教學大綱 Syllabus

每周課程進度與作業要求 Course Schedule & Requirements

教學週次Course Week	彈性補充教學週次Flexible Supplemental Instruction Week	彈性補充教學類別Flexible Supplemental Instruction Type
18週18 weeks	無彈性補充教學週No flexible supplemental instruction week

Methodology in International Relations: A Teaching Manual

   by

Bih-jaw Lin, Professor Emeritus

bjawlin2@nccu.edu.tw;bjawlin@scu.edu.tw

Part I:Teaching Outlines

I.INTRODUCTION

   This manual combines my classes in Department of Diplomacy, National Chengchi University and Department of Political Science, Soochow University.   The Executive Master Program in Strategic and International Studies in the Department of Diplomacy has been well-developed and its syllabuses include methodology. The regular graduate program in the Department of Political Science naturally offers the same course on methodology. Different names are used for the courses offered, but the conceptual and theoretical frameworks overlap. This manual provides an introduction to normal philosophical thinking, a standard operation procedure for inquiry and a common norm for research as Thomas Kuhn argues in his “the Structure of the Scientific Revolution”.

International relations just began to have its own methodology as Patrick Jackson published his “The Conduct of Inquiry in International Relations”in 2010.Generally, we know something first and, then, follow a learning process, a system of study and a method of social science research to complete the preparation work for policy-making or advanced academic research. There is always an issue or an event that awaits our study. How to identify it and treat it as the focus of study is the first step. Issues and events will be analyzed through the concepts of system, order, crisis, peace, conflict and war. The level of analysis or the conceptual framework of ”Man, the State and War”as developed by David Singer and Kenneth Waltz is used in this class.  Students are encouraged to be ”scientifically sound and socially relevant”. Jackson’s text is still quite metaphysical,  students will be able to find out that both E.H. Carr’s “20 Years’Crisis” and Archarya’s and Buzan’s “The Making of Global International Relations”make a clear introduction to methodology to international relations.

CONCEPTS:The Anarchical Society.The International Rules Based Order.Westphalia System.Peace & War.Crisis & Conflict.

QUESTIONS:How do you differentiate international relations from diplomacy?

          Does the concept of global village mean anything to you?

   II.SCIENTIFICALLY SOUND

   We tend to have a common understanding of our society, both domestic and foreign, plus their environment in order to solve our problems, answer our questions and implement our decisions.  All of these are known as the cultural knowledge.  In this program, we will provide you further with the scientific and the practical knowledge together with an introduction of strategic management, communication, trade and leadership.

   The learning process is scientific-oriented.  This course will introduce the development of a scientific inquiry and explain briefly how the scientific community conducts their research.  The first step is to find out which discipline is useful to your future work, political science, economics, history, sociology or the military science?

   The regular graduate program emphasizes more on the theoretical aspects. The mid-career program needs to study cases more and find out the origins of a crisis or the causes of an event.  It is essential to establish the causal relationship.  Internal and external causal relationship may give us clues to find out the origins of an event and our efforts to search for solutions.

   Theories are helpful. We can study political or economic theories from different sources.  It is advisable to combine East and West, classical and modern to understand what are their major arguments. In international relations, the realist school, the liberal school and social constructionism remain as the leading theories for us to study. The volumes of 50 classics in Philosophy,Politics and Economics edited by Tom Butler-Bowdon are duly recommended.

CONCEPTS:The Cultural Knowledge. The Scientific Knowledge. Diplomacy and Diplomatic Study.Information and Power. Money and Power.

QUESTIONS:Why does culture matter in the study of international relations?

           Can you differentiate between science and scientific study?

   III.PROCEDURES OF INQUIRY

    We collect facts and evidences first and make sure that we understand 

the origins of the event and the national or social impacts of an issue under investigation. To explain is to do your work purely on the basis of evidences. To interpret means that you can have your own judgements outside the existing evidences or extend your explanation to complete your investigation.

