International relations (IR) has become a compelling and exciting discipline in our increasingly globalised and interconnected world.  Its core concern has traditionally been to explain and describe relations among states and other collective actors, and to conceptually distinguish these relations from politics within domestic realms.  This course provides you with an introduction to the main theories that have been devised to explain IR, starting with the rise of the modern state system and into the twentieth century, when IR first began to be studied as a specific field.  We will then seek to explain recent and contemporary global problems according to these theories, and show how new problems in today's world have, in turn, given rise to new theoretical approaches.  

• Be familiar with main themes in political thought about international relations before the emergence of IR as a field in the 20^th century

• Trace the rise of the 'state system' from the 17^th century until the present day

• Show how the the two world wars of the 20^th century gave rise to modern IR

• Apply theoretical analysis to explain major events in contemporary international history

• Be familiar with contemporary debates about IR and its relevance in the 21^st century.

The module is to be delivered through a combination of small and large group teaching.

Generic Intellectual Skills:

• gather, organize and deploy evidence, data and information from a variety of secondary and some primary sources;
• identify, investigate, analyse, formulate and advocate solutions to problems;
• construct reasoned argument, synthesize relevant information and exercise critical judgement;
• reflect on their own learning and seek and make use of constructive feedback;
• manage their own learning self-critically.

Transferable Skills:

• Communicate ideas effectively and fluently, both orally and in writing;
• Use communication and information technologies for the retrieval and presentation of information;
• Work independently, demonstrating initiative, self-organisation and effective time management;
• Collaborate with others and contribute to the achievement of common goals;
• Develop techniques for self-reflection and improvement.

Assessment will take the form of one essay and one examination:

Essay: 40%, 1,000 words.

Examination: 60%, 1.5 hours.

- Defining the 'international'

- premodern visions

- the modern state-system

- foundations of International thought

- total war in the 20th century

- development of modern IR

- the major theoretical traditions 1

- major theoretical traditions 2

- Cold War and the International

- the post-Cold War order

- IR after the Western interstate model?

Essential readings will be selected from a range of books and journals available in the library and where necessary scanned copies will be made available on the online course learning resource.

Background Reading:

• Baylis, J. & Smith, S. & Owens, P. (eds).  The Globalisation of World Politics, 6th  Edition, (Oxford University Press, 2014);
• Sutch, P. & Elias, J., International Relations: the Basics, (Routledge, 2007);
• Bull, Hedley, The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World Politics, 2nd edition,(Macmillan, 1995),
• Egede, E & Sutch, P., the Politics of International Law and International Justice, (Edinburgh University Press, 2013).

• Garner, R., Ferdinand, P. & Lawson, S., Introduction to Politics, (Oxford University Press,2009);
• Brown, C. & Ainley, K., Understanding International Relations, 4th edition, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009);
• Jackson, R., & Sorensen, G., Introduction to International Relations: Theories and Approaches, 3rd Edition (Oxford University Press, 2007);
• Keylor, W.R., A World of Nations: The International Order since 1945, (Oxford University Press, 2003);
• Dixon, M., Textbook on International Law, 6th edition (Oxford University Press, 2007);