1/18/17

Study of international relations

● Post WW1
● International relations=196 countries x 99 years x multiple areas of interaction x multiple
perceptions of each interaction

Class itself (Ordering the Complexity)

● Picking one or two principles
○ Collect and organize historical and contemporary data according to these
principles and find patterns

Theory
● Theories useful for ordering, guiding, clarifying
● They come from a person or group, drawing from a cultural time and place, with a set of
concerns

Challenges
● Competition over which principles are right
● Competition over which data matter
○ Leading to competition over what patterns exist, and what they mean
○ ...and ultimately stories about international politics (“theories”) become partial,
competing ideological renderings of the world

Theory, myth, friction: take some principles and assumptions, render reality according to those
principles and assumptions, discuss events and episodes (tell stories) within that world=produce
understanding

Three parts of this class…

1. Core: international relations theories (Realism, Idealism, Neorealism, Neoliberalism,
Constructivism, Crisis Management, Technology)
2. Grounded in: historical and cultural context
3. Understood, critiqued, and extended by: speculative fiction

World Building: Imagining The Politics Of Our World and Other Worlds
1. Theories-What are they, where do they come from?
2. International relations and speculative fiction compared as sources of theory
3. Linking theory and reality
4. An axiom and an equation
1/23/17

1. Theories:
● “A set of assumptions about how the world works.”
○ World driven by human nature
○ Comes from a flash of insight. Inspiration
○ Theories cannot make inconsistent assumptions
● “A filter for looking at a complicated picture.”
○ Simplify on how the world works
○ Focuses on crucial points

Kenneth N. Waltz: “Theory is not a reproduction of reality… a creative idea emerges.”

● Important figure post Cold-War

2. IR Theory and Speculative Fiction Compared as Sources of Theory

● Imagine the world works this way…
● ...Based upon
● What does that world look like?
● What are all the implications of that?
● What is a good theory/built-world?

Developing a Theory of IR Building a World in Sci-Fi

Theory Premise/pitch/show Bible

History/disciplinary conventions/imagination History/genre conventions/imagination

What things, evidence do I pay attention to Who are the characters, social/political
structures, backstories of people and
institutions in my built-world

Hypothesis, studies Stories (episodes)

Tell us things about our reality. Helps us Tells us things about our reality. Helps us
change our reality. Is accurate change our reality. Is entertaining

Ex: John Mearsheimer’s Offensive Neorealism

a. International politics is about power
b. No one answers when states dial 9/11
c. Self help is the only rational strategy
d. States acquire as much power as possible
e. And aim at total hegemony
Ex 2: Ronald D. Moore’s Battlestar Galactica
a. The Cylons were created by man
b. They rebelled
c. They evolved
d. There are many copies
e. And they have a plan

Ex 3: Thomas Friedman’s Globalization

a. The world is interconnected
b. States, companies, people, information reach faster, deeper, cheaper than ever
c. Your economy grows but your politics shrink
d. Globalization continues in the same way that the sun always rises

Ex 4: Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek

a. Space: The final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise, its five year
mission.
b. To explore strange new worlds
c. To seek out new life, and new civilizations
d. To boldly go where no man* has gone before

Ex 5: Geopolitics
a. International politics is a checkerboard of alliances and adversaries
b. Geography, access to critical resources, and the acquisition/retention of real - estate are
paramount
1/25/17

3. Linking Theory Back to Reality

● Link it to the real world through hypothesis (If, then statements positing cause-effect or
why-possible relationships) Test them (Study cases, gather data, run experiments, write
interpretations of politics). Repeat.
● Create a theory then explain events; create a world the tell stories
● Political Science

Difficulties
1. Social Sciences: An attempt to use the scientific method on the material of the
humanities
2. Goal: Explain the past and present, influence the future
3. Can political science be science?
a. IR can’t be seen or touched directly, must be imagined. Most data collection
relies on proxy measures
b. The history problem - narratives of the past and present are partial and
culturally/ideologically infused
c. One world at a time, meaning no experimental control (things happen once,
many factors involved in every event, people are reflective and change under
“study”).
1/30/17

Problem SF Solution

“International Relations” acts of immigration. SF is just as real as IR. More direct “data”
Data relies on “proxy” measures (Proxy:
Substitution measures)

The history problem. The people problem SF belongs to all humanity, creates own
internal history

One world at a time Many worlds, often better explained that our
own

An axiom: The question is not whether a theory, or a world, is real, it’s whether it is useful
An equation: History + Imagination = Theory (World). Theory (World) guides studies (Stories)

Types of thinking in international relations and speculative fiction

1. World-building principles
2. History and theory and SF - a merged timeline
3. Types of speculative fiction: which is most useful to us?

