INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS THEORY

概要

This course introduces students to international relations theory, taking the post-Cold War relationship between Russia and the West as a case study. At the end of the Cold War, an optimistic vision of future international relations swept Western countries, stating that liberalism has won the great ideological battles of the 20C, and that it would henceforth spread around the world, bringing about an era of peace, prosperity, and freedom. Russia would democratize and join the West, and democracy and market economy would prevail from Vladivostok to Vancouver. 35 years hence, the world today looks very different from that vision. How should we understand the situation? Was the liberal optimism just an illusion? Would it have been possible for the West to avoid military confrontation with Russia by adopting a different policy? What kind of policy have Western states, led by the US, pursued in relation to Russia? What factors have driven Russia's foreign policy? Is the West somehow responsible for the Russia-Ukraine War? How will the war end, and what will be its aftermath? By reading about discussing these issues, we will learn not only about Russia-West relations and about theories of international relations, but also about the current state of international relations more broadly, and about the "liberal international order."

目標

Students successfully completing this course will 1) be familiar with the basic theories of International Relations regarding major power relations 2) be familiar with the evolution of Russia-West relations since the end of the Cold War., and be able to interpret them in the light of theoretical perspectives. 3) be able to discuss the characteristics of the "liberal international order." 4) be able to discuss the circumstances that have led to Russian invasion of Ukraine

授業外の学習

Apart from attending classes, students are given various assignments, including reading assignments, video assignments, etc. According to the standard set by the Japanese Ministry of Education (MEXT), students are expected to spend a total of about 190 minutes in preparing for each class and in reviewing what you have learned. Use common sense in deciding how much time to devote to class preparation as opposed to reviewing after class. That should be sufficient for my purposes here. But MEXT, whose purpose includes "developing creative human resources with a rich sense of humanity," now requires professors to indicate in their syllabi how many of those 190 minutes they expect students to devote to various specific tasks in preparing for and reviewing the classes. So I consider it my solemn duty to declare the following, pursuant to Section 2, Article 21 of the Standards for Establishment of Universities, as revised according to Art. 1 of the MEXT Ministerial Ordinance No. 34, issued on September 30, the 4th year of the Reiwa era (2022): A big chunk of 190 minutes (120-150 minutes) should be spent preparing for the class session, by doing the assigned readings, watching assigned videos, etc. The rest of the time should be spent on reviewing the class. A more consolidated chunk of time may be required to complete the reaction paper (i.e. mid-term paper) and the final paper.

所要時間: 190 minutes