Worldviews in international relations
A.A. 2023/2024
Obiettivi formativi
The course aims to provide students with an understanding of the declining centrality of the West and of the growing pluralism that characterizes the current international system, as reflected in the articulation of different worldviews. First, the course will focus on the rise of non-Western powers and the spatial transformations of the post-Cold War international system. Second, it will address their implications for International Relations (IR) Theory and reflect on the ongoing efforts to decentralize IR by developing non-Western schools.
Risultati apprendimento attesi
By the end of the course, students will have developed analytical skills that are useful to navigate an increasingly pluralized world, where Western centrality is rapidly declining. In particular, they will be able to: i. identify the main drivers behind the reduced centrality of the West in international politics; ii. locate this trend within the broader historical evolution of the international system; iii. identify the main points in the current contestation of the Western-centric tradition of IR Theory; and iv. engage with the ongoing theoretical attempts at establishing alternative, non-Western or "post-Western" traditions within IR Theory
Periodo: Terzo trimestre
Modalità di valutazione: Esame
Giudizio di valutazione: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Corso singolo
Questo insegnamento può essere seguito come corso singolo.
Programma e organizzazione didattica
Edizione unica
Responsabile
Periodo
Terzo trimestre
Programma
The first part of the course will focus on the spatial transformation of the post-Cold War international system. During the Cold War, competition between the two superpowers contributed to the integration of separate regional systems into a unified global system of international politics. After the end of the Cold War, however, the lack of an equally powerful driver of strategic integration has triggered a process of spatial fragmentation, with the emergence of increasingly disconnected regional security complexes. Combined with the rise of non-Western powers, this process has contributed to a reduced centrality of the West. The second part of the course will reflect on the analytical implications of such transformations for our understanding of international politics. As a discipline that originated and developed in the West, IR Theory is now facing the challenges posed by an increasingly pluralized world. Over the past three decades, significant efforts have been made to decentralize IR Theory, most notably by developing non-Western or "post-Western" schools. In doing so, scholars have looked at alternative historical traditions and at pre-modern understandings of the "international" in the non-Western world. The course will focus on one specific case - the Chinese case. It will introduce students to the worldviews of pre-modern China, the so-called "Chinese World Order" that characterized East Asia before Western colonization, and the way how such historical tradition is now mobilized in the development of a "Chinese School" of IR Theory.
Prerequisiti
Although the course is open to all students, irrespective of their background, a strong preliminary knowledge of International Relations Theory and Contemporary History is assumed.
Metodi didattici
Based on readings assigned during the course, attending students will be involved in the preparation of class presentations on current issues in international affairs from the perspective of the "Chinese School" of IR Theory.
Materiale di riferimento
ATTENDING STUDENTS
1. Barry Buzan and Ole Wæver, Regions and Powers. The Structure of International Security (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003): "Part 1. Developing a Regional Approach to Global Security", pp. 1-90.
2. Oliver Stuenkel, Post-Western World. How Emerging Powers Are Remaking Global Order (Cambridge: Polity, 2016): "Introduction", pp. 1-28; "The Birth of Western-Centrism", pp. 29-62; "Power Shifts and the Rise of the Rest", pp. 63-96.
3. Trine Flockhart, "The Coming Multi-Order World", Contemporary Security Policy, Vol. 37, No. 1 (2016), pp. 3-30.
4. Anna Caffarena, "Diversity Management in World Politics. Reformist China and the Future of the (Liberal) Order", The International Spectator, Vol. 52, No. 3 (2017), pp. 1-17.
5. Simone Dossi, "China's Rise, the Belt and Road Initiative and the Future of the Global Order", in Dragan Pavlićević and Nicole Talmacs (eds.), The China Question. Contestations and Adaptations (Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan, 2022), pp. 21-42.
6. Amitav Acharya and Barry Buzan, "Why Is There No Non-Western International Relations Theory?", in Amitav Acharya and Barry Buzan (eds.), Non-Western International Relations Theory. Perspectives On and Beyond Asia (London: Routledge, 2010), pp. 1-25; alternatively in International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, Vol. 7, No. 3 (2007), pp. 287-312.
7. John K. Fairbank, "A Preliminary Framework", in John K. Fairbank (ed.), The Chinese World Order. Traditional China's Foreign Relations (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1974; first edition 1968), pp. 1-19.
8. David Kang, East Asia Before the West. Five Centuries of Trade and Tribute (New York: Columbia University Press, 2012): "Diplomacy: The Tribute System", pp. 54-81.
9. Peter C. Perdue, "The Tenacious Tributary System", Journal of Contemporary China, No. 96 (2015), pp. 1002-1014.
10. Lu Peng, "Pre-1949 Chinese IR: An Occluded History", Australian Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 68, No. 2 (2014), pp. 133-155.
