The end of Post- Cold War International Consensus and its Consequences
The course fee for 1-week online courses - that includes tuition fee and course materials – is 280 EUR. All applicants are required to pay 80 EUR (out of this 280) as registration fee at registration. You can also pay the whole amount at once. The registration fee (80 EUR) is non-refundable.
Credits: 4 EC
Our course offers ECTS points, which may be accepted for credit transfer by the participants' home universities. Those who wish to obtain these credits should inquire about the possible transfer at their home institution prior to their enrolment. The International Strategy Office will send a transcript to those who have fulfilled all the necessary course requirements and request one.
APPLICATION:
Please pay the registration fee and fill out this form: https://www.elte.hu/en/post-cold-war-bsu2024
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Defying the optimism of the immediate post-Cold War years, after nearly 80 years of almost uninterrupted peace, with the war in Ukraine, armed interstate conflict has returned to the continent of Europe. The conflict in the Middle East is also assuming unprecedented proportions, threatening with a wider international conflict. In the Far East, rising tensions on the Korean peninsula and in the Taiwan Strait could see the eruption of open hostilities in the near future. The nuclear arsenals of both the United States and Russia are being upgraded for the first time in three decades. The institutions of the post-WWII settlement, most notably the United Nations, seem no longer able to restrain or mediate these conflicts. Relying on historic as well as current International Relations theories, the short course will explain how these recent developments of global disequilibrium are explained by theorists and political analysts. The course includes an introduction to International Relations theory as well as to the historical background of the conflicts now in progress or threatening to break out in the world.
Requirements:
The course has no strict formal pre-requisites, however, BA or higher-level qualifications, or current attendance of a course, in modern History, International Relations, International Law or Political Science can provide a useful background for the course.
Session Design
A Series of Online Lectures about the Changing Order in World Politics
by Miklós Lojkó, Associate Professor, PhD (Cantab)
1. Has the international order, as envisaged in the post-WWII international settlement, collapsed? The growing rift between the West and the Global South. The real wars and the so-called culture wars – global and national. Are they systemic or “ideological”? The need for a structural examination based on International Relations theory.
2. Does order exist in world politics? Hugo Grotius and the Liberal tradition, the Peace of Westphalia (1648) and the states system. The Concepts of Sovereignty, World Order and the Idea of an International Society (McKay & Scott, The Rise of the Great Powers 1648-1815, 1983; Hedley Bull, The Anarchical Society, 1977)
3. The Birth of “International Relations”: E.H. Carr, The Twenty Years’ Crisis 1919-1939: An Introduction to the Study of International Relations (1939).
4. The Balance of Power versus the Anarchical Society: History & Theory (Michael Sheehan, The Balance of Power: History & Theory (1996); Hedley Bull, The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World Politics, 1977)
5. Approaches to the International order 1: The “Realist” Theory of International Relations. The Hobbesian view of mankind. Rational actors, the Black Box theory. “Realism” – terminology. Realists and determinism, realists and the State. (Thomas Hobbes, “Of the Natural Condition of Mankind”, 1651; Hans J. Morgenthau, Politics Among Nations, 1948). Who are the “realists” of our time and what solutions do they recommend for correcting the global disequilibrium?
6. Approaches to the International order 2: The Balance of Power. A classic case study: The Concert of Europe, 1815-1914. The Balance of Power discredited: the Paris Peace treaties, 1919-1923. (Henry Kissinger, Diplomacy, 1994.) Can a Balance-of-Power regime be imposed on our changing global society today? Discussion.
7. Approaches to the International order 3: Liberalism, Pluralism, Transnationalism, Interdependence and Peaceful Change. The concept of an “open system” amenable to external influences and effective choice by actors within the system. Can the indeterminate nature of open systems be counterbalanced by rational policy decisions? Weak systems permit fundamental transformation. Is this the rational way forward? Discussion. (Robert Jervis, Perception and Misperception in International Politics, 1976; Michael W. Doyle, “Liberalism and World Politics”, 1986).
8. Approaches to the International Order: 4: The Contest between the Structural Realist or Neorealist and Neoliberal (institutional non-state actor Interdependence) views of International Relations (Kenneth Waltz, Man, the State and War, 1959, Kenneth Waltz, Theory of International Politics, 1979; Robert Keohane and Joseph Nye, Power and Interdependence, 1977; R. Keohane, “Theory of World Politics: Structural Realism and Beyond”, 1983) The ever recurring concept of the Balance of Power as a means of avoiding anarchy and war. Can the revived concepts and categories of the Cold War era offer reasonable solutions after the end of the Cold War?
9. Approaches to the International order 5: The Realist versus Constructivist approaches to Anarchy in International Relations. Current and prospective conflicts in the world in the light of these theories. (Sarina Theys, “Introducing Constructivism in International Relations Theory”; Miriam Dornan, “Realist and Constructivist Approaches to Anarchy”, 2011). Are we living in anarchy induced by a multipolar system, or a new order that lacks definition? Discussion.
10. Approaches to the International order 6: Globalism and its critics. Marxism, System dominance, environmentalism, the question of causality. Models of international order: Multipolar, Bipolar, Unipolar; how have they fared in European and global history? Can the conflicting interests and perceptions behind the advocacy of the nation state and the global environmental, economic and security problems be reconciled? Discussion.
Short online test on systems theory.
11. The ethical or moral dimension of International Relations theory. Jus in bello – jus ad bellum: Michael Walzer’s just wars theory. Commentary on the Just and Unjust wars of the 19th and 20th centuries. Why or how can war be just or justifiable? Who is the judge? The emergence of International Humanitarian Law. Debate. (Michael Walzer, Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations, 1977.)
