Instructions for the Reviews:
The Reviews must follow this Format/Content:
All the readings for each Section should be covered in the Review for that section. The degree of attention and space you devote to each reading in your review, however, is up to you. The point is not to write a detailed summary of the readings but to identify the key and salient points of each author’s findings and assertions. You can, but you do not need to, write these reviews in essay format; you can simply name the author and identify key arguments/points that you think are most important in that particular reading. Your grade for each review will depend on: a) the comprehensiveness of your coverage, i.e., inclusion of the assigned readings and materials, b) meeting the minimum of required pages, and c) following the format provided here.
A minimum of a 5 page Review (no more than 7 pages) on the required readings/materials for each Section is mandatory. The Review must be typed double- spaced, with one inch margins and font 12 format.
Must Bold the names of authors.
Try to identify key points/main ideas of each reading.
Contrast and compare relevant and related reading materials when
a comparison is appropriate.
For the Video/Audio lectures (or conversations) that are required for a review, you
need to focus, as is the case with the readings, on identifying a few main ideas and key points. Only those videos that are designated in the Syllabus as “Required” must be included in the Review).
7) Read the readings and write the reviews in the sequence in which they appear on the Syllabus in order to maintain the flow of your engagement with the topic at hand.
8) Avoid long quotations.
Readings:
-Viotti & Kauppi: Preface, and Ch. 1/Selected Readings (pp. 1-116)
-Readings on Blackboard:
Rosenau & Durfee, “The Need for Theory”
E. H. Carr, “Carr”, excerpts from The Twenty Year Crisis Morgenthau, “Morgenthau”, excerpts from Politics Among Nations Waltz, “Realist Thought and Neorealist Theory”
Gilpin, “War and Change in World Politics”
Jervis, “Perception and Misperception in International Politics” Mearsheimer, “Tragedy of Great Power Politics”
Walt, “IR Theory for Lovers: A Valentine’s Guide”
Videos:
-Steve Smith on bringing International Relations theory to life (2014)-(Required)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvKRAd9b0zU&list=PLEHjEVChLOxfviThXGcSHMKhFf _vDyQdf&index=4
-Gerard van der Ree, “Realism”-Lecture (2914) (Required) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFeQNi8mK5Q
-Richard Betts, “Realism”-Lecture-(Columbia University)-March 2007 (54 minutes)-(Required) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCE7EB1Nvq4
-John Mearsheimer- Lecture: “Structural Realism”- (The Open University) 2014-(10 minutes). (10 minutes)-(Required)
-Conversation with Kenneth Waltz (2008) (Required) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9eV5gPlPZg&feature=channel -Conversation with John Mearsheimer (2002)
-John Mearsheimer, “Why China Cannot Rise Peacefully”-University of Ottowa-2012 (from minute 4 to 38 is the main lecture)-( Required)
-Kenneth Waltz, Scott Sagan, Richard Betts: A Nuclear Iran – Promoting Stability or Courting Disaster?- Columbia University-2007 (One hour and 28 minutes)
-John Mearsheimer on America Unhinged (Center for National Interest)-2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwqqzh59sVo
Notes on Readings for Review #1:
This section addresses issues related to three broad themes: a) the requirements of IR theory
building, b) classical realism, its philosophical underpinnings such as the ideas of Hobbes,Machiavelli, and Thucydides, realism’s key assumption, and some of the key thinkers such as Hans Morgenthau, and c) neorealism/structural realism, its key assumptions and differences with classical realism, and some of the key theorists such as Kenneth Waltz and John Mearsheimer. The video section includes comments by Steven Smith explaining the role of IR theory in general, two lectures by Richard Betts and Mearsheimer on the Realist school, and conversations with leading neorealists, Waltz and Mearsheimer, as well as a lecture on the rise of China from a neorealist perspective (Those videos in this section that are designated as “Required” must be included in the Review)
Last Completed Projects
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