Information, Institutions, and International Order
POLITICAL SCIENCE Y396
Prof. Michael McGinnis Fall Semester 1990
The constant attention of sovereigns to all that goes on, the custom of resident ministers, the continual negotiations that take place, make of modern Europe a sort of Republic, whose members-- each independent, but all bound together by a common interest-- unite for the maintenance of order and the preservation of liberty. [Emmerich de Vattel, 1758]
This claim of equivalence between the European balance of power system
and a republican form of government is at least 230 years premature. The
Europe this prominent international legal scholar pictures in such hopeful
terms had yet to experience the widespread devastation of the Napoleonic Wars
and two World Wars. There remains a great deal of conflict in the world, but
there is also an underlying order to this conflict, even if this international
political order continues to differ in important respects from domestic
political orders.
Vattel succinctly captures the essential ingredient of political order: the existence of institutional roles (such as resident ambassadors) that facilitate the dissemination and evaluation of information on the likely behavior of other political actors (individuals or states). In this course we will examine several theoretical perspectives on the origins and consequences of international institutions and more informal means of organizing international politics. This is not a course on the organizational structure of the United Nations and its affiliated agencies. Instead, we will focus on the nature and sources of the information states need to coordinate their foreign policies and on the co-evolution of patterns of international conflict and cooperation. We will cover an eclectic range of topics, including an overview of contemporary international organizations, the origins of diplomacy in the early European state system, a theoretical analysis of informal sources of international order, models of cooperation in the modern international political economy, and a controversial scheme for nuclear disarmament.
This is an unusual course, in several respects. Most courses cover some
well-established field of study in which the instructor has considerable
expertise. This course covers the works of scholars prominent in very
different research traditions, and the instructor does research in still other
areas. We will endeavor to invent a new field of research drawing on each of
these diverse research traditions.
Furthermore, this course is unlike most undergraduate courses in that it
is a seminar, which means that every student is expected to participate fully
in class discussions. Attendance will be taken, and grades assigned for the
quality of a student's contribution to our discussions. This course has also
been designated a COAS Intensive Writing section, and students are required to
write four papers during the course of the semester. (Details about each paper
are provided below.) Student papers will be graded on the basis of both
content and proper grammar and style. Each student must be registered under a
separate course number to obtain credit for the intensive writing requirement,
which will be graded as satisfactory or not. Grades for Y396 will be
calculated on the following basis: Class participation 20%, Each of the four papers 20%
All four papers will be based on common assigned readings. Nearly all of these reading assignments will be taken from the following six texts, each of which should be available for purchase at local bookstores. Copies will be made available on reserve (in the Reserve Room of the Undergraduate Section of the Main Library and in the Political Science Research Collection, Woodburn Hall 200), along with a few other required and optional readings.
Harold Jacobson, NETWORKS OF INTERDEPENDENCE: INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND THE GLOBAL POLITICAL SYSTEM, 2nd edition, 1984, McGraw-Hill.(not available in a paperback edition) (JX 1995 .J28 1984)Garrett Mattingly, RENAISSANCE DIPLOMACY, 1955, Dover. (JX 1641 .M44)
Hedley Bull, THE ANARCHICAL SOCIETY: A STUDY OF ORDER IN WORLD POLITICS, 1977, Columbia University Press. (JX 1954 .B79 1977)
Robert Keohane, AFTER HEGEMONY: COOPERATION AND DISCORD IN THE WORLD POLITICAL ECONOMY, 1984, Princeton Univ. Press. (HF 1411 .K442 1984)
Jonathan Schell, THE ABOLITION, 1984, Avon. (JX 1974.7 .S2194 1984)
William Strunk, Jr., and E.B. White, THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE, 3rd edition, 1979, Macmillan. (PE 1408 .S772 1979)
Three different types of readings are listed below. Students are expected
to complete each week's Required Readings before each class. Optional Readings
provide short summaries of background information that students may find
useful in understanding the required readings. (Optional readings will be
available only in the Reserve Room in the Main Library.) In the hope that some
students will be inspired to investigate some topics in more depth, I have
included suggestions for Additional Readings. (If the call number is provided,
this book should be on reserve under the Y569 course for McGinnis/Starr.) This
list of supplemental readings also represents my first effort to categorize
the diverse range of material that I feel has direct bearing on the emerging
research topic of information, institutions, and international order.
