International Relations since 1918 - JTB119

• Title: International Relations since 1918
• Czech title: Mezinárodní vztahy po roce 1918
• Guaranteed by: Department of North American Studies (23-KAS)
• Faculty: Faculty of Social Sciences
• Actual: from 2021
• Semester: winter
• E-Credits: 6
• Examination process: winter s.:
• Hours per week, examination: winter s.:2/0, Ex [HT]
• Capacity: 10 / unknown (10)
• Min. number of students: unlimited
• Virtual mobility / capacity: no
• State of the course: taught
• Language: English
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Note: course can be enrolled in outside the study plan; enabled for web enrollment
• Guarantor: PhDr. Jan Hornát, Ph.D.
• Teacher(s): PhDr. Jan Hornát, Ph.D.
• Pre-requisite : {Skupina prerekvizit pro BP_HAS - 2. ročník}
• In complex pre-requisite: JTB122, JTB123, JTB124, JTB125, JTB126, JTB127, JTB128, JTB129

Annotation

Last update: PhDr. Jan Hornát, Ph.D. (07.09.2021)

The end of World War I presented an opportunity to rebuild the foundations of interstate relations and international law. However, the new order fell apart even before its merits could have been discovered in practice. The interwar period thus presented a rather chaotic attempt to implement the rule of law in international relations and bring stability to the otherwise frustrated nations that felt belittled in the war’s aftermath. The unsettled border issues that left national minorities dispersed across Europe, protectionist trading blocs and expansionist political ideologies led the world into another great war with catastrophic consequences. The attempt to rebuild the global order was launched even before WWII ended, but – again – its full operation was hindered by the emerging bipolarity. The Cold War presented an unprecedented era of ideological competition and rivalry, which manifested itself in proxy warfare and the maintenance of satellite states, alliances and even “empires” by the two major powers. The revolutionary momentum of the end of the 1980s in Eastern Europe caught the United States by surprise and permitted Washington to face its “unipolar moment” and promote its version of global cooperation based on multilateralism and democracy. The hegemonic position of the US was further amplified in its post-9/11 War on Terror, but at the same time it was increasingly challenged by rising powers with revisionist attitudes. Over 100 years since the end of WWI, the state of international relations is still in flux – the geopolitical impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, the increasingly inward-facing US foreign policy and China’s global ambitions signify that the international system is still evolving and requires a notable level of expertise and analysis to understand its contours and implications for global stability and peace.

Aim of the course

Last update: PhDr. Jan Hornát, Ph.D. (07.09.2021)

The aim of the course is to introduce students to the most pressing issues and problems in international relations since the year 1918. The examined events will not be studied in isolation but historically and theoretically contextualized. Emphasis will be placed on observing how past events shape contemporary world affairs and practice of international politics. The course will also give students an introduction to basic international relations theories and concepts, which will help students analyze course themes.

Course completion requirements

Last update: PhDr. Jan Hornát, Ph.D. (30.08.2023)

Terms of passing the course

1.      Students will be required to read assigned texts and participate actively in discussions - this will constitute 10 % of the overall grade.

 

2.      Virtual diplomatic chat with artificial intelligence. Students will conceive a prompt that will unveil a virtual conversation of current or historical political leaders. They will then critically assess the output of the AI model in a 1000 to 1200-word essay (excluding prompt and AI generated text).

         Examples of prompts:

         "You are Czechoslovak president Edvard Beneš and you are writing a letter to British Prime minister Neville Chamberlain concerning the just negotiated Munich agreement. Explain your concerns and frustrations with the agreement."

         "You represent the current government of China as an ambassador in the United States and you are in conversation with the US trade representative. Present your counterarguments for the US imposing a 10% tariff on all imports from China."

 

This activity will constitute 30 % of the overall grade (due date: 20 November 2023; 23:59). Late submission of midterm essay: -2 points/day.

The essay will be handed in via Turnitin: https://library.cuni.cz/services/turnitin/

Class ID: 40278491

Enrollment key: 1918

3.      At the end of the semester, students will complete a final test with 3 open-ended essay questions based on readings, lectures and in-class discussions - this will constitute 60 % of the overall grade.

 

Students need to gain at least 50% in each assignment to pass the course.

 

Grading

100 - 91 points: A

90 - 81 points: B

80 - 71 points: C

70 - 61 points: D

60 – 50 points: E

less than 50 points: F (fail)

 

Class ethics

Class ethics

(A) Any use of primary and secondary texts in essays must be acknowledged. Such use must meet the following conditions:

1.     the beginning and end of the quoted passage must be shown with quotation marks;

2.     when quoting from periodicals or books, the name(s) of author(s), book or article titles, the year of publication, and page from which the passage is quoted must all be stated in footnotes or endnotes;

3.     internet sourcing must include a full web address where the text can be found as well as the date the web page was visited by the author.

(B) Essays will be scanned with software for detecting AI-generated text. Any use of generative AI should be duly and in detail explained in a separate footnote.

(C) In case the use of any texts other than those written by the author is established without proper acknowledgment as defined in (A), the paper will be deemed plagiarized and handed over to the Disciplinary Commission of the Faculty of Social Sciences.