We tend to make assumptions about an event and hypotheses about an issue.

The next move is to find out the origins of an event and the policy impacts of an event to verify our assumptions and hypotheses. The whole process is known as analysis.  The end result is a casual relationship. There is no rule for explanation to take precedence of analysis. This is a matter for researcher himself or herself to decide. Normally, we analyze first and, then, explain and interpret. The casual relationship will emerge eventually.

CONCEPTS:The Conceptual Framework.The Casual Relationship.Techniques of Survey.The Data Bank.

QUESTIONS:Have you consulted the books written byJarol Manheim and Marc Trachtenberg? How familiar are you with the techniques of survey?

IV.SOCIALLY RELEVANT

This class emphasizes cases. To compare and evaluate has become almost a routine job.  We need to make sure that the cases under our study are comparable and can be scientifically evaluated. Our teaching deals with policy issues and its conclusion contains suggestions or prescriptions to solve the issue or the event. All of them should be feasible and operational. Results of our inquiry appear as a paper or an essay, a journal article, a dissertation or a thesis. They are discoveries, not inventions. Students need to provide a convincing explanation, a model or a scheme to solve problems and leave room for further study their dissertation or thesis.

We need to know how to conduct cost and benefit analysis.  It has been a long tradition to look into the required resource to solve the problems and its risks and costs.  A cost and risk analysis is needed to put your research into perspective.  The usual format is consisted of an analysis of the origins of the issue, social and national consequences and an evaluation of likely solutions. We often use the successful practical cases and the new findings of academic research to support our results. The oral examination committee makes the final evaluation of your research results.

Social science research normally makes forecasts, that is, the trend of an event under our study.  Economic forecasts and political trend are examples.  Predictions are different.  They are precise and concrete, such as the economic growth or the election results.  In general, both the Executive Master Program and the regular graduate program only require forecasts in some cases.  This depends on the area of our research.  Not all research needs to forecast the trend of events, some of them only end up with sound interpretation and explanation.  To conclude a research without prescription is normal.

There is no need to say that we emphasize originality and forbids plagiarism. Whether you write a term paper or a dissertation for a university degree, originality is the basic requirement.  The policy paper needs to consult or compare different cases, but it should not plagiarize.    

  CONCEPTS:The Applied Knowledge.Social Impacts.Social Responsibility. Social Innovation.

QUESTIONS:Which subjects do you have a strong interest for your study in this program? political science, economics, sociology or law?

What particular areas of expertise in strategic and international studies you may need guidance?

V.PHILOSOPHICAL THINKING

Bernard Russell in “The History of Western Philosophy”explains the concept of philosophy well. Its main purpose is to help us to think about the origin of knowledge and to think about how the conceptual framework of“man, the state and war”functions in international society.  More precisely, we need to know what is right and wrong for a state to interact with other states and make its foreign and defense or economic policies.  We also tend to differentiate western from eastern philosophy.  Ontology and epistemology are used. Students are also encouraged to learn more about the Chinese or the Japanese philosophy and their philosophical thinking. 

  CONCEPTS:Ontology.Epistemology.Logics.GeneralLaw.Dialectics. Enlightennment.Interest.Justice. 

QUESTIONS :”Thinking is research, reading gains knowledge and writing communicates”,do you agree?

”National interest often reflect national philosophy and national characteristics”,please comment.

VI. POLITICAL JUDGEMENTS

Politics is about the distribution and use of the authoritarian values.  It refers to a set of thinking, actions and consequences after decision-making and implementations. Politics is known as an art or a statecraft. It is also a full and independent discipline in humanities and social sciences. International politics is an extension of internal politics and their methodology is both similar and different. E.H.Carr and Han Morgenthau are popular.  Equally, John Mearsheimer, Robert Gilpin , Charles Kegley and Peter Katzenstein have produced good texts on international or world politics.

 CONCEPTS:National Interest.Reason of State.Realpolitik.Order.System.Balance of Power.Balance of Interest.Balance of Perception.

