COURSE UNIT TITLE

Offered By

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS (UOLP-SUNY ALBANY)

Level of Course Unit

First Cycle Programmes (Bachelor's Degree)

Course Coordinator

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR IBRAHIM SAYLAN

Offered to

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS (UOLP-SUNY ALBANY)

Course Objective

The aim of the course is to provide the learners with a historical and sociological analysis of the international system since the emergence of modern capitalism. Expansion of capitalism and interstate system, polarization, hegemonic rivalries and transitions, the role and place of wars and revolutions in the international system, spatial and identity based inequalities are among the topics to be examined

Learning Outcomes of the Course Unit

Mode of Delivery

Face -to- Face

Prerequisites and Co-requisites

None

Recomended Optional Programme Components

None

Course Contents

Recomended or Required Reading

1. Immanuel Wallerstein, World-Systems Analysis: An Introduction, Duke University
Press, Durham NC, 2004.
2. Immanuel Wallerstein, Unthinking Social Science: The Limits of Nineteenth-Century
Paradigms, Temple University Press, Philadelphia, 2001.
3. Etienne Balibar and Immanuel Wallerstein, Race, Nation, Class Ambiguous
Identities, Verso, London & New York, 1991.
4. John M. Hobson, `What s at stake `bringing historical sociology back into
international relations in Historical Sociology of International Relations, Stephen
Hobden, John M. Hobson (eds.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2002, pp. 3-41.
5. Theda Skocpol, "Wallerstein's World Capitalist System: A Theoretical and Historical
Critique", American Journal of Sociology, 82(5), 1977, pp. 1075-90.
6. R. Brenner, "Origins of Capitalist Development: A Critique of Neo-Smithian Marxism",
New Left Review, 104, 1977, pp. 25-92.
7.Stephen Hobden, John M. Hobson, Historical Sociology of International Relations,
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2002.
8. Karen A. Mingst and Ivan M.Arreguin-Toft, The Essentials of International Relations
(5th ed.), W.W.Norton Company, 2010, pp.109-133.
9.Jon D. Carlson, `Broadening and Deepening: Systemic Expansion, Incorporation and the
Zone of Ignorance , Journal of World Systems Research 7 (2), Fall 2001, pp.225-263.
10.Terence K. Hopkins and Immanuel Wallerstein, `Capitalism and Incorporation of New
Zones into the World Economy , Review 10 (5/6), Summer/Fall 1987, pp. 763-780.
11. Immanuel Wallerstein, The Dutch Hegemony in the World Economy (chp. 2), in The
Modern World-System II, New York, London, Academic Press, 1980, pp.219-73.
12.Immanuel Wallerstein, Geopolitics and Geoculture, Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1991, pp.
184-199.
13.Göran Therborn, `Culture as a World-System , Protosociology 20, 2004, pp.46-68.
14.Enrique Dussel, `Debate on the Geoculture of the World-System , in The World We are
Entering 2000-2050, Immanuel Wallerstein and Armand Clesse (eds.), Dutch UP, The
Netherlands, pp.239-246.

Planned Learning Activities and Teaching Methods

1. Lecture
2. Discussion of weekly readings
3. Term-paper and Presentation

Assessment Methods

Further Notes About Assessment Methods

None

Assessment Criteria

1. The learner will clearly and coherently explain the concepts and arguments of worldsytem
approach and other sociological perspectives taught in class.
2. The learner will critically discuss the conceptualization of time, space, unit of
analysis and disciplinary boundaries in social sciences.
3. Make a well organized presentation to discuss questions and findings about a termpaper
topic.
4. Submit a term-paper taking the feedback from peers and the instructor into
consideration. The paper will include an organized structure, literature review,
research question, proper citations, and supported arguments.
The rubric that will be used in the evaluation of the term paper and term paper
presentations:
a) Poor (0%) b) Fair (40%) c) Good (60%) d) Very good (80%) e) Excellent (100%)
Assignment / term project evaluation criteria (Total Points 100):
1)Justification of the subject choice - 10 Points a) Justification of the subject
choice not provided b) Justification of the subject choice insufficiently provided c)
Justification of the subject choice provided but without reference to the Course
Objectives d) Justification of the subject choice concerning the Course Objectives
sufficiently provided e) Significance and relevance of the subject concerning the
Course Objectives explained in a detailed way
2)Definition of the research question - 10 Points a) Research question not specified b)
Research question vaguely defined c) Research question not fully defined d) Research
question fully defined but without specifying the context e) Research question fully
defined in the specific context of the subject
3)Theoretical framework - 20 Points a) The essay lacks a theoretical framework b)
Theoretical framework weak and poorly connected to the research question c) Theoretical
framework provided but without the necessary connections to the research question d)
Theoretical framework sufficiently elaborated and used to answer the research question
e) Theoretical framework competently used to answer the research question
4)Empirical evidence - 20 Points a) No empirical evidence for responding to the
research question provided b) Empirical evidence insufficiently provided to develop
and support arguments c) Empirical evidence provided but in a disorganized way d)
Empirical evidence sufficiently provided and connected to the arguments of the essay e)
Empirical evidence sufficiently provided and elegantly employed to describe the
conditions and developments that characterize the context and to substantiate the
arguments of the essay
5)Argumentation - 30 Points a) No arguments to respond to the research question
developed b) Arguments to explain the research question insufficiently and
inconsistently made c) Arguments to explain the research question sufficiently made
but in a disorganized way d) Arguments to explain the research question made in an
analytical and systematic way e) Arguments to explain the research question developed
coherently and analytically, supported by a well-knit combination of theory and
empirical evidence
6)Standard citation style and bibliography - 10 Points a) No bibliography provided b)
Standard citation style not used c) Standard citation style not regularly used
throughout the text d) Standard citation style regularly used throughout the text e)
Standard citation style regularly used throughout the text and a bibliography included
at the end of the essay.

Language of Instruction

English

Course Policies and Rules

1. Attending at least 70 % of lectures is mandatory.
2. Plagiarism of any type will result in disciplinary action.
3. Students should read the assigned material prior to class and participate in class discussions.
4. Each student will choose a term-paper topic with the guidance of the instructor. Students should discuss draft papers with the instructor, present them in class, and then rewrite based on the feedback.

Contact Details for the Lecturer(s)

ibrahim.saylan@deu.edu.tr

Office Hours

To be announced later.

Work Placement(s)

None

Workload Calculation

Contribution of Learning Outcomes to Programme Outcomes