Master’s Seminar
The return of geopolitical rivalry
API 6339
Graduate
School of Public and International Affairs
University
of Ottawa
Winter
2021
Office:
FSS 6053
Office
hours: By appointment
Email: rparis@uottawa.ca
Course Description
This course will examine the
causes, characteristics and possible consequences of the recent intensification
of major-power rivalry in international politics, including in the military,
economic and cyber domains.
Requirements
|
Response papers (3 x 15%) |
45% |
|
Midterm exam |
15% |
|
Final exam |
30% |
|
Participation |
10% |
Response papers
You will write three response papers during the semester. Deadline: 12 noon the day before the relevant class meeting. Late papers will be subject to penalties (see lateness policy below). Detailed instructions will be provided in class.
Midterm exam
The midterm exam will cover all the course material up
to the date of the exam. It will take place during the regular class period.
Duration: 1.5 hours.
Final exam
The final exam will cover the entire course. It will be a take
home exam, during the exam period. Duration: 24 hours. You must write the final
exam to pass the course.
Participation
The participation
grade will be based not only on your involvement in seminar discussions, but
also on evidence that you have completed and understood the weekly readings. If
circumstances make it difficult for you to participate in online discussions,
please speak to the professor.
Readings
Click on the links in the course
schedule, below. To access subscriber-only material, you may either: (1) connect to the library website from a
University of Ottawa-networked computer, or (2) follow
these instructions for off-campus access:
http://www.biblio.uottawa.ca/html/Page?node=get-access&lang=en.
Cheating and
Plagiarism
Academic fraud – including plagiarism, submitting work that
was produced by someone else, or submitting the same work in more than one
course – may result in a failing grade for a particular assignment, a failing
grade for the course, and/or suspension for various lengths of time or
permanent expulsion
from the university. The onus is on each student to know and comply with the
university’s regulations on academic fraud.
Lateness
Policy
There will be a penalty for late
submissions. Exceptions are made only for illness or other serious situations
deemed as such by the professor. University regulations require all absences
from exams and all late submissions due to illness to be supported by a medical
certificate. The Faculty reserves the right to accept or reject the reason put
forth if it is not medical. Reasons such as travel, work and errors made while
reading the exam schedule are not usually accepted. Each day of late submission will result in a penalty of 5%, weekends
included. This also applies to
assignments sent by email (time of receipt of the email indicates the time of
delivery). Papers will not be accepted after the class in which they are
discussed. Please notify the professor as soon as possible if a religious
holiday or event forces your absence during an evaluation.
Mental Health
and Wellness
The University of Ottawa is committed to the wellbeing of its
students and to ensuring that every student can experience good mental health
in order to complete their work and participate fully in university life. For
more information, visit http://sass.uottawa.ca/en/personal/services/mental-health-wellness,
Sexual
Violence
The
University of Ottawa does not tolerate any form of sexual violence. Sexual
violence refers to any act of a sexual nature committed without consent, such
as rape, sexual harassment or online harassment. The University, as well as
student and employee associations, offers a full range of resources and
services allowing members of our community to receive information and
confidential assistance and providing for a procedure to report an incident or
make a complaint. For more information, visit www.uOttawa.ca/sexual-violence-support-and-prevention.
I. FOUNDATIONS
Jan. 13 Introduction
to the Course
Walter Russell Mead, “The Return of
Geopolitics,” Foreign Affairs 93:3 (May 2014), pp. 69-79.
G. John Ikenberry, “The Illusion
of Geopolitics,” Foreign Affairs 93:3
(May 2014), pp. 80-90.
Jan. 20 Power
and Change
Robert Gilpin, War and Change in World Politics (Cambridge University Press,
1981), chapter 1, “The Nature of International Political Change.”
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511664267.003
Alexander Cooley, Daniel Nexon and Steven
Ward, “Revising Order or Challenging the Balance of Military Power? An
Alternative Typology of Revisionist and Status-Quo States,” Review of International Studies 45: 4
(Oct. 2019), pp. 689-708.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210519000019
Michael Barnett and Raymond Duvall, “Power
in International Politics,” International
Organization 59:1 (Winter 2005), pp. 39-75.
