire and Order in International Relations and Security
Studies. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of International Studies.
https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190846626.013.164
H. Mün -
-46) in Empires: The Logic of World
Domination from Ancient Rome to the United States. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Additional Readings
T. Barkawi and M. Laffey (2002). Retrieving the Imperial: Empire and International
Relations. Millennium, 31 (1), pp: 109 27.
n: Routledge, pp.
200 215.
Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri (2000) Empire, Cambridge: Harvard University
3-21).
International Order
Essential Readings
Global South, London: Routledge. pp. 77-96.
K.P. Bajpai and S. Mallavarapu (ed.) (2019). India, the West, and International Order.
-pp.1-50.
Additional Readings
R. Baumann, K. Dingwerth (2015). Global governance vs empire: Why world order
moves towards heterarchy and hierarchy. Journal of International Relations and
Development 18, 104 128. https://doi.org/10.1057/jird.2014.6.
on Enduring Freedom: Towards a New International Law and
Order Law, Politics and Globalization, Brill Academic Publishers: the Netherlands.
Pp. 31- 46.
Unit 4. Exploring the Future Trajectories
a. Global IR
Essential Readings
(eds.) International Relations Theories Discipline and Diversity, 4th Ed., Oxford:
OUP. pp. 304- 321.
F. Anderl and A. Witt
49 (1): 32- 57.
Additional Readings
Global International Relations Theory. Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge:
pp.109- 142.
-20.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S026021052100053X
b. A Relational Turn?
Essential Readings
Tamara A. Trownsell, A.B. Tickner, A. Querejazu, J. Reddekop, G. Shani, K.
around International Studies Perspectives, 22 (1): 25-64.
https://doi.org/10.1093/isp/ekaa008
David L. Blaney, Tamara A. Trownsell (2021) Recrafting International Relations by
-62,
https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article- file/1937147.
Additional Readings
Tamara A. Trownsell, Amaya Querejazu, Giorgio Shani, Navnita Chadha Behera,
Jarrad Reddekop and Arlene B. Tickner Recrafting International Relations through
- International Relations, January 2019,
https://www.e- ir.info/2019/01/08/recraftinginternational- relations-through-
relationality/;
Milja Kurki (2021). Relational revolution and relationality in IR: New conversations
Review of International Studies, page 1-16 doi:10.1017/S0260210521000127.
