This course aims to provide students with the historical background necessary to the understanding of international relations’ main features from the 19th century to the present day. Key chapters of the history of international relations will be studied through various angles: diplomatic, military, political, economic or cultural. History of international relations, unlike international relations in Political Sciences, does not focus on a theoretical approach but aims at developing a comprehensive overview of major historical developments through the study of archives and historiographical literature.
Students will, first of all, deepen their knowledge of world and European history through the reading of major historians. They will also develop their skills in reading and analyzing key historical documents. They will then learn how to write an essay according to the French academic tradition. Finally, they will engage with major historiographical debates as to foster their own critical thinking. This course is open to all students, whether or not they have a prior knowledge of history of international relations. Students intending to pursue a career in diplomacy, humanitarian organizations, international law or finance, journalism, as well as academic research (history, geopolitics, economics, …) should find this course relevant.
First semester will be devoted to the study of the foundations of contemporary international relations and focus on the period between 1815 and 1945. Second semester will look into international relations from 1945 to the present day. Students are free to take one semester or the other as well as both.
Documents on which this course is based (slide shows, archival sources, bibliographical references, maps …) will be available through the IEP digital plateform (equinox.sciencespo-aix.fr).
Assessments :
1st Semester: Document Analysis (2 hours)
2nd Semester: Essay (2 hours)
Syllabus :
Semester 1
1.(13/09) The 1815 Congress of Vienna: European balance of powers and the European concert of Nations
Readings : Richard J. Evans The Pursuit of Power: Europe, 1815-1914, Penguin, 2016, ch .1; Antony Best, International History of the Twentieth Century and Beyond, Routledge, (3rd ed) 2014, Ch.1.
2.(20/09) The 1885 Berlin Congress: international relations, international law, and colonization
Readings: Eric Hobsbawm, The Age Of Empire: 1875-1914, Abacus, 1989, Ch.3; Readings : Richard J. Evans The Pursuit of Power: Europe, 1815-1914, Penguin, 2016, Ch.8.
3. (04/10) The Eastern Question: The Ottoman Empire and Western European Powers: 1821-1913
Readings: Eugene Rogan, The Arabs: A History, Penguin, 2012, Ch.3 and 4; Jane Burbank and Frederick Cooper, Empires in World History: Power and the Politics of Difference, Princeton University Press, 2011, Ch.11.
4. (11/10) 1870-1914 International Relations: failing to build peace or paving the road for war?
Readings: Ian Kershaw To Hell and Back: Europe, 1914-1949, Penguin 2016, Ch 1; William Mulligan, The Origins of the First World War, Cambridge University Press, 2010, Ch.1; Antony Best, International History of the Twentieth Century and Beyond, Routledge, (3rd ed) 2014, Ch.1
5. (18/10) The Great War 1914-1918/23: the war to end all wars?
William Mulligan, The Great War for Peace, Yale University Press, 2014, Introduction; Michael Howard, The First World War: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2007; Odd Arne Westad, The Cold War: A World History, Penguin, 2017, Ch.1.
6. (25/10) The invention of the Middle East 1916-1939
Readings: Eugene Rogan, The Arabs: A History, Penguin, 2012, Ch.6; Antony Best, International History of the Twentieth Century and Beyond, Routledge, (3rd ed) 2014, Ch.4.
7. (8/11) Building a new world order 1919-1929: Failing to ban war from international relations?
Readings: Ian Kershaw To Hell and Back: Europe, 1914-1949, Penguin 2016, Ch.3 and 4; William Mulligan, The Great War for Peace, Yale University Press, 2014, Ch.10; Antony Best, International History of the Twentieth Century and Beyond, Routledge, (3rd ed) 2014, Ch.2.
8. (15/11) The 1929 Great Depression: global economic crisis and global politics
Readings: Eric Rauchway The Great Depression and the New Deal: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2008
9. (22/11) Totalitarianism, totalitarian regimes and the collapse of democracies (1922-1939)
Readings: Ian Kershaw, To Hell and Back: Europe, 1914-1949, Penguin 2016, Ch 4. and 5; Antony Best, International History of the Twentieth Century and Beyond, Routledge, (3rd ed) 2014, Ch.7.
10. (29/11) World War II in Global Perspective: The most destructive conflict in human history?
Readings : Andrew, N. Buchanan, World War II in Global Perspective, 1931-1953: A Short History Wiley-Blackwell, 2019; Ian Kershaw To Hell and Back: Europe, 1914-1949, Penguin 2016, Ch.8; Antony Best, International History of the Twentieth Century and Beyond, Routledge, (3rd ed) 2014, Ch.8.