QUESTIONS:International politics or international relations is an American social science,do you agree?

George Orwell once said:”Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past”,please elaborate.

VII.ECONOMIC CALCULATION

Paul Samuelson’s book on economics is the most popular textbook, but Adam Smith’s”The Wealth of Nations”is far more influential.  He had written on political philosophy to help us understand what is known as political economy or international political economy.  There is a wide recognition among the international relations intellectuals that politics and economics should be integrated further.  The methodology of economics and its thinking process are particularly instrumental.

CONCEPTS:Supply and Demand.Micro Economics.Macro Economics.Strategic Trade.Strategic Management.Financial Management.The Big Tech.

QUESTIONS :”Trade and Development Policy Is Foreign Policy”,do you agree?

How much do you know about “de-coupling” and “de-risking”?

VIII. HISTORIAL LESSONS

History is not only just a collection of facts, but also an interpretation or a “reacting” of the past. It normally has a very basic philosophy, outlook or vision to support history.  Jonathan Holslag’s “A Political History of the World:Three Thousand Years of War and Peace”is recommended for a very quick study. For advanced study, most of our colleagues and students read the excellent work done by Thucydides, Herodotus, Edward Gibbon, Fernand Braudel, E.H Carr, Robert Collingwood, Raymond Aron and A.J.P. Taylor.

  CONCEPTS:Historical interpretation.Lesson of History.React of History.Historical Revisit. The Missing links.

QUESTIONS :Why does research always begin with a study of history?

”Yesrterday’s Europe is Tomorrow’s Asia”,do you agree?

IX. CASE STUDY

In this class, we often use the previous cases of success and failure for comparison.  Their definitions follow a common paradigm as argued by Thomas Kuhn.  In general, good governance, popular support, elections results and war are the indicators for success.  Misperception, cognitive dissonance, the group thinking, misjudgement and natural disaster lead to failure.  The case study has become more and more attractive so as to solve problems, answer questions and address issues effectively. Public policy, comparative politics and public management are both relevant and useful. Students will be interested in finding why we have referred so often to the case of the Cuban missile crisis and now the war in Ukraine or the Taiwan Strait crisis.

KEY CONCEPTS:Comparative Politics.Public Policy.Public Management.The Group Thinking.Strategic Plan.Budget Allocation.Policy Evaluation

QUESTIONS:

How much do you know about the nuclear issue in the Korean peninsula, the South China Sea dispute, the Taiwan Strait crisis or the war in Ukraine?

Does the term of “Back to the New Normal” mean anything to you?

X. PEACE RESEARCH

Peace meant treaty and negotiate with foreign countries to sign a treaty was the main function of diplomacy in history. Gradually, we separate the two concepts and establish respective systems to regulate international law and international relations.  Peace can be made, kept and maintained as international relations proceed. Peace research follows consequently.  But,today’s peace research covers a wide agenda, including, the climate change, sustainable development, the pandemic, voluntary services and technological innovation.  The application of sociology and economics to this area of research is needed. Louis Kriesberg has explained these developments well.David Barash’s”Approaches to Peace”,Ho-won Jeong’s “Peace and Conflict Studies”,Gray Goertz’s “The Puzzle of Peace” and Peter Wallensteen’s “Peace Research” are relevant sources.  Johan Galtung’s “Peace by Peaceful Means”is the pioneering work.

CONCEPTS:Pax Romana. Pax Britannica. Pax Americana. Pax Consortia. Conflict Prevention.Conflict Resolution.Peace-keeping(Preventive Diplomacy).Sustainable Development.

QUESTIONS :”There is no war in the nuclear age, only crisis management”,do you agree?

Why peace can and should be built and how can we achieve these goals?

