Introduction to International Relations 

 

Course code: IRS200/2

Semester and year: Fall 2025

Day and time: Wednesday 15:00 – 17:45

Instructor: Daniela Monsportova

Instructor contact: daniela.monsportova@aauni.edu

Consultation hours: Immediately before or after class or by appointment in Microsoft Teams

 

1. Course Description

This course introduces the student to the history, theories, and practical side of International Relations.  Though the term “International Relations” is often the term of preference to describe these three component areas, it is a misnomer, as the field covers and is concerned with sub-state, sub-national, supra-state, supra-national, and non-traditional political actors.  These aspects shall also be covered in the course. 

2. Student Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:

• Understand the history and development of the field of International Relations.

• Recognize the differences and relationships between the most prominent schools of thought in International Relations.

• Apply various theories of International Relations to analyze and debate real-world events, both past and present.

• Develop academic writing skills and use proper citations in research papers.

• Lead and actively engage in discussions with peers.

 

3. Reading Material

Required Materials

• Anghel, Veronica, and Dietlind Stolle. 2022. “In Praise of Reality, Not Realism: An Answer to Mearsheimer.” EUIdeas, June 28. https://euideas.eui.eu/2022/06/28/in-praise-of-realitynot-realism-an-answer-to-mearsheimer/.

• Baylis, John, Steve Smith, and Patricia Owens. 2011. The Globalization of World Politics. 5th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  
  

• Bjørgo, Tore, ed. 2005. Root Causes of Terrorism: Myths, Reality, Ways Forward. London and New York: Routledge.

• Borgess, Jorge L. 1988. “The Library of Babel.” In Collected Fictions, 7 pp. New York: Penguin. (Original work published 1944)

• Buzan, Barry, Ole Wæver, and Jaap de Wilde. 1998. Security: A New Framework for Analysis. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers.

• Campbell, David. 1998. “MetaBosnia: Narratives of the Bosnian War.” Review of International Studies 24 (2): 261–282.

• Heyse, Lisa. 2013. “Tragic Choices in Humanitarian Aid: A Framework of Organizational Determinants of NGO Decision Making.” Voluntas 24: 68–92.

• Kazharski, Andrei, and Claudia Tabosa. 2018. “New Patterns of Securitization in Central and Eastern Europe.” In Theorizing Security in the Eastern European Neighborhood: Issues and Approaches, edited by R. Q. Turcsányi and M. Vorotnyuk, 60–81. Stratpol.

• Keohane, Robert O. 1998. “International Institutions: Can Interdependence Work?” In Power and Governance in a Partially Globalized World, edited by Robert O. Keohane, 27–38. London: Routledge.

• Keohane, Robert O. 1998. “International Liberalism Reconsidered.” In Power and Governance in a Partially Globalized World, edited by Robert O. Keohane, 39–62. London: Routledge.

• Malečková, Jana. 2005. “Impoverished Terrorists: Stereotype or Reality?” In Root Causes of Terrorism: Myths, Reality, Ways Forward, edited by Tore Bjørgo, 33–43. London and New York: Routledge.

• March, James G., and Johan P. Olsen. 1998. “The Institutional Dynamics of International Political Orders.” International Organization 52 (4): 943–969.

• McFaul, Michael. 2014. “Faulty Powers: Who Started the Ukraine Crisis?” Foreign Affairs 93 (6): 167–170. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24483933.

• Mearsheimer, John. 2001. The Tragedy of Great Power Politics. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

• Mearsheimer, John. 2014. “Why the Ukraine Crisis Is the West’s Fault: The Liberal Delusions That Provoked Putin.” Foreign Affairs, 77–89.

• Merari, Ariel. 2005. “Social, Organizational, and Psychological Factors in Suicide Terrorism.” In Root Causes of Terrorism: Myths, Reality, Ways Forward, edited by Tore Bjørgo, 70–86. London and New York: Routledge.

• Moisio, Sini. 2007. “Redrawing the Map of Europe: Spatial Formation of the EU’s Eastern Dimension.” Geography Compass 1 (1): 82–101.

• Orwell, George. 1978. “Shooting an Elephant.” In Shooting an Elephant and Other Essays, 6 pp. London: Harcourt and AM Heath. (Original work published 1936)

• Quackenbush, Stephen L. 2011. Understanding General Deterrence: Theory and Application. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

• Ringmar, Erik. 1996. Identity, Interest and Action: A Cultural Explanation of Sweden's Intervention in the Thirty Years War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

• Schweller, Randall L. 2008. Unanswered Threats: Political Constraints on the Balance of Power. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

• Tang, Sisi. 2018. “The Future of International Order(s).” The Washington Quarterly 41 (4): 117–131.

• Tuathail, Gearóid Ó. 1996. Critical Geopolitics: The Politics of Writing Global Space. London: Routledge.

Recommended Materials (Available in the Library or via Interlibrary Loan)

• Goldstein, Joshua et al., International Relations. Ninth Edition. White Plains: Pearson, 2011.

