Gov 2732: Critical Perspectives on Critical International Relations Theory






Winter 2000
Alastair Iain Johnston
Tues 2-4
313 Coolidge Hall
Office Hours: Tues. 4-6
johnston@fas.harvard.edu
496.3965
 

The purpose of this course is to evaluate critically some of the new literature in International Relations, literature that has expressed varying degrees of dissatisfaction with 'mainstream' IR theory. This covers everything from social constructivism through to critical theory through to more avowedly post-modern theory as well as feminist approaches. Just as IR specialists should be able to understand and assess the coefficients in a regression model even if they do not do quantitative research themselves, so they should be able to understand and assess approaches with different ontological and epistemological assumptions. This literature may not appear much in International Security or The Journal of Conflict Resolution or The American Political Science Review, but it is appearing in International Organization, The Review of International Studies, Millennium, a Cambridge University Press series, and a growing number of edited volumes from major American university presses. It at least warrants some attention even if only because it has provoked some sharply negative reactions from scholars in the field. So some of the questions that animate this course are: What criteria for evaluating this literature should be considered valid? Is this literature 'marginalized'? Is it 'marginalized' for a reason? If one were operating from the starting assumptions of these different approaches, how would one go about doing empirical research? How radical a challenge to 'mainstream' IR theory? In short, is there any 'there' there? How should we defined both 'there's'?

Prerequisites: This is not a course in political philosophy or the philosophy of social science or the sociology of the IR field. These topics will no doubt be part of the discussion, but the course is primarily for PhD students interested in international relations theory.  So there is a pre-requisite: GOV 2710 or the equivalent.

Assignments: The final grade will be based on two short essays, one review essay, and class participation. More details about the contents of the essays to follow. The general themes will be as follows:

* Two short essays (30%)
 1) What are the mainlines of criticism of 'mainstream' IR theory? How legitimate is this critique of the 'mainstream' ? How would the critics respond to your critique of their critique? For this paper you are expected to read beyond the assigned readings. Due Feb 29
 2) What are the implications of constructivist, critical, post-modern or feminist approaches for how one does empirical research in IR? Due week of April 18

* One review essay suitable for publication (reviewing 2-3 books) (40%) Due May 8

* class participation (30%)

Students with Disabilities:  Anyone in the class who has a disability that may require some modification in seating, testing or class requirements please see me as soon as possible. The Student Disability Center at 20 Garden Street (496-8707) has additional information and resources which may be useful.

Readings: The following readings are available for purchase the the COOP. The rest are available in the course pack and are on reserve at Littauer Library.

Alexander Wendt, Social Theory of International Politics (1999)

Martha Finnemore,  National Interests in International Society  (1996)

Mark Neufield, The Restructuring of International Relations Theory (1995)

Jim George, Discourses of Global Politics: A Critical Reintroduction to International Relations  (1994)

Michael J. Shapiro and Hayward Alker eds, Challenging Boundaries (1996)

David Campbell, Writing Security: United States Foreign Policy and the Politics of Identity (1992)

Bradley Klein, Strategic Studies and World Order (1994)

J. Weldes, M. Laffey, H. Gusterson, and R. Duvall eds, Cultures of Insecurity: States, Communities and the Production of Danger (1999)

Christine Sylvester, Feminist Theory and International Relations in a Postmodern Era. (1994)
 
 

Feb.8: Organization and Introduction
 

Feb 15: The So-Called Third Debate

 • Robert Cox "Social Forces, States and World Orders: Beyond International Relations Theory" in Robert Keohane, ed. Neorealism and its Critics (1986)

 • Richard K. Ashley, "The Poverty of Neorealism" in Robert Keohane, ed. Neorealism and its Critics (1986)

 • Yosef Lapid "The Third Debate" International Studies Quarterly 33:3 (1989) pp. 235-254

 • Alexander Wendt "Anarchy is what states make of it?" International Organization 46 (1992) pp.396-421

 • Robert Ashley and R.B.J. Walker, "Reading Dissidence/Writing the Discipline: Crisis and the Question of Sovereignty in International Studies" International Studies Quarterly 34 (1990) p.367-416

 • Jim George, "The Backward Discipline Revisited: The Closed World of Neorealism" in Jim George, Discourses of Global Politics: A Critical Reintroduction to International Relations (1994)