1. Types of Theories of International Politics

● ‘Human nature’ based theories
● International environment based theories
● Decision making theories
○ What is the world - building principle (the starting assumptions)? (Imagine the
world works this way. What does that world look like?)

World building principle: Human Nature

● Philosophical (Instinctual or core elements of what human beings are as a species)
● Are people ‘good’ or ‘bad’?
● The state of nature
● International affairs as human nature writ large
2/1/17

World-Building Principle: International System

● Push and pull of international forces in aggregate (Less about behaviors of specific
people or state, but instead talking about a general outcome systemically)
● States like ships on the sea
● Akin to physics, or at least economics: Power, Institutions
● Akin to sociology/anthropology: Identities and Norms

World-Building Principle: Decision Making

● Individual people, people in small groups
● The ‘state’ is the ‘statesperson’
● Problem solving
● Psychology (How people make choices)

Time Period History IR Theory Speculative Fiction

Pre - World War One Regional conflicts, No Theory Game of Thrones

non - ‘total war’

1914-1939 Attempts to reform Idealism (Game of Thrones)

international politics ST: ToS: City on the
Edge of Forever

1917-1989 Revolution in Russia, Marxism Snowpiercer

victory of Mao in
China

1939-1962 Power politics in Realism (Game of Thrones)

WWII, early cold war (Man in the High
Castle)

1962-1989 Stability. Institution Neorealism/Neolibera Star Trek: Tos. Arival

building lism

1989-1991 End of Cold War Constructivism Star Trek VI: The

Undiscovered
Country (Game of
Thrones)

1990’s Between Cold War/ End of History, ST: TNG, DS9

War on Terror Globalization, Clash
of Civilization

2001- War on Terror Decision Making Battlestar Galactica

2/6/17

“The Original Series” (ToS (Star Trek) 1966-1969

● Idealism/Realism
○ Deal with issues…
■ Cold War
■ Vietnam War
■ Civil Rights

“The Next Generation” (TNG (Star Trek) 1987-1994

● The end of the Cold War
● Democratic Hegemony (end of history)
● Globalization
● Human Rights/R2P

“Deep Space 9” (DS9 (Star Trek)

● The clash of civilizations
● The limits of globalization and homogenization
○ Only one that doesn’t take place in a space ship. Instead it is on a space station

Idealist: “Humans nature is fundamentally good”

Types of Speculative Fiction

● Science Fiction: Future, technologically orientated. Cerebral
● Fantasy: Past, magic orientated. Emotional
● (Crossovers: e.g., Star Wars)
● To be useful to us:
○ Well articulated worlds/universes, embodying principles of human nature,
systems, or decision making
○ Political/military/religious institutions
○ Consistent rules
○ Ideas and people > effects and actions

Idealism
1. The birth of a theory - Idealism and World War One
2. Core hypotheses of Idealism
3. Who’s Who of Idealism

The Birth of a Theory

● (A set of assumptions about how the world works/a filter for looking at a complicated
picture)
● Pre - World War One study of international relations (Analysis of the causes of World
War One)
2/8/17

World Building Principle

● “Human nature is fundamentally good” (Imagine the world works this way)

Core Hypotheses
● “Progress” in human affairs is possible through the nurturing of reason and empathy
● “Progress” is blocked by bad arrangements, institutions, and values (domestic and
international)

Prescription
● States should be democracies (Humans nature is inherently good, so the more people
that are involved the better the decision making)
● Values are important in foreign policy
● International affairs should be re - arranged around global legalistic and ethical
institutions

