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What is so specific about what you learn at the university?

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- Free format
- What was of interest in the readings this week?
- Any links with what is going on in the world?
- 2-3 Minutes
- Doodle sign-up

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What do you think are the important issues in world politics?

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What do you think are the important issues in world politics?

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Discuss in small groups.

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Ontology
Epistemology
Level-of-analysis
Theory
Anarchy
Sovereignty
...

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Global IR - Amitav Acharya: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rethinking-Power-Institutions-Ideas-Politics/dp/0415706742

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What are examples of interstate relationships?

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What are examples of interstate relationships?

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Studying current affairs vs studying International Relations. What is the difference? 

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Studying current affairs vs studying International Relations. What is the difference? 

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i.) King’s/DPE;
ii.) the module;
iii.) this week’s material

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Hedley Bull formulates this question as:

“what is our subject matter?”

He provides the following initial answer on p. 252

“Students of International Relations, then, focus their attention upon contemporary interstate politics”

Can you think of any problems with this definition?

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- Nation vs state
- International relations vs international politics
- Should we focus on improvement?
- Is there international improvement?
- Go beyond state actors? (world politics, global governance)
- Historical vs systematic
- Classical vs scientific
- Country study vs 'international system'
- Commitment vs detachment

'There is no such thing as value free inquiry in International Relations nor in any other social science'

Questioning the moral and political framework (some things appear neutral)

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Studying world politics is interdisciplinary 

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Studying world politics is interdisciplinary 

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Bull argues that there is no agreed upon:

i.) method (way of studying the subject-matter);
ii.) epistemology (way of verifying the claims we make about our subject-matter);
iii.) or level-of-analysis

In your mind is this a good or a bad thing?

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Did you find anything interesting or challenging about the Bilgin reading?

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Did you find anything interesting or challenging about the Bilgin reading?

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To avoid “self-referential history of ideas”, she asks us to look at “how ideas have been produced, their multiple origins and their uses in different parts of the world”?

Bilgin uses the human rights example. Can you think of any others?

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Can you study world politics without being political?

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Can you study world politics without being political?

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Is knowledge itself political?
Who is it serving?
Who's perspective?
What makes sense to you?