Co-taught with Andrew Moravcsik

This seminar introduces the field of international relations. It is designed primarily for students pursuing the PhD in Political Science, Public Policy and related fields. The focus is on theories of international relations: we focus on fundamental theoretical debates in IR and their relationship to empirical social science. The course serves as a foundation for other graduate offerings, which focus on discrete empirical and applications of these theories, as well as detailed methodological issues. Students should finish the course with an ability to situate arguments in the conceptual structure and intellectual history of IR theory, to appreciate the diverse range of available concepts and explanations for state behavior, to grasp the assumptions, logical structure, causal mechanisms and empirical implications of various theoretical positions, and to be aware of the most basic prima facie empirical evidence for and against important theories.