League of Nation in Theory…

● Self Determination
● Collective Security (If one state declares war on a state in the League of Nations, the
entire League of Nations declares war on them)
● Disarmament
● Legalization of security matters
● Sanctions (Diplomatic)
2/13/17 and 2/16/17

The League in Practice…

● Principles and reality
● Idealism (Self determination, democracy, elite philosophy of world affairs), Marxism,
Realism
● US never joins
● Leagues proves unable to address ‘Twenty Years Crisis’
○ Revisionist states
○ War-phobia
○ Institutional design
■ Assembly, unanimity

Realism
1. Opposite of idealism
2. ‘Utopianism’ and the ‘Twenty Years Crisis’
a. 1919-1939
b. Utopia: Perfected Alternative Universe
3. World building principle and core hypotheses of Realism
a. ‘Human nature is fundamentally bad’
b. People driven by a desire to dominate others, form into conflict groups (states)
and perpetually compete for power
c. Hypotheses…
i. International politics is a “war of all against all” - the transfer of human
nature to nation states
ii. Human nature + nation states = Constant Conflict
d. Core Hypotheses…
i. Because international politics is “anarchic” states must acquire power to
protect themselves and promote their interests
ii. Allies are unreliable. Treaties are irrelevant. International organizations
are irrelevant
iii. Might makes right (Strength is a good thing) (Power influence decision
making) (If I have the power to do it, then I’ll do it even if it is immoral)
iv. Progress is a pipe dream. Conflict is ineradicable. Relative stability is the
best one can hope for
v. Deterrence (Trying to make the impression that you are strong
(materialistic) and powerful) (It prevents people from attacking you
because you show that you’re able to protect yourself)
vi. Balance of Power (If power is inbalance, deterrence is impossible)
(Distribution of power around the world)
4. Who’s who
a. Old school realists: Machiavelli, Hobbes, Thucydides
b. Contemporary realists: Hans Morgenthau, E. H. Carr, Henry Kissinger
5. Baelor
2/20/17

Marxism
1. Why talk about Marxism?
a. Crucial motivating force in modern history of IR
b. China
c. “The 99%” critique of globalization
d. Bernie Sanders
2. World-building principle/core hypotheses of Marxism
a. Class is the core grouping in politics
i. There are two distinct classes: Capitalist and Labor. They exist in
relations of domination and cooperation
1. Capitalists are expansionist. The major capitalist states, looking
for new markets, will develop vast empires and divide up world
territory
2. The thirsts for new markets is a recurrent source of war
3. Marxist theories of imperialism
4. Who’s who
a. Marx, Engels, Hegel
b. Lenin, Mao. Deng Xiaoping?
c. Was the late Soviet Union Marxist? Is China today?
d. Has Marxism been proven “wrong” (Is it too soon to tell?)

Implications of Marxist Theories

1. “Democratic states” are not democratic or benign
2. Revolution in the capitalist states is inevitable
3. Communist states must protect themselves from exploitation and wait for the capitalist
states to disintegrate ( / promote their disintegration)

Example: Snowpiercer
1. Who works on the train?
2. What does the sermon about the back being the shoe tell us about capitalism?
3. What is the capitalist solution to global warming?
4. If the train represents the world, who is who, and what does it tell us about it?
5. What is the meaning of the ending? What does Bong have to say about revolution?
2/27/17 and 3/1/17

When is cooperation rational?

● The prisoner's’ dilemma (Two criminals caught by the police, and are put in different
cells. See what the actions and decisions of both individuals (times represent sentences,
A’s sentence first):
B does not rat B rats

A does not rat Freedom, Freedom 10 years, Freedom

A rats Freedom, 10 years 5 years, 5 years

Cooperation will occur if the following conditions are present…

● Communication
● Information
● Trust
● Enforcement of agreements
● Repeated rounds of interaction