PAPER ASSIGNMENTS
Students are required to complete four 5-8 page papers on topics to be
listed below. (There is no final exam for this course.) In each paper students
should discuss explicit comparisons between different assigned readings.
Papers should focus on the authors' basic assumptions and crucial assertions,
and explicit references should be made to specific passages. The relative
merits of arguments on both sides of an issue should be evaluated fairly, and
conclusions based on careful use of logic and supporting evidence. Grades will
be affected by the accuracy, validity, and creativity of arguments, as well as
the ability to focus on important rather than trivial points of comparison.
Criteria for importance will be clarified during class discussions.
No paper will be required during the first part of this course, but each
student must complete a paper on one topic during each of the four subsequent
parts. This arrangement provides considerable flexibility, since in only one
case, the final class session, is a paper due on a specific date. (No class
meeting is scheduled during finals week.) Students would be well-advised to
plan ahead, and to write papers on topics they consider interesting rather
than waiting until the last week in each section. This is especially important
since excuses of the form "I had no time to complete this paper" or "the
computer crashed just as I was printing it" will be particularly unconvincing
under the pressure of the last week in each section. After all, you could have
written your paper earlier.
Papers must be turned in at the beginning of class (or before). Students
should be prepared to discuss their paper in class, and to defend their
arguments against the criticisms of other participants in this seminar.
Late papers will not be accepted. Since we will be discussing each week's
topics during class, it is hardly fair to let students submit papers after
hearing what their classmates had to say.
Suggested paper topics are listed below. Additional details on each topic
will be provided in class, and some changes may be announced. I am open to
suggestions for alternative topics for any week's assignment, but students
must have any alternative topic approved, in advance, before 5:00 P.M. Monday.
Finally, we must deal with some institutional requirements of our own.
Indiana University, the Political Science Department, and your instructor all
consider plagiarism, the practice of misrepresenting someone else's work as
your own, as a very serious matter. If you're caught, you'll flunk the course,
so don't do it. Incompletes will be allowed only in very special circumstances
and then only if the instructor approves in advance.
SCHEDULE OF TOPICS AND ASSIGNMENTS
PART 1. A SURVEY OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
No paper due during this part
1. Introduction to course Aug. 28
2. Brevity and Theory Sept. 4
Required Readings:
Strunk and White, THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE, entire (pp. 1-85)
Jacobson, NETWORKS OF INTERDEPENDENCE, Introduction, Part I (pp. 3-80)
Discussion Topics:
-Organization, brevity and other principles of good writing.
-An overview of basic principles of political organization.
Optional Readings:
Paul Viotti and Mark Kauppi, INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS THEORY: REALISM,
PLURALISM, GLOBALISM, chapter 1, pp. 1-19 (JX 1391 .V57 1987)
3. Security and International Organization Sept. 11
Required Readings:
Jacobson, NETWORKS OF INTERDEPENDENCE, Parts II and III (pp. 81-216)
Discussion Topics:
-Is collective security the answer to the problem of world peace?
-Can states be secure if each runs its own affairs any way it wants?
Additional Readings--Realism and International Organizations:
Hobbes, LEVIATHAN
Hans Morgenthau, POLITICS AMONG NATIONS (JX 1391 .M6 1985)
E.H. Carr, THE TWENTY YEARS' CRISIS: 1919-1939
Inis Claude, SWORDS INTO PLOWSHARES: THE PROBLEMS AND PROGRESS OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION
4. International Cooperation on Economic and Social Issues Sept. 18
Required Readings:
Jacobson, NETWORKS OF INTERDEPENDENCE, Parts IV, V, VI (pp. 217-424)
Discussion Topics:
-Is collective management the answer to global economic, social, and environmental problems?
-Does the continuing growth in numbers and scope of IGOs imply the eventual creation of a world government?
-Compare the informational content of the institutional networks on international security, economic, and social issues.
