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International Relations (SPS-RESGUZ-IR-25)

SPS-RESGUZ-IR-25

Purpose

>This seminar surveys the state-of-the-art in the field of international relations (IR) theory and its application. Its theoretical part is based on two developments that concern the understanding of theory itself and its substantive content. First, IR, but the social sciences more generally, have become more self-aware of the fact that theorising serves different purposes and comes in different forms. While theory, in its instrumental purpose, can be the result of (empirical) knowledge, it can also be the very condition for the possibility of knowledge, as in the constitutive function of ‘analytical lenses’. And besides empirical generalisation, the various forms of theorisation include, for instance, empirically driven designs that abstract by constructing ideal-types or generate hypotheses that can be translated into other empirical contexts, as well as theory-driven designs like concept analysis aiming at better understanding central phenomena of the social world or indeed meta-theory, which reflects on the assumptions with which we construct our theories in the first place. Second, recent decades have seen several substantive developments. IR dramatically widened its research fields beyond its classical concerns with war, diplomacy, and world order / global political economy (e.g. emotions, environment, big data). It draws on new meta-theoretical inspirations (e.g. new thinking on causality, uncertainty, relational and process ontologies, new materialism) and an engagement with different theoretical traditions (e.g. feminism, post-colonialism, non-Western IR).

Drawing on the different modes and functions of theorisation, the second part of the seminar focuses on how theories, perspectives, and concepts come into play – and can be applied – when analysing specific issue-areas in IR. For instance, what can IR theory tell us when analysing the international relations of specific regions in world politics, and how do different types of theories (and theorisation) highlight different aspects and challenges of regional politics? In which way can the relationship between interests, identities and security be conceptualized? How do these conceptualizations contribute to our explanation or understanding of specific developments in world politics? In which way can insights from International Political Economy (IPE) contribute to our understanding of international politics? What do post-colonial and feminist perspectives add to our problematization and understanding of global phenomena? And how can we think about regional order(s) and its relationship to the (changing) global order?

As it is impossible to cover the state of the art of our empirical knowledge in as vast a field within 10 weeks, the seminar focuses on our ways to establish knowledge, that is, on the different ways of building and using theory, as well as chosen applications. Students are encouraged to reflect on how these different modes of theorisation come to understand, select and problematise challenges and opportunities of global politics in the 21^st century.

Description

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Syllabus is available here.
 

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