Conflict (Defection) will occur in the absence of these conditions

Neorealism and Neoliberalism

1. Worldbuilding principle: Rationality
a. A desire to be more scientific
i. ‘Human beings are calculators’
1. ‘What is the best move?’
b. Reject philosophical/ideological basis of prior theories
c. “Rational Actor” view of people
i. People are concerned with maximizing their gains
d. Utility (Resources
e. People know what they want, and how to get it
f. People always make the ‘right’ choices
g. People calculate in the same way and don’t make mistakes
i. Therefore: Environment determines behavior
2. Core hypotheses of neorealism
a. People are rational, states are unified rational actors (Each state represents a
single person). State interactions create an ‘international system’
b. State behavior will be survival-seeking, calculated ‘rationality’ and ‘zero-sum’
c. State behavior (i.e. alliances, arms spending, aggression) is determined by
number of great powers in the system
d. System is:
i. Anarchic
ii. States are ‘functionally’ equivalent (i.e. have some role and goals)
iii. ‘Pushes and pulls’ states to act in certain way
 iv. (Sounds like a sci-fi concept)
3. Distribution of power (or ‘polarity) in different international systems
a. If one great power (unipolar world), then…
b. If two great powers (bipolar world), then…
c. If three great powers (tripolar world), then…
d. If four or more great powers (multipolar), then…
4. Neoliberalism
a. Neoliberalism argues that neorealists have a simplistic view of the international
systems and of states’ interests
b. States
c. International institutions
d. International law, rules, norms
e. Interest groups, corporations, NGO’s
f. “Complex Interdependent”
g. Not just power, also prosperity, and many ‘global’ issues
h. Agree with neorealists on RA, environment as key to behavior. But, different
characterization of environment generates distinctive alternate hypothesis:
i. Cooperation, in a system of complex interdependence, is the rational
choice
i. Therefore, for Neoliberals, it is not the ‘goodness’ of human nature that makes
cooperation possible, but the development of complex interdependence which
makes cooperation rational.
3/8/17 and 3/20/17

Constructivism
1. The curious case of Mikhail Gorbachev
a. Key Puzzles:
i. Why did the Soviets withdraw from Eastern Europe?
ii. Why did the Soviets make deep cuts in the number of nuclear weapons
iii. Why did Gorbachev seek friendly relations with the US?
2. Worldbuilding principle and core hypotheses of constructivism
a. “Anarchy is what states make of it”
i. Realism, idealism: nature of anarchy is determined by human nature
ii. Neoliberalism, Neorealism, Marxism: nature of anarchy is determined by
objective environmental facts
iii. Constructivism: the meaning of anarchy is constructed by states. We
speak not of anarchy but of cultures of anarchy
b. Constructed: Built through the exchanged of cues, signals, language, behavior,
culminating into roles such as friend, enemy, cooperation, conflict
c. The same ‘material fact’ (action) has different consequences depending upon
socially constructed relationships
3. International systems: cultures of anarchy
a. Culture of Anarchy: is cumulative system composed of these role relationships
i. Roles, identities, norms, and doctrines
1. Roles: The loyal ally, the mischievous rogue, the stable hegemon
(like a monopoly)
2. Identities: Characteristics that define an individual or group
3. Norms: Evaluative and malleable
a. Example: Kingslayer
ii. All other theories are right, constructivists argue, but for the wrong
reasons and only some of the time
4. Identities
5. Norms
6. Military doctrine
a. The nuclear taboo
b. The Wildlings
c. The Night’s Watch
d. The Dothraki (maneuver, nomadic, land-based)

Realism, Idealism: Nature of anarchy is determined by human nature

Neorealism, Neoliberalism, Marxism: Nature of anarchy is determined by objective
environmental facts
Constructivism: The meaning of anarchy is constructed by states. We speak not of anarchy but
of cultures of anarchy. Cultures of anarchy are made up of roles, identities, norms, and
doctrines
3/22/17 And 3/27/17