12. The origins of the Cold War and the anatomy of the bipolar international system. The mutual threat of strategic nuclear weapons. Consensus, arms Control, 1945-1990. Which theory or theories we have learnt about explain the long lasting systemic stability of the Cold War? (Kristina Spohr & David Reynolds, eds. Transcending the Cold War: Summits, Statecraft, and the Dissolution of Bipolarity in Europe, 1970-1990, 2016.)
13. A critical analysis of the ending of the Cold War 1989-1991. Why and how did the Soviet Union collapse? The adequacy or otherwise of the Western response. The rise of nationalism in eastern and Central Europe. The role of NATO. The breakdown of the tacit consensus of the Cold War and its consequences. Can the Charter of the United Nations survive the transformation of the world order? Possible alternatives - counterfactual arguments – discussion. (Spohr & Reynolds, eds. Transcending the Cold War, 2016.)
14. The War in Ukraine. Its causes, courses and potential consequences. Impact on the Baltic States, Finland, Sweden, Poland and Moldova. The conundrum of the Kaliningrad “exclave”. Responses and consequences in Europe, the United States and the “Global South”. Which theory or theories we have learnt about explain the conflict best? Systemic failure or systemic consequence? Discussion. (Robert Paul Magocsi, The History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples, 1996, 2010).
15. The Wars of the Middle East. Syria, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Israel and Palestine. Historical origins in the post-WWI settlement in the Middle East. How the Cold War consensus ensured and maintained limited conflict management. Which theory or theories explain the ongoing conflict? What may lie ahead without systemic consensus? Discussion.
Final test.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
Hedley Bull, The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World Politics, 1977.
E. H. Carr, The Twenty Years’ Crisis 1919-1939: An Introduction to the Study of International Relations, Macmillan Press Ltd, 1939.
Christopher Clarke, The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914, London: Allen Lane, 2012.
Ian Clark, The hierarchy of states: Reform and resistance in the international order, Cambridge University Press, 1989.
Carl von Clausewitz, On War, ed. and trans. Michael Howard and Peter Paret, Princeton University Press, 1976.
Richard F. Hamilton and Holger H. Herwig, Decisions for War, 1914-1917, Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Robert Jervis, Perception and Misperception in International Politics, Princeton University Press, 1976.
Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye, Power and Interdependence: World Politics in Transition, Boston: Little, Brown, 1977.
Henry Kissinger, Diplomacy, New York: Simon & Schuster Ltd, 1994.
Derek McKay & H.M. Scott, The Rise of the Great Powers 1648-1815, Longman Group Limited, 1983.
Robert Paul Magocsi, The History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples, second edition, University of Toronto Press Inc, 1996, 2010.
Hans J. Morgenthau, Politics among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1948.
Michael Sheehan, The Balance of Power: History & Theory, Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge, 1996.
Georg Sørensen, Jørgen Møller, Robert Jackson, Introduction to International Relations: Theory and Approaches, 8th edition, Oxford University Press, 2022.
Kristina Spohr & David Reynolds, eds. Transcending the Cold War: Summits, Statecraft, and the Dissolution of Bipolarity in Europe, 1970-1990, Oxford University Press, 2016.
Paul R. Viotti, Mark V. Kauppi, International Relations Theory: Realism, Pluralism, Globalism and Beyond, 3rd edition, Hoboken, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1998.
Kenneth Waltz, Man, the State and War: A theoretical analysis, New York: Columbia University Press, 1959.
Kenneth Waltz, Theory of International Politics, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1979.
Michael Walzer, Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations, New York: Basic Books, 1977.
Samuel R. Williamson, Jr. Austria-Hungary and the Origins of the First World War, London: Macmillan, 1991.
Articles, Chapters
Maysam Behravesh, “Constructivism: An Introduction”, Lund University, Constructivism: An Introduction (e-ir.info) 2011.
Miriam Dornan, “Realist and Constructivist Approaches to Anarchy”, University of Strathclyde Realist and Constructivist Approaches to Anarchy (e-ir.info) , 2011,
Michael W. Doyle, “Liberalism and World Politics”, American Political Science Review 80, No. 4 (December 1986) pp. 1151-1169. https://doi.org/10.2307/1960861
Thomas Hobbes, “Of the Natural Condition of Mankind”, in Leviathan; or, The Matter, Form, and Power of a Commonwealth, Ecclesiastical and Civil, 1651 (revised Latin edition, 1668).
Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, Just War Theory, https://iep.utm.edu/justwar/
Robert O. Keohane, “Theory of World Politics: Structural Realism and Beyond” in Ada W. Finifter, ed. Political Science: The State of the Discipline, Washington D.C.: American Political Science Association, 1983
Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye, “Power and Interdependence Revisited”, International Organization, Autumn, 1987, Vol. 41, No. 4 (Autumn, 1987), pp. 725-753.
Joseph S. Nye, “Neorealism and Neoliberalism”, World Politics, Jan., 1988, Vol. 40, No. 2 (Jan., 1988), pp. 235-251.
Robert Powell, “Anarchy in International Relations Theory: the neorealist-neoliberal debate”, International Organization, Spring 1994, Vol. 48, No. 2 (Spring, 1994), pp. 313-344.
Sarina Theys, “Introducing Constructivism in International Relations Theory”, in Stephen McGlinchey, Rosie Walters and Christian Scheinpflug, eds. International Relations Theory, < International Relations Theory – E-International Relations (e-ir.info) >