POL 2103 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
These questions are based on the readings for the course. You are not required to prepare answers to these questions – they are intended to stimulate discussion in the discussion sections. Of course, you are welcome to raise any questions or subjects in the discussion sections, and your TAs may choose to raise additional questions.
New questions will be added every two weeks, as we work our way through the syllabus.
From the reading for
Sept 12:
* What does Alexander Murphy mean when he says (on p. 91) that the development of the modern states system “set in motion a conceptual redefinition of the spatial order of life”?
From the reading for
Sept 14:
* According to Jackson and Owens, what are the key similarities and differences between the Westphalian state and (a) Greek city-states, and (b) Italian city-states?
* How did the decolonization movement contribute to the spread of the modern state?
* What is the idea of “international society”? How useful is this concept in helping us to understand contemporary world politics?
From the reading for
Sept 19:
* What was special about the Concert of Europe, according to Elrod?
* What conventional explanation for the success of the Concert of Europe is Elrod refuting? Why does he think this conventional explanation is insufficient to explain the success of the Concert?
* Compare the Concert of Europe system to the functioning of the international system/international relations today.
From the reading for
Sept 21:
* What is the principle of “self-determination” as it was articulated (by Woodrow Wilson and others) after World War I?
* How did self-determination
change the idea of the modern state?
What impact did it have after World War I (in
From the reading for
Sept 26:
* Compare and contrast the design
of the collective security arrangements within the
* Why exactly do some observers describe the Cold War international system as a “stable” international system? Was it?
From the reading for
Sept 28:
* Did the end of the Cold War reveal a fundamental difference in the way that Europeans and Americans view international affairs? Does Kagan exaggerate these differences or are they real? If real, what domestic or international factors explain this difference in perspective?
From the reading for
Oct 3:
* What is "raison d’état" and how does it relate to realist IR theory?
* What does Waltz mean when he distinguishes between changes of the international system and changes in the international system? Why does this distinction matter?
* Do you agree with Waltz’s argument that realist international theory continues to be useful in describing and explaining world politics today?
From the reading for
Oct 5:
* What is the “Kantian triangle”? How does it work, according to Russett and Oneal? Do you find this concept convincing?
From the reading for
Oct 10:
* Why does Charles Krauthammer
believe that the neo-conservative position has been vindicated by events in
* Why does John Mearsheimer believe that the traditional realist, Hans
Morgenthau, would have opposed the war in
From the reading for
Oct 12:
* What is the constructivist view of international institutions, and how does it differ from the (a) realist view and (b) liberal view of institutions?
* Is constructivism a useful way of thinking about world politics?
From the reading for
Oct 17:
* What is a “world system” according to world-system theorists?
* How useful are neo-Marxist theories of international relations in explaining world politics today?
* On what grounds do some postmodernists criticize constructivist IR theory?
From the reading for
Oct 24:
* What does McGrew mean when he describes globalization as a process of “deterritorialization”?
* What does he mean when he says that there is a trend towards “geocentric global politics” and away from “state-centric geopolitics”? Do you agree that this trend is real?
From the reading for
Oct 26:
* Scholte’s article describes the debate between “skeptics” and “enthusiasts” of economic globalization? What are the principal arguments on both sides of this debate, and what is your (reasoned) position?
* Hodgson argues that “trade has evolved beyond the traditional exporting and importing of goods, and has entered the next generation of trade – integrative trade.” What does he mean by “integrative trade”? How would you go about critiquing Hodgson’s argument?
From the reading for
Oct 31:
* What are the main similarities and differences in Thomas’s and Sachs’s view of the causes and possible solutions for world poverty?
From the reading for
Nov 7:
* What does Castells mean by “network society”? What is new about the “network society”?
* Drawing on Aronson’s article, what is the impact of the information revolution on different kinds of non-state actors in international affairs (e.g., NGOs, international institutions, criminal networks, etc.)?
From the reading for
Nov 9:
* What does Wapner mean when he says that transnational some NGOs politically important actors because they “affect the behaviour of larger collectivities throughout the world” (p. 320)?
* According to Greene, what are the options available for preventing the “over-exploitation of the commons”? How does this discussion apply to the issue of global warming?
From the reading for
Nov 14:
* According to White, what are
the key differences between “traditional” and “new” diplomacy? How might these changes impact the foreign
affairs of a country like
From the reading for
Nov 21:
* Appadurai says that there are “growing disjunctures between ethnoscapes, technoscapes, finanscapes, mediascapes and ideoscapes” (p. 301). What does he mean? And why do these “disjunctures” matter?
From the reading for
Nov 23:
* According to Pape, what is the “strategic logic” of suicide terrorism?
From the reading for
Nov 28:
* According to
* In what ways is peacebuilding similar to the colonial-era “mission civilisatrice” and in what ways is it different?
From the reading for
Nov 30:
* Which of the “threats to globalization” described by Wolf pose the greatest threat, and why?
* Brooks talks about a “jagged world,” in contrast to Friedman’s idea of a “flat world.” Which conception is more convincing to you, and why?
* What is Annan’s view of the effects of globalization?
From the reading for Dec
5:
* According to Linklater, in what ways might globalization erode the centrality of the Westphalian state as the dominant actor in international affairs?