Module description
The module investigates how ‘non-western’ thinkers have conceptualised and theorised the international system over the past century, and how they sought to address some of its main challenges including, for exmaple, war, international order, colonialism, foreign policy, inter-state relations, change, and futures. By reflecting on philosophical ideas from around the world, and by critically engaging with work done, for exmaple, in Kyoto, Delhi, Santiago, Beijing, Shanghai, Cape Town, Bogota, Medellín, Quito, and Lima, the module introduces you to diverse ways of thinking, being, and acting-in-the-world you might have not encountered elsewhere, thus opening new lines of inquiry in IR/War Studies. In engaging with this work, we take Robert Cox’s 1981 warning ‘theory is always for someone and for some purpose’ seriously, asking what benefits and risks are involved in the production of ‘non-western’ knowledge and in the labelling of ‘non-western’ schools and approaches, and how we can mitigate these.
The reading list is deliberately non-Euro-centric, drawing (mostly) on philosophers, thinkers and theorists that are not usually seen as part of the core of the discipline. Special attention will be given, however, to tracing inter-connections between authors operating within and outside the 'core'.
Assessment details
| Reflective Diary |
2 x 1000 words |
50% (25% each) |
| Essay |
2000 words |
50% |
Educational aims & objectives
This module has three primary aims:
- To move beyond discussions of ‘why there is no non-western IR theory’ to critically engage with global IR thought and practice.
- To introduce students to philosophies, theories, methods, and concepts formulated and practiced outside the mainstream western core of the IR discipline to enrich their ‘toolkit’ and open new lines of inquiry into global issues.
- To facilitate reflexive knowledge about Global IR, including some of the ethical debates involved in the production and labelling of such knowledge.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the course, students will have had the opportunity to:
- Identify and analyse key assumptions underlying global philosophical traditions, including those associated with East Asia, South Asia, Africa, and the Andes, and how these relate to those associated with ‘western’ traditions.
- Evaluate some of the diverse ways global thinkers have conceptualised and theorised the International, and how these ways overlapped and diverged from the cultural logic that underpinned the colonial project
- Demonstrate how global IR theory can provide different perspectives on key disciplinary concepts and evaluate these perspectives’ strengths and weaknesses.
- Develop new lines of inquiry about specific issues in global politics (drawing on ‘non‑western’, ‘post‑western’, or ‘global IR’).
- Weigh the benefits and risks involved in pursuing ‘non‑western’ IR, ‘post‑western’ IR, and ‘global’ IR, including ethical issues.
- Transferable tools including pluralistic, balanced, and reflective thinking.
- Enhanced research skills, including the ability to analyse and integrate material derived from diverse philosophical traditions and regions.
- Wider conceptual toolkit that would enable students to approach challenges in creative ways.
Teaching pattern
Weekly lectures and seminars, with an emphasis on active learning techniques.