Jan. 27 Ideology
and Identity
J. David Singer, “The Level-of-Analysis
Problem in International Relations,” World
Politics 14:1 (Oct. 1961), pp. 77-92.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2009557
Mark L. Haas, “Ideological Polarity and
Balancing in Great Power Politics,” Security
Studies 23:4 (2014), pp. 715-753.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09636412.2014.964991
Bentley B. Allan, Srdjan Vucetic and Ted
Hopf, “The Distribution of Identity and the Future of International Order:
China's Hegemonic Prospects,” International
Organization 72:4 (Fall 2018), pp. 839-869.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020818318000267
II. THE CONTENDERS
Feb. 3 The
United States
Joseph S. Nye, “The
Rise and Fall of American Hegemony from Wilson to Trump,” International Affairs 95:1 (Jan. 2019), pp. 63-80.
https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiy212
Rubrick Biegon, “A
Populist Grand Strategy? Trump and the Framing of American Decline,” International Relations 33:4 (Dec.
2019), pp. 517–539.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0047117819852399
Patrick Porter, “Why
America's Grand Strategy Has Not Changed: Power, Habit, and the U.S. Foreign
Policy Establishment,” International
Security 42:4 (Spring 2018), pp 9-46.
https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/full/10.1162/isec_a_00311
Joseph R. Biden, Jr.,
“Why America Must Lead Again,” Foreign
Affairs 99:2 (March-April 2020), pp. 64-68, 70-76.
Feb. 10 China
Avery Goldstein, “China's Grand Strategy
under Xi Jinping: Reassurance, Reform, and Resistance,” International Security 45:1 (2020), pp. 164-201.
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/761085
Oriana Skylar Mastro, “The Stealth
Superpower: How China Hid Its Global Ambitions,” Foreign Affairs 98:1 (Jan. 2019), pp. 31-39.
Maximilian Mayer, “China’s Historical
Statecraft and the Return of History,” International
Affairs 94:6 (Nov. 2018), pp. 1217-1235.
https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiy209
Minghao Zhao, “Is a
New Cold War Inevitable? Chinese Perspectives on US–China Strategic
Competition,” Chinese Journal of
International Politics 12:3 (Autumn 2019), pp. 371-394.
https://doi.org/10.1093/cjip/poz010
Feb. 17 No
Meeting (University Break)
Feb. 24 Midterm
Exam
March 3 Russia
Andrew Radin and Clint Reach, Russian Views of the International Order
(RAND, 2017).
https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR1826.html
Michael McFaul, “Putin, Putinism, and the
Domestic Determinants of Russian Foreign Policy,” International Security 45:2 (2020), pp. 95-139.
https://muse-jhu-edu.proxy.bib.uottawa.ca/article/771526
Rod Thornton, “The
Russian Military’s New ‘Main Emphasis,’” RUSI
Journal 162:4 (2017), pp. 18-28.
https://doi.org/10.1080/03071847.2017.1381401
Thomas Graham, “Let Russia Be Russia: The
Case for a More Pragmatic Approach to Moscow,” Foreign Affairs 98:6 (Nov. 2019), pp. 134-146.
March 10 Europe
Erik Jones and Anand Menon, “Europe:
Between Dream and Reality?” International
Affairs 95:1 (Jan. 2019), pp. 161-180.
https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiy237
Alina Polyakova and Benjamin Haddad,
“Europe Alone: What Comes After the Transatlantic Alliance,” Foreign Affairs 98:4 (July 2019), pp.
109-120.
Mark Leonard and
Jeremy Shapiro, “Sovereign Europe, Dangerous World: Five Agendas to Protect
Europe’s Capacity to Act,” European Council on Foreign Relations, Policy Brief
(Dec. 1, 2020).
Josep Borrell,
“Embracing Europe’s Power,” Project Syndicate (Feb. 8, 2020).
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/embracing-europe-s-power-by-josep-borrell-2020-02
Christopher S.
Browning, “Geostrategies, Geopolitics and Ontological Security in the Eastern
Neighbourhood: The European Union and the ‘New Cold War,’” Political Geography 62 (January 2018), pp. 106-115.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2017.10.009
III. FIELDS OF COMPETITION
March 17 Geo-Economics
Robert D. Blackwell
and Jennifer M. Harris, War by Other
Means: Geoeconomics and Statecraft (Harvard University Press, 2016),
chapters 1 and 3.
Chapter 1: https://doi-org.proxy.bib.uottawa.ca/10.4159/9780674545960-003
Chapter 3: https://doi-org.proxy.bib.uottawa.ca/10.4159/9780674545960-005
Branko Milanovic, “The
Clash of Capitalisms: The Real Fight for the Global Economy’s Future,” Foreign Affairs 99:1 (January 2020), pp.
10-21.