 • Jim George, "Understanding International Relations After the Cold War: Probing Beyond the Realist Legacy" in Michael J. Shapiro and Hayward Alker eds, Challenging Boundaries (1996) pp.33-79
 

Recommended

 • Keith Krause and Williams "Broadening the Agenda of Security Studies: Politics and Methods" Mershon International Studies Review  (October 1996) pp.229-254

 • Ole Weaver "The Rise and Fall of the inter-paradigmatic debate" in Steve Smith et al, International Theory: Positivism and Beyond (1996) pp.149-185

 • Jim George, "Patterns of Dissent and the Celebration of Difference: Critical Social Theory in International Relations" International Studies Quarterly 34 (1990) pp.269-293

 • Andrew Linklater and John MacMillian, "Introduction: Boundaries in Question" in John Macmillan and Andrew Linklater, ed., Boundaries in Question: New Directions in International Theory (1995) pp.1-16

 • Brian Schmidt, "The Historiography of Academic International Relations" Review of International Studies 20 (1994) pp.349-367

 • Julian Saurin, "The End of International Relations: The State and International Theory in the Age of Globalization" in John Macmillan and Andrew Linklater, ed., Boundaries in Question: New Directions in International Theory (1995) pp.244-261
 

Feb 22: Constructivism I

 • Alexander Wendt, Social Theory of International Politics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999)

 • Nicholas Onuf, “Constructivism: A User’s Manual” in V. Kubalkova, N. Onuf, P. Kowert eds., International Relations in a Constructed World (1998)

 • Jeffery T. Checkel, “The Constructivist Turn in International Relations Theory (A Review Essay).” World Politics 50 (1998).
 

Recommended:

 • Peter Berger and Thomas Luckman, The Social Construction of Reality (1967) (especially chapter 3, pp.129-183)

 • Ron Jepperson, Alex Wendt, Peter Katzenstein, "Norms, Identity and Culture in National Security"  in Peter Katzenstein ed., The Culture of National Security: Norms and Identity in World Politics (1996) pp.33-75

 • Alexander Wendt, "Collective Identity Formation and the International State" American Politics Science Review 88 (1994) pp.395-421

 • Nicholar Onuf, World of Our Making: Rules and Rule in Social Theory and International Relations. Chapter 1 pp.35-65

 • John Gerard Ruggie, “What Makes the World Hang Together? Neo-Utilitarianism and the Social Constructivist Challenge” International Organization 52:4 (Autumn 1998)

 • Martha Finnemore, “Norms, Culture and World Politics: Insights from Sociology's Institutionalism.” International Organization 50 (Spring 1996).

 • Thomas Christiansen et al, "The Social Construction of Europe" Journal of European Public Policy 6 (December 1999)
 
 

Feb 29: Constructivism II

 • Martha Finnemore,  National Interests in International Society  (1996)
 

Recommended:

 • Jeffrey T. Checkel “International Institutions and Socialization” ARENA Working Papers WP 99/5.  URL: http://www.sv.uio.no/arena/publications/wp99_5.htm

 • Jeffrey T. Checkel “Norms, Institutions and National Identity in Contemporary Europe.” International Studies Quarterly 43 (March 1999).

 • Jeffrey T. Checkel, “Social Construction and Integration.” Journal of European Public Policy 6 (December 1999).

 • Martha Finnemore, “Norms, Culture and World Politics: Insights from Sociology’s Institutionalism” International Organization 50:2 (Spring 1996) pp.325-347
 
 

March  7: Constructivism III

 • Richard Price, Christian Reus-Smit, “Dangerous liaisons? Critical international theory and constructivism” European Journal of International Relations. 4:3 (September 1998) pp.259-294

 • Richard Price and Nina Tannenwald , "Norms and Deterrence: The Nuclear and Chemical Taboos" in Peter Katzenstein ed., The Culture of National Security: Norms and Identity in World Politics (1996) pp.114-152

 • Jutte Weldes, “The Cultural Production of Crises: US Identity and Missiles in Cuba” in J. Weldes, M. Laffey, H. Gusterson, and R. Duvall eds, Cultures of Insecurity: States, Communities and the Production of Danger (1999)
 

Recommended:

 • Michael Barnett, "Identity and Alliances in Middle East" in Peter Katzenstein ed., The Culture of National Security: Norms and Identity in World Politics (1996) pp.400-447

