The course introduces students to theories of international politics in the academic (sub-)discipline of International Relations (IR). While both practices and theories of ‘international relations’ are older, IR as a separate academic field of knowledge has been formally institutionalized in the interwar period, spreading and gaining further traction after World War II. Ever since, it has been a discipline in conflict over interpretations of world politics, over the status of theory between tradition, science, and critique, and over the links between knowledge, power, and society. The course presents major theories of IR, from realism, liberalism, and Marxism to critical theory, constructivism, feminism, and postcolonialism. In so doing, it taps into debates over the prospects for peace between power politics and multilateral institutions, questions of enmity, friendship, and change, and critiques of structures of exploitation, difference, and (mis)representation. As a field divided by many perspectives, IR reflects the stakes of thinking about world politics. It its theories, we always find both, different ways of interpreting the world and different models for acting in it.

Course overview
1. What are International Relations (IR)? An Introduction
2. Crisis and Critique: IR in the Interwar Period
3. Lineages of Power Politics: ‘Classical’ Realism
4. Anarchy and the Search for Security: Structural Realism
5. Interests and Cooperation: Liberal Institutionalism
6. Shared Norms and Values: The International Society of the English School
7. Globalized Exploitation: Marxist Perspectives on the International Order
8. Knowledge as Power: Critical Theory and Poststructuralism in IR
9. Worlds of our Making: Social Constructivism as ‘Middle Ground’ in IR?
10. Feminist Interventions and Gender in International Politics
11. Racial, Cultural, and Epistemic Hierarchies: Postcolonial Perspectives
12. Unity in Difference? International Relations as Problem and Ethos