Please use these links to access the class notes for your class on Google Docs. Remember that these notes are here to help you organize your thinking and check your own notes. They should not be a substitute for your own notes!

Please click here for 4th Block notes.

Please click here for 5th Block notes.

Daily Plans

For your Daily Plans, which include links to all the materials used in class along with readings, click the links below.

Please click here for 4th Block plans.

Please click here for 5th Block plans.

The following section will lay out the key ideas explored throughout this course.

Fall Term

War and Bargaining on the World Stage

CONTENT UNIT: War and Bargaining

Key Question: When and why do states go to war?

Driving Questions:

• How do different international relations perspectives help us understand the decisions of states to go to war?
• How does war fit into other bargaining tactics that states can use?  What does war accomplish?
• How do states measure the costs and benefits of war?
• How do events, actors and norms at the state level impact the choice of states to go to war?
• How do events, actors and norms at the system level impact the choice of states to go to war?
• What can be done to prevent war at the state level and at the system level?

At the end of this course, students will…

• Understand…
  • That scholars of international relations differentiate between schools of thought such as realism, liberalism and constructivism.
  • The three major levels of analysis (individual, state, system), which differentiate between the kinds of questions in international relations scholarship.
  • The model of “bargaining” in international relations, which helps to explain how and when states perceive war to be in their interest.
  • That scholars distinguish between war from a failure to bargain, war from indivisible goods and war from incomplete information or lack of trust.
  • That actors on the state level including political interest groups, the military-industrial complex and individual political leaders can and do pursue war for reasons unrelated to system level concerns.
  • The concept of the “Democratic Peace” and the evidence for and against the concept that democracy prevents war.
  • That some scholars have suggested that cooperation and the creation of norms of collective security could prevent future conflict.
• Be able to…
  • Engage in useful debate and discussion by turning to specific evidence.
  • Produce useful notes in a discussion-based class.
  • Write short essays that consider real world examples using specific evidence and are organized around clear structure with specific theses.
  • Differentiate between and apply the perspectives of realism, liberalism and constructivism to various scenarios.
  • Differentiate between and apply the three levels of analysis (individual, state, system) to various scenarios.
  • Describe theoretical bargaining models or models based on a given case that would and would not lead to war.
  • Articulate a well-supported position on what measures are most likely to prevent or cause war in a given scenario.

PROJECT: War in Ukraine Symposium

Key Question: Why did the Russian Federation invade Ukraine? Could anything have been done to stop the invasion?

Driving Questions:

• How would realists, liberals and constructivists view the decision to invade Ukraine differently?
• What role did Vladimir Putin as a leader play in the decision to invade Ukraine?  What role did other actors at the state level play?
• What role did considerations at the system level like the balance of power and the security dilemma play in the decision to invade Ukraine?
• Could other actors at the system level have taken any action that would have presented the Russian invasion?

Winter Term

Humans Rights and International Law

Key Question: International Law has long been seen as a promising solution to the thorniest problems faced by the world in the 21st century, but International Law remains poorly developed and often unclear. How can we transform and use this tool in order to address the most pressing issues of Human Rights?

UNIT 1: Introduction to International Law

Key Question: What is international law and how has it developed over time?

Driving Questions:

• What were the historical circumstances under which international law first evolved?
• How is international law different from or similar to domestic law?
• Who or what enforces international law?

At the end of this unit, students will…

• Understand…
  • That international law is a relatively new and poorly developed set of norms and legally-binding treaties, but it derives almost all of its power from the willingness of states to follow it.
  • That international law is almost either highly specific or highly obligatory, but very rarely both.
  • Why states are willing to endorse certain international laws/norms and not others depending on their conception of their own sovereignty.
  • That international organizations such as the International Court of Justice exist to enforce and delineate certain bodies of law, but there is no real international police force or system of justice.
  • The difference between norms and laws and the role of the Norms Life Cycle in the establishment of International Law.
  • The role of TANs (Transnational Advocacy Networks) in the creation of Norms and Laws.
• Be able to…
  • Engage in useful debate and discussion by turning to specific evidence.
  • Produce useful notes in a discussion-based class.

• Write short essays that consider real world examples using specific evidence and are organized around clear structure with specific theses.

• Articulate the benefits and limitations of systems of international law.
• Confront novel systems of international law and describe them as obligatory, specific, etc.

UNIT 2: Human Rights: Genocide (Case Study: Rwanda 1994)

Key Question: After the holocaust, many international leaders vowed “never again.” Yet, there have been dozens of examples of mass killing since that arguably should be term genocide. How can or should we use international law to change this pattern?

Driving Questions:

• What is genocide?  How is it different from other forms of violence?  Why does the distinction matter?
• What does the UN Genocide Convention currently do and why doesn’t it appear to be more effective?
• What propositions exist to change the way that the international community responds to possible cases of genocide?
• What happened in the case of the Rwandan that allowed the genocide to take place?  Can we learn anything from this example to prevent future genocides?

