The following are the “official” discussion questions for this course. Students should feel free to offer their own replies to these questions via the “Comments” function below.

Class 1: Introduction and Overview (Tue 8 Sept)

1. According to Ikenberry, what is “the problem of order”?
2. How does Ikenberry understand the nature of domestic order compared to international order? Do you agree or disagree with his characterization? What examples can you cite to support your reaction?

Class 2: Almighty Sovereignty: States as our Actors (Thur 10 Sept)

1. Compare and contrast the conceptions of sovereignty developed by Bodin, Weber, and by Hobbes.
2. According to Bull, why doesn’t Hobbes’ theory automatically lead to world government? Do you agree or disagree with Bull’s reasoning?
3. How does Waltz understand the nature of domestic order compared to international order? How does this view compare to the view developed by Ikenberry? Do you agree or disagree with his characterization? What examples can you cite to support your reaction?

Class 3: Rethinking Sovereignty: The Emperors Have no Robes (Tue 15 Sept)

1. According to Krasner, when was the concept of “sovereignty” created? Who created it, and why? What are the implications of appreciating that this concept was constructed? Do you agree with Krasner’s argument?
2. Krasner attempts to explain international phenomena by analyzing the origins of a key mechanism of international order: the concept of sovereignty. How useful do you think this approach is? Are there other key concepts that you think deserve a similar treatment?
3. What are the several types of sovereignty Krasner lists? How do they relate to one another?
4. Which types of sovereignty matter the most, and which matter the least? Has the relative significance of the different types of sovereignty changed over time? In other words, have some types of sovereignty come to matter more while others have come to matter less?

Class 4: Challenging the Domestic/International Distinction (Thur 17 Sept)

1. Consider the following two questions from the standpoint of the traditional view–i.e. the readings we read for Class 2. First, is the distinction between “domestic” and “international” politics one of type or of degree? Second, what are the defining characteristics of each?
2. How would each of the authors we read for today respond to those same questions: is the distinction between “domestic” and “international” politics one of type or of degree; and what are the defining characteristics of each?
3. If the distinction is one of degree rather than of type, then what are the implications for whom we study as “actors” in “international politics.”
4. The distinction between the Political Science subfields “International Politics” and “Comparative Politics” are largely based on an assumption that the two realms of politics–“domestic” and “international”–function essentially differently. Think back to the courses you’ve taken in each subfield. To what extent is this true? Can you think of any ways in which your study of these two fields would have been different if you had assumed the distinctions between “domestic” and “international” politics were ones of degree rather than of type?

Class 5: Universalism: An Alternative Framework of International Organization (Tue 22 Sept)

1. Hobbes wrote that without a sovereign, “there is no place for Industry…no Navigation…no Instruments of moving, and removing such things as require much force; no Knowledge of the face of the Earth; no account of Time; no Arts; no Letters; no Society…” In Hobbes’ formulation, security was a prerequisite for all of these pursuits; and, without a sovereign, there could be no security. Do you think maximizing security is really the purpose of all political organization? What are some of the other ends we might maximize?
2. What did Burke mean by the formulation “armed doctrine”? On what grounds did Burke challenge French Revolutionary universalism?
3. What pursuits did Kipling suggest ought to trump sovereignty? With which do you agree and disagree? Why?
4. What do Pease & Forsythe mean by “suffering versus sovereignty”? Which do they privilege? What qualifications (if any) do they make?
5. Does peacekeeping keep peace?

Class 6: Distribution of Power Determines Level of Order (“Realism”) (Thur 24 Sept)

1. How does Morgenthau define “political power”? What are the implications of this understanding for the generation of order in the international system?
2. Waltz & Mearsheimer are both systemic theorists, meaning that they think the structure of the international system is the most important variable in determining outcomes. But they have radically different views about which structures lead to peace. What does each author posit? Which do you think is closer to the truth?
3. Gowa is one of the few authors to directly consider the interaction between political and economic policy in the international system. What does she suggest is the relationship between the two? What structures/circumstances tend to maximize international order?

Class 7: International Regimes Can Substitute for Hegemony (“Liberalism”) (Tue 29 Sept)

1. How does Keohane define “international regimes”? How, as a practical matter, do these regimes ensure cooperation?
2. Does Keohane consider himself to be a realist? What do you think is the significance of the title “After Hegemony”?
3. According to Axlerod & Keohane, what are the variables that shape interactions between international actors? How do they think these variables can be influenced to modify these interactions?
4. What are the three elements of legalization? How do they combine to influence international actors?
5. Is “international law” an oxymoron? Do you think it is possible for law to influence international actors’ behavior? Why or why not?

Class 8: Anarchy is What States Make of It (“Constructivism”) (Thur 1 Oct)

1. What are the two logics of human behavior developed by March & Olsen? Which logic do you think influences actors more often?
2. What does Wendt mean when he suggests that “power politics” is “socially constructed”?
3. What differentiates Wendt from other “conventional” realists like John Mearsheimer? In the end, is Wendt a realist?
4. According to Katzenstein, what determines states’ interests? How does Katzenstein define the terms norm, identity, and culture?

Class 9: The First Era of Globalization (Tue 6 Oct)

1. What were the salient features of the international “order” before the First World War? What was the relationship between order and globalization?
2. According to Eichengreen, what were the principle mechanisms by which order was generated?
3. How did the gold standard emerge? During its apogee, how did it operate? What variables supported its successful operation? What variables tended to undermine its operation? How important was the gold standard in the prewar global economic order?
4. How does Keynes describe the nature and sources of order before the First World War? How does his account compare to the account given by Eichengreen?