Additional Readings--Interdependence, Integration, and Regimes
Robert Keohane and Joseph Nye, POWER AND INTERDEPENDENCE (JX 1395 .K382)
Ernst Haas, BEYOND THE NATION-STATE
Stephen Krasner, ed., INTERNATIONAL REGIMES (JX 1954 .I485)
Joan Spero, THE POLITICS OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC RELATIONS
PART 2. BALANCE OF POWER AND DIPLOMACY
First paper due during this part
5. Diplomacy in the Italian City-State System Sept. 25
Required Readings:
Mattingly, RENAISSANCE DIPLOMACY, Forward, Parts One, Two (pp. 9-102)
Paper and Discussion Topics:
-Compare Mattingly's analysis of the origins of diplomacy to Jacobson's analysis of the origins of international organizations. Discuss whether they have similar origins, effects, or institutional forms. Do they address similar problems or controversies?
Optional Readings:
Kal J. Holsti, INTERNATIONAL POLITICS: A FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYSIS, section on Italian city-states in chapter 2, pp. 47-55. (JX 1305 .H6 1983)
Additional Readings--The Greek City-State System:
Thucydides, THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR
Donald Kagan, THE OUTBREAK OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR
Frank Adcock and J.D. Moseley, DIPLOMACY IN ANCIENT GREECE
6. Diplomacy in the European State System Oct. 2
Required Readings:
Mattingly, RENAISSANCE DIPLOMACY, Parts Three and Four (pp. 103-256)
Paper and Discussion Topics:
-Compare Mattingly's analysis of the evolution of diplomacy from the Italian city-state system to the European state system to Jacobson's analysis of the evolution of IGOs from intra-European organizations to their current global scale.
Additional Readings--War and State Institutions:
William McNeill, THE PURSUIT OF POWER
Charles Tilly, ed., THE FORMATION OF NATIONAL STATES IN WESTERN EUROPE
Charles Tilly, "War Making and State Making as Organized Crime," in P.
Evans, BRINGING THE STATE BACK IN, pp. 169-191 (H97 .B733 1985)
Karen Rasler and William Thompson, WAR AND STATEMAKING
Additional Readings--Economic and Legal Foundations of IR:
Immanuel Wallerstein, THE MODERN WORLD SYSTEM (4 volumes, so far)
Fernand Braudel, CIVILIZATION AND CAPITALISM (3 volumes)
Michael Mann, THE SOURCES OF SOCIAL POWER
Douglass North, STRUCTURE AND CHANGE IN ECONOMIC HISTORY
Harold Berman, LAW AND REVOLUTION: THE FORMATION OF THE WESTERN LEGAL TRADITION
Michael Akehurst, A MODERN INTRODUCTION TO INTERNATIONAL LAW
7. Other Periods and Conceptualizations Oct. 9
Required Readings:
Edward V. Gulick, EUROPE'S CLASSICAL BALANCE OF POWER, 1955, Part 1, pp. 3-91. (DC 249 .G97)
Inis L. Claude, POWER AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, 1962, chapters 1-3, pp. 3-93. (JX 1395 .C62)
Paper and Discussion Topics:
-How is the balance of power system described by Gulick similar to and different from the earlier systems described by Mattingly?
-Where do the interpretations of the European balance of power offered by Gulick and Mattingly fit within Claude's classification scheme?
Optional Readings:
Lynn H. Miller, GLOBAL ORDER: VALUES AND POWER IN INTERNATIONAL POLITICS, chapters 2-3, pp. 17-67. (D 849 .M542 1985)
Ian Clark, THE HIERARCHY OF STATES: REFORM AND RESISTANCE IN THE INTERNATIONAL ORDER, Part 2, pp. 91-207 (JX 1315 .C57 1989)
Moorhead Wright, ed. THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF THE BALANCE OF POWER, 1486-1914: SELECTED EUROPEAN WRITINGS (JX 1318 .T396)
Additional Readings--Systems Theory and IR:
Richard Rosecrance, ACTION AND REACTION IN WORLD POLITICS
Morton Kaplan, SYSTEM AND PROCESS IN INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
Kenneth Waltz, THEORY OF INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
L. Carl Brown, THE INTERNATIONAL POLITICS OF THE MIDDLE EAST
Additional Readings--Macro-History:
Arnold Toynbee, A STUDY OF HISTORY (12 volumes)
William McNeill, THE RISE OF THE WEST
Joseph Tainter, THE COLLAPSE OF COMPLEX SOCIETIES
PART 3. ORDER IN ANARCHY
Second paper due during this part
8. Sources of Order in Political Systems Oct. 16
Required Readings:
Bull, THE ANARCHICAL SOCIETY, Introduction, Part 1 (pp. xi-xv, 3-98)
Paper and Discussion Topics:
-Would Mattingly agree that an "international society" in Bull's sense developed during the Renaissance period? What perceptual shifts would this require?
