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SIS 301 Spring 2012 lecture 13

ptj — Fri, 04 May 2012 02:47:37 +0000

The final podcast lecture in my Spring 2012 SIS-301 “Theories of International Politics” class — and the last podcast of the last time I will teach this class for a while, since I become Associate Dean in a couple of months ad that’s a full-time administrative gig. So, perhaps fitting that the topic of this last podcast lecture is Naeem Inayatullah and David Blaney’s radical reexamination of IR as an enterprise, which raises some fundamental questions about the purpose of IR theory and IR scholarship. Is it science? Is it philosophy? Does it matter? Questions to ponder.

SIS 301 Spring 2012 lecture 12

ptj — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 18:22:34 +0000

The twelfth lecture in the series: theory and methodology, or, why we have to know something about methodology in order to figure out what is actually going on in a piece of theory.

SIS 301 Spring 2012 lecture 11

ptj — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 18:41:17 +0000

The eleventh in the ongoing series. This week, relational theory: boundary processes and sovereign practices, especially the formation of identities.

SIS 301 Spring 2012 lecture 10

ptj — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 19:22:26 +0000

The tenth lecture for this semester’s rendition of SIS-301: systems, structures, and what it means to think about theoretical explanations of world politics that don’t place individuals and their decisions at the center.

SIS 301 Spring 2012 lecture 9

ptj — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 19:39:47 +0000

The ninth lecture for SIS-301: contemporary mainstream US IR theory, realism/liberalism/constructivism. And their fundamental similarity as different hypotheses — reductionist hypotheses — about state behavior.

SIS 301 Spring 2012 lecture 8

ptj — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 17:44:54 +0000

Lecture 8 for SIS-301 Theories of International Politics. This week’s topic: E. H. Carr, and the rise of social science disciplines as a way of organizing knowledge.

Yes, these lectures are getting longer. I hope to stop that precedent next week, and try to curb my enthusiasm a bit.

SIS 301 Spring 2012 lecture 7

ptj — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 14:32:48 +0000

Lecture 7, for your listening enjoyment: Hegel, historical dialectics, and the progress of reason. A little longer than usual, because there was a lot to say.

SIS-301 Spring 2012 supplemental lecture

ptj — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 15:42:30 +0000

The diagrams we drew on the board in class this week — and, full disclosure, that’s not the first time I have used such diagrams — seemed to need a supplemental lecture of their own, as we gather our thoughts before diving into Hegel for the week after the break. Accordingly, here’s a supplemental lecture … Read more →

SIS 301 Spring 2012 lecture 6

ptj — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 21:05:04 +0000

Lecture 6, Kant. Longer lecture than usual, because with Kant, there is usually a lot more to say.

SIS 301 Spring 2012 lecture 5

ptj — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 20:56:30 +0000

Now, after the Vienna interlude, back to our regularly scheduled program: the weekly lectures for SIS-301 “Theories of International Politics.” This week, lecture #5, on Rousseau, in which I suggest that Rousseau is something of a constructivist.