(D) In case you are not able to attend more than two seminars, report your absence to me via email.

Literature

Last update: PhDr. Jan Hornát, Ph.D. (01.07.2021)

• Mary Nolan, The Transatlantic Century: Europe and America, 1890–2010 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012).
• Geir Lundestad, "Empire" by Integration: The United States and European Integration, 1945-1997 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998).
• Henry Kissinger, World Order: Reflections on the Character of Nations and the Course of History (New York: Penguin, 2014).
• Brendan Simms, Europe: The Struggle for Supremacy, 1453 to the Present (New York: Allen Lane, 2013).
• David Reynolds, The Long Shadow: The Great War and the Twentieth Century (New York: W.W. Norton, 2014).
• Richard N. Haass, War of Necessity, War of Choice: A Memoir of Two Iraq Wars (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2009).
• John G. Ikenberry, Liberal Leviathan: The Origins, Crisis, and Transformation of the American World Order (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2011).
• Scott Burchill et al., Theories of International Relations 5th ed. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013).

Teaching methods

Last update: PhDr. Jan Hornát, Ph.D. (24.08.2023)

Part lecture/part seminar

Syllabus

Last update: PhDr. Jan Hornát, Ph.D. (24.08.2023)

Syllabus 2023/2024

1.      Introduction (5.10.2023)

Themes: Course schedule and requirements

2.      How to understand state behavior? (12.10.2023)

Themes: theories of international relations; foresight in international affairs

Mandatory readings:

Snyder, J. (2004). One World, Rival Theories. Foreign Policy, 145, 53–62.

Walt, S. M. (1998). International Relations: One World, Many Theories. Foreign Policy, 110, 29–46.

3.      Global orders (19.10.2023)

Themes: How and when are orders formed and by whom? What constitutes an “order” and what are the main characteristics of the liberal international order? What are the alternatives to the current order?

Mandatory reading: 

Ikenberry, G. John, 'The Rise, Character, and Evolution of International Order', in Orfeo Fioretos, Tulia G. Falleti, and Adam Sheingate (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Historical Institutionalism (Oxford Academic: 2016).

4.      International trade (wars) (26.10.2023)

Themes: Spillovers of domestic economic crises; global economic crises; trading blocs and supply chains; the Great Depression; the financial crisis of 2008; tariffs

Mandatory reading: 

Chase, Kerry A. “Imperial Protection and Strategic Trade Policy in the Interwar Period.” Review of International Political Economy 11, no. 1 (2004): 177–203.

5.      Territorial disputes (2.11.2023)

Themes: borders; spheres of influence; border arbitrations; minorities; South China Sea; the Arctic; Helsinki Acts

Mandatory reading: 

Beck, R. J. (1989). Munich’s Lessons Reconsidered. International Security, 14(2), 161–191.

 

6.      (De)colonization (9.11.2023)

Themes: colonialism new and old – neocolonialism; dependency; world-system analysis; trusteeship; resource exploitation; development aid

Mandatory reading: 

Jeremy Friedman, “Soviet policy in the developing world and the Chinese challenge in the 1960s”, Cold War History 10 (2), 2010: 247-272.

7.      Interventions (16.11.2023)

Themes: proxy wars; Cold War conflicts – Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan; current conflicts – Syria, Yemen, Ukraine

Mandatory reading: 

Rafael Reuveny and Aseem Prakash, “The Afghanistan war and the breakdown of the Soviet Union”, Review of International Studies 25, 1999: 693-708.

8.      Transitions (23.11.2023)

Themes: democratization; authoritarianism; elections; executive aggrandizement

Mandatory reading: 

Jay Ulfelder, “Democratic transitions” in Haynes, J (ed.), Routledge Handbook of Democratization (Routledge 2011).

Douglas Brinkley, “Democratic Enlargement: The Clinton Doctrine”, Foreign Policy 106, Spring 1997: 110-128.

9.      Status (30.11.2023)

Themes: soft power; sports and health diplomacy; respect and recognition in IR

Mandatory reading: 

Larson, Deborah Welch, and Alexei Shevchenko. “Status Seekers: Chinese and Russian Responses to U.S. Primacy.” International Security 34, no. 4 (2010): 63–95.

10.  Hegemony (7.12.2023)

Themes: power transition; revisionism; hegemonic stability; rogue states; terrorism

Mandatory reading:

Michael Beckley; The Peril of Peaking Powers: Economic Slowdowns and Implications for China's Next Decade. International Security 2023; 48 (1): 7–46.

11.  International organizations (14.12.2023)

Themes: multilateralism; unilateralism; peacekeeping; collective defense; alliances; Responsibility to protect

Mandatory reading: 

Winther, Bjarke Zinck. “A Review of the Academic Debate about United Nations Security Council Reform”, The Chinese Journal of Global Governance 6, 1 (2020): 71-101.

12.   The future and the “world state” (21.12.2023)

Themes: Brainstorming and wrap-up session - the next decades and international relations

Mandatory reading:  Wendt, A. (2003). Why a World State is Inevitable. European Journal of International Relations, 9(4), 491–542.

 

NOTE: All texts available in this syllabus are for study purposes of this course only. They are protected by copyright and must not be further distributed.