Course Information
Course title
 Critical Approaches to World Politics: An Introduction 
Semester
 109-2 
Designated for
 COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES  DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE  
Instructor
 LIN, WAN-PING 
Curriculum Number
 PS5706 
Curriculum Identity Number
 322EU2420 
Class
  
Credits
 2.0 
Full/Half
Yr.
 Half 
Required/
Elective
 Elective 
Time
 Monday 3,4(10:20~12:10) 
Remarks
 Restriction: juniors and beyond
The upper limit of the number of students: 20.
The upper limit of the number of non-majors: 3. 
Ceiba Web Server
 http://ceiba.ntu.edu.tw/1092PS5706_ 
Course introduction video
 
Table of Core Capabilities and Curriculum Planning
 Association has not been established
Course Syllabus
Please respect the intellectual property rights of others and do not copy any of the course information without permission
Course Description

This course aims to familiarize students with fundamental perspectives and practices concerning critical approaches to world politics within and beyond the West. Topics to be covered include international relations (IR) as a divided discipline, various major contentions in IR and their responses and the broadly defined Chinese international relations theories. This course includes one hour of lecture/presentation plus one hour of discussion. In-class workshops and mock conferences are designed to prepare students to develop and write a thoughtful term essay through the process of discussions and peer reviews.

Course Content
1. Acquire professional knowledge and its contexts
(1) Pre-class reading assignments
(2) In-class assigned readings presentations
(3) In-class discussions and summaries
(4) Formulating new ideas

2. Apply critical approaches to world politics
(1) Brainstorming ideas
(2) Researching and crafting essay proposals
(3) Peer reviews on essay proposals
(4) Mock conferences
(5) A term essay  

Course Objective
 By the end of the course, students will
1. Understand common critical approaches to world politics.
2. Apply their knowledge of critical approaches and skills to world politics.
3. Demonstrate familiarity with critical approaches to world politics.
4. Submit a term essay (undergraduate 1500-3000 words; graduate 2500-5000 words).  
Course Requirement
 1. Students are required to attend all classes. No more than three absences are permitted. Being often late and/or leaving early may negatively impact the final course grade.
2. All materials and lectures are presented in English. Assignments and discussions should be submitted and conducted in English.
3. Active participation in class discussions is required.
4. Assignments are carefully scheduled as stages toward the fulfillment of the course’s objectives. The assignments should be your own work and submitted electronically as a MS Word file. Late assignments are accepted, but the grades would be substantially lower and may not receive any feedback. Plagiarism will not be accepted.
5. Make sure you familiarize yourself with CEIBA system and stay on track throughout the semester.

Note: This course is designed for students who have basic disciplinary knowledge in international relations and are interested in critically reflecting upon the given studies, perspectives and approaches to world politics. 
Student Workload (expected study time outside of class per week)
  
Office Hours
 Note: 每週一 12:00~13:00 備註欄：Please email me in advance. 
Designated reading
 See the detailed weekly schedule.  
References
 See the detailed weekly schedule.  
Grading
  
No.
Item
%
Explanations for the conditions
1. 
 Assigned Readings Presentations 
10% 
 Students demonstrate their comprehension and familiarity with the assigned readings and their ability to critically engage with the materials. 
2. 
 Essay Outline Writing Task 
5% 
 Students choose a topic, identify a gap, brainstorm how to critically interrogate it and anticipate the results. (200-500 words) 
3. 
 Essay Proposal Writing Task 
10% 
 Students develop an essay outline on the chosen topic (400-1000 words) via brainstorming, researching and organizing arguments and supporting details. 
4. 
 Peer Advice Worksheets 
10% 
 [Content] Students provide thoughtful advice to peers’ essay proposals. (5%) ; [Communication] Students evaluate peers’ presentation performance. (5%) 
5. 
 Response to Peer Advice Worksheet 
5% 
 Students respond to the peer-reviewed feedback and provide specific solutions to the identified issues. 
6. 
 Mock Conference Tasks 
15% 
 Students practice to play different roles (e.g., a presenter, a host, audience), present their research essay and manage Q&A. 
7. 
 Term Essay Writing Task 
30% 
 Students conduct original research, apply critical thinking approaches and formulate creative views on world politics in the term essay. (undergraduate 1500-3000 words; graduate 2500-5000 words) 
8. 
 Participation & Attendance 
15% 
 Students will be graded based on their attendance and participation in class discussions. 
 
