This is an archived course. A more recent version may be available at ocw.mit.edu.

Readings

Course readings.
SES #	TOPICS	READINGS
1	Introduction	No readings
2	Overview of the field	Thucydides. "Book 1." In The Peloponnesian War. Translated by Martin Hammond. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2009. ISBN: 9780192821911. Morgenthau, Hans. Politics Among Nations. Revised by Kenneth Thompson. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2005, chapters 1 and 2. ISBN: 9780072895391. Herz, John H. "Idealist Internationalism and the Security Dilemma." World Politics 2, no. 2 (1950): 157-180. Katzenstein, Peter, Robert Keohane, and Stephen Krasner. "International Organization and the Study of World Politics." International Organization 52, no. 4 (1998): 645-685. (PDF) Schmidt, Brian C. "On The History and Historiography of International Relations." In Handbook of International Relations. Edited by Walter Carlsnaes, Thomas Risse, and Beth A. Simmons. Newbury Park, CA: SAGE, 2002, pp. 3-22. ISBN: 9780761963059. Waltz, Kenneth. Theory of International Politics. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, Inc., 2010, chapter 1. ISBN: 9781577666707.
3	Material approaches	Waltz, Kenneth. Theory of International Politics. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, Inc., 2010, chapter 1. ISBN: 9781577666707. Paul Schroeder. "Historical Reality vs. Neo-Realist Theory." International Security 19, no. 1 (Summer 1994): 108-148. Schweller, Randall L. "Neorealism's Status Quo Bias: What Security Dilemma?" Security Studies 5, no. 3 (1996): 90-121. Wagner, R. Harrison. "What Was Bipolarity?" International Organization 47, no. 1 (Winter 1993): 77-106. Pape, Robert. "Soft Balancing against the United States." International Security 30, no. 1 (Summer 2005): 7-45. Barnett, Michael, and Raymond Duvall. "Power in International Politics." International Organization 59, no. 1 (Winter 2005): 39-75. Berenskoetter, Felix. "Thinking about Power." In Power in World Politics. Edited by Felix Berenskoetter, and Michael J. Williams. London, UK: Routledge, 2008, pp. 1-22. ISBN: 9780415421133.
4	Rationalist approaches	Oye, Kenneth. "Explaining Cooperation Under Anarchy." World Politics 38, no. 1 (1985): 1-24. Keohane, Robert O. After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World Political Economy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2005, pp. 49-109. ISBN: 9780691122489. Jervis, Robert. "Cooperation under the Security Dilemma." World Politics 30, no. 2 (January 1978): 167-214. Schelling, Thomas C. Arms and Influence. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1967, pp. 35-125. ISBN: 9780300002218. Lake, David A., and Robert Powell. "International Relations: A Strategic Choice Approach." In Strategic Choice and International Relations. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999, pp. 1-38. ISBN: 9780691026978. Morrow, James. "The Strategic Setting of Choices: Signaling, Commitment and Negotiation." In Strategic Choice and International Relations. Edited by David A. Lake and Robert Powell. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999, pp. 77-114. ISBN: 9780691026978.
5	Ideational and identity-based approaches	Ruggie, John Gerard. "What Makes the World Hang Together? Neo-Utilitarianism and the Social Constructivist Challenge." International Organization 52, no. 4 (Autumn 1998): 855-885. (PDF - 3.3MB) Wendt, Alexander. "Anarchy is what States Make of it: The Social Construction of Power Politics." International Organization 46, no. 2 (Spring 1992): 391-425. Finnemore, Martha. National Interests in International Society. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1996, pp. 1-33. ISBN: 9780801483233. Weldes, Jutta. "Constructing National Interests." European Journal of International Relations 2, no. 3 (1996): 275-318. Hopf, Ted. Social Construction of International Politics: Identities and Foreign Policies of Moscow, 1955 and 1999. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2002, pp. 1-38. ISBN: 9780801487910. Haas, Mark L. The Ideological Origins of Great Power Politics, 1789-1989. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2007, pp. 1-39. ISBN: 9780801474071. Goldstein, Judith, and Robert Keohane. "Ideas and Foreign Policy: An Analytical Framework." In Ideas and Foreign Policy. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1993, pp. 3-30. ISBN: 9780801481529. Abdelal, Rawi, Yoshiko Herrera, Alastair Iain Johnston, and Rose McDermott. "Identity as a Variable." Perspectives on Politics 4, no. 4 (December 2006): 695-711.
6	Cognitive approaches	Allison, Graham T. "Conceptual Models and the Cuban Missile Crisis." The American Political Science Review 63, no. 3 (1969): 689-718. (PDF - 1.6MB) Byman, Daniel L., and Kenneth M. Pollack. "Let Us Now Praise Great Men: Bringing the Statesman Back In." International Security 25, no. 4 (March 2001): 107-146. Jervis, Robert. "Hypotheses on Misperception." World Politics 20, no. 3 (April 1968): 454-479. Stein, Arthur A. "When Misperceptions Matter." World Politics 34, no. 4 (July 1982): 505-526. Wohlforth, William C. "The Perception of Power: Russia in the Pre-1914 Balance." World Politics 39, no. 3 (April 1987): 353-381. Levy, Jack S. "Prospect Theory, Rational Choice, and International Relations." International Studies Quarterly 41, no. 1 (March 1997): 87-112. (PDF - 3.7MB) Mercer, Jonathan. "Rationality and Psychology in International Politics." International Organization 59, no. 1 (Winter 2005): 77-106. Larsen, Deborah Welch. Origins of Containment: A Psychological Explanation. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1989, pp. 24-65. ISBN: 9780691023038. Bueno de Mesquita, Bruce, and Rose McDermott. "Crossing No Man's Land: Cooperation From the Trenches." Political Psychology 25, no. 2 (2004): 271-287.
