Formation/Cours

The purpose of the course is threefold. First, it aims at introducing the students to the discussion about how to approach, analyze and possibly intervene “on” so-called international phenomena, i.e. socio-political phenomena that develop beyond, or transcend the limits of their spatially and temporally situated sites of materialization. Second, it ambitions to make students aware of the radical heterogeneity of the practices that have constituted the “international” as both a domain of practices and an object of knowledge. Thirdly, it aims at equipping the students with “critical” skills, that is with conceptual and analytical tools so they approach contemporary social and political issues without merely reproducing commentaries and discussions about what is unreflectively referred to as the “international.”

In this purpose, the course is divided in two main clusters. The first will develop about some of the most influential approaches to international relations [(neo-)realist, marxist, (neo-)liberal, constructivist and the so-called critical approaches] as well as the main concepts around which they have come to articulate their understanding of particular issues they attach to the ‘international’, hence their conception of the latter. The second cluster of lectures will more specifically discuss some of the most pressing issues of our contemporary era such as violence, war and security, migration, mobility and borders, development and/or environment, trying more particularly to assess the way they are being problematized by each of the previously introduced approaches.

Session 01 – 20.01.2017 – Introduction (3h)

• Overall presentation of the course: aim, method and evaluation.


• What are, and how to study “international relations” ?


• A brief history of IR studies


• Theor-y/ies vs theorization(s): IR and epistemological issues


• Political Modernity


• Distribution of work for the first class of the Reading Seminar

CLUSTER 1: Approaches of ‘international relations’

Session 02 – 27.01.2017 – Realist and neo-realist approaches

Concepts: international system, anarchy, polarisation, fragmentation, state, sovereignty, power, structure

Important authors: E.H. Carr, Hans Morgenthau, Kenneth Waltz

Session 03 – 03.02.2017 – Liberal and transnationalist approaches

• Concepts: International organization, non-governmental organizations, cooperation


• Important authors: Hedley Bull, Raymond Aron, Stanley Hoffmann, Pierre Hassner, David Mitrany, Andrew Moravcsik, Robert Keohane, James Roseneau

Session 04 – 10.02.2017 – Marxist and IR Critical Theory approaches

• Concepts: Imperialism, Center/Periphery divide, Wealth, Development, Growth, Structural Violence


• Important authors: Immanuel Wallerstein, Johan Galtung, Robert Cox

Session 05 – 17.02.2017 – Constructivism

• Concepts: Ideas, norms, agent, structure, language


• Important authors: Nicholas Onuf, Alexander Wendt, Emmanuel Adler.

Session 06 – 03.03.2017 – Sociological approaches

• Concepts: the International, the social, process, empiricism, rationalism, decision, state,


• Important authors: Didier Bigo, Iver Neumann, Yves Dezalay, Bryant Garth.

Session 07 – 17.03.2017 – Conceptual approaches

• Concepts: Discourse, reflexivity, critique


• Important authors: RBJ Walker, Richard Ashley, James Der Derian, Michael Shapiro, Jens Bartelson

CLUSTER 2: Contemporary Challenges

Session 08 – 24.03.2017 – Violence, War, Conflicts and Security

• Concepts: Violence, terrorism, war, peace, diplomacy, conflict, security, enemy, adversary, threat

Session 09 – 31.03.2017 – Migration, Mobility, Borders

• Concepts: Migration, mobility, border, border control, surveillance

Session 10 – 07.04.2017 – Development and Progress

• Concepts: Development, progress, North/South, West/Non-West, Center/Periphery

Session 11 – 14.04.2017 – Technology and Environment (3h)

• Concepts: Technique, technology, environment, milieu, nature, culture, anthropocene