PS 0500: Introduction to International Relations
William Spaniel
Spring 2022
Lecture: M/W 3:00-3:50 Cathedral of Learning 232
Recitation: As Scheduled
Office Hours: M 10:00-12:00 Posvar 4445
Email: williamspaniel@pitt.edu
Syllabus
YouTube Playlist
Assignments: Homework 1, Homework 2, Homework 3, Homework 4, Homework 5
International relations is the study of how states interact with each other. This course builds a working knowledge of our field, introducing the background, theoretical, and empirical tools necessary to understand international relations today. Students will learn about important findings in a variety of subfields, including war, international political economy, institutions, nuclear proliferation, and terrorism. To do so, the course emphasizes readings from original research material rather than from a textbook. Students will also solve problem sets and work with common international relations datasets to obtain a working understanding of the discipline’s methodological foundations.
Topic 12: Intervention
Slides: Here
Reading: The Critical Barrier to Civil War Settlement
Lectures: Where Does Terrorism Fester?, Commitment Problems, Exploitation and Civil War Settlements, The Critical Barrier to Civil War Settlement, Peacekeeping and Peacemaking
Topic 11: Terrorism
Slides: Here
Reading: The Strategies of Terrorism
Lectures: The Definition of Terrorism, Are Terrorists Rational?, The Frequency of Terrorism, The Profile of a Terrorist, Understanding Suicide Terrorism, Provocation and Terrorism, Spoiling the Peace, Counterterrorism as a Collective Action Problem
Topic 10: Nuclear Weapons
Slides: Here
Reading: Why Do States Build Nuclear Weapons? Three Models in Search of a Bomb
Lectures: Who Has Nuclear Weapons?, Mutually Assured Destruction, Is War Obsolete?, Nuclear Pessimism, Why Not Proliferate?, Covert Nuclear Programs, The Iraq War
Clip: Here
Topic 9: The United Nations
Slides: Here
Lectures: United Nations Security Council Membership, Veto Power, Insincere Voting, Bribery, Rally ‘Round the Flag Effects, Ideology in the General Assembly
Topic 8: International Institutions
Here
Lectures: Goods, Monitoring Institutions, Collective Action Problems, Hegemonic Provision of Public Goods, Issue Linkage, Unintended Consequences, The Justice Dilemma
Topic 7: Economic Sanctions
Readings: The Hidden Hand of Economic Coercion
Slides: Here
Lectures: Economic Sanctions Basics, Observational versus Experimental Studies, Selection Problems, The TIES Database, Costly Signaling, Leaders and Sanctions
Topic 6: Leaders
Slides: Here
Lecture: Principal-Agent Problems, Diversionary War, Gambling for Resurrection, Democratic Accountability, Leader Retirement, Fighting for Survival and Peace through Instability, Bargaining and Leaders, Pandering, Leaders and Uncertainty
Topic 5: The Democratic Peace Theory
Slides: Here
Lecture: The Democratic Peace Theory, Explaining the Democratic Peace, Correlation versus Causation, The McDonald’s Peace Theory, Economic Interdependence
Topic 4: International Trade
Slides: Here
Lecture: Absolute Advantage, Comparative Advantage, Trade Rivalry, Resolving Trade Disputes, The Relative Gains Problem
Topic 3: Bargaining and War
Readings: Rationalist Explanations for War and The Rationality of War (Chapter 2)
Slides: Lecture
Lecture: The Rationality of War (Online Bonus Lecture), The Unitary Actor Assumption, War’s Inefficiency Puzzle, The Algebraic Bargaining Model of War, War’s Bargaining Range, Crisis Bargaining (Online Bonus Lecture), Preventive War, Information Problems and Incentives to Misrepresent, Issue Indivisibility, Preemptive War, The Causes of War, Militarized Interstate Disputes, Correlates of War and the Long Peace
Special Topic: NATO’s Forward Deployments, Russia, and Ukraine
Topic 2: Basic Models of Conflict and Cooperation
Readings: The Evolution of Cooperation, Chapter 1 and Chapter 4
Slides: Here
Lecture: Conflict versus Cooperation, The Prisoner’s Dilemma, The Cult of the Offensive and the Origins of World War I, Tariffs and the Barriers to Free Trade, Arms Races, The Shadow of the Future, Grim Trigger, Benevolent Cooperation
Topic 1: IR Basics
Slides
Lecture: Introduction, Sovereignty, Anarchy, Proximate versus Underlying Causes, The Strategic World
Topic 0: Logistics
Slides
William Spaniel 