XI. SECURITY PERSPECTIVES

National interest and national security always come as a par for us to study and ponder. What can and should be done to protect and enhance them. National interest was originated from the reason of state and became a common paradigm in the European diplomacy.  The concept has been referred to as a policy goal, a guiding principle and a common rule among states in the international system also known as the Westphalia system or the post-Westphalia system.  Security is more specifically defined to describe that the people and the country are fully secured from any threat.

    National security comes first and, then, international security, just like domestic and international law.  Development is also security.  That is one of the very basic ideas in the peace research and has integrated with security studies . It was different from the early development studies which emphasized the adaptation of Western approach.  It was also different from the socialist approach.  It has become a new model of development known as the emerging market.

 Cybersecurity enters our research agenda very recently.  Major powers pay a special attention to this subject and demand so much research in the area. It remained, for instance, on the top of negotiation agenda between Biden and Putin. It affects national, regional and international security.  It is essential for us to know what is cybersecurity.

Economic statecraft or geoeconomics has been repeatedly emphasized recently. It affects international relations and international 

security. National security also deals with economic issues, such as 

energy, trade, tariffs, shipping, transportation and intellectual 

property rights. Economic diplomacy and economic warfare are equally 

important for us. International Security is the leading journal for us 

to refer to.

CONCEPTS:National Security.International Security.Political 

Geography.Economic Geograpgy.Cultural Geography.Supply 

Chain.Information as Energy.Walter.Food.Public Health.NSC-68.

QUESTIONS :

What factors affect international and regional security?  What kinds of 

new security perspectives does Indo-Pacific breed and grow?                           

XII. STRATEGIC PATH

     Strategy existed so early in human history and left so much publications for us to read. There are more than l000 definitions of strategy in the West and at least 10000 books on strategy or the art of war in Chinese.  If we include non-military strategy, the publications are enormous beyond imagination.  Simply put, strategic thinkings refer to strategic thought.  These are works of others.  Think strategically requires your own thinking.  This is precisely what you should do for yourself.  

     Most nations have a grand strategy, notably among them are those of the 

the United States and other major powers. Grand strategy of the medium 

and small powers are equally important for us to study. We also use national 

strategy to describe it. What are the major threat and who the main 

enemies?  What are the basic philosophy and the military strategy?

     The non-military aspects of national strategy are equally essential. All 

of these will be reflected in national budget and the economic planning.

     How to run a public and a private enterprise needs strategic thinking.

It refers to business administration. To fight a war and to run a company has similarities and differences.  The basic philosophy of winning is the same. The area of study has been extended to strategic communication, strategic trade, strategic management and strategic leadership.

      It is now very common for nations to adopt an economic strategy.  In the past, economic plan or national development plan covered economic strategy and other aspects of national development.  In the communist or socialist countries, they published economic plans.  Economic statecraft or geoeconomics gradually replaces economic strategy in our usage. Strategic trade, strategic components and materials and strategic buying denote different forms of diplomacy and policy.

       Strategic and international relations have combined to become 

one discipline after the World War II. Historical influence is enormous.

       We normally begin with a study of Thucydides’”The 

Peloponnesian War”or Herodotus’”Histories”.  The Chinese classics 

of “Historical Records”,”The Statecraft of the Warring States” and 

“The History of the Han Dynasty”are useful. Lawrence Friedman’s”Strategy:A History”and Beatrice Heuser’s “The Evolution of Strategy”provide good introduction of the subject.

        CONCEPTS:Strategic Thinking.Think Strategically.Strategic Dialogue.Strategic Retreat.Strategic Trade.Strategic Partnership.Strategic Communication.

         QUESTIONS:Is strategic thinking an art of deception or a scientific knowledge?

         Why intelligence failed on some occasions?  What can we do about it?

    XIII. GLOBAL SHIIFT

         Globalization is an ongoing process and has resulted in the structure of borderlessness and distancelessness in international relations.  However, sovereignty still exists and remains firm as a general rule for international relations and diplomacy.  Since information and trade have served as the main forces to push globalization, the study of international relations now connects and integrates with international business and international communication.  Moreover, a new discipline of global international relations has entered our research and teaching agenda, such as Amitav Acharya and Barry Buzan argue in their book-“The Making of Global International Relations: Origins and Evolution of International Relations at Its Centenary”.