4. Teaching methodology

Each class will begin with a short revision of the previous session. The revision will follow with a presentation of a new topic that will be interactive, and the students will be asked to give their opinion based on revised course material. Each class will include a seminar which will either be used for discussion based on relevant topics or for the students to present the outcomes of their research and presentations. Some of the lectures will contain interactive exercises, such as debates and simulations to enable the students to utilize the acquired knowledge in a meaningful and engaging way. The students are required to read the assigned weekly material prior to each class in order to participate actively in discussions. 

 

5. Course Schedule

6. Course Requirements and Assessment (with estimated workloads)

*1 = Critical Thinking; 2 = Effective Communication; 3 = Effective and Responsible Action

 

7. Detailed description of the assignments

Assignment 1: Class participation (15%) 

Active participation and contribution to class discussion. Students should actively participate in class discussion including the interactive exercises prepared as part of some of the lectures (debates, simulations etc.) 

 

Assessment breakdown

 

Assignment 2: One Page Proposal for the Topic of the Final Presentation and Its Brief Presentation in Class (5%)

The final presentation topic proposal should be one page long and briefly outline the topic the student will work on, why/how it is relevant to the course, a few points of the argument the student plans to give, and at least 5 quality sources the student plans to use.  The proposal will be presented in class. The presentation will be brief (approximately 5 minutes) and cover the information in the proposal. The students will submit their proposals printed out during or at the end of the class.

 

Assessment breakdown 

 

Assignment 3: In-class Debate (10%)

Students will analyze a specific event through the lens of different schools of thought in International Relations (IR) to develop critical thinking, argumentation, and application skills.

Students will work in small teams. Each team will be assigned:

• One event

• One primary theory

• One counter-theory

Each team must:

• Develop a list of arguments supporting their assigned theory as the best framework for interpreting the event.

• Prepare counterarguments explaining why the opposing theory is less appropriate.

Debate Format:

• Teams will debate against another team with reversed roles on the same event.

• Each team will present their arguments, respond to counterarguments, and defend their positions.

• Once teams finish their debate, their task is to actively listen and give feedback to the debates of the other teams.

Attendance Policy: Students who are absent without an excused reason on the day of the debate will automatically receive a failing grade for this assignment. 

 

Assessment breakdown 

 

Assignment 4: Midterm Exam (20%)

The midterm exam will cover topics from the first half of the semester. Students are expected to demonstrate a solid understanding of the most relevant issues and concepts and to provide accurate and timely answers. The exam will consist of multiple-choice questions, short answers, and short essays. It will take place online via NEO, and students will have 90 minutes to complete it. Students are required to take the exam independently. The midterm will be available on the day of Session 6, from 8:00 AM until midnight CET. All exams must be submitted by October 8, 2025, at 11:59 PM via the NEO assignment marked 'Midterm Exam'.

 

Assessment breakdown 

Assignment 5: Presentation of research project (20%) 

Students are required to prepare a research project and present their selected topic in class according to the presentation schedule. They must sign up for a presentation slot by November 12, 2025, at 11:59 CET via NEO. Presentations will be prepared individually and must be submitted at least two days prior to the scheduled presentation through NEO – Assignments. Presentations can be submitted in PowerPoint or any other suitable presentation software. Each presentation should be 15 to 20 minutes long, and students must prepare questions to facilitate class discussion. 

 

Assessment breakdown

 

Assignment 6: Final Exam (30%) 

The final exam will be delivered during the last session. It will contain several short-answer essay questions based on information from the course readings and lectures. The exam will be in-person, hand-written, closed-book, and students will have two hours to complete it. The student’s grade will be based on how well they utilize the course information to answer the questions, the relevance of examples used, and the quality of their argumentation.

 

Assessment breakdown 

8. General Requirements and School Policies

General requirements

All coursework is governed by AAU’s academic rules. Students are expected to be familiar with the academic rules in the Academic Codex and Student Handbook and to maintain the highest standards of honesty and academic integrity in their work. 

Electronic communication and submission

The university and instructors shall only use students’ university email address for communication, with additional communication via NEO LMS or Microsoft Teams.

Students sending e-mail to an instructor shall clearly state the course code and the topic in the subject heading, for example, “COM101-1 Mid-term Exam. Question”.

All electronic submissions are through NEO LMS. No substantial pieces of writing (especially take-home exams and essays) can be submitted outside of NEO LMS.

Attendance 

Attendance, i.e., presence in class in real-time, at AAU courses is default mandatory; however, it is not graded as such. (Grades may be impacted by missed assignments or lack of participation.) Still, students must attend at least two thirds of classes to complete the course. If they do not meet this condition and most of their absences are excused, they will be administratively withdrawn from the course. If they do not meet this condition and most of their absences are not excused, they will receive a grade of “FW” (Failure to Withdraw). Students may also be marked absent if they miss a significant part of a class (for example by arriving late or leaving early).

Absence excuse and make-up options

Should a student be absent from classes for relevant reasons (illness, serious family matters), and the student wishes to request that the absence be excused, the student should submit an Absence Excuse Request Form supplemented with documents providing reasons for the absence to the Dean of Students within one week of the absence. Each student may excuse up to two sick days per term without any supporting documentation; however, an Absence Excuse Request Form must still be submitted for these instances. If possible, it is recommended the instructor be informed of the absence in advance. Should a student be absent during the add/drop period due to a change in registration this will be an excused absence if s/he submits an Absence Excuse Request Form along with the finalized add/drop form.