Progress
Week
Date
Topic
Week 1
 2/22  Course introduction
Course overview, requirements, grading policy, grouping, Q&A  
Week 2
 3/01  ― Holiday ―

The origins and the evolution of modern international relations:
1. The Peace of Westphalia:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o52GPe_EBG4

2. The Treaty of Westphalia:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-WO73Dh7rY&t=86s

3. From Westphalia to Versailles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSE5MgRSel4


What is the studies of International Relations?
1. International Relations: An Introduction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVCDnUZqLzU

2. Theories of International Relations-basic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3d5eq_9SAg



 
Week 3
 3/08  IR: a Divide Discipline and its Major Contentions
Required Reading
Brown, C. 2016. “Theory and Practice in International Relations,” in Booth, K. & Erskine, T. (ed.) International Relations Theory Today, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Polity Press, pp. 39-52.
Recommended Reading
Bilgin, P. 2016. “Do IR Scholars Engage with the Same World?” published on Political Studies Association. https://www.psa.ac.uk/insight-plus/blog/do-ir-scholars-engage-same-world  
Week 4
 3/15  The Expansion of International Society
Required Reading
Shih, C. Y. & Chang, C. Y. 2017. “The Rise of China Between Cultural and Civilizational Relationalities: Lessons from Four Qing Cases,” International Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 1-25.
Recommended Reading
Neuman, I. 2011. “Entry into International Society Reconceptualized: The Case of Russia.” Review of International Studies, Vol. 37, No. 2, pp. 117-145.  
Week 5
 3/22  Civilizational Contentions
Required Readings
Huntington, S. P. 2011[1996]. The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, Chapter 8, 9 & 12, New York: Simon & Schuster Press.
Ling, L. H. M. & Chen, B. 2018. “International Relations and the Rise oof Asia: A New ‘Moral Imagination’ for World Politics?” in Gofas, A., Hamati-Ataya I. & Onuf, N. (ed.) The SAGE Handbook of the History, Philosophy and Sociology of International Relations, London: SAGE.
Recommended Reading
Sterling-Folker, J. 2016. “The Future from Inside the Liberal World Order,” in Booth, K. & Erskine, T. (ed.) International Relations Theory Today, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Polity Press, pp. 253-257.  
Week 6
 3/29  Contentions of Eurocentrism
Required Readings
Hobson, J. M. 2012. “Introduction: Constructing Eurocentrism and International Theory as Eurocentric construct,” The Eurocentric Conception of World Politics: Western International Theory, 1760-2010, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1-30.
Sajed, A. 2016. “Race and International Relations—What's in a Word? A Debate Around John Hobson’s The Eurocentric Conception of World Politics,” Postcolonial Studies, Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 168-172.
Recommended Reading
Wallerstein, I. 1997. “Eurocentrism and Its Avatars: the Dilemmas of Social Sciences,” Sociological Bulletin, Vol. 46, No.1, pp. 21-39.  
Week 7
 4/05  ― Holiday ―  
Week 8
 4/12  Asian school of IR? Global IR?
Required Readings
Amitav, A. & Buzan, B. 2017. “Why is there no non-Western international relations theory? Ten years on,” International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, Vol. 17, No. 3, pp. 341-370.
Anderl, F. & Witt, A. 2020. “Problematising the Global in Global IR,” Millennium: Journal of International Studies, pp. 1-26. December 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/0305829820971708
