MA Seminar
CONCEPTS
AND ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
API 5105 B
Graduate School of Public and International Affairs
Fall
2021
Course
location: 60 University (SMD) Room 430 and on Zoom (bimodal)
Instructor:
Prof. Roland Paris
Email:
rparis@uottawa.ca
Office
hours: in person (Monday 11:00 a.m.–1:30 p.m, FSS
6005E)
and virtual (by appointment)
Course
Description
Examination of major concepts and
issues in contemporary international affairs. Analysis of the history and
development of international relations; major approaches to the study of world
politics and global governance; key global issues affecting human welfare in
terms of security, economy and environment; practices of governance in a world
where the boundary between international and domestic affairs is becoming
increasingly blurred.
Requirements
|
Response Papers (3) |
35% |
|
Midterm Exam |
15% |
|
Final Exam |
35% |
|
Participation |
15% |
Response Papers
Each student will write three
response papers during the semester. Deadline: 12 noon the business
day before the relevant class meeting. Submit your completed paper on Brightspace. Detailed instructions will be provided. Note:
Late papers will be subject to penalties and may not be accepted (see lateness
policy below).
Midterm Exam
The midterm exam will cover course material up to the date of the
exam. It will be an online, open-book exam. Duration: 1.5 hours. Further information
will be provided. Late exams will not be accepted.
Participation
Participation – based on your having read the course materials in
advance – is expected from both in-person and online participants. If
circumstances (e.g. connection problems, privacy concerns) make it difficult
for you to participate, you must explain these circumstances to the professor.
As you prepare for class, note the discussion questions for each week, listed
below.
Final Exam
The final exam will take place during the exam period and will
cover the entire course. It will be an online, open book exam. Duration: 3
hours. Further information will be provided in class. Late exams will not be
accepted. Note: Failure to write the final exam will result in a failing grade
for the course.
Readings
Course readings are available
through Brightspace or via the university library
website. For free access to subscriber-only material, you must
either (1) connect to the library website from a University of
Ottawa-networked computer or (2) follow these instructions for off-campus
access: http://www.biblio.uottawa.ca/html/Page?node=get-access&lang=en.
Office
Hours
In-person office hours: Monday 11:00 a.m.–1:30 p.m,
FSS 6005E. Students may also book virtual meetings at other times using the
online Calendly tool (link to be provided in class).
Schedule
Week
1 – Welcome and Introduction to the Course
No required reading this week
Week
2 – Ways of Understanding International Affairs
Required reading
Jill Steans et al., An
Introduction to International Relations Theory: Perspectives and Themes, 3rd
ed. (Routledge, 2010), two chapters:
“Liberalism” https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781315833811/chapters/10.4324/9781315833811-8
“Realism” https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781315833811/chapters/10.4324/9781315833811-9
Alice Ba and Matthew J. Hoffmann, “Making and Remaking the World
for IR 101: A Resource for Teaching Social Constructivism in Introductory
Classes,” International Studies
Perspectives 4:1 (2003), pp. 15-33.
https://doi.org/10.1111/1528-3577.04102
Discussion questions
·
Realism, liberalism,
and constructivism each make broad assumptions about world politics. What are
their main similarities and differences?
·
What are the
prospects for international cooperation according to each of the theories?
·
How does each
theory conceive of the role of power, institutions, and ideas in world
politics?
Optional further reading
Classical realism, a primary source – The Melian Dialogue,
excerpts from Thucydides’ History of the
Peloponnesian War (c. 400 BC)
http://fs2.american.edu/dfagel/www/Class%20Readings/Thucydides/Melian%20Dialogues.pdf
Classical liberalism, a primary source – Immanuel Kant, Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch
(1795)
https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/kant/kant1.htm
A feminist perspective – J. Ann Tickner,
“Hans Morgenthau's Principles of Political Realism: A Feminist Reformulation,” Millennium 17:3 (1988), pp. 429-440.
https://doi.org/10.1177/03058298880170030801
Week
3 – The Balance of Power
Required reading
Hans J. Morgenthau, “The Balance of Power,” excerpts
from Politics Among Nations: The Struggle
for Power and Peace (McGraw-Hill, 1985).