Similarity and difference (or what is the shape of post-cold war IR?)
1. Four thinkers
a. John Mearsheimer
i. ‘Peace is wonderful’, the political scientist John Mearsheimer wrote in the
immediate post-cold war aftermath of August 1990. “I like it as much as
the next man.” Nevertheless, “we are likely soon to regret the passing of
the cold war.”
ii. “I - China - want to be the Godzilla of Asia!”
1. Fleeting unipolarity, devolving into either bipolarity or multipolarity
with regional hegemons
b. Francis Fukuyama
i. “At the end of history it is not necessary that all societies become
successful liberal societies, merely that they end their ideological
pretensions of representing different and higher forms of human society.”
1. Human desire for recognition
c. Thomas Friedman
i. “The ever increasing integration of markets, nation-states, technology and
culture, in a way that enable individuals, corporation, and nation states to
reach around the world farther, faster, deeper, and cheaper than ever
before.”
1. Connected, flattened, contacted world
2. Globalization and Hyper Globalization
d. Samuel Huntington
i. Emerging alignments of civilizations (Clash of Civilization theory)
ii. Suggested Clash of Civilization - too many differences in culture and
religion to reach full stability and peace
1. Civilizations are bound by cultural values

Example: ISIS
● Does ISIS fit into this?
○ End of History - A last backlash of premodern times? A refutation of optimistic
theories of human nature?
○ Globalization - Use of internet, migration
○ Clash of Civilization - shows both power of religious fanatic reading of values and
conflict, also fallacy of talking of civilizations as unified blocks
4/3/17

Politics of Star Wars

● World-Building Principles
○ “Star Wars is a sci-fi morality tale about good versus evil.” Discuss
● Genre?
○ Sci-fi
○ Fantasy
○ Western
○ Samurai
○ War Film
○ Fairy Tale
○ Pastiche
● Sparsity of information
○ Vader and the military
○ Administrative structure of Empire
○ Administrative structure of Rebellion
○ Princess of what?
○ Where did the X-Wings come from?
● Left
○ Anti-Vietnam/militarism
○ Lucas in 1977: “The Empire is like America 10 years from now”
○ Pro-liberalism
● Right
○ Pro-libertarianism (the Empire as big government)
○ Pro-order
■ Empire is benign authoritarianism
■ The Rebellion as anarchists, even terrorists
■ The Jedi as religious fanatics
● The Force Awakens
○ Abrams: “What if all the NAzis went to Argentina after the war, then started
working together…?”
○ Struggle between freedom and order is perpetual
○ Family: All politics is personal

4/5/17
The Politics of Game of Thrones
● A political fantasy
○ The war of the roses
○ George R.R. Martin: A multicultural, trans-historical scavenger
○ Worldbuilding
● Political structures in GoT
○ Nationhood
○ City-States
○ Monarchy
○ Government (Hand of the Kind, Small Council)
● What is the root of conflict in GoT
○ Realism/Idealism?
○ Constructivism? (ideas, identities, and norms)
○ Geopolitics?
○ Decision makers?
● Is there a political meta-narrative in GoT
○ The end of monarchy?
○ Libertarianism from beyond the wall, liberalism from across the narrow sea?
○ Climate change?
○ Immigration?
○ Is GoT racist?
○ Sexist?
○ The collapse of the old order?

Crises
1. What are crises?
2. The human element
3. The organizational element
4. 13 days

What are crises?

● A turning point
● High stakes, short time, surprise
● A fork in the road of history
● HUMAN - Top level decision makers / “footsoldiers.”
● Brinksmanship, Justification of Hostility, Spinoff, SNAFU
● GOOD RESOURCES: Dr. Strangelove (movie); Fog of War (documentary); Able Archer:
The Brink of Apocalypse (documentary)
Science and Ethics in the International Politics of the Future 1: Life

1. Asimov’s paradox
a. “Science accumulates knowledge faster than society accumulates wisdoms.”
2. Technology, Privacy and Shame
3. I, Robot
a. The definition of life
i. Sense, think, act
ii. Self-awareness?
b. The Turing test
c. Asimov’s three laws:
i. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human
being to come to harm
ii. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such
orders would conflict with the First Law
iii. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does
not conflict with the First or Second Law
4. “Human” Rights
5. Data

Science and Ethics is the International Politics of the Future 2: Death

1. The first drone
2. Drones today
3. The drone debate
4. Public opinion and drones
5. Science fiction and killer robots

Data
● “The Measure of a Man”

The First Drone

1. John F Kennedy Jr

Drones Today
● Chairborne rangers
● “Like a video-game”
● “Bug-Splat”; “Squirter”