International Relations. A self-Study Guide to Theory

partments and chairs of International Relations focused on the scientific 
study of interstate relations, based on systematic, generalizing theories 
and methods. 
•
The history of IR theory and IR as an academic discipline is not only bound 
to the history of the European states system but also to the idea of science 
as it developed in European philosophy, starting with Greek antiquity. 

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33 
•
Different theories of International Relations provide different perspectives 
on the nature of international politics and on how to study it. As a result 
of their different perspectives they provide different answers to the core 
problem of politics in the realm of international politics. 
Review questions 
1.
When and why did theoretical reflection on interstate relations first occur 
in history? 
2.
What are the basic criteria for discussing the “birth” of a new academic 
discipline? 
3.
What is the core subject of International Relations as an academic disci-
pline? 
4.
Why is it so difficult to discuss international politics with reference to 
concepts derived from national politics, such as the “state”, “authority” or 
“politics”? 
Step 4: 
Self-study and consolidation 
Self-study (1) 
Read the required reading to deepen your knowledge of the history of IR 
theory. 
Self-study (2) 
What are the basic values that are subject to allocation/re-allocation 
through international politics? Choose two examples out of the issue areas 
of international relations (security, welfare, freedom or environment) and 
discuss recent real-world international politics, demonstrating how it af-
fects the allocation of values for societies.

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34 
Required reading 
(1)
For a first impression of early writing on interstate relations within the history of IR 
thought:
Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, transl. Rex Warner, Baltimore: Penguin 
Books, 1903, 13, 22-23, 25, 358-366, repr. in Williams, Phil/Goldstein, Donald 
M./Shafritz, Jay M. (eds.) 1994: Classical Readings of International Relations. Bel-
mont: Wadsworth Publ., 183-189. 
Niccoló Macciavelli, Il Principe, repr. in Williams, Phil/Goldstein, Donald M./Shafritz, Jay 
M. (eds.) 1994: Classical Readings of International Relations. Belmont: Wadsworth 
Publ., 24-27. 
Hobbes, Thomas, Leviathan (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1909, 94-98, repr. in Williams, 
Phil/Goldstein, Donald M./Shafritz, Jay M. (eds.) 1994: Classical Readings of Interna-
tional Relations. Belmont: Wadsworth Publ., 28-30. 
(2) Osiander, Andreas 1996: The interdependence of states and the theory of interstate re-
lations. An enquiry into the history of political thought, in: Law and State Vol. 53/54, 
42-68. 
(3) Jackson, Robert/Soerensen, Georg 2007: Introduction to International Relations: Theo-
ries and Approaches, 3
rd
. ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, chapter 1, 1-28. 
Supplementary reading 
Baylis, John/Smith, Steve/Owens, Patricia 2008: The globalization of world politics. An 
introduction to International Relations. 4
th
ed., New York: Oxford University Press. 
Part 1. 
Brown, Chris/Nardin, Terry/Rengger, Nicholas (eds.) 2002: International Relations in Po-
litical Thought: Texts from the Ancient Greeks to the First World War, Cambridge: 
Cambridge University Press. 
Jackson, Robert H. 2005: Classical and modern thought on International Relations. Lon-
don, New York: Palgrave. 
Kauppi, Mark V./Viotti, Paul R. 1992: The Global Philosophers: World Politics in Western 
Thought. New York. 
Knutsen, Torbjörn 1997: A History of International Relations Theory. 2
nd
ed., Manchester.
References in the text 
Cooper, Sandi 1984: The Origins and Development of European Peace Movement: From 
Vienna to Frankfurt, in: Wiener Beiträge zur Geschichte der Neuzeit Band 11: Frie-
densbewegungen: Bedingungen und Wirkungen. München: Oldenbourg, 75-95. 
Czempiel, Ernst-Otto 1965: The Development of the Study of International Relations (in 
German), in: Politische Vierteljahresschrift 6: 3, 270-290. 
Doyle, Michael W. 1990: Thucydidean Realism, in: Review of International Studies 16, 
223-237.
Easton; David 1965: A Systems Analysis of Political Life, New York. 

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35 
Easton, David 1953: The Political System. An Inquiry into the State of Political Science. 
New York. 
Osiander, Andreas 1994: The states system of Europe 1640-1990. Oxford: Oxford Univer-
sity Press.
Osiander, Andreas 1996: The interdependence of states and the theory of interstate rela-
tions. An enquiry into the history of political thought, in: Law and State Vol. 53/54, 
42-68. 
Osiander, Andreas 2008: Before the State. Systemic Political Change in the West from the 
Greeks to the French Revolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 
Wright, Quincy 1927: Report on Roundtable Conference of the American Political science 
Association, in: American Political Science Review Vol. XXI, No.2, May 1927, 96-
397. 
Zimmern, Alfred (ed.) 1939: University Teaching of International Relations. A record of 
the Eleventh Session of the International Studies Conference, Prague 1938. Paris: In-
ternational Institute of Intellectual Cooperation. 

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36 
2. International Relations as science
Learning steps 
Introduction ......................................................................................................... 
37 
Step 1: 
Philosophy of science: the “theory behind theories” 
(meta-theory) ................................................................................................... 
39 
1.1. 
Philosophy of science and the role of assumptions  ................................ 
39 
1.2. 
Ontology, epistemology, methodology .................................................. 
41 
Step 2: 
Positivism as an example for a philosophy of science ............................ 
43 
2.1. Positivism 
............................................................................................... 43 
2.2. 
Epistemology, ontology and methodology in positivist science ............ 
44 
2.2.1. Complex 1 .............................................................................................. 
44