 CONCEPTS:Information and Trade.Science,Technology(STS) and Society.Technology,Business and Society(STB).Man,the Media and Society(MMS).Globalization and Globalism.The New Normal.

QUESTIONS :How do you see the prospects of global international relations?

         How can you differentiate world politics from global politics, global network and global governance?

XIIII.CONFLICT RESOLUTION

         Conflict is considered to be one of the major issues in maintaining good order. Since we have studied order and system, peace and war, the study of conflict naturally occupies a key position in international relations.  The origins of conflict have been well identified.  Conflict resolution is not only a leading journal, but also a very basic requirement for understanding how tension and disorder arise and the ways to solve them.  Comparative politics, public policy and business administration together with the art of negotiation are vital for conflict resolution.  Daniel Druckman and Paul Diehl have produced 5 volumes on conflict resolution. U.S. Institute of Peace has also published 3 volumes on managing conflicts.J. William Zartman and J. Lewis Rasmussen have done good work on peacekeeping in international conflicts. Oliver Ramsbotham,Hugh Miall and Tom Woodhouse have written a text on conflict resolution.The book by Jacob Bercovitech and Richard Jackson is also highly recommended.  Naturally, we all remember the pioneering work by Thomas Schelling.

CONCEPTS: Marxism-Leninism.Social Conflict. Ethnic Conflict.Economic Conflict.Thomas Schelling.Conflict Management.

QUESTIONS:How do you see the competition and conflict between the U.S. 

and China?How do you differentiate peace-keeping and conflict 

resolution?

XV.WAR STUDIES

War and war studies began so much earlier than other subjects in 

international relations. As the war in Ukraine and the tension in the 

Taiwan Strait have been intertwined, we need to study war even more 

sophisticatedly and deeply.  There are similarities and differences 

between the two cases.  They also represent the security architecture, 

international politics and the big powers politics. A hybrid of conventional and non-conventional warfare has appeared in Ukraine and so many aspects remain to be studied.

Apart from Sun Tzu and Clausewitz, Colin Gray has recommended the following books as the essential reading:

Reginald Custance,A Study of War.

Edward Luttwak,The Logic of War and Peace.

John　Ｗeltman,World Politics and the Evolution of War.

Archer Jones,The Art of War in the Western World.

I find the books by John Weltman and Archer Jones quite comprehensive and useful for our study of the subject. However, it is up to our students to make their own choice. Meanwhile,John Vasquez’s “The War Puzzle” and Richard Ned Lebow’s “Between Peace and War”,”Why Nations Fight” and “A Cultural Theory of International Relations”are good source  of intellectual inspiration. Russian, Indian and Chinese or other non-western strategic thinkings deserve our study, should your time permit.

CONCEPTS: Security Architecture.New Cold War.European Security. 

Nuclear Deterrence. Conventional Deterrence.

QUESTIONS:How do you see the war in Ukraine?  Do you think an Asian NATO 

is taking its shape?

XVI. System Dysfunctions

The Westphalia system or the international system has provided us with a working environment to protect and enhance our national interest. Methodology of international relations deals with the structure and function of the system. It functioned well during the cold war period and, then, began to show dysfunctions.  It has transformed from the bipolar to multipolar and unipolar to nonpolar. There is no consensus whether the unipolar, nonpolar or multipolar system is working at this moment. Moreover, does the western-centric or European centric system still command?  Have Russia, China and other emerging economies tried to form an alternative system?  The United Nations and its special agencies need reforms.  What can we do about them?

CONCEPTS:Global International Relations.Global Governance.Global Law.

The Virtual System.G7 and G20.Interdependence and Co-interdependence.

QUESTIONS:Does it make sense to talk about a new cold war in international relations?  What kind of order and disorder do you anticipate?