Daniel W. Drezner,
“Counter-Hegemonic Strategies in the Global Economy,” Security Studies 28:3 (2019), pp. 505-531.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09636412.2019.1604985
Henry Farrell and Abraham
L. Newman, “Chained to Globalization: Why It’s Too Late to Decouple,” Foreign Affairs 99:1 (Jan. 2020), pp.
70-80.
March 24 Emerging
Technologies
Andrew B. Kennedy and
Darren J. Lim, “The Innovation Imperative: Technology and US-China Rivalry in
the Twenty-First Century,” International
Affairs 94:3 (May 2018), pp. 553–572.
https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiy044
Torsten Riecke,
“Resilience and decoupling in the era of great power competition,” Mercator
Institute for China Studies, China Monitor (Aug. 20, 2020).
https://merics.org/en/report/resilience-and-decoupling-era-great-power-competition
Adam Segal, “The
Coming Tech Cold War With China,” Foreign
Affairs (Sept. 9, 2020).
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/north-america/2020-09-09/coming-tech-cold-war-china
United States,
“National Strategy for Critical and Emerging Technologies” (October 2020).
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/National-Strategy-for-CET.pdf
Steven Erlanger and
Adam Satariano, “Europe Feels Squeeze as Tech Competition Heats Up Between U.S.
and China,” New York Times (Sept. 11,
2020).
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/11/world/europe/eu-us-china-technology.html
March 31 Security
Warren Chin,
“Technology, War and the State: Past, Present and Future,” International Affairs 95:4 (July 2019), pp. 765-783.
https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiz106
Christian Brose, “The
New Revolution in Military Affairs,” Foreign
Affairs 98:3 (May-June 2019), pp. 122-134.
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2019-04-16/new-revolution-military-affairs
Alexey Arbatov,
“Saving Strategic Arms Control,” Survival
62:5 (2020), pp. 79-104.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00396338.2020.1819640
Thomas Paterson and
Lauren Hanley, “Political Warfare in the Digital Age: Cyber Subversion,
Information Operations and ‘Deep fakes,’” Australian
Journal of International Affairs 74:4 (2020), pp. 439-454.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10357718.2020.1734772
Government of Canada,
Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, “National Cyber Threat Assessment 2020”
https://www.cyber.gc.ca/en/guidance/national-cyber-threat-assessment-2020
April 7 Energy,
Resources and Climate
Sophia Kalantzakos,
“The Race for Critical Minerals in an Era of Geopolitical Realignments,” International Spectator 55:3 (2020),
pp. 1-16.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03932729.2020.1786926
Global Commission on
the Geopolitics of Energy Transformation, “A New World: The Geopolitics of the
Energy Transformation” (2019).
https://www.irena.org/publications/2019/Jan/A-New-World-The-Geopolitics-of-the-Energy-Transformation
Andreas Goldthau et al., “Model and Manage the Changing Geopolitics of Energy,” Nature 569 (2019), pp. 29-31.
https://media.nature.com/original/magazine-assets/d41586-019-01312-5/d41586-019-01312-5.pdf (pdf)
Jason Bordoff,
“Everything You Think About the Geopolitics of Climate Change Is Wrong,”
Foreign Policy (Oct. 5, 2020).
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/10/05/climate-geopolitics-petrostates-russia-china/
Friedbert Pflüger, “A
New Security Challenge: The Geopolitical Implications of Climate Change,”
Atlantic Council (Feb. 10, 2020).
April 14 What
Next?
Roland Paris, “The
Right to Dominate: How Old Ideas about Sovereignty Pose New Challenges for
World Order,” International Organization
74:3 (Summer 2020), pp. 453-489.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020818320000077
Trine Flockhart, “The
Coming Multi-Order World,” Contemporary
Security Policy 37:1 (2016), pp. 3-30.
https://doi.org/10.1080/13523260.2016.1150053
Daniel W. Drezner,
“The Song Remains the Same: International Relations After COVID-19,” International
Organization, online supplemental issue (2020), pp. 1-18.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020818320000351
Thomas Wright, “The
Fraught Politics Facing Biden’s Foreign Policy,” Brookings Institution
(Nov. 22, 2020).
Optional:
Roland Paris, “Can
Middle Powers Save the Liberal World Order?”, Chatham House-The Royal Institute
of International Affairs (June 2019).
http://aix1.uottawa.ca/~rparis/middlepowers.pdf
Roland Paris, “Canadian
Views on China: From Ambivalence to Distrust?”, Chatham House-The Royal
Institute of International Affairs (July 2020).
http://aix1.uottawa.ca/~rparis/canadachina.pdf