11. Qin Yaqing, "Why Is There No Chinese International Relations Theory?", in Amitav Acharya and Barry Buzan (eds.), Non-Western International Relations Theory. Perspectives On and Beyond Asia (London: Routledge, 2010), pp. 26-50; alternatively in International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, Vol. 7, No. 3 (2007), pp. 313-340.
12. Lu Peng, "Chinese IR Sino-Centrism Tradition and Its Influence on the Chinese School Movement", Pacific Review, Vol. 32, No. 2 (2019), pp. 150-167.
NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS
1. Barry Buzan and Ole Wæver, Regions and Powers. The Structure of International Security (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003): "Part 1. Developing a regional approach to global security", pp. 1-90.
2. Oliver Stuenkel, Post-Western World: How Emerging Powers Are Remaking Global Order (Cambridge: Polity, 2016).
3. Amitav Acharya and Barry Buzan (eds.), Non-Western International Relations Theory. Perspectives On and Beyond Asia (London: Routledge, 2010).
1. Barry Buzan and Ole Wæver, Regions and Powers. The Structure of International Security (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003): "Part 1. Developing a Regional Approach to Global Security", pp. 1-90.
2. Oliver Stuenkel, Post-Western World. How Emerging Powers Are Remaking Global Order (Cambridge: Polity, 2016): "Introduction", pp. 1-28; "The Birth of Western-Centrism", pp. 29-62; "Power Shifts and the Rise of the Rest", pp. 63-96.
3. Trine Flockhart, "The Coming Multi-Order World", Contemporary Security Policy, Vol. 37, No. 1 (2016), pp. 3-30.
4. Anna Caffarena, "Diversity Management in World Politics. Reformist China and the Future of the (Liberal) Order", The International Spectator, Vol. 52, No. 3 (2017), pp. 1-17.
5. Simone Dossi, "China's Rise, the Belt and Road Initiative and the Future of the Global Order", in Dragan Pavlićević and Nicole Talmacs (eds.), The China Question. Contestations and Adaptations (Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan, 2022), pp. 21-42.
6. Amitav Acharya and Barry Buzan, "Why Is There No Non-Western International Relations Theory?", in Amitav Acharya and Barry Buzan (eds.), Non-Western International Relations Theory. Perspectives On and Beyond Asia (London: Routledge, 2010), pp. 1-25; alternatively in International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, Vol. 7, No. 3 (2007), pp. 287-312.
7. John K. Fairbank, "A Preliminary Framework", in John K. Fairbank (ed.), The Chinese World Order. Traditional China's Foreign Relations (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1974; first edition 1968), pp. 1-19.
8. David Kang, East Asia Before the West. Five Centuries of Trade and Tribute (New York: Columbia University Press, 2012): "Diplomacy: The Tribute System", pp. 54-81.
9. Peter C. Perdue, "The Tenacious Tributary System", Journal of Contemporary China, No. 96 (2015), pp. 1002-1014.
10. Lu Peng, "Pre-1949 Chinese IR: An Occluded History", Australian Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 68, No. 2 (2014), pp. 133-155.
11. Qin Yaqing, "Why Is There No Chinese International Relations Theory?", in Amitav Acharya and Barry Buzan (eds.), Non-Western International Relations Theory. Perspectives On and Beyond Asia (London: Routledge, 2010), pp. 26-50; alternatively in International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, Vol. 7, No. 3 (2007), pp. 313-340.
12. Lu Peng, "Chinese IR Sino-Centrism Tradition and Its Influence on the Chinese School Movement", Pacific Review, Vol. 32, No. 2 (2019), pp. 150-167.
NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS
1. Barry Buzan and Ole Wæver, Regions and Powers. The Structure of International Security (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003): "Part 1. Developing a regional approach to global security", pp. 1-90.
2. Oliver Stuenkel, Post-Western World: How Emerging Powers Are Remaking Global Order (Cambridge: Polity, 2016).
3. Amitav Acharya and Barry Buzan (eds.), Non-Western International Relations Theory. Perspectives On and Beyond Asia (London: Routledge, 2010).
Modalità di verifica dell’apprendimento e criteri di valutazione
For attending students, the final evaluation will be based on: (1) active participation during classes and the presentation of the assigned readings (30 percent of the final mark); and (2) a written exam at the end of the course (70 percent of the final mark). For non-attending students, the final evaluation will be based on a written exam.
Siti didattici
Docente/i
Ricevimento:
Martedì dalle 14.30 alle 17.30 (in studio o via Teams), su appuntamento da fissare via mail.
Dipartimento di Studi internazionali, giuridici e storico-politici, via Conservatorio 7, I piano, stanza 8