Duke University
Department of Political Science
Political Science 309: Field Seminar in International Relations
Fall 2005
Monday, Wednesday, 1:15-2:30
Perkins Library 307
Christopher Gelpi Joseph
M. Grieco
Perkins 318 Perkins
315
660-4318; gelpi@duke.edu 660-4315; grieco@duke.edu
Office Hours: MW, 11:00-12:00Noon Office
Hours: MW, 9:00-10:00
Objectives of the Seminar
The objectives of this course are:
(1) to understand the scope and breadth of the theoretical literature
that has defined the study of international relations; (2) to identify the
strengths and weaknesses of the theoretical paradigms represented in that
literature; (3) to define specific research questions and issues that must be
addressed by future research; and (4) to prepare students for preliminary
examinations in international relations.
Course Requirements
Response Papers (20% of final grade): In order to encourage active thinking about the readings and discussion in class, students will write two brief commentaries (2 pages maximum, single-spaced) on the readings for a particular week. Students should seek in these notes to engage one or more themes in the works, discuss their strengths and weaknesses, and suggest future research questions facing that area of the literature. Students will sign up for their weeks at the first class meeting of the seminar. The papers will be circulated electronically to the entire class, and will be due at 9:00 a.m. on the relevant class day. You can email the entire class through the blackboard website.
Class Participation (10% of the final grade): Students will be expected to come to class fully prepared to engage in a robust, informed discussion of the readings and the problems for the field of international relations raised by the readings.
Literature or Book
Review (25% of the final grade): The readings on this syllabus can only serve as a
starting point from which students will engage additional important
literature. Students will
therefore write a literature or book review on a topic of interest to them that
relates to one of the subjects addressed by this course. A book review will
generally focus intensively on one or two related books; a literature review
will examine the development of a theme or problem through time and a larger
number of readings. Either
type of analysis should be 4,000-5,000 words. Students should consult with the
instructor before selecting a review topic. Literature and book reviews that may serve as models for such
forms of scholarship are listed at the end of this syllabus.
Written Final Examination (25% of
the final grade): Students will take a one-day
in-class examination that will be patterned on the preliminary examinations
that graduate students must pass before they may advance to the dissertation
stage of the PhD program.
Oral Exam Final (20% of
the final grade): As with the
preliminary exam process, students will be given a brief oral exam with the
course instructor. The oral exam may focus on issues raised in the written
exam, but any material on the syllabus may be covered during the exam.
It is important that students cite the material that they have relied upon
in writing these papers. If you have questions about when you need to provide
citation for a source, please see the Duke Libraries' guide on avoiding
plagiarism. If you have questions about how to provide citation on your
sources, please see the Duke Libraries' guide on citation formats.
Use any citation format that you prefer, what is important is that you give
credit to the sources you used.
Required Books
The following books are available for purchase at the Duke University Bookstore and are also available for purchase through various online sources.
Geoffrey Blainey, The Causes of War, 3rd Ed. (Free Press, 1988).
E. H. Carr, The Twenty Years Crisis: 1919-1939 (Harper Torchbooks, 1964).
Irving Janis, Groupthink (Houghton Mifflin, 1980).
Robert Jervis, Perception and Misperception in International Politics (Princeton, 1976).
Peter Katzenstein, ed., The Culture of National Security (New York: Columbia, 1996)
Robert Keohane, After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World Political Economy (Princeton 1984).
Gary King, Robert Keohane, and Sidney Verba, Designing Social Inquiry (Princeton, 1994).
Steven Miller, Sean Lynn-Jones, and Stephen Van Evera, eds., Military Strategy and the Origins of the First World War, revised and expanded edition (Princeton, 1991).
Kenneth Waltz, Man, the State and War (Columbia, 1954).
Kenneth Waltz, Theory of International Politics (Addison-Wesley, 1979).
Alexander Wendt, Social Theory of International Politics (Cambridge, 1999).
All other readings are available online through Duke's full-text databases or on e-reserves. Students can obtain the readings by clicking on the links below. Students must be connected to the Duke network or through the Duke VPN client to download and print the readings.
