Module overview
The subfields of international relations and political theory
have a long history of cross-fertilization. Scholars in one field have often developed the ideas and debates that emerge in the other field in interesting ways. Despite this cross-fertilization, scholars in
both fields often talk past each other. International Relations scholars have long decried the naïve idealism of political theorists, and political theorists have often challenged the (misinterpretations of significant political theorists (such as Thucydides, Machiavelli, Hobbes, etc.) by IR scholars. My aim in
this class is to recast the dialogue by reading texts from the western tradition of international legal and political thought. This will be a survey class that considers the texts and major theoretical ideas of international political theory from Thucydides through the writings of classical political economists in the 19th century.