7	Domestic institutions and preferences	Frieden, Jeffry A. "Actors and Preferences in International Relations." In Strategic Choice and International Relations. Edited by David A. Lake, and Robet Powell. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999, pp. 39-76. ISBN: 9780691026978. Moravcsik, Andrew. "Taking Preferences Seriously: A Liberal Theory of International Politics." International Organization 51, no. 4 (Autumn 1997): 512-553. (PDF) Frieden, Jeffry A. "Sectoral Conflict and Foreign Economic Policy, 1914-1940." International Organization 42, no. 1 (1988): 59-90. Narizny, Kevin. The Political Economy of Grand Strategy. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2007, pp. 1-38. ISBN: 9780801474309. Friedberg, Aaron L. "Why Didn't the United States Become A Garrison State?" International Security 16, no. 4 (Spring 1992): 109-142. Fearon, James D. "Domestic Politics, Foreign Policy, and Theories of International Relations." Annual Review of Political Science 1 (1998): 289-313. (PDF) Putnam, Robert. "Diplomacy and Domestic Politics: The Logic of Two-Level Games." International Organization 42, no. 3 (Summer 1988): 427-460. (PDF)
8	War and conflict	Van Evera, Stephen. Causes of War. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2001, chapter 6. ISBN: 9780801482953. Gilpin, Robert. War and Change in World Politics. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1983, chapter 5. ISBN: 9780521273763. Fearon, James D. "Rationalist Explanations for War." International Organization 49, no. 3 (Summer 1995): 379-414. Kirshner, Jonathan. "Rationalist Explanations for War?" Security Studies 10, no. 1 (Autumn 2000): 143-50. Bennett, D. Scott, and Allan C. Stam III. The Behavioral Origins of War. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2003, chapters 4-5. ISBN: 9780472068449. Snyder, Jack. The Ideology of the Offensive: Military Decision Making and the Disasters of 1914. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1989, chapter 1. ISBN: 9780801482441. Levy, Jack. "Organizational Routines and the Causes of War." International Studies Quarterly 30, no. 2 (June 1986): 193-222. (PDF)
9	Peace and international cooperation	Bull, Hedley. The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World Politics. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 1977, chapters 1-3. ISBN: 9780333199152. Martin, Lisa L. "Interests, Power, and Multilateralism." International Organization 46, no. 4 (1992): 765-792. Mearsheimer, John. "The False Promise of International Institutions." International Security 13, no. 3 (1994): 5-49. (PDF - 5.5MB) Keohane, Robert, and Lisa Martin. "The Promise of Institutionalist Theory." International Security 20, no. 1 (1995): 39-51. (PDF) Fearon, James. "Bargaining, Enforcement, and International Cooperation." International Organization 52, no. 2 (1998): 269-305. Boehmer, Charles, Erik Gartzke, and Timothy Nordstrom. "Do Intergovernmental Organizations Promote Peace?" World Politics 57 (October 2004): 1-38. Johnston, Alastair Iain. "Treating International Institutions as Social Environments." International Studies Quarterly 45, no. 4 (2002): 487-515. (PDF)
10	Peace and domestic institutions	Doyle, Michael W. "Liberalism and World Politics." The American Political Science Review 80, no. 4 (1986): 1151-1169. Owen, John M. "How Liberalism Produces Democratic Peace." International Security 19, no. 2 (1994): 87-125. Layne, Christopher. "Kant or Cant: The Myth of the Democratic Peace." International Security 19, no. 2 (1994): 5-49. (PDF) Maoz, Zeev, and Bruce Russett. "Normative and Structural Causes Of The Democratic Peace, 1946-1986." American Political Science Review 87, no. 3 (1993): 624-638. (PDF) Risse, Thomas. "Democratic Peace - Warlike Democracies? A Social Constructivist Interpretation of the Liberal Argument." European Journal of International Relations 1, no. 4 (1995): 491-517. Mansfield, Edward, and Jack L. Snyder. "Democratic Transitions, Institutional Strength, and War." International Organization 56, no. 2 (Spring 2002): 297-337. (PDF) Fearon, James D. "Domestic Political Audiences and the Escalation of International Disputes." American Political Science Review 88, no. 3 (September 1994): 577-592. Schultz, Kenneth A. "Do Democratic Institutions Constrain or Inform? Contrasting Two Institutional Perspectives on Democracy and War." International Organization 53, no. 2 (Spring 1999): 233-266.
11	Institutional design and compliance	Chayes, Abram, and Antonia Chayes. "On Compliance." International Organization 47, no. 2 (Spring 1993): 175-206. Downs, George W., David M. Rocke, and Peter N. Barsoom. "Is the Good News about Compliance Good News about Cooperation?" International Organization 50, no. 3 (Summer 1996): 379-406. (PDF - 2.6MB) Simmons, Beth A. "International Law and State Behavior: Commitment and Compliance in International Monetary Affairs." American Political Science Review 94, no. 4 (2000): 819-835. Downs, George W., David M. Rocke, and Peter N. Barsoom. "Managing the Evolution of Multilateralism." International Organization 52, no. 2 (1998): 397-419. Koremenos, Barbara, Charles Lipson, and Duncan Snidal. "The Rational Design of International Institutions." International Organization 55, no. 4 (2001): 761-800. Barnett, Michael, and Martha Finnemore. "The Politics, Power, and Pathologies of Intl Organizations." International Organization 53, no. 4 (1999): 699-732. Ikenberry, G. John. "Institutions, Strategic Restraint, and the Persistence of American Postwar Order." International Security 23, no. 3 (1998/99): 43-78.
12	Unipolarity	Special Issue: International Relations Theory and the Consequences of Unipolarity. World Politics, January 2009.

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