At the end of this unit, students will…

• Understand…
  • How and why the concept of genocide emerged in the wake of the holocaust.
  • That genocide is a specific term with a specific legal definition under the UN Genocide Convention that involves actions “with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”
  • The basic outline of events that led to the crime of genocide in Rwanda as well as the international community’s response to those events.
• Be able to…
  • Engage in useful debate and discussion by turning to specific evidence.
  • Produce useful notes in a discussion-based class.
  • Write short essays that consider real world examples using specific evidence and are organized around clear structure with specific theses.
  • Discuss the concept of genocide and apply the definition in such a way that it does not become a “box with a false bottom.”
  • Identify what they consider to be the particular failures that allowed genocide to occur in Rwanda.
  • Articulate an alternative formulation of the Genocide Convention that might have allowed for/compelled a more successful response by the international community.

UNIT 3: Human Rights: Migration (Case Study: European Migrants 2015)

Key Question: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides for the right of migrants to cross international borders as well as return to their home countries, but in what circumstances should these actions be allowed? How can we use international law to more clearly delineate the rights of migrants?

Driving Questions:

• What is migration?  How is a migrant different from a refugee?
• What does the Refugee Convention accomplish and what are its flaws?
• How and why did migrants choose to enter Europe during the 2015 crisis?  What push and pull factors helped to direct migrants to this final destination?
• How can or should states that receive an influx of migrants react?  What are the moral, legal and practical considerations that  constrain a state’s response to migration?

At the end of this unit, students will…

• Understand…
  • That like the Genocide Convention, the Refugee Convention was created in response to the crisis following the Second World War.
  • That not all people who migrate across international boundaries are treated under international law as refugees.  Instead, the UN Refugee Convention describes refugees as those with a “well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion,” but there is substantial debate about this definition.
  • That legal responsibilities of states to migrants and their practical concerns often lead to more limited provisions for accepting and caring for migrants than purely moral calculations might suggest.
  • The role of concepts like sovereignty in a state’s desire to police its own borders.
  • The role of unrest and violence including the Civil War in Syria in driving migrants from Africa across the Mediterranean.
  • That the structure of the European Union including the lack of internal borders and the limited power of the central Brussels apparatus to set policy made refugee/migrant policy a particularly fraught issue for its member nations.
• Be able to…
  • Engage in useful debate and discussion by turning to specific evidence.
  • Produce useful notes in a discussion-based class.
  • Write short essays that consider real world examples using specific evidence and are organized around clear structure with specific theses.
  • Draw distinctions between migrants and refugees and offer a substantive defense of the distinctions they have drawn.

PROJECT: TAN Proposals: Pressing Issues in International Law

Key Question: What other areas could benefit from the application of International Law/Norms? What could be done to advance law/norms in these areas?

Driving Questions:

• What are the most pressing issues facing the “International Community” in the present?  What Laws/Norms exist to address these issues?
• How can a group like a Transnational Advocacy Network advance a norm through the Norms Life Cycle?  What tactics can it use?

Spring Term

Cold War, Nuclear Peace?

CONTENT UNIT: 

Key Question: Are Nuclear Weapons an “Instrument of Peace” or do they make the total annihilation of human life more likely?

Driving Questions:

• How do nuclear weapons change the bargaining relationship between two states considering the use of force?
• If nuclear weapons are so dangerous, why do states continue to build and maintain them?  What benefits do states believe they confer?
• Is the proliferation of nuclear weapons a problem?  Should it be constrained or allowed?

At the end of this unit, students will…

• Understand…
  • That some scholars argue in favor of the concept of a “Nuclear Peace,” which suggests that two nuclear-armed states are unlikely to go to war with one another and there is a good deal of historical evidence to support this claim.
  • That some scholars argue that concepts like “Mutually Assured Destruction” mean that it is only a matter of time before conflict between two nuclear-armed states.
  • The language of Strategic Nuclear Studies including “Mutually Assured Destruction,” “First Strike,” “Deterrence,” and the “Nuclear Triad.” 
  • The role of bilaterial negotiations and Treaty Law such as SALT I/II along with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in controlling the expansion of the number of nuclear weapons in the world.
  • That some states have argued that it is their inherent right to possess nuclear weapons as a protection for their sovereignty against currently nuclear-armed states.
• Be able to…
  • Engage in useful debate and discussion by turning to specific evidence.
  • Produce useful notes in a discussion-based class.
  • Write short essays that consider real world examples using specific evidence and are organized around clear structure with specific theses.
  • Articulate a position on the question of the “Nuclear Peace” supported by specific evidence.
  • Digest scholarship and other texts that use the “jargon” of Strategic Nuclear Studies.
  • Describe the benefits and drawbacks of various instruments of International Law to constrain the use or creation of nuclear weapons.