Topics and Schedule
Monday, August 29: Organization
and Introduction
Wednesday, August 31: The Core Problem in IR—The Causes
of War and the Conditions for Peace
Geoffrey Blainey, The Causes
of War, third edition (Free Press,
1988), pp. 3-156.
September 5-7: Theory Building in International Relations
Monday
Kenneth Waltz, ÒLaws and Theories,Ó Chapter 1 of Theory of International
Relation (Addison-Wesley), pp. 1-17.
Jon Elster, ÒMechanisms,Ó Chapter 1 of Elster, Nuts and Bolts of the Social Sciences (Cambridge, 1989), pp. 3-10. E-reserves
Gary King, Robert Keohane, and Sidney Verba, Designing Social Inquiry (Princeton, 1994), chapters 1-3.
Wednesday
Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, "Toward a Scientific Understanding of International Conflict: A Personal View,Ó in Symposium: Methodological Foundations of the Study of International Conflict, International Studies Quarterly, Vol. 29, No. 2. (Jun., 1985), pp. 121-136.
Tim Buthe, "Taking Temporality Seriously: Modeling History and the Use of Narratives as Evidence," American Political Science Review 96 (September 2002), pp. 481-493.
September 12-14: Levels of Analysis in International Relations Theory
Monday
Kenneth Waltz, Man, the State, and War: A
Theoretical Analysis (Columbia, 1954).
Steven Miller, Sean Lynn-Jones, and Stephen Van Evera, eds., Military Strategy and the Origins of the First World War, revised and expanded edition (Princeton, 1991), preface by Miller and Lynn-Jones, and essays by Snyder, Sagan, and Levy.
September 19-21: Systemic
Perspectives—Early Writings
E.H Carr, The Twenty Years Crisis: 1919-1939 (Harper Torchbooks,
1964), pp. 22-94.
Hans J. Morgenthau. Politics
Among Nations, third edition, Chapter 1, as well as pp. 531-534 (on the
European Communities).
A.F. K. Organski, ÒThe Power Transition,Ó Chapter 12 of World Politics (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1958), pp. 299-338. E-reserves
Karl Deutsch and J. David Singer, "Multipolar Power Systems and International Stability," World Politics 16 (April 1964), pp. 390-406.
September 26-28: Neorealism and System
Structure—the Effects of Power on the Risk of War
Waltz, Theory of International Politics, pp. 79-128, 161-193.
Stephen Walt, The Origins of Alliances (Cornell, 1990), pp. 17-49.
Wednesday
John A. Vasquez, "The
Realist Paradigm and Degenerative versus Progressive Research Programs: An
Appraisal of Neotraditional Research on Waltz's Balancing Proposition" The
American Political Science Review , Vol.
91, No. 4. (Dec., 1997), pp. 899-912.
Randall Schweller,
"Neorealism's Status Quo Bias: What Security Dilemma," Security
Studies, (1996). (E-reserves)
Kenneth Waltz, "Evaluating
Theories," The American Political Science Review , 91,
No. 4. (Dec., 1997), pp. 913-917
October 3-5: Crisis Bargaining in the Face of
Anarchy and the Risk of War
Thomas Schelling, Arms and Influence,
Yale University Press, New Haven:CT, (1966).? Chapter 1 and chapter2.
Paul Huth, ÒExtended Deterrence and the Outbreak of War,Ó American
Political Science Review, 82, (1988).
Richard Ned Lebow and Janice
Stein, "Deterrence: The Elusive Dependent Variable," World
Politics , Vol.
42, No. 3. (Apr., 1990), pp. 336-369.
Paul Huth and Bruce
Russett, "Testing Deterrence
Theory: Rigor Makes a Difference," World Politics,Ó Vol.
42, No. 4. (Jul., 1990), pp. 466-501.
James D. Fearon, "Signaling
versus the Balance of Power and Interests: An Empirical Test of a Crisis
Bargaining Model," The Journal of Conflict Resolution , Vol.
38, No. 2, Arms, Alliances, and Cooperation: Formal Models and Empirical Tests.
(1994), pp. 236-269.
