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Theories and Methods in International Relations and Diplomacy
Study Course Description
Course Description Statuss:Approved
Course Description Version:1.00
Study Course Accepted:05.03.2024 17:00:23
| Study Course Information | |||||||||
| Course Code: | SZF_054 | LQF level: | Level 7 | ||||||
| Credit Points: | 4.00 | ECTS: | 6.00 | ||||||
| Branch of Science: | Politics | Target Audience: | Political Science | ||||||
| Study Course Supervisor | |||||||||
| Course Supervisor: | Kārlis Bukovskis | ||||||||
| Study Course Implementer | |||||||||
| Structural Unit: | Faculty of Social Sciences | ||||||||
| The Head of Structural Unit: | |||||||||
| Contacts: | Dzirciema street 16, Rīga, szf rsu[pnkts]lv | ||||||||
| Study Course Planning | |||||||||
| Full-Time - Semester No.1 | |||||||||
| Lectures (count) | 12 | Lecture Length (academic hours) | 2 | Total Contact Hours of Lectures | 24 | ||||
| Classes (count) | 11 | Class Length (academic hours) | 2 | Total Contact Hours of Classes | 22 | ||||
| Total Contact Hours | 46 | ||||||||
| Part-Time - Semester No.1 | |||||||||
| Lectures (count) | 7 | Lecture Length (academic hours) | 2 | Total Contact Hours of Lectures | 14 | ||||
| Classes (count) | 10 | Class Length (academic hours) | 2 | Total Contact Hours of Classes | 20 | ||||
| Total Contact Hours | 34 | ||||||||
| Study course description | |||||||||
| Preliminary Knowledge: | Basic knowledge of international relations and international processes. | ||||||||
| Objective: | To provide a comprehensive review of theories and methods of international relations. | ||||||||
| Topic Layout (Full-Time) | |||||||||
| No. | Topic | Type of Implementation | Number | Venue | |||||
| 1 | Course settings and requirements. Significance of international political theories and need to study international relations. Development of theories of contemporary international relations, actors and structures. Great Debates. | Classes | 2.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 2 | Actors in international politics: Geopolitics, classical realism, neorealism un neoclassical realism. Structure of international politics: neorealism and neoliberalism. Anarchy, structure and regimes. Classical liberalism (pluralism) in international relations research. Tradition of international society (English school). | Lectures | 3.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 3 | The contribution of realism to the development of theories of international relations. Is realism still relevant nowadays? Does liberalism (pluralism) offer all-encompassing explanations? | Classes | 2.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 4 | Post-positivist tradition in international relations. | Lectures | 3.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 5 | Concepts, theories and approaches – other approaches. Postcolonialism, feminism, green theories. Securitisation and security communities. Institutionalism. | Classes | 2.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 6 | Choice and preliminary research of the Master’s thesis topic. Structure of work and formulation of basic settings, defining the theoretical framework. Drafting and designing a Master’s thesis. | Lectures | 3.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 7 | Presentation of abstracts of a Master’s thesis. | Classes | 2.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 8 | Selection of literature and sources. Research planning – methods and methodology. Qualitative and quantitative methods. | Lectures | 3.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 9 | Consultations | Classes | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 10 | Exam | Classes | 2.00 | E-Studies platform | |||||
| Topic Layout (Part-Time) | |||||||||
| No. | Topic | Type of Implementation | Number | Venue | |||||
| 1 | Course settings and requirements. Significance of international political theories and need to study international relations. Development of theories of contemporary international relations, actors and structures. Great Debates. | Classes | 2.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 2 | Actors in international politics: Geopolitics, classical realism, neorealism un neoclassical realism. Structure of international politics: neorealism and neoliberalism. Anarchy, structure and regimes. Classical liberalism (pluralism) in international relations research. Tradition of international society (English school). | Lectures | 3.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 3 | The contribution of realism to the development of theories of international relations. Is realism still relevant nowadays? Does liberalism (pluralism) offer all-encompassing explanations? | Classes | 2.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 4 | Post-positivist tradition in international relations. | Lectures | 2.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 5 | Concepts, theories and approaches – other approaches. Postcolonialism, feminism, green theories. Securitisation and security communities. Institutionalism. | Classes | 3.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 8 | Selection of literature and sources. Research planning – methods and methodology. Qualitative and quantitative methods. | Lectures | 2.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 9 | Consultations | Classes | 1.00 | E-Studies platform | |||||
| 10 | Exam | Classes | 2.00 | E-Studies platform | |||||
| Assessment | |||||||||