-Why doesn't Bull include IGOs in his analysis of international institutions? How would Jacobson react to this slight?
-Do IGOs require or imply the existence of an international society?
Additional Readings--Political Order and Institutional Analysis:
Elinor Ostrom, GOVERNING THE COMMONS: THE EVOLUTION OF INSTITUTIONS FOR COLLECTIVE ACTION (forthcoming)
Vincent Ostrom, THE MEANING OF AMERICAN FEDERALISM: THE CONSTITUTION OF ORDER FOR A SELF-GOVERNING SOCIETY (forthcoming)
James March and Johan Olsen, REDISCOVERING INSTITUTIONS: THE ORGANIZATIONAL BASIS OF POLITICS
Thrainn Eggertsson, ECONOMIC BEHAVIOR AND INSTITUTIONS
9. Informal Institutions in International Relations Oct. 23
Required Readings:
Bull, THE ANARCHICAL SOCIETY, Part 2 (pp. 99-230)
Paper and Discussion Topics:
-Compare Bull's conceptualization of the balance of power as an institution to the views of Mattingly, Gulick, and Claude.
-Bull argues that the Great Powers have long acted to manage the world's political problems. Would Jacobson be content to see this arrangement extended to other types of global problems?
-Are the informal institutions described by Bull culture-bound, in the sense that they would be inappropriate for peoples of other cultures?
-If war is described as a political institution, does the latter term cover so much that it loses any meaning?
Additional Readings--IR as a Clash of Cultures:
Hedley Bull and Adam Watson, eds., THE EXPANSION OF INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY, (JX 1391 .E96 1984)
Adda Bozeman, POLITICS AND CULTURE IN INTERNATIONAL HISTORY
Additional Readings--War as an Institution:
Quincy Wright, A STUDY OF WAR
Richard Falk and Samuel Kim, eds., THE WAR SYSTEM (HM 36.5 .W37)
10. Possible Future Forms of International Order Oct. 30
Required Readings:
Bull, THE ANARCHICAL SOCIETY, Part 3 (pp. 231-320)
Paper and Discussion Topics:
-Trace a plausible path to one of Bull's alternative futures, one that is consistent with concerns raised by Jacobson, Mattingly, and Claude.
-Is Bull being overly optimistic about the prospects of these future orders? Does he remain consistent with his previous analysis?
-Which of Bull's alternative futures would Jacobson find most attractive? most likely to occur?
Additional Readings--Relevant Utopias?:
Richard Falk, A STUDY OF FUTURE WORLDS
Burns Weston, ed., TOWARD NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT AND GLOBAL SECURITY
PART 4. COOPERATION UNDER HEGEMONY
Third paper due during this part
11. Theoretical Concepts: Hegemony and Regimes Nov. 6
Required Readings:
Keohane, AFTER HEGEMONY, chapters 1-4 (pp. 5-64)
Paper and Discussion Topics:
-Are Keohane's concepts of "discord" and "regime" appropriate for any of the historical periods Mattingly or Gulick examine?
-Keohane doesn't cite Bull's work. If he did, where would it fit in his theoretical framework? What would an understanding of Bull add to Keohane's analysis?
-How is the concept of a "hegemon," as interpreted by Keohane, related to the concept of a "balancer," as interpreted by Gulick and Claude?
