International Relations Theory

This course has been replaced by POLS2017 from 2025 onwards. For more information, please visit https://cass.anu.edu.au/recent-changes-cass-programs The central objective of this course is to extend students’ grasp of the purpose and application of theoretical paradigms in international relations. Theories provide frameworks to understand the behaviour of actors in a complex and dynamic global environment. Distinct theoretical paradigms make central assumptions about primary factors that drive human action with implications for how we understand, explain, and predict issues and interactions in the international arena. Such factors range from scarcity and a drive for control (e.g., classical realism, neorealism, game theory); to a drive to cooperate for absolute gains (e.g., neoliberal institutionalism, liberalism), constructed identities based on historically-contingent meanings and values (e.g., constructivism), and unequal power relations that underpin a drive for autonomy, agency, and empowerment. (e.g., critical theories, feminist theory). The course teaches all theoretical paradigms with a focus on how they can be applied to better understand political issues and challenges in the contemporary global environment.