Students whose absence has been excused by the Dean of Students are entitled to make up assignments and exams provided their nature allows. Assignments missed due to unexcused absences which cannot be made up, may result in a decreased or failing grade as specified in the syllabus. 

Students are responsible for contacting their instructor within one week of the date the absence was excused to arrange for make-up options.

Late work: No late submissions will be accepted – please follow the deadlines.

Electronic devices

Electronic devices (e.g. phones, tablets, laptops) may be used only for class-related activities (taking notes, looking up related information, etc.). Any other use will result in the student being marked absent and/or being expelled from the class. No electronic devices may be used during tests or exams unless required by the exam format and the instructor.

Eating is not allowed during classes.

Cheating and disruptive behavior

If a student engages in disruptive conduct unsuitable for a classroom environment, the instructor may require the student to withdraw from the room for the duration of the class and shall report the behavior to the student’s Dean.

Students engaging in behavior which is suggestive of cheating will, at a minimum, be warned. In the case of continued misconduct, the student will fail the exam or assignment and be expelled from the exam or class. 

Plagiarism

Plagiarism obscures the authorship of a work or the degree of its originality. Students are expected to create and submit works of which they are the author. Plagiarism can apply to all works of authorship – verbal, audiovisual, visual, computer programs, etc. Examples are:

• Verbatim plagiarism: verbatim use of another’s work or part of it without proper acknowledgement of the source and designation as a verbatim quotation,

• Paraphrasing plagiarism: paraphrasing someone else’s work or part of it without proper acknowledgement of the source,

• Data plagiarism: use of other people’s data without proper acknowledgement of the source,

• False quotation: publishing a text that is not a verbatim quotation as a verbatim quotation,

• Fictious citation: quoting, paraphrasing, or referring to an incorrect or a non-existent work, 

• Inaccurate citation: citing sources in such a way that they cannot be found and verified,

• Ghostwriting: commissioning work from others and passing it off as one’s own,

• Patchwriting: using someone else’s work or works (albeit with proper acknowledgement of sources and proper attribution) to such an extent that the output contains almost no original contribution,

• Self-plagiarism: unacknowledged reuse of one’s own work (or part of it) that has been produced or submitted as part of another course of study or that has been published in the past,

• Collaborative plagiarism: delivering the result of collective collaboration as one’s own individual output.

At minimum, plagiarism will result in a failing grade for the assignment and shall be reported to the student’s Dean. A mitigating circumstance may be the case of novice students, and the benefit of the doubt may be given if it is reasonable to assume that the small-scale plagiarism was the result of ignorance rather than intent. An aggravating circumstance in plagiarism is an act intended to make the plagiarism more difficult to detect. Such conduct includes, for example, the additional modification of individual words or phrases, the creation of typos, the use of machine translation tools or the creation of synonymous text, etc. The Dean may initiate a disciplinary procedure pursuant to the Academic Codex. Intentional or repeated plagiarism always entail disciplinary hearing and may result in expulsion from AAU.

Use of Artificial Intelligence and Academic Tutoring Center

The use of artificial intelligence tools to search sources, to process, analyze and summarize data, and to provide suggestions or feedback in order to improve content, structure, or style, defined here as AI-assisted writing, is not in itself plagiarism. However, it is plagiarism if, as a result, it obscures the authorship of the work produced or the degree of its originality (see the examples above). 

AAU acknowledges prudent and honest use of AI-assisted writing, that is, the use of AI for orientation, consultation, and practice is allowed. For some courses and assignments, however, the use of AI is counterproductive to learning outcomes; therefore, the course syllabus may prohibit AI assistance.

A work (text, image, video, sound, code, etc.) generated by artificial intelligence based on a mass of existing data, defined here as AI-generated work, is not considered a work of authorship. Therefore, if an AI-generated work (e.g. text) is part of the author’s work, it must be marked as AI-generated. Otherwise, it obscures the authorship and/or the degree of originality, and thus constitutes plagiarism. Unless explicitly permitted by the instructor, submission of AI-generated work is prohibited.

If unsure about technical aspects of writing, and to improve their academic writing, students are encouraged to consult with the tutors of the AAU Academic Tutoring Center. For more information and/or to book a tutor, please contact the ATC at: http://atc.simplybook.me/sheduler/manage/event/1/.

Course accessibility and inclusion

Students with disabilities should contact the Dean of Students to discuss reasonable accommodations. Academic accommodations are not retroactive.

Students who will be absent from course activities due to religious holidays may seek reasonable accommodations by contacting the Dean of Students in writing within the first two weeks of the term. All requests must include specific dates for which the student requests accommodations.

9. Grading Scale

* Decimals should be rounded to the nearest whole number.

 

Prepared by: Daniela Monsportova

Date: 23.08.2025

 

Approved by: Bill Eddleston

Date: 28.08.25