This honours course is designed as an introduction to contemporary theories, debates, and major scholarly traditions in international relations. As a core course offered in this field, the intention is to provide honours students with a general, but not elementary, overview. The course explores major traditions in international relations scholarship, including classical and modern rationalist approaches based in realist and liberal traditions, as well as psychological and constructivist conributions. Our primary concern is to examine and assess each approach’s foundational assumptions, logic, problem definition, understanding of the units of world politics, conceptualization if international institutions, agency and international structure, and key insights. In addressing these and other questions, we will explore several issue areas of world politics, such as international security, international political economy, and connections between domestic politics and foreign policy. There will be an emphasis on connecting theory to empirical tests.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

1. understand different international relations theories;
2. apply international relations theories to case studies and issue areas of world politics;
3. understand how world politics works; and
4. think, write, and argue critically and logically about issues of world politics from a political science perspective.

Additional Course Costs

There are no additional costs associated with this course.

Examination Material or equipment

Details about the material or equipment that is permitted in an examination room will be outlined during the semester and on the course’s Wattle site.

Required Resources

There is no required textbook. Instead, a number of articles and book chapters are required and can be downloaded from Wattle, along with supplementary recommended readings.

Recommended Resources

A large number of journals and periodicals exist that include the cutting-edge developments of the discipline. Being familiar with these sources and surveying at least some of them regularly will assist you in this course.

International Organization

International Studies Quarterly

American Political Science Review

American Journal of Political Science

European Journal of International Relations

World Politics

Foreign Affairs

International Security

Journal of Conflict Resolution

Journal of Politics

Security Studies

Review of International Political Economy

Staff Feedback

Students will be given feedback in the following forms in this course:

·        Workshops offer immediate feedback on your ideas and your understanding of course materials.

·        Your course convener is available to provide feedback on your essay plans prior to their due dates.

·       Your course convener will provide written feedback on your essays on Wattle.

Student Feedback

ANU is committed to the demonstration of educational excellence and regularly seeks feedback from students. Students are encouraged to offer feedback directly to their Course Convener or through their College and Course representatives (if applicable). Feedback can also be provided to Course Conveners and teachers via the Student Experience of Learning & Teaching (SELT) feedback program. SELT surveys are confidential and also provide the Colleges and ANU Executive with opportunities to recognise excellent teaching, and opportunities for improvement.

Class Schedule

Week/Session	Summary of Activities	Assessment
1	Fundamentals of Theory in IR
2	Paradigm Wars
3	Rationalism and Its Critics	First research question proposals due before class
4	Individuals and Psychology
5	Bargaining and Reputation
6	Power Shifts and Reassurance	2nd research question proposals due before class
7	Military Technology (or TBD)	Critical Response Paper due 11:59pm on 15 April if writing on Weeks 1-6
8	Institutions & Order
9	International Political Economy
10	Political Economy and Security
11	Domestic Politics
12	Ideational and Critical IR

Tutorial Registration

ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.

Assessment Summary

Assessment task	Value	Due Date	Learning Outcomes
Class Participation	10 %	*	1,2,3,4
Discussion Questions	10 %	*	1,2,3,4
Research Question Proposals	10 %	*	1,2,3,4
Critical Response Paper	20 %	*	1,2,3,4
Theoretical Argument Paper	50 %	07/06/2024	1,2,3,4

* If the Due Date and Return of Assessment date are blank, see the Assessment Tab for specific Assessment Task details

Policies

ANU has educational policies, procedures and guidelines , which are designed to ensure that staff and students are aware of the University’s academic standards, and implement them. Students are expected to have read the Academic Integrity Rule before the commencement of their course. Other key policies and guidelines include:

• Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
• Student Assessment (Coursework) Policy and Procedure
• Special Assessment Consideration Guideline and General Information 
• Student Surveys and Evaluations
• Deferred Examinations
• Student Complaint Resolution Policy and Procedure
• Code of practice for teaching and learning

Assessment Requirements

The ANU is using Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the Academic Skills website. In rare cases where online submission using Turnitin software is not technically possible; or where not using Turnitin software has been justified by the Course Convener and approved by the Associate Dean (Education) on the basis of the teaching model being employed; students shall submit assessment online via ‘Wattle’ outside of Turnitin, or failing that in hard copy, or through a combination of submission methods as approved by the Associate Dean (Education). The submission method is detailed below.

Moderation of Assessment

Marks that are allocated during Semester are to be considered provisional until formalised by the College examiners meeting at the end of each Semester. If appropriate, some moderation of marks might be applied prior to final results being released.

Participation

Due date: 12 workshop sessions will be run. Value: 20%

Class participation marks will be based upon evidence of having done the assigned readings, evidence of having thought about the issues, contribution and participation in class, and consideration and respect for other class members. Part of your participation grade will be how well you LISTEN, not just how much and how compellingly you speak. Please come prepared to share your own questions and thoughts about each week’s course materials, especially the readings, and to proactively participate in exchange of ideas with your course convener and fellow students. 