Recommended Reading
Chen, C. C. 2011. “The absence of non-Western IR theory in Asia reconsidered,” International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 1-23.  
Week 9
 4/19  ― Midterm Exam Week (No Class) ―
[Write your essay proposal]  
Week 10
 4/26  [Essay proposal peer-review workshop]  
Week 11
 5/03  Homegrown Sinophone IR-Relational Theory
Required Readings
Qin, Y. 2016. “A Relational Theory of World Politics,” International Studies Review, Vol. 18, No. 1, pp. 33-47.
Creutzfeldt, B. 2011. ‘Theory Talk #45: Qin Yaqing on Rules vs Relations, Drinking Coffee and Tea, and a Chinese Approach to Global Governance’, Theory Talks, http://www.theory-talks.org/2011/11/theory-talk-45.html (30-11-2011)
Recommended Readings
Emirbayer, M. 1997. “Manifesto for a Relational Sociology,” American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 103, No. 2, pp. 281-317.
Qin, Y. 2018. A Relational Theory of World Politics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.  
Week 12
 5/10  Homegrown Sinophone IR-Moral Realism
Required Readings
Yan. X. 2019. Leadership and the Rise of Great Power, Chapter 1& 9, pp. 1-24 &190-206, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
Creutzfeldt, B. 2012. ‘Theory Talk #51: Yan Xuetong on Chinese Realism, the Tsinghua School of International Relations, and the Impossibility of Harmony’, Theory Talks, http://www.theory-talks.org/2012/11/theory-talk-51.html (28-11-2012)
Recommended Readings
Yan. X. 2011. Ancient Chinese Thought, Modern Chinese Power, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
Hui, V. T. 2012. “Building Castles in the Sands: A Review of Ancient Chinese Thought, Modern Chinese Power,” The Chinese Journal of International Politics, Vol. 5, No. 4, 425–449.
Zhang, F. 2012. “The Tsinghua Approach and the Inception of Chinese Theories of International Relations,” The Chinese Journal of International Politics, Vol. 5, No. 1, 73–102.  
Week 13
 5/17  Postcolonialism
Required Readings
Ling, H. M. L. 2016. “What’s in a Name? A critical interrogation of the “Chinese School of IR,” in Zhang, Y. & Chang, T. (ed.) Constructing a Chinese School of International Relations: Ongoing Debates and Sociological Realities. London: Routledge, pp. 1-18.
Tucker, K. 2018. “Unraveling Coloniality in International Relations: Knowledge, Relationality, and Strategies for Engagement,” International Political Sociology, Vol. 12, pp. 215-232.
Recommended Readings
Capan, Z. G. 2017. “Decolonising International Relations?” Third World Quarterly, Vol. 38, No. 1, pp. 1-15.  
Week 14
 5/24  Critical Sinophone IR theories
Required Readings
Ling, H. M. L. 2014. The Dao of World Politics: Towards a Post-Westphalian, wordlist International Relations, Chapter 1& 2, London: Routledge.
Shih, C. & Huang C. 2016. “Balance of relationship and the Chinese School of IR: being simultaneously Confucian, post-Western and post-hegemonic,” in Zhang, Y. & Chang, T. (ed.) Constructing a Chinese School of International Relations: Ongoing Debates and Sociological Realities, London: Routledge, pp. 177-191.
Recommended Readings
Ling, H. M. L. 2014. The Dao of World Politics: Towards a Post-Westphalian, wordlist International Relations, London: Routledge.
Shih, C. et. al. 2019. China and International Theory: The Balance of Relationships, London, Routledge.  
Week 15
 5/31  [Mock Conference I]  
Week 16
 6/07  [Mock Conference II]  
Week 17
 6/14  ― Holiday ―
[Revise your term essay]  
Week 18
 6/21  ― Final Exam Week (No class)―
[Revise and submit your term essay]