Reading will be provided
by instructor
John Lewis Gaddis, “The Long Peace: Elements of
Stability in the Postwar International System,” International Security 10:4 (1986), pp. 99-142.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2538951
Graham Allison, “The Thucydides Trap: Are the U.S. and
China Headed for War?” Atlantic
(Sept. 14, 2015).
Discussion questions
·
How
did the balance of power concept originate?
·
How,
and under what circumstances, is the balance of power mechanism said to work?
·
What
is the role of power, institutions, and ideas in the balance of power?
·
How
relevant is the balance of power concept to international affairs today?
Optional further reading
On the balance of power in 19th century Europe – Paul
W. Schroeder, “The Nineteenth Century System: Balance of Power or Political
Equilibrium?” Review of International
Studies 15:2 (1989), pp. 135-53.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/20097176
Week
4 – International Institutions and Law
Required reading
John Gerard Ruggie,
“Multilateralism: The Anatomy of an Institution,” International Organization 46:3 (1992), pp. 561-598.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2706989
Karin J. Alter, “The Future of International Law,” in
Diana Ayton-Shenker (ed.), The New Global Agenda (Rowman &
Littlefield, 2018), pp. 25-42.
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ottawa/reader.action?docID=5245820&ppg=36
Tom Ginsburg, “Authoritarian International Law?” American Journal of International Law
114:2 (2020) pp. 221-260.
https://doi.org/10.1017/ajil.2020.3
Discussion questions
·
What
makes multilateralism a distinctive form of governance?
·
Do
international institutions and law facilitate international cooperation? In
what ways? Do they also inhibit cooperation?
·
How
“liberal” is international law?
Optional further reading
Alex Neve, “We Do Matter A Renewed Global Agenda for
Protecting Human Rights,” in Diana Ayton-Shenker
(ed.), The New Global Agenda (Rowman & Littlefield,2018), pp. 7-24.
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ottawa/reader.action?docID=5245820&ppg=18
Week
5 – Midterm Exam (online)
Week
6 – The State and Sovereignty
Required reading
John Agnew, “The Nation-State in a Global
World,” in Vincenzo Cicchelli and Sylvie Mesure, eds., Cosmopolitanism
in Hard Times (Brill, 2020), pp. 306-316.
https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004438026_023 or https://ocul-uo.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01OCUL_UO/1lm0b9c/alma991045107485505161
Aristotle
Kallis, “Sovereigntism, and the Unlikely Re-Emergence
of the Territorial Nation-State,” Fudan Journal of the
Humanities and Social Sciences 11 (2018), pp. 285-302.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40647-018-0233-z
Francis
Fukuyama, “The Pandemic and Political Order: It Takes a State,” Foreign
Affairs 99:4 (2020), pp. 26-32.
https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/fora99&i=656
André
Barrinha and Thomas Renard,
“Power and Diplomacy in the Post-Liberal Cyberspace,” International Affairs 96:3 (2020), pp. 749-766
https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiz274
Discussion questions
·
What impact,
if any, has globalization had on sovereignty?
·
Why have we
been witnessing a resurgence of “sovereigntism” – and what are the implications
for international order and global governance?
·
Will the
coronavirus pandemic strengthen or weaken states?
·
What is
"cyber-sovereignty"?
Optional further reading
Roland Paris, “The Right to Dominate: How Old
Ideas about Sovereignty Pose New Challenges for World Order,” International Organization 74:3 (2020),
pp. 453-489.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020818320000077
Week
7 – Networks and ‘Plurilateralism’
Required reading
Stewart Patrick, “The Unruled
World: The Case for Good Enough Global Governance,” Foreign Affairs 93:1 (2014), pp. 58-73.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/23526937
Anne-Marie Slaughter, “How to Succeed in the
Networked World: A Grand Strategy for the Digital Age,” Foreign Affairs 95:6 (2016), pp. 76-89.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/43948384
Margaret E. Keck and Kathryn Sikkink,
“Transnational Advocacy Networks in International and Regional Politics,” International Social Science Journal 68
(2018), pp. 89-101.
https://doi.org/10.1111/issj.12187
Roland Paris, “Global Governance and Power
Politics: Back to Basic,” Ethics and
International Affairs 29:4 (2015), pp. 407-418.
https://www.ethicsandinternationalaffairs.org/2015/global-governance-power-politics-back-basics/
Discussion questions
·
Does
“plurilateralism” represent the future of multilateralism?