| Unaided Work: | • Active participation in lectures and seminars, including expressing an opinion about reports of other students. • Essays. To assess the overall quality of the study course, the student must complete the course evaluation questionnaire on the Student Portal. | ||||||||
| Assessment Criteria: | • Active participation during classes and seminars – 30%; • Essays – 20%; • Final report – 20%; • Exam – 30%. | ||||||||
| Final Examination (Full-Time): | Exam (Written) | ||||||||
| Final Examination (Part-Time): | Exam (Written) | ||||||||
| Learning Outcomes | |||||||||
| Knowledge: | Knowledge of theories of international relations and qualitative and quantitative research methods employed in the analysis of international relations. | ||||||||
| Skills: | Ability to individually use both qualitative and quantitative research methods in the analysis of theories of international relations and empirical phenomena. | ||||||||
| Competencies: | Ability to practically use knowledge about theories of international relations and using research methods in a qualitative way. | ||||||||
| Bibliography | |||||||||
| No. | Reference | ||||||||
| Required Reading | |||||||||
| 1 | Visa literatūra ir angļu valodā un piemērota gan latviešu, gan angļu plūsmas studentiem | ||||||||
| 2 | M., Reus-Smit, C., True, J. 2022. Theories of International Relations. Houndmills, New York. Palgrave Macmillan. | ||||||||
| 3 | Hans J. Morgenthau, revised by Kenneth W. Thompson. Politics among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace. Brief ed. (New York [etc.]: McGraw-Hill, 2006) | ||||||||
| 4 | Keohane, R. and Nye, J. S. Power and Interdependence: World Politics in Transition. (Boston: Little, Brown and Co. 2012) | ||||||||
| 5 | Ernst B. Haas, The Uniting Of Europe: Political, Social, And Economical Forces, 1950-1957 (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2004) | ||||||||
| 6 | Kenneth Waltz. Theory of International Politics (Boston etc.: McGraw Hills, 1979) | ||||||||
| 7 | Ruggie, J., 1998. Constructing the World Polity. London, New York: Roeutledge | ||||||||
| 8 | Lene Hansen, Security as Practice, 2006 | ||||||||
| 9 | Martha Finnemore and Kathryn Sikkink. “International Norm Dynamics and Political Change”, in Peter J. Katzenstein, Robert O. Keohane, Stephen D. Krasner (eds.), Exploration and Contestation in the Study of World Politics (Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England: The MIT Press, 1999) | ||||||||
| 10 | Alexander Wendt. Social Theory of International Politics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999) | ||||||||
| 11 | Buzan, B., Hansen, L. 2009. The Evolution of International Security Studies. Cambridge University Press. | ||||||||
| 12 | David Campbell. Writing Security: United States Foreign Policy and the Politics of Identity. Manchester University Press, 1998 | ||||||||
| 13 | Tarak Barkawi, Mark Laffey. “The postcolonial moment in security studies”. Review of International Studies (no. 32, 2006) | ||||||||
| 14 | Robert W. Cox, Production Power and World Order: Social Forces in the Making of History, New York: Columbia University Press, 1987 | ||||||||
| 15 | Cristopher S. Browning, Matt McDonald. “The future of critical security studies: Ethics and politics of security”. European Journal of International Relations, Vol. 19, No. 2, 2011, pp. 235-255 | ||||||||
| 16 | Ryerson Christie. “Critical voices and Human Security: To Endure, To Engage or To Critique?” Security Dialogue, Vol. 41. No. 2, 2010, pp. 169-190. | ||||||||
| 17 | Stephen Van Evera, Guide to Methods for Students of Political Science. – Cornell University Press. – Ithaca and London. – 1997. | ||||||||
| 18 | Peter Burnham, Karin Gilland Lutz, Wyn Grant and Zig Layton-Henry, Research Methods in Politics, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008 | ||||||||
| 19 | John Gerring, Dino Christenson, Applied Social Science Methodology. An Introductory Guide, Cambridge University Press, 2017 | ||||||||
| 20 | Ed. by David Marsh and Gerry Stoker, Theory and Methods in Political Science, 3rd ed. – Palgrave Macmillan, 2022 | ||||||||
| 21 | John W.Creswell, Research Desing. Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches, 3rd ed. Sage, 2018 | ||||||||
| 22 | Thomas R. Lindlof, Bryan C.Taylor, Qualitative Communication Research Methods, 2nd ed., 2002, Sage Publications | ||||||||
| 23 | Roger Pierce, Research Methods in Politics, 2008, Sage Publications | ||||||||
| 24 | M.Larsen "Foreign Policy and Discourse Analysis". | ||||||||
| 25 | Kimberly A. Neuendorf, The Content Analysis. Guidebook. 2017, Sage Publications | ||||||||
| Additional Reading | |||||||||
| 1 | Andrew Moravcsik, Preferences and power in the European Community: A liberal intergovernmentalist approach. Journal of Common Market Studies, 1993, 31 (4): 473–524 | ||||||||
| 2 | Michael W. Doyle. Liberal Peace - Selected Essays (Routledge, 2012) | ||||||||
| 3 | Kenneth Waltz, Man, the State, and War. Columbia University Press. New York: 2018 | ||||||||
| 4 | Stefano Guzzini and Anna Leander (Eds.). Constructivism and International Relations: Alexander Wendt and His Critics. (Abingdon, Oxson, New York: Routledge), 2006, | ||||||||
| 5 | Mark Laffey, JuttaWeldes. “Decolonizing the Cuban Missile Crisis”, SPAIS Working paper, No.04-08 | ||||||||
| 6 | Wendt, Alexander. “Anarchy is What States Make of It: The Social Construction of Power Politics”. International Organization, Vol. 46, No. 2 (Spring, 1992), 391-425. | ||||||||
| 7 | Ruggie, J. G. Autumn 1998. “What Makes the World Hang Together? Neo-Utilitarianism and the Social Constructivist Challenge”, in International Organization. Vol. 52, No. 4. 855-885. | ||||||||
