IR Theories

Realism

Liberalism/ idealism

Marxism

Basic info

IR is a study of how nation-states interact with one another within an international system

Precursors

Representatives

1st Great Debate in IR -> Main representatives

Neo realism + structural realism

Neoliberalism

English School of IR

Precursors

Basics

Also called liberal realism

N. Machiavelli

T. Hobbes

Leviathan (1651)

"The prince" (1532)

J. Locke

Two Treaties of Government (1690)

J.J. Rousseau

I. Kant

Perpetual Peace (1795)

Thucydides

The Melian dialogue (416 B.C.)

The Social Contract (1762)

H. Grotius

The Rights of War and Peace (1625)

Karl Marx

W. Wilson

"Transcript of President Woodrow Wilsons 14 Points" (1918)

"Wilson's War Message to Congress" (1917)

H. Kissinger

"Diplomacy" (1994)

H.J. Morgenthau

"Politics Among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace" (1979)

I had him

E.H. Carr

"The Twenty Years Crisis" (1939)

K. Waltz

"Realist Thought and Neorealist Theory - Journal of International Affairs” (1990)

"Explaining War" (1954)

J. Nye

Independence and Interdependence, „Foreign Policy” (1976)

Soft Power. The Means to Success in World Politics (2005)

J. Nye + R. Keohane

Realism and Complex Interdependence

Representatives

Hedley Bull

Critical Theory in IR

What is it?

Idea

Case studies based on contemporary politics

Other Theories (not covered)

Constructivism

Feminism

Hedley Bull and his contribution to international relations, „International Affairs” (1986)

Does Order Exist in World Politics? - "The Anarchical Society" (1977)

"The Communist Manifesto" (1848)

An approach to social philosophy that focuses on reflective assessment and critique of society and culture in order to reveal and challenge power structures

The central argument of critical theory is that all knowledge, even the most scientific or "commonsensical," is historical and broadly political in nature. Critical theorists argue that knowledge is shaped by human interests of different kinds, rather than standing "objectively" independent from these interests.

Representative

I. Wallerstein

What After Developmentalism and Globalization (2005)

"Globalization or the Age of Transition? A Long-Term View of the Trajectory of the World System" (2000)

USA: a problem of being world superpower

Russia as a realist great power

Chinese traditional and modern theories and visions of IR

H. Kissinger, "On China" (2011)

F. Fukuyama, Z. Weiwei, The China Model, „New Perspectives Quarterly” 2014

S.G. Brooks, G.J. Ikenberry, W.C. Wohlfort, Lean Forward. In Defence of American Engagement, „Foreign Affairs” 2013

A. Tsygankov, "Russia and the West from Alexander to Putin. Honor in International Relations" (2012)

R.K. Betts, The Lost Logic of Deterrence. What the Strategy that Won the Cold War Can - And Can’t –Do Now (2013)

A. Tsygankov -> Assessing Cultural and Regime-Based Explanations of Russia’s Foreign Policy. ‘Authoritarian at Heart and Expansionist by Habit’? (2012)