Semester 2
11. (24/01) Building a new world order (1944-1947)
Readings: Ian Kershaw To Hell and Back: Europe, 1914-1949, Penguin 2016, Ch.10; Tony Judt, Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945, Penguin 2010, Ch.2; Odd Arne Westad, The Cold War: A World History, Penguin, 2017, Ch.1.
12. (31/01) Cold War: a hot war? 1947-1953
Readings: Robert J. McMahon, The Cold War: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2021; Odd Arne Westad, The Cold War: A World History, Penguin, 2017, Ch. 2; Antony Best, International History of the Twentieth Century and Beyond, Routledge, (3rd ed) 2014, Ch.9.
13. (7/02) Decolonisation, self-determination, and the structuration of a Third World
Readings: Dane Kennedy, Decolonization: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2016; Odd Arne Westad, The Cold War: A World History, Penguin, 2017, Ch.10; Antony Best, International History of the Twentieth Century and Beyond, Routledge, (3rd ed) 2014, Ch.13.
14. (14/02) Cold War: a hot war? A conflictual « peaceful coexistence » 1953-1964
Readings: Robert J. McMahon, The Cold War: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2021; Odd Arne Westad, The Cold War: A World History, Penguin, 2017, Ch.16.
15. (21/02) Cold War a hot War? A third way: Bandung, Brioni, Belgrade or the Non-Aligned Movement
Readings: Robert J. McMahon, The Cold War: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2021; Odd Arne Westad, The Cold War: A World History, Penguin, 2017, Ch.10; Antony Best, International History of the Twentieth Century and Beyond, Routledge, (3rd ed) 2014, Ch.13.
16. (28/02) Middle-Eastern politics (1948-1991): national, regional and international perspective
Readings: Eugene Rogan, The Arabs: A History, Penguin, 2012, Ch.9-13; Antony Best, International History of the Twentieth Century and Beyond, Routledge, (3rd ed) 2014, Ch.18.
17. (13/03) Cold War a hot war? The Detente and the Helsinki Process 1964-1979
Readings: Robert J. McMahon, The Cold War: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2021; Odd Arne Westad, The Cold War: A World History, Penguin, 2017, Ch.14; Antony Best, International History of the Twentieth Century and Beyond, Routledge, (3rd ed) 2014, Ch.11.
18. (20/03) Cold War a hot war? East-West relations at the end of the Cold War 1979-1991
Readings: Robert J. McMahon, The Cold War: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2021; Odd Arne Westad, The Cold War: A World History, Penguin, 2017, Ch.20; Antony Best, International History of the Twentieth Century and Beyond, Routledge, (3rd ed) 2014, Ch.20.
19. (27/03) A new world order? The End of History? 1991-2001
Readings: Eric Hobsbawm, Globalisation, Democracy and Terrorism, Abacus, 2008; Antony Best, International History of the Twentieth Century and Beyond, Routledge, (3rd ed) 2014, Ch.20.
20. (03/04) Climate Change: a new turn in the History of International Relations?
Readings: Ruth A. Morgan, Climate Change and International History: Climate Diplomacy in the Global North and South Since 1950, Bloomsbury 2024. Robert Falkner and Barry Buzan, Great Powers, Climate Change, and Global Environmental Responsibilities, Oxford University Press, 2022.
General Readings :
C. A. Bayly, The Birth of the Modern World, 1780–1914, Wiley–Blackwell 2004.
Antony Best, International History of the Twentieth Century and Beyond, Routledge, (3rd ed) 2014.
Carl Bouchard, La Paix, malgré tout. Un siècle de réflexions et d'actions contre la guerre, Septentrion 2023.
Jean-Baptiste Duroselle, André Kaspi, Histoire des relations internationales, Tome 1 De 1919 à 1945, Armand Colin (12e ed) 2017 ; Tome 2, De 1945 à nos jours, Armand Colin, (16e ed) 2017.
Ronald Edsforth, A Cultural History of Peace in the Age of Empire (1815 - 1920), vol.5; A Cultural History of Peace in the Modern Age (1920 - present), vol 6, Bloomsbury, 2023.
Robert Frank, Pour l'histoire des relations internationales, PUF, 2012.
René Girault, Diplomatie européenne : Nations et impérialismes, 1871-1914, Payot 2018.
Rene Girault, Robert Frank, Turbulente Europe et nouveaux mondes : 1914-1941, Payot, 2021.
François-Charles Mougel, Séverine Pacteau, Histoire des Relations Internationales de 1815 à nos jours, PUF, (11e ed) 2012.
Jürgen Osterhammel The Transformation of the World: A Global History of the Nineteenth Century, Princeton University Press, 2014.
- Enseignant: Raphael CHERIAU