·
What are the
strengths and weaknesses of “networked” approaches to global governance?
Optional further reading
Henry Farrell and Abraham L. Newman, “Weaponizing Interdependence: How Global Economic Networks
Shape State Coercion,” International
Security 44:1 (2019), pp 42-79.
https://doi.org/10.1162/isec_a_00351
Week
8 – The World Trade System
Required reading
Richard Baldwin, “The World Trade Organization and the Future of
Multilateralism,” Journal of Economic
Perspectives 30:1 (2016), pp. 95-116.
https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.30.1.95
Kristen Hopewell, “The BRICS—Merely a Fable? Emerging Power
Alliances in Global Trade Governance,” International
Affairs 93:6 (2017), pp. 1377-1396.
https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iix192
Hiroyuki Suzuki, “Building Resilient Global Supply Chains: The
Geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific Region,” Centre for Strategic and International Studies (February 2021).
James Scott and Rorden Wilkinson, “Reglobalizing Trade: Progressive Global Governance in an
Age of Uncertainty,” Globalizations 18:1
(2021), pp. 55-69
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14747731.2020.1779965
Discussion questions
·
How did the
world trade system evolve?
·
Why is the
WTO struggling to perform its role?
·
Why is there
now a “governance gap” in the world trade system?
·
What are the future
scenarios for the system? Which scenario is the most likely?
Week
9 – Climate Change Politics
Required reading
“Why Tackling Global Warming Is a Challenge Without Precedent,” Economist (April 23, 2020).
Louis J. Kotzé, “The Anthropocene’s
Global Environmental Constitutional Moment,” Yearbook of International Environmental Law 25:1 (2014), pp. 24-60.
https://doi.org/10.1093/yiel/yvv065
Thomas Hale, “Transnational Actors and Transnational Governance in
Global Environmental Politics,” Annual
Review of Political Science 23 (2020), pp. 203-220.
https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-polisci-050718-032644
Anatol Lieven, “Climate Change and the State:
A Case for Environmental Realism,” Survival
62:2 (2020), pp. 7-26.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00396338.2020.1739945
Discussion questions
·
Why have
global efforts to regulate climate change fallen short?
·
What is “transnational
environmental governance” and how important is it?
·
Is the
climate change challenge leading to a “constitutional moment” in world
politics?
·
Is climate
change a “threat” – and why does this question matter?
Optional further reading
A classic – Garrett Hardin, “The Tragedy of the Commons,” Science 162 (1968), pp. 1243-1248.
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/162/3859/1243
Week
10 – International Development
Required reading
Sarah Babb, “The Washington Consensus as Transnational Policy
Paradigm: Its Origins, Trajectory and Likely Successor,” Review of International Political Economy 20:2 (2013), pp. 268-297.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09692290.2011.640435
Sophie Harman and David Williams, “International Development in
Transition,” International Affairs
90:4 (2014), pp. 925-941.
https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2346.12148
Shahar Hameiri and Lee Jones, “China
Challenges Global Governance? Chinese International Development Finance and the
AIIB,” International Affairs 94:3
(2018), pp. 573-593.
https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiy026
Francesca Ghiretti, “B3W: Building an
Alternative to the BRI or Falling Into the Same Trap?” The Diplomat (June 22,
2021).
Discussion questions
·
What does the
rise and decline of the “Washington consensus” tell us about the role of policy
paradigms in international affairs?
·
What is the
relationship between global power politics and international development?