 • Alexander Wendt and Daniel Friedheim, "Hierarchy under anarchy: informal empire andthe east German state" in Thomas Biersteker and Cynthia Weber eds., State Sovereignty as Social Construct (1996) pp.240-277

 • Naeem Inayatullah, "Beyond the Sovereignty Dilemma" in Thomas Biersteker and Cynthia Weber eds., State Sovereignty as Social Construct   (1996) pp.1-21

 • Roxanne Lynn Doty, "Sovereignty and the Nation: Constructing the boundaries of national identity" in Thomas Biersteker and Cynthia Weber eds., State Sovereignty as Social Construct (1996) pp.121-147

 • Alex Wendt and Michael Barnett, "Dependent State Formation and Third World Militarization" Review of International Studies 19 (1993) pp.321-347
 
 

March 14: Critical Theory I

 • Mark Neufield, The Restructuring of International Relations Theory (1995)

 • Andrew Linklater, Beyond Realism and Marxism: Critical Theory and Internaitonal Relations (London 1990) pp.1-32

 • Jim George, "Thinking Beyond IR: The Critical Theory Challenge" in Jim George, Discourses of Global Politics: A Critical Reintroduction to International Relations (1994) pp.171-190

 • Jutta Weldes, Mark Laffey, “Beyond belief: Ideas and symbolic technologies in the study of international relations” European Journal of International Relations  3:2 (June 1997) pp. 193-237
 

March 21: Critical theory II

 • Jutta Weldes, “Going cultural: Star Trek, state action, and popular culture” Millennium 28:1 (1999)

 • Sankaran Krishna, "Cartographic Anxiety" in Michael J. Shapiro and Hayward Alker eds, Challenging Boundaries (1996) pp.193-217

 • Nevzat Soguk, "Transnational/Transborder Bodies" in Michael J. Shapiro and Hayward Alker eds, Challenging Boundaries (1996) pp.285-326

 • Phyllis Turnbill, "The Semiotics of the Arizona Memorial" in Michael J. Shapiro and Hayward Alker eds, Challenging Boundaries (1996) pp.407-434

 • Henrikki Heikka, “Beyond Neorealism and Constructivism: Desire, Identity, and Russian Foreign Policy” in Ted Hopf ed.,  Understandings of Russian Foreign Policy (1999)
 

Recommended:

 • Stephen Gill, "Historical Materialism, Gramsci, and International Political Economy" in Craig M. Murphy and Roger Tooze eds., The New International Political Economy (1991) pp.51-75

 • Kelly Lee, "A neoGramscian Approach to International Organizations: An Expanded Analysis of Current Reforms to UN Development Activities." in John MacMillan and Andrew Linklater, Boundaries in Question: New Directions in International Relations (1995) pp.144-162

 • David Campbell, "Violent Performances: Identity Sovereignty, Responsibility" in Yosef Lapid and Friedrich Kratochwil, The Return of Culture and Identity in IR Theory (1996)
 

April 4: Post Modernism I

 • Michael J. Shapiro, "Textualizing Global Politics" in James DeDerian and Michael J. Shapiro, eds., International/Intertextual Relations (1989) pp.11-22

 • Mark Neufield, "Interpretation and the 'science' of International Relations" Review of International Studies 19 (1993) pp.39-61

 • Jim George, "Thinking Beyond International Relations: Postmodernism: Postmodernism -- Reconceptualizing Theory as Practice" in Jim George, Discourses of Global Politics: A Critical Reintroduction to International Relations (1994) pp.191-219

 • Richard Devetak, "Postmodernism" in Scott Burchill and Andrew Linkater eds., Theories of International Relations pp.179-209
 

April 11: Postmodernism II

 • David Campbell, Writing Security: United States Foreign Policy and the Politics of Identity (1992)

 • Bradley Klein, Strategic Studies and World Order (1994)

 • Jennifer Milliken “Intervention and Identity: Reconstructing the West in Korea” in J. Weldes, M. Laffey, H. Gusterson, and R. Duvall eds, Cultures of Insecurity: States, Communities and the Production of Danger (1999)
 

Recommended:

 • Rebecca Bork, The Strategic Defense Initiative: Symbolic Containment of the Nuclear Threat. (1992)

 • Christopher Coker, "Post modernity and the End of the Cold War: Has War Been Disinvented?" Review of International Studies 18 (1992) pp.189-198

 • Richard Falk, "Culture, Modernism, Postmodernism: A Challenge to International Relations," in Chay, ed., Culture and International Relations, (Praeger, 1990).

