This course provides a foundation in the theoretical and historical analysis of core ideas in International Relations. It introduces and critically surveys the normative and analytic development of modern International Relations in its enquiry into the making of modern world orders.
Addressing the five different historical problematical expressions of world order in the modern period – classical imperialism, liberal internationalism, totalitarian internationalism, Cold War, and globalisation – this course examines the development of different traditions of thinking and conceptualisations about the nature of the international.  Thus the major schools of international theory - including realism, neo-realism, systems theory, world systems theory, liberal institutionalism, cosmopolitanism, communitarianism, marxism and neo- Gramscian, constructivism and post-structuralism – will be examined for their theoretical merits and in relation to their historical emergence. In addition the relationship between international theory and broader social theory will be considered through reference to the debates in idealism and realism, traditionalism and behaviouralism, and positivism and post-positivism. 

In so doing, these various theories of international relations will refer to the history of inter-state practices; account for the emergence, consolidation and dissipation of states, nations, and other social forces; identify and explain the notion of structures in international relations; debate the role of ideas and values in social scientific investigation; and examine the abiding international themes of war, conflict, cooperation and peace.