Assessment Task 1

Class Participation

Class participation marks will be based upon evidence of having done the assigned readings, evidence of having thought about the issues, contribution and participation in class, and consideration and respect for other class members. Part of your participation grade will be how well you LISTEN, not just how much and how compellingly you speak. Please come prepared to share your own questions and thoughts about each week’s course materials, especially the readings, and to proactively participate in exchange of ideas with your course convener and fellow students.

 

Attendance will be noted by the convener. If you do not attend, it is not possible to gain participation marks.

Assessment Task 2

Discussion Questions

You are required to post at least one discussion question about each week’s readings at the Forum for Discussion Questions in Wattle by 4:00 pm the day before our Workshop from Weeks 2 to 12. You are also required to write at least one response to each of the questions posed by your classmates. These questions and responses can be as long or short, and contain whatever content, as you like. Any on-time post will get full credit; all other outcomes result in a 1 point deduction from your total grade for this item.

Assessment Task 3

Research Question Proposals

Due date: Week 3 and Week 6, before class. Value: 5 each%

 

Word limit: 150 words of text in length

 

Details of task: You must write about an international relations topic of your choice and relating to the themes of the course. To maximise the utility of this course for your honours thesis project, you are encouraged to write about the international relations topic that you chose for your honours thesis (if relevant). Your research question proposal must be stated as a question (“?”), and include a clear dependent variable (i.e. the outcome to be explained). You are not to presume an answer to your question, although you may present candidate hypotheses that motivate the puzzle, if applicable.

Assessment Task 4

Critical Response Paper

Due date: 11:59pm on 15 April if writing on Weeks 1-6; within 24 hours of class of the relevant week if writing on Weeks 7-12. Value: 20%

 

Word limit: 1500 words of text in length, including footnotes (or endnotes) but excluding the references and the cover sheet, if any. Per ANU College of Arts & Social Sciences, an assignment must not deviate from the prescribed word limit either up or down by more than 10%. In other words, the acceptable word count for your paper is maximum 1,650 words of text.

 

Details of task: Write a critical evaluation of the readings for any week of the course. This entails summarizing the readings and correctly characterizing their arguments, but this is not sufficient on its own. You must compare the arguments to each other, evaluate their assumptions and causal logics, assess their explanatory power relative to each other, identify how and why they converge or diverge in their predictions, and critique, synthesize or extend them to go beyond the contents of any particular argument.

 

Marking criteria: Your paper will be marked based on the following criteria:

(1)      the understanding and characterization of the readings;

(2)      the overall quality of writing, including structure and clarity; and

(3)      the quality and creativity of the analysis tying the arguments together and juxtaposing them.

Assessment Task 5

Theoretical Argument Paper

Due date: TBD, 11:59 pm. Value: 50%

 

Word limit: 2,500 words of text in length, including footnotes (or endnotes) but excluding the references, tables, figures, and the cover sheet, if any. Per ANU College of Arts & Social Sciences, an assignment must not deviate from the prescribed word limit either up or down by more than 10%. In other words, the acceptable word count for your paper is maximum 2,750 words of text.

 

Details of task: You must provide a sophisticated theoretical explication based on the same research question that you proposed to answer in your Research Question Proposal assessment, utilising International Relations theories you have learned in our course as well as other relevant social science theories. Your theoretical argument paper must include the following sections: (1) a one-paragraph summary of your research topic and question; (2) a thorough, synthetic literature review laying out and critiquing at least three theoretical arguments that can explain your outcome of interest; and (3) a full section on your proposed research design to test the hypotheses derived from the theories presented in your literature review. Each of (2) and (3) should be approximately 1000 words long.

 

In your theory section, you need to have your own argument and it must be richly informed by IR theories. It should logically lead to at least three clear hypotheses relating to your outcome of interest and addressing your research question. Specifically, what possible explanations are there for your question? What existing literatures do you build on in developing your hypotheses? What are the competing theoretical stories in detail; i.e., by what causal mechanisms does change in the independent variable lead to change in the dependent variable? What are the key underlying assumptions and logic of each hypothesis? Which of them are more compelling based on our criteria for good theory? Are they mutually exclusive, or complementary? Most importantly, what predictions do they make about what you should see if they are right, and what evidence would falsify them? DO NOT engage in any actual empirical evaluation of your hypotheses – the task here is to formulate the hypotheses and identify what evidence you are looking for, not to actually find that evidence. That will be your task for Sem 2!

 

For more advice on how to develop good theoretical arguments and hypotheses, please read Gerring, John. 2012. Social Science Methodology: A Unified Framework. 2nd Ed. Chapter 1 “A Unified Framework” & Chapter 8 “Causal Arguments” [and p. 408 “Argument”].

 

Note that this assessment tests your mastery of the relevant theoretical literature on your topic. Do not include your actual empirical analysis.

 

Dual submission (i.e. submitting the same paper for two different courses) is strictly prohibited. Thus, even if you are permitted in our course to work on the same research topic that you do in the other courses and certain overlap may be unavoidable, you must still write a brand new, original paper for our course. Also, marking criteria will differ among different honours courses because of different learning outcomes. It is your responsibility to meet the requirements and marking criteria of our course.