 • Karen Lifton, "Framing Science: Precautionary Discourse and the Ozone Treaties" Millenium 24:2 (Summer 1995) pp.251-278

 • Jutte Weldes and Diana Saco, "Making State Action Possible: The United States and The Discursive Construction of the Cuban Problem, 1960-1994" Millenium 25:2 (Summer 1996) pp.361-395

 • Roxanne Lynn Doty, "Foreign Policy as Social Construction: A Post-positivist Analysis of US Counterinsurgency Policy in the Philippines" International Studies Quarterly 37 (1993) pp.297-320

 • Cynthia Weber, "Representing Debt: Peruvian Presidents' Belaunde's and Garcia's Reading/Writing of Peruvian Debt"  International Studies Quarterly 34 (1990) pp.353-365

 • Alfred J. Fortin, "Notes on a Terrorist Text: A Critical Use of Roland Barthes' Textual Analysis in the Intepretation of Political Meaning." in James DeDerian and Michael J. Shapiro, eds., International/Intertextual Relations (1989) pp.189-206

 • Jutte Weldes and Diana Saco, "Making State Action Possible: The United States and The Discursive Construction of the Cuban Problem, 1960-1994" Millenium 25:2 (Summer 1996) pp.361-395
 
 

April 18: Feminist Theory

 • Christine Sylvester, Feminist Theory and International Relations in a Postmodern Era. (1994) (especially introduction, chps 1, 4,5,6)

 • Charlotte Hooper, “Masculinist Practices and Gender Politics: The Operation of Multiple Masculinities in International Relations” in M. Zalewski and J. Parpart eds., The ‘Man’ Question in International Relations  (1998)

 • Cynthia Weber, “Something’s Missing: Male Hysteria and the US Invasion of Panama” in M. Zalewski and J. Parpart eds., The ‘Man’ Question in International Relations (1998)

 • Rebecca Grant, "Sources of Gender Bias in International Relations Theory" in Rebecca Grant and Kathleen Newland, Gender and International Relations (1991) pp.8-26
 
 

Recommended:

 • Cynthia Enloe., The Morning After: Sexual Politics at the End of the Cold War (1993)

 •J. Ann Tickner, "Hans Morgenthau's  Principles of Political Realism: a Feminist Reformulation"  in Rebecca Grant and Kathleen Newland, Gender and International Relations (1991) pp.27-41

 • Neferti Xina M. Tadiar "Sexual Economies in the Asia-Pacific Community" in Arif Dirlik ed., What is in a Rim? Critical Perspectives on the Pacific Region Idea

• Jill Krause, "The International Dimension of Gender Inequality and Feminist Politics: A New Direction for IPE?" in John MacMillan and Andrew Linklater, Boundaries in Question: New Directions in International Relations (1995) pp.128-143

 • J. Ann Tickner, " Identity in IR Theory: Feminist Perspectives" in Lapid and Kratochwil, The Return of Culture and Identity

 • Carol Cohn, "Sex and Death in the Rational World of Defense Intellectuals," Signs: Journal of Women and Culture in Society, 12 (Summer 1987).
 
 

April 25: Crits' Critics. Is There a Case?
 

Required

 • Pauline Rosenau, Postmodernism and the Social Sciences; Insights, Inroads, and Intrusions (1992) pp.1-20, 109-137, 167-184

 • Robert Koehane, "International Institutions: Two Approaches" International Studies Quarterly 32 (1988) pp.379-96

 • John Mearsheimer, "The False Promise of International Institutions" International Security 19:3 (Winter 1994/5) pp.5-49

 •  Michael C. Desch, "Culture Clash: Assessing the Importance of Ideas in Security Studies," International Security 23:1 (Summer 1998): 141-70.

 • Andrew Moravscik, “Is Something Rotten in the State of Denmark? Constructivism and European Integration” Journal of European Public Policy 6:4 (1999) pp.669-681

 • Stephen Walt, "The Rennaissance of Security Studies" International Studies Quarterly 35 (1991) especially pp.222-232.
 
 

Recommended:

 • Roger Spegele, "Political Realism and the Remembrance of Relativism" Review of International Studies 21 (1995) p.211-236

 • Molly Cochran, "Postmodernism, ethics and International Political Theory" Review of International Studies 21 (1995) pp.237-250
 
 

May 1: TBA