POL208Y5 Lecture 1: Theory and the Three Great Debates
12 May 2016
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Part 1 of overall course: theory survey main theories of international relations. Theories help us understand the big picture . O how different issues relate to each other. O ex does the war in the middle east relate to the international monetary fund (imf) O what things are facts vs what is subjective. O do facts even exist? (some theorists say no) O what issues are worth studying vs what issues are irrelevant. Generally discussion and history of ir doesn"t go back further than the 1920s, as this is when it formally started (although many scholars have made mention of ir prior to this). 1st great debate started between the world wars: realists vs liberalists. The debate mainly emerged after ww1 (one of the deadliest conflicts) O the way to avoid wars in the future was through cooperation (you can uncover techniques to avoid conflicts, use international law to manage relations, use international organization, etc)