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is a core part of the ANU culture as a community of scholars. The University’s students are an integral part of that community. The academic integrity principle commits all students to engage in academic work in ways that are consistent with, and actively support, academic integrity, and to uphold this commitment by behaving honestly, responsibly and ethically, and with respect and fairness, in scholarly practice.

The University expects all staff and students to be familiar with the academic integrity principle, the Academic Integrity Rule 2021, the Policy: Student Academic Integrity and Procedure: Student Academic Integrity, and to uphold high standards of academic integrity to ensure the quality and value of our qualifications.

The Academic Integrity Rule 2021 is a legal document that the University uses to promote academic integrity, and manage breaches of the academic integrity principle. The Policy and Procedure support the Rule by outlining overarching principles, responsibilities and processes. The Academic Integrity Rule 2021 commences on 1 December 2021 and applies to courses commencing on or after that date, as well as to research conduct occurring on or after that date. Prior to this, the Academic Misconduct Rule 2015 applies.

 

The University commits to assisting all students to understand how to engage in academic work in ways that are consistent with, and actively support academic integrity. All coursework students must complete the online Academic Integrity Module (Epigeum), and Higher Degree Research (HDR) students are required to complete research integrity training. The Academic Integrity website provides information about services available to assist students with their assignments, examinations and other learning activities, as well as understanding and upholding academic integrity.

Online Submission

You will be required to electronically sign a declaration as part of the submission of your assignment. Please keep a copy of the assignment for your records. Unless an exemption has been approved by the Associate Dean (Education) submission must be through Turnitin.

Hardcopy Submission

For some forms of assessment (hand written assignments, art works, laboratory notes, etc.) hard copy submission is appropriate when approved by the Associate Dean (Education). Hard copy submissions must utilise the Assignment Cover Sheet. Please keep a copy of tasks completed for your records.

Late Submission

Individual assessment tasks may or may not allow for late submission. Policy regarding late submission is detailed below:

• Late submission not permitted. If submission of assessment tasks without an extension after the due date is not permitted, a mark of 0 will be awarded.
• Late submission permitted. Late submission of assessment tasks without an extension are penalised at the rate of 5% of the possible marks available per working day or part thereof. Late submission of assessment tasks is not accepted after 10 working days after the due date, or on or after the date specified in the course outline for the return of the assessment item. Late submission is not accepted for take-home examinations.

Referencing Requirements

The Academic Skills website has information to assist you with your writing and assessments. The website includes information about Academic Integrity including referencing requirements for different disciplines. There is also information on Plagiarism and different ways to use source material.

Returning Assignments

Assignments will be returned through the course Wattle site.

Extensions and Penalties

Extensions and late submission of assessment pieces are covered by the Student Assessment (Coursework) Policy and Procedure. Extensions may be granted for assessment pieces that are not examinations or take-home examinations. If you need an extension, you must request an extension in writing on or before the due date. If you have documented and appropriate medical evidence that demonstrates you were not able to request an extension on or before the due date, you may be able to request it after the due date.

Resubmission of Assignments

Students may resubmit their assignments on Turnitin before the due date. Turnitin allows only one resubmission per 24 hours. There are no other conditions under which assignments may be resubmitted.

Privacy Notice

The ANU has made a number of third party, online, databases available for students to use. Use of each online database is conditional on student end users first agreeing to the database licensor’s terms of service and/or privacy policy. Students should read these carefully. In some cases student end users will be required to register an account with the database licensor and submit personal information, including their: first name; last name; ANU email address; and other information.
In cases where student end users are asked to submit ‘content’ to a database, such as an assignment or short answers, the database licensor may only use the student’s ‘content’ in accordance with the terms of service – including any (copyright) licence the student grants to the database licensor. Any personal information or content a student submits may be stored by the licensor, potentially offshore, and will be used to process the database service in accordance with the licensors terms of service and/or privacy policy.
If any student chooses not to agree to the database licensor’s terms of service or privacy policy, the student will not be able to access and use the database. In these circumstances students should contact their lecturer to enquire about alternative arrangements that are available.

Distribution of grades policy

Academic Quality Assurance Committee monitors the performance of students, including attrition, further study and employment rates and grade distribution, and College reports on quality assurance processes for assessment activities, including alignment with national and international disciplinary and interdisciplinary standards, as well as qualification type learning outcomes.

Since first semester 1994, ANU uses a grading scale for all courses. This grading scale is used by all academic areas of the University.

Support for students

The University offers students support through several different services. You may contact the services listed below directly or seek advice from your Course Convener, Student Administrators, or your College and Course representatives (if applicable).

• ANU Health, safety & wellbeing for medical services, counselling, mental health and spiritual support
• ANU Access and inclusion for students with a disability or ongoing or chronic illness
• ANU Dean of Students for confidential, impartial advice and help to resolve problems between students and the academic or administrative areas of the University
• ANU Academic Skills and Learning Centre supports you make your own decisions about how you learn and manage your workload.
• ANU Counselling Centre promotes, supports and enhances mental health and wellbeing within the University student community.
• ANUSA supports and represents undergraduate and ANU College students
• PARSA supports and represents postgraduate and research students