UMass Boston

International Relations Theory

Course #: GGHS 713, Class #: 2620, Section #: 01

Description

This course is intended to provide students with the tools to read and participate in the academic field of international relations (IR) in which discussions of global governance and human security are often embedded. Its focus is on theories of international politics and on the construction of the academic field, rather than on current world events. The course is divided into three parts. In the first we examine one of the core philosophical debates separating different understandings of international relations, that between realists and liberals. In the second we discuss approaches to international relations theory across different levels of analysis, from the level of the individual decision-maker to the level of the structure of the international system. In the third and final part we look at different methodological approaches to the study of international relations, from the inductive to the deductive to the critical.