Optional further reading
“Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy,” Government of
Canada (2017).
Week
11 – The International Order
Required reading
Evan S. Medeiros, “The Changing Fundamentals of US-China
Relations,” Washington Quarterly 42:3
(2019), pp. 93-119.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0163660X.2019.1666355
G. John Ikenberry, “The End of Liberal International Order?” International Affairs 94:1 (2018),
pp. 7-23.
https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iix241
Amitav Acharya, “After Liberal Hegemony: The Advent of a Multiplex World
Order,” Ethics and International Affairs
31:3 (2017), pp. 271-285.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S089267941700020X
Joseph
E. Stiglitz, Globalization in the Aftermath of the
Pandemic and Trump,” Journal of Policy
Modeling 43:4 (2021), pp. 794-804.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0161893821000351
Discussion questions
·
What are the
drivers of the growing rivalry between the US and China – and what are the
possible implications of this rivalry.
·
What type of
world order is emerging?
Optional further reading
Barry R. Posen, “Do Pandemics Promote Peace? Why Sickness Slows
the March to War,” Foreign Affairs
(April 23, 2020).
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2020-04-23/do-pandemics-promote-peace
Rachel Brown, Heather Hurlburt and Alexandra Stark, “How the
Coronavirus Sows Civil Conflict,” Foreign
Affairs (June 6, 2020).
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/world/2020-06-06/how-coronavirus-sows-civil-conflict
Week
12 – Canada in a Changing World
Required reading
Roland Paris, “Navigating New World Disorder: Canada’s
Post-Pandemic Foreign Policy,” Public Policy Forum (July 2020).
http://aix1.uottawa.ca/~rparis/Paris_Navigating_2020.pdf
Aaron Ettinger, “Rumors of Restoration: Joe
Biden’s Foreign Policy and What It Means for Canada,” Canadian Foreign Policy Journal (published online April 2, 2021).
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/11926422.2021.1899005
Kari Roberts, “Geopolitics and Diplomacy in Canadian
Arctic Relations,” in David Carment and Richard Nimijean, eds., Political
Turmoil in a Tumultuous World (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021), pp. 125-146.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70686-9_6
Duane Bratt, “Stuck in the
Middle with You: Canada–China Relations in the Era of U.S.–China Clashes,” in
David Carment and Richard Nimijean,
eds., Political Turmoil in a Tumultuous
World (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021), pp. 273-294.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70686-9_13
Discussion questions
·
What are the
principal ways in which global changes are affecting Canada?
·
In what directions,
and using what methods, should Canada be seeking to influence international
affairs?
POLICIES
AND NOTICES
Lateness
Policy
There will be a penalty for late
submissions. Exceptions are made only for illness or other serious situations
deemed as such by the professor. University regulations require all absences
from exams and all late submissions due to illness to be supported by a medical
certificate. The Faculty reserves the right to accept or reject the reason put
forth if it is not medical. Reasons such as travel, work and errors made while
reading the exam schedule are not usually accepted. This also applies to
assignments sent by email (in which case the time of receipt of the email by
the recipient indicates the time of delivery). Please notify the professor as
soon as possible if a religious holiday or event forces your absence during an
evaluation. Response papers: Late submissions will result in a penalty of 5% (weekends
included) per day of lateness; response papers will not be accepted after the
class meeting where the readings were discussed. Exams: Late submissions will not be accepted.
Beware
Academic Fraud
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by a student to distort the marking of assignments, tests, examinations, and
other forms of academic evaluation. Academic fraud is neither accepted nor
tolerated by the University. Anyone found guilty of academic fraud is liable to
severe academic sanctions. Examples of academic fraud include:
·
engaging in
any form of plagiarism or cheating;
·
presenting
falsified research data;
·
handing in an
assignment that was not authored, in whole or in part, by the student;
·
submitting the
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The Internet has made it much
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a grade of “F”
for the assignment or course in question;
·
an additional
program requirement of between 3 and 30 credits;
·
suspension or
expulsion from the Faculty.
For more information, refer to the
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