October 12: Neorealism and System
Structure—the Effects of Power and Power Politics on the Prospects for
Economic Cooperation
Jacob Viner, "International Finance and Balance of Power Diplomacy," Southwestern Political and Social Science Quarterly 9 (March 1929), pp. 407-51. E-reserves
Robert Gilpin, "The Politics of Transnational Economic Relations," International Organization 25 (Summer 1971), pp. 398-419.
Stephen Krasner, "State Power and the Structure of International Trade," World Politics 28 (April l976), pp. 317-347.
Scott James and David Lake, "The Second Face of Hegemony," International Organization 43 (Winter 1989), pp. 1-29.
Joanne Gowa and Edward Mansfield, "Power Politics and International Trade," American Political Science Review 87 (June 1993), pp. 408-420.
October 17-19: The
International Institutionalist Perspective
Robert Keohane, After
Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World Political Economy
(Princeton, 1984), chapters 5-6.
Joseph Grieco, "Anarchy and
the Limits of Cooperation: A Realist Critique of the Newest Liberal
Institutionalism," International Organization , Vol.
42, No. 3. (Summer, 1988), pp. 485-507.
Robert Powell, ÒAbsolute and
Relative Gains in International Relations,Ó American Political Science
Review 85 (December 1991), pp.
1303-1320.
Emerson Niou and Peter
Ordeshook, ÒLess Filling, Tastes Great: the Realist-Neoliberal Debate,Ó World
Politics 46
(January 1994), pp. 209-34.
George Downs, David Rocke, and
Peter Barsoom, ÒIs the Good News about Compliance Good News about Cooperation,Ó
International Organization 50
(Summer 1996), pp. 379-406
Beth Simmons, ÒInternational Law
and State Behavior: Commitment and Compliance in International Monetary
Affairs,Ó American
Political Science Review
94, 4 (2000). pp. 819-35.
October 24-26: Liberalism, International Economic
Interdependence, and the Prospects for Peace
Norman Angell, The Great Illusion: A Study of the Relation of Military Power to National Advantage (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1913), chapter 3. Available in e-reserves under Grieco/PS220S.
Kenneth Waltz, "The Myth of Interdependence," in Charles Kindleberger, ed., The International Corporation (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1970), pp. 205-223. Available in e-reserves under Grieco/PS220S.
John Oneal and Bruce Russett, ÒAssessing the Liberal Peace with Alternative Specifications: Trade Still Reduces Conflict,Ó Journal of Peace Research 36 (July 1999), pp. 423-442.
Wednesday
Paul A. Papayoanou, "Interdependence, Institutions, and the Balance of Power," International Security 20 (Spring 1996), pp. 42-76.
Christopher
Gelpi and Joseph M. Grieco, ÒDemocracy, Interdependence, and the Sources of the
Liberal Peace,Ó Journal of Peace Research
(forthcoming, available at Professor GelpiÕs webpage, www.duke.edu/~gelpi).
October 31-November 2: The Domestic Institutionalist
Perspective—Liberal Democratic Peace Theory
Michael Doyle, ÒLiberalism and World Politics,Ó American Political Science Review 1986.
Bruce Russett and Zeev Maoz,
"Normative and Structural Causes of the Democratic Peace, 1946‑1986,"
American Political Science Review,
87 (1993), pp. 624‑638.
Wedensday
Henry Farber and Joanne Gowa, "Polities and Peace," International Security 20 (Fall 1995), pp. 123‑146.
Ido Oren, "The Subjectivity of the
Democratic Peace," International Security 20, No. 2 (Fall 1995), pp. 147‑184.
Zeev Maoz, "The Controversy over the
Democratic Peace: Rearguard Action or Cracks in the Wall?," International
Security 22 (Summer
1997), pp. 162‑198.
November 7-9: The Domestic Institutionalist
Perspective and IPE
Helen Milner, ÒResisting the Protectionist Temptation: Industry and the Making of Trade Policy in France and the United States During the 1970s,Ó International Organization 41 (Autumn 1987), pp. 639-666.
Michael Bailey, Judith Goldstein, and Barry Weingast, ÒThe Institutional Roots of American Trade Policy: Politics, Coalitions, and International Trade,Ó World Politics 49 (April 1997), pp. 309-38.
