Original citation

otherwise stated, all reading for the activities is taken from, 
the textbook. Chapters conclude with a set of sample examination 
questions. You should try to answer each of these in a short essay of 
between 500 and 1,000 words. Your answers can be shared with peers and 
an academic moderator on the VLE, where the questions will also form the 
basis for a set of podcasts by LSE academics.
Overview of learning resources
The subject guide
Part 1 of this course provides a brief overview of how IR first came into 
being as an academic subject. It examines the influence of the First and 
Second World Wars on the discipline, as well as the ways in which the Cold 
War affected its evolution, covering the period from 1914 to around 1989. 
The first chapter covers a lot of ground, including your first thumbnail 
sketches of several important IR theories. Take your time with these. As we 
will discuss at several points in this subject guide, theories are simplifying 
devices that we use in IR to draw general conclusions from a limited 
number of examples. Different theories answer different kinds of questions 
and emphasise different kinds of IR, so do not waste your time trying to 
decide which theory is absolutely correct. Just as different jobs around the 
house require different tools, different questions in IR also require different 
theories. Relying on one to the exclusion of all others is rather like a 
plumber arriving at your home armed with a single screwdriver!
Part 2 provides a theoretically-informed history of contemporary IR, 
including the development of important concepts such as the international 
system and international society. Its chapters each focus on one of three 
key episodes: Europe’s imperial expansion and global dominance between 
1500 and 1914 (Chapter 2), the end of the Cold War between 1989 
and 1991 (Chapter 3) and the subsequent rise of globalisation (Chapter 
4). The intervening years, 1914 to 1989, are covered in Chapter 1. The 
historical material in Part 2 plays a double role. First, it contextualises 
the changing world of contemporary IR, providing you with a set of 
historical cases that can be used to support your opinions and analysis. 
Second, it gives you the opportunity to see how different theories can be 
used to produce different interpretations of any given event. Chapter 2 is