International Relations since 1918 - JTB119

• Anglický název: International Relations since 1918
• Český název: Mezinárodní vztahy po roce 1918
• Zajišťuje: Katedra severoamerických studií (23-KAS)
• Fakulta: Fakulta sociálních věd
• Platnost: od 2021
• Semestr: zimní
• E-Kredity: 6
• Způsob provedení zkoušky: zimní s.:
• Rozsah, examinace: zimní s.:2/0, Zk [HT]
• Počet míst: 10 / neurčen (10)
• Minimální obsazenost: neomezen
• Virtuální mobilita / počet míst: ne
• Stav předmětu: vyučován
• Jazyk výuky: angličtina
• Způsob výuky: prezenční
• Poznámka: předmět je možno zapsat mimo plán; povolen pro zápis po webu
• Garant: PhDr. Jan Hornát, Ph.D.
• Vyučující: PhDr. Jan Hornát, Ph.D.
• Prerekvizity : {Skupina prerekvizit pro BP_HAS - 2. ročník}
• Ve slož. prerekvizitě: JTB122, JTB123, JTB124, JTB125, JTB126, JTB127, JTB128, JTB129

Anotace

Poslední úprava: 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.

Cíl předmětu

Poslední úprava: 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.

Podmínky zakončení předmětu

Poslední úprava: PhDr. Jan Hornát, Ph.D. (04.11.2022)

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.      In midterm, students will hand in a 1000 to 1200-word essay on one of the following topics:

“Faults and flaws of the post-WWI international order”

“Why was WWII followed by a Cold War?”

“Post-WWII decolonization – too late or too soon?”

 

This will constitute 30 % of the overall grade (due date: 20 November 2022; 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: 36191342

Enrollment key: 1918

 

3.      At the end of the semester, students will complete a final test with multiple choice and open-ended 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

(A) Any use of quoted 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.

 

Please, use the style of Chicago Manual of Style.

(B) 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.

Literatura

Poslední úprava: 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).

Metody výuky

Poslední úprava: PhDr. Jan Hornát, Ph.D. (19.09.2022)

Due to Dr. Hornát's visiting fellowship at North Carolina State University, the course will be taught online via ZOOM.

Link: https://cesnet.zoom.us/j/5724793073

Sylabus

Poslední úprava: PhDr. Jan Hornát, Ph.D. (19.09.2022)

Syllabus 2022/2023

The course will be taught online via ZOOM (due to Dr. Hornat's visiting fellowship at North Carolina State University)

Zoom link: https://cesnet.zoom.us/j/5724793073

1.      Introduction (6.10.2022)

Course schedule and requirements

 

2.      1920s – Coping with the aftermath of WWI (13.10.2022)

Themes: Peace of Versailles and the complexions of the post-war order; building the League of Nations; postwar borders; idealism and realism in the discipline of international relations; the political economy of German reparations

Mandatory reading: Julia Boyd, Travelers in the Third Reich: The Rise of Fascism Through the Eyes of Ordinary People (London: Elliot and Thompson, 2017) – Introduction + Chapters 1 and 2.

 

3.      1930s – Growing crises and geopolitical tensions (20.10.2022)

Themes: The interwar depressions and looming causes of another war; regional trade blocs; the rise of fascism and the threat of bolshevism; European border arbitrations; appeasement policy

Mandatory reading:  Gerhard L. Weinberg, “Reflections on Munich after 60 years”, Diplomacy & Statecraft 10 (2-3), 1999: 1-12.

 

4.      No class - Dean's Holiday (27.10.2022) 

 

5.      1940s – WWII and the beginning of a new conflict (3.11.2022)

Themes: Geopolitics of WWII; allied conferences; forming the postwar international order

Mandatory reading:  Richard Overy, Why the Allies Won (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1996) – Chapter 1.

 

6.      1950s – A consolidated Cold War (10.11.2022)

Themes: Emergence of bipolarity and the triumph of realism; rebuilding Europe; consolidation of two security/ideological blocs

Mandatory reading:  Igor Lukes, “Was the Cold War Avoidable? Did the West Seek to Win It? A Contribution to the Debate”, Diplomacy & Statecraft 32 (2), 2021: 375-393.

 

7.       No class - State Holiday (17.11.2022) 

 

8.      1960s – Decolonization, proxy wars and domestic conflicts (24.11.2022)

Themes: Third World in the context of the Cold War; decolonization processes and the role of the UN; a decade of security crises, Ostpolitik

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.

 

8.      1970s – The game changers? Vietnam, China and Afghanistan (1.12.2022)

Themes: US interactions with Cold War Europe; ping-pong diplomacy; arms limitation talks; Afghanistan: “Soviet Vietnam”; Helsinki Acts

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.

 

9.      1980s – Creeping deconstruction of the bipolar system (8.12.2022)

Themes: European revolutions and the triumph of liberalism; Reagan and Gorbachev; democracy promotion and the “end of history”

Mandatory reading:  Vladimir Tismaneanu, “The Revolutions of 1989: Causes, Meanings, Consequences”, Contemporary European History 18 (3), 2009: 271-288.

 

10.   1990s – Democratic transformation and disintegrations (15.12.2022)

Themes: Expansion of the “West” to the “East” – EU, WTO and NATO enlargement; humanitarian interventions and peacekeeping; civil wars in the former Eastern Bloc

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

 

11.   2000s – Towards US unilateralism (22.12.2022)

Themes: US interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq; Responsibility to Protect; the global war on terror; the political economy of the financial crisis 2008-2009

Mandatory reading:  Mohammed Ayoob, “Humanitarian Intervention and State Sovereignty”, The International Journal of Human Rights 6 (1), 2002: 81-102.

 

12.   2010s – Rise of the revisionists (5.1.2023)

Themes: Multiple new “Cold Wars”? China, US and Russia; South China Sea disputes; Middle Eastern proxy wars; Ukraine crisis

Mandatory reading:  June Teufel Dreyer, “The ‘Tianxia Trope’: will China change the international system?”, Journal of Contemporary China 24 (96), 2015: 1015-1031.

 

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.