XVII.WORLD ORDER

What kind of the security architecture and the world order will appear is uncertain.  Bull,Huntington,Fukuyama and Kissinger have all used the concept of order to explain international relations. Biden,Putin,Macron,Scholz,Kishida,Sunak,Xi and Modi have done the same. Order and disorder have remained as the main challenge for the 21^st century and we need to have an inter-disciplinary integrated approach to study these issues.  War and peace, crises and conflicts, development and underdevelopment, the climate change and the pandemic are all involved. As all the dust gets settled, what we can have is probably only a normal order, that is, peace and stability.

CONCEPTS:Jeremy Bentham.The English School.The World Society.The Atlantic Community. The Developing World.Pandemic Nationalism.Global Commons.The Multilateralism. The Great Uncertainty.

QUESTIONS:How do you see today’s world order? Can the members of the 

world society jointly manage competition, conflict and confrontation 

and prevent a nuclear or a cyber war eventually?

     

 Part II: Suggested Bibliography

         (A)1.Manheim,Jarol,Rich,Richard,Wilnat,Lars and Brians,Craig,Empirical Political Analysis:Quantiative and Quanlitative Research Methods(New York:Pearson,2008)translated by Leng Tse-kang and Jen Wen-shan into Chinese(Taipei:Wunan,2011)

2.Trachtenberg,Marc,The Craft of International History: A Guide to Method(Princeton,New Jersey:Princeton University Press,2006) translated by Chen Ping-kwei into Chinese(Taipei:Weber,2010)

 

(B)1.Acharya,Amitav and Buzan,Barry, The Making of Global International Relations:Origins and Evolution of International Relations at Its Centenary(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,2021).

2.Bauman,Rainer,Mayer,Peter and Zangl,Berhard,eds.,International Relations:The Great Debates(Northampton,MA: Edward Elgar,2011).

         3.Bew,John,Realpolitik:A History(Oxford:Oxford University Press,2014).

         4.Carr,E.H.,The Twenty Years’Crisis:An Introductin to the Study of International Relations(London:Macmillian,l939).

         5.Chan,Stephen and Moore,Cerwyn,eds.,Theories of International Relations, 4 Volumes(London:Sage,2009)

         6.Dunne,Tim,Cox,Michael andBooth,Ken,eds.,The Eighty Years’Crisis:International Relations,l9l9-l999(Cambridge:Cambridge University,l999).

         7.Jackson,Patrick Thaddeus,The Conduct of Inquiry in International Relations:Philosophy of Science and Its Implications for the Study of World Politics(London:Routledge,2011).

         8.Jonsson,Christer and Langhorne,Richard,eds.,Diplomacy, 4 Volumes(London:Sage,2009).

         9.Katzenstein,Robert,Keohane,Robert and Krasner,Stephen,eds.,Exploration and Contestation in the Study of World Politics(Cambridge MIT Press,l999).

         10.Kuhn,Thomas, The Structure of Scientific Revolution(Chicago, Illinois: Chicago University Press,l962).

         11.Leira,Halvard and Carvalho,Benjaminde,eds.,Historical International Relations, 4 Volumes(London:Sage,2015).

         12.Kissinger,Henry,Schmidt,Eric and Huttenlocher,Daniel,The Age of AI and Our Human Future(New York:Back Bay Books,2022).

         13.Zarakol,Ayse,Before the West:Th Rise and Fall of Eastern World Orders(Cambridge:Cambridge University Press,2022).

         14.Hobson,John,The Eurocentric Origins of International Relations:Western International Theory,1760-2010(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,2012).

Reading is essential to enhance and enrich our knowledge.  For those who want to have a very quick reading,the following three books probably can be considered: 

Polanyi,Karl,The Great Transformation.

Acharya,Amitav and Buzan,Barry,The Making of Global International Relations.

Kissinger,Henry, Diplomacy(1994),World Order(2014)  Leadeship(2022) and The Age of AI(2022).