Additional Readings--Hegemonic Wars:
James Joll, THE FIRST WORLD WAR
Richard Rotberg and T. Rabb, THE ORIGINS AND PREVENTION OF MAJOR WAR
Robert Gilpin, WAR AND CHANGE IN WORLD POLITICS (JX 1291 .G53)
William Thompson, ON GLOBAL WAR
12. Game Theory and the Limits to Cooperation Nov. 13
Required Readings:
Keohane, AFTER HEGEMONY, chapters 5-7 (pp. 65-132)
Paper and Discussion Topics:
-Discuss how game theory could have been used by Mattingly or Bull.
-Compare the discussion of information by Jacobson and Keohane.
Additional Readings--IR Game Theory:
Robert Axelrod, THE EVOLUTION OF COOPERATION
Kenneth Oye, ed., COOPERATION UNDER ANARCHY (D 445 .C736 1986)
Glenn Snyder and Paul Diesing, CONFLICT AMONG NATIONS
Emerson Niou, Peter Ordeshook, and Gregory Rose, THE BALANCE OF POWER: STABILITY IN INTERNATIONAL SYSTEMS
13. Regimes and Hegemonic Decline Nov. 20
Required Readings:
Keohane, AFTER HEGEMONY, chapters 8-10 (pp. 133-240)
Paper and Discussion Topics:
-Keohane doesn't cite Jacobson, nor does he dwell on the nature of formal international organizations. What roles do IGOs play in the development and maintenance of patterns of international cooperation?
-In what ways have the policies of hegemons contributed to the development of the existing network of international organizations?
-Do current concerns with declining hegemony reflect America's typical self-absorption? Weren't successful adjustments to changing power balances made in previous historical eras?
Additional Readings--Hegemonic Decline as a Policy Issue:
Paul Kennedy, THE RISE AND FALL OF THE GREAT POWERS
Joseph Nye, BOUND TO LEAD: THE CHANGING NATURE OF AMERICAN POWER
14. Cooperation without Hegemony Nov. 27
Required Readings:
Keohane, AFTER HEGEMONY, chapter 11 (pp. 243-259)
J. Martin Rochester, "The Rise and Fall of International Organization as a Field of Study," INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION, (Autumn 1986) 40, pp. 777-813 (on reserve for my Y569 course)
Paper and Discussion Topics:
-Mattingly and Bull discuss cooperative arrangements that developed in the absence of a hegemon. Is this consistent with Keohane's analysis?
-Should research on international organizations focus on informal processes of coordination rather than formal institutional structures?
Additional Readings--Theories of International Political Economy:
Robert Keohane, INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS AND STATE POWER
Robert Gilpin, THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
PART 5. ANARCHY AND ABOLITION
Fourth paper due December 4
15. The Logic of Nuclear Deterrence and Disarmament Dec. 4
Required Readings:
Schell, THE ABOLITION, entire (pp. 1-209)
Paper and Discussion Topics:
-Is nuclear deterrence an institution in the sense used by Mattingly? by Bull? Is it a regime in the sense of Keohane? part of the network of global interdependence identified by Jacobson?
-Is Schell's abolition scheme a viable institution and/or regime?
-How would Bull assess the prospects for Schell's abolition scheme?
-If Jacobson were to read Schell's book, what comments would he likely have on the ways in which IGOs could facilitate nuclear abolition?
-Would realization of Schell's abolition scheme require a widespread perceptual shift akin to the one identified by Mattingly?
-Do ongoing changes in the institutional structure of Europe (1992, German reunification, NATO) make Schell's proposal more plausible?
Additional Readings--Reassessing the Cold War Era:
John L. Gaddis, "The Long Peace: Elements of Stability in the Postwar International System," INTERNATIONAL SECURITY, Spring 1986, 99-142.
Joseph Nye, "Nuclear Learning and U.S.-Soviet Security Regimes," INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION, Summer 1987, 371-402.
John Mearsheimer, "Back to the Future: Instability in Europe After the Cold War," INTERNATIONAL SECURITY, Summer 1990, 5-56.
John Mueller, RETREAT FROM DOOMSDAY: THE OBSOLESCENCE OF MAJOR WAR