Wednesday
David Soskice, ÒDivergent
Production Regimes: Coordinated
and Uncoordinated Market Economies in the 1980s and 1990s,Ó in Herbert
Kitschelt, Peter Lange, Gary Marks, and John Stephens, eds., Continuity and
Change in Contemporary Capitalism
(Cambridge, 1999), pp. 101-34.
Michael Hiscox, ÒClass Versus Industry Cleavages: Inter-Industry Factor Mobility and the Politics of Trade,Ó International Organization 55 (Winter 2001), pp. 1-46.
November 14-16: Constructivism--Norms, Values, and New Possibilities for
Peace
Monday
Alexander Wendt, Social
Theory of International Politics
(Cambridge, 1999), selected chapters TBA.
John Gerard Ruggie, "What
Makes the World Hang Together? Neo-Utilitarianism and the Social Constructivist
Challenge," International Organization , 52,
4(1998), pp. 855-886.
November 21: Individual
Leaders, Utility Maximization, and the Study of War
James Fearon, "Rationalist Explanations for War," International Organization, 49, 3 (1995).
Curtis Signorino,
"Strategic Interaction and the Statistical Analysis of International
Conflict" The American Political Science Review , Vol.
93, No. 2. (Jun., 1999), pp. 279-297
Alastair Smith, ÒInternational Crises and
Domestic Politics,Ó American Political Science
Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, Alistair
Smith, Randolph Siverson, and The Logic of Political Survival, key chapter on democratic war fighting.
Giacomo Chiozza and Ajin Choi, ÒGuess Who Did What: Political Leaders and the Management of Territorial Disputes, 1950-1990,Ó Journal of Conflict Resolution 47 (June 2003), pp. 251-278.
Wednesday - Thanksgiving Break - No Class
November 28-30: Individual Leaders, Psychological
Perspectives, and the Study of War
Ole Holsti, ÒThe 1914 Case,Ó American
Political Science Review 59 (June
1965), pp. 365-378.
Richard Ned Lebow, Between
Peace and War (Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore,1981), Chapter 5.
Chaim Kaufmann, "Out of the Labs and Into the Archives: A Method for Testing Psychological Explanations of Political Decision Making," International Studies Quarterly, 38, 4, (1994).
Special Section: Model Book and Literature Reviews
Book
Reviews
Peter Gourevitch, "The Second Image Reversed," International Organization 32 (Autumn 1978), pp. 881-912.
Theda Skocpol, "A Critical Review of Barrington Moore's Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy," Politics and Society 4 (Fall 1973), pp. 1-34.
John Ruggie, ÒContinuity and Transformation in the World Polity: Toward a Neorealist Synthesis,Ó World Politics 35 (April 1983), pp. 261-285.
John
A. Vasquez, ÒThe Realist Paradign and Degenerative versus Progressive Research
Programs: An Appraisal of Neotraditional Research on WaltzÕs Balancing
Proposition,Ó American Political Science Review 91 (December 1997), pp. 899-912.
Douglas
Porch, ÒMilitary
"Culture" and the Fall of France in 1940: A Review Essay,Ó International
Security
24 (Spring 2000), pp. 157-180.
Thomas Schwartz,
review of Ballots and
Bullets: The Elusive Democratic Peace, in Comparative Political Studies 33 (June 2000).
Richard Rosecrance: ÒWar and Peace,Ó [review of John
MearsheimerÕs Tragedy of Great Power Politics] World Politics 55 (October 2002), pp. 137-166.
Literature
Reviews
Jack S. Levy, ÒTheories of General War,Ó World Politics 37 (Apr., 1985), pp. 344-374.
Jack Levy, "Declining Power and the Preventive Motivation for War," World Politics 40 (October 1987), pp. 82-107.
Jack Levy,
ÒDomestic Politics and War,Ó Journal of Interdisciplinary History 18 (Spring, 1988), pp. 653-673.
Robert Jervis,
ÒWar and Misperception,Ó Journal of Interdisciplinary History 18 (Spring, 1988), pp. 675-700.
Jack Levy, "Learning and Foreign Policy: Sweeping a Conceptual Minefield," International Organization 48 (Spring 1994): 279-312.
John Mearsheimer,"The False Promise of International Institutions," International Security 19 (Winter 1994/95).