This summary contains notes from all the lectures the University of Amsterdam gave for its Core module - International relations
(CMIR). Description given by the University: International Relations (IR) is a field of study focused on political relations that cross national borders. Most centrall...
● Power relations among nation-states in the international system
● As international conflict, war, violence and physical security
● As an international political economy (trade, money, migration, etc.)
● A more complicated cross-border interaction
Ir-specific academic goals: analyse IR as multi-level politics
● Explore theoretical and empirical controversies/debates in IR
○ Categories
■ Descriptive
● Is there more or less globalisation today than ten years ago?
■ Explanatory
● Does economic globalisation increase or decrease the
probability of violent conflict?
■ Normative
● What should foreign economic policies do to discourage violent
conflict?
○ Depth/breadth, topical/mid-level vs perennial
■ Mid-level debates
● Context and problem-specific, partly resolvable through
empirical research
○ How does global climate change affect violent
conflicts?
● Perennial debates
○ All-encompassing, paradigmatic, difficult to solve
through empirics
■ What is the relationship between politics and
economics?
● Articulate a framework for understanding multi level global politics
○ The framework moves beyond the methodological nationalism
○ The framework avoids Western centrism theoretically, methodologically and
normatively
○ The framework recognises equal normative value and agency for all humans
in all corners of the globe
● Build arguments and carry out empirical research to clarify multilevel politics and
address IR controversies
General academic goals: Four skills and a mission
● Argument mapping
○ Conceptually untangle and specify the reasoning, the logical chain of
arguments
, ● Connection-seeing
○ Identify seemingly unrelated connections, even conspiracies but use Occam's
razor
● Empirical testing
○ Carry out empirical research to test, induce or revise theoretical arguments
■ Anecdotes
■ Qualitative cases
■ Descriptive quantitative information
■ Inferential quantitative information
● Courageous curiosity
○ Be open to being wrong, so as to learn
Logistics of CMIR: path to learning IR as multi-level politics
Levels of politics
● Sub-national politics
○ Cities
○ Provinces
● National politics
○ Countries
■ Elections
● International politics
○ Countries
■ Relations with one another
● Regional politics
○ EU
○ Arab League
● Supra-national politics
○ Multinational corporations
○ Transnational terrorist networks
All these levels interplay and are connected
In recent decades, big changes have transformed international relations and hence its study
● Shifting power relations
○ The West vs the rest
○ Decline of the USA
○ Rise of China, India
● Shirting political cleavages
○ Poor vs Rich
○ Globalisation
○ Religion
● More and stronger international institutions
○ EU
○ UN
○ G20
● New actors
○ NGOs
, ○ MNCs
○ Transnational terrorism
● More porous national borders
○ Economic globalisation
○ Contagious politics
○ Policies and practices
, Lecture 2:
Why these and not other debates
● Perennial debates
○ All-encompassing, paradigmatic debates (not mid-level debates) inform IR
thinking on all issues for many decades (centuries)
● Clear focussed debates
○ Some perennial debates are focussed with respect to (mainly) one key
dimension or question about IR, more than just sorting 0 device schools of
thought or conceptual lenses
■ Realism vs liberalism vs constructivism
● Salient debates
○ Some perennial debates are more salient and unresolved than others, some
have been mostly resolved and are now less salient
■ Levels of analysis debate, Waltz: Man the state and war
Realism and Idealism
Idealism Realism
Role of power and Not usually the main or only The most important cause
power-seeking in IR politics cause of shaping shaping motivations and
motivations and outcomes outcomes
Power co-determined by Power is mainly determined
material and non-material by material conditions
conditions (also (geography, guns,
ideas/diplomacy) technology)
Goals of Ir analysis Often normative More positive empirical
To visualise and identify a To reveal what actually
path towards peace, occurs/exists and why
democracy etc.
Marketability/agency Emphasis on Emphasis on political
(maakbaarheid) makeability/agency constraint
Unit of analysis Individuals, groups, nations, Sovereign nation-states and
international organisations the international system
Interests of states Fundamental harmony of Unresolved clashing of
interests interests (zero-sum games)
Conflict avoidable Conflict unavoidable
International order Maintaining international Anarchy, absence of
order due to global supranational authority to
institutions and norms make and enforce decisions
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