Class 10: Pax Britannica (Thur 8 Oct)

1. According to Angell, was conflict between the major European powers unthinkable? What variables tended to decrease the likelihood of such conflict?
2. We’ve read a lot of Krasner before. How does the understanding of the nature of international order he gives here compare to the rendering in his works on sovereignty?
3. According to Krasner, what tends to increase the orderliness of the global economy? What is the logic he uses to explain that theory? What evidence does he use to support that conclusion? How well does his evidence confirm his theory?

Class 11: The War to End all Wars (Thur 15 Oct)

1. What do you think was the role of nationalism in leading to the First World War? How might things have progressed if Rupert Brooke’s writings had been more like those of Erich Remarque?
2. According to George Kennan, what was the cause of the First World War? What was the role of democracy? How did he think the US should have conceptualized the war and the postwar settlement?
3. According to Van Evera, what was the cause of the First World War? How does Sagan criticize this view? Which explanation do you find more compelling? What are the implications of each explanation for our understanding of the nature of the international order? What causes peace and war according to each author?

Class 12: Attempts to Restore Order (Tue 20 Oct)

1. How would you characterize Woodrow Wilson’s understanding of the logic/nature of international order? Did he adhere to the classical perspective, the revisionist perspective, or to universalism? If the latter, what was the universal value/principle he thought ought to underpin the international system?
2. What, for Wilson, constituted “international order”? What did he think determined the level of international order?
3. According to Keynes, what variables determined the outcome of the Treaty of Versailles? What was the role of structural conditions–distribution of power, structure of alliances, &c.–compared to psychological and personal factors–level of understanding, strategic savvy, cognitive biases?
4. How does Ikenberry’s account compare to the account given by Keynes? What are the similarities? What are the differences?

Class 13: Dissolution and Collapse of the Global Economy (Thur 22 Oct)

1. Why, according to Eichengreen, was the international gold standard so much more difficult to sustain after the war than before it?
2. What are the various “classic” explanations for the passage of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff of 1930? How does Eichengreen’s compare? How do these explanations compare to the theories we considered in Unit 1?
3. How does Eichengreen explain Keynes’ views on protectionism? On what grounds did Keynes explain and justify protectionism in the General Theory of Employment, Interest, & Money?

Class 14: Nationalism over Idealism (Tue 27 Oct)

1. According to Carr, what is the relationship between power and morality? What is the relationship between moral “phraseology” and policy imperatives?
2. Does Carr believe that there exists a universal moral standard that can guide our foreign policy?
3. How does Carr’s criticism of Woodrow Wilson compare to the criticisms leveled by JM Keynes?

Class 15: National Socialism & State Shinto (Thur 29 Oct)

1. According to Hitler, what was (and ought to be) the logic of the international order? Would you characterize Hitler as a classical sovereignty theorist, a revisionist, or a universalist?
2. What did Hitler mean when he suggested that “The main plank in the National Socialist program is to abolish the liberalistic concept of the individual and the Marxist concept of humanity and to substitute
   therefore the folk community, rooted in the soil and bound together by the bond of its common blood.”?
3. How does Sagan explain the Japanese decision to attack Pearl Harbor? Does he view this as a rational decision?
4. What might we infer about the wartime Japanese leaders’ view of the logic of international order? Would you characterize these leaders as classical sovereignty theorists, a revisionist, or a universalist?

Class 16: The Allied Response: Idealism or Realism? (Tue 3 Nov)

1. (Under construction!)

Class 17: The Organization of the Global Economy (The Broad Story) (Thur 5 Nov)

1. (Under construction!)

Class 18: The Organization of the Global Economy (The Case of Money) (Tue 10 Nov)

1. (Under construction!)

Class 19: The Organization of Global Politics (Thur 12 Nov)

1. (Under construction!)

Class 20: The Cold War (Tue 17 Nov)

1. What, according to Kennan, are the “sources of Soviet conduct”? What the role of things like national character? communist ideology? the distribution of power?
2. Did Kennan think that Russia’s organization of its internal economy mattered to the US and its allies? How successful did Kennan think the US would be in any attempts to reform that economy?
3. What did Kennan think regarding the possibility of a war with Russia? What did he propose as the US security strategy vis-a-vis Russia?
4. Why was Churchill so concerned with the actions of the USSR? How do his views compare with those of Kennan?
5. What role did Rowe think the US position in the UN play in shaping conflict between the US and the USSR?

Class 21: Economic Change: The Fall of Bretton Woods and the Transformation of the Trade Regime (Thur 19 Nov)

1. What did it mean to “close the gold window”? What were the implications of this decision for the global financial system? What were the consequences that followed?
2. Why, according to President Nixon, did he “close the gold window”? Do you find his explanations believable?
3. How does Gowa explain President Nixon’s decision? How does Gowa’s explanation compare to the explanation given by Nixon?
4. What, according to Barton, et al, have been the major features and developments of the postwar trade regime? How do they explain these developments?

Class 22: The Cold War’s Abrupt End and Some Attempts to Organize Post-Cold War Security (Tue 24 Nov)

1. According to Ikenberry, what are the major differences between the end of the Cold War and the previous postwar settlements? What predictions does Ikenberry make about the implications of these differences? Do you think his predictions will bear fruit? Have they thus far?
2. How did each of the various world leaders explain the end of the Cold War? Which explanation do you think is closest to describing the “truth”? Is there a single truth? What incentives did these actors face to “spin” the events and decisions of that momentous shift?
3. What are the various theories of security that have emerged since the end of the Cold War? Are there any similarities? What are the most striking differences? What do you think are the implications of the end of the Cold War for how we pursue security?

Class 23: The Wars in Iraq: From With Us to “With Us or Against Us” (Tue 1 Dec)

1. (Under construction!)

Class 24: The End of International Order? (Thur 3 Dec)

1. (Under construction!)