International Organizations

INTS 364/ PLSC 156

Spring 2011

Room: WLH 120

Time: Mon/Wed 4:00-5:15pm

Professor Susan Hyde

Office: 77 Prospect Place, C120
Office Hours: Tuesday 10am-Noon.
Office Phone: 203-432-5672
Email: [email protected]
Teaching Fellows:
Erica DeBruin
Email: [email protected]
Office Hours: Wednesday 10-11am
Bass Library Cafe

Francesca Grandi
Email: [email protected]
Office Hours: Wednesday 2:30-3:30
Bass Library Cafe

Course Description:
Why do international organizations exist? What role do they play in solving global
problems? Traditional international relations theories characterize the international
system as anarchic and focus on interactions between nation-states. Since WWII,
international organizations have become more prominent players in the international
system. Debate continues in academic and policy communities over why international
organizations exist, whether they matter in global politics, and when they can help
alleviate global problems.
The goal of this course is that students develop a theoretical as well as practical
understanding of international organizations (IOs) and the global problems they attempt
to address. Upon completion of the course, students should be able to articulate the
leading explanations within political science for why IOs exist, controversies surrounding
IOs in the context of international relations theory, why they are thought to help solve
global problems, and the major challenges IOs face in meeting their objectives. Students
should also be able to apply theoretical arguments from the IR literature to several
specific cases.
Course Texts:
Required and available at Labyrinth Books:
Paul Diehl and Brian Frederking, Eds. Politics of Global Governance. Fourth Edition.
Rienner 2005.
Darren Hawkins, David Lake, Daniel Nielson, and Michael Tierney. 2006. Delegation
and Agency in International Organizations. Cambridge University Press.
Michael Barnett. Eyewitness to Genocide: The United Nations and Rwanda. Cornell
University Press. 2003.
P.J. Simmons and Chantal de Jonge Ourdraat, eds. Managing Global Issues: Lessons
Learned. 2001.

Additional required reading consists of journal articles and book chapters. A number of
these readings are easily accessible online and are not included in the course reader.
When possible, links are included on the syllabus. You may be required to access the
readings from a Yale University computer or through Yales proxy server. Readings not
available online or in the two required books are included in the course reader, available
from Tyco Copy (http://www.tycocopy.com/content/academicinfo/yale.aspx).

Grading and Requirements:

Students are required to attend class and be prepared to discuss the readings.
Midterm Exam: In-class exam covering material from first half of class. The format
will be 5-6 short answers and 2-3 short essay questions.
Op-ed Assignment: In order to facilitate practical application of the literature covered in
the first portion of the class, students are required to write an 800-1000 word op-ed on an
international organization of their choice. The op-ed should make an argument about
why the international organization is achieving or not achieving its stated goal(s).
Grading will be based on the clarity of the position taken, concise writing, well reasoned
support of the argument, and inclusion of concepts from the relevant literature covered in
the course. All work must be original. Because this is a mock op-ed for an academic
assignment, all sources must be properly documented using endnotes. Please ask for
assistance if you are not familiar with endnotes.
The written assignment must be turned in at the beginning of class on the day that it is
due AND submitted electronically prior to the start of class using the classes*v2 course
site. Please use a 12 point standard font such as Times New Roman or Ariel, and at least
one inch margins.
Final Exam: Cumulative in-class exam. The format will be 10-12 short answers and 2-3
longer essay questions.
Participation:
Mock Op-Ed:
Midterm exam:
Final Exam:

15%
20%
30%
35%

Finally, please familiarize yourself with the Universitys policy on cheating, plagiarism,
and documentation. It is your responsibility to understand and abide by this policy. If
you do not understand or are uncertain about what constitutes cheating or plagiarism,
please ask. Any cases of suspected plagiarism will be reported directly to the
appropriate dean, and documented plagiarism will result in a complete loss of credit
on the assignment.

Course Readings and Schedule

Introduction
Week 1
1. January 10: Course Introduction
2. January 12: What are international organizations?
Thomas Volgy, Elizabeth Fausett, Ekith Grant, and Stuart Rogers. Identifying Formal
Intergovernmental Organizations. In Diehl and Frederking, Chapter 2. (Chapter 1 is
also useful).
Robert Keohane. International Institutions: Can Interdependence Work? Foreign Policy.
1998. 110. pages 82-96 + 194 (Yale access only)
P. J. Simmons and Chantal de Jonge Oudraat, Managing Global Issues: An
Introduction pp 3-17.
3. Due to a scheduling conflict, there will be no class on Friday January 14.

Identifying Global Problems

Week 2
NOTE: NO CLASS on January 17Martin Luther King Day
4. January 19The International System and Conflict
John Mearsheimer. The Tragedy of Great Power Politics. New York: W.W. Norton &
Company, 2001. Chapter 2. pages 29-54. (Course Packet)
Simmons and de Jonge Oudraat, Ch. 16: Warfare: Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical
Weapons, Thomas Bernauer;
Optional: Chapter 15 of Simmons and de Jonge Oudraat.
Week 3
5. January 24 The Problem of Cooperation Under Anarchy
Robert Axelrod and Robert Keohane. 1993. Achieving Cooperation Under Anarchy:
Strategies and Institutions. In Neorealism and Neoliberalism: The Contemporary
Debate, edited by David A. Baldwin. New York: Columbia University Press (1993) 85115. (Course Packet)
Simmons and de Jonge Oudraat, Ch. 9: Global Commons: The Oceans, Antarctica, the
Atmosphere, and Outer Space, Christopher C. Joyner
6. January 26--International Response to Global Problems
3

Stephen Krasner. Globalization and Sovereignty. In States and Sovereignty in the

Global Economy, edited by D. Smith. Routledge (1999) 34-52. (Course Packet)
Simmons and de Jonge Oudraat, Ch. 8: Environment: Pollution, Peter M. Haas & Phil
Williams, Ch. 3, Crime, Illicit markets, and Money Laundering

Why do international organizations exist?

Week 4
7. January 31 International Organizations in Theory I
Kenneth Abbott and Duncan Snidal Why States Act through Formal International
Organizations In Diehl and Frederking, Chapter 3.
Michael Barnett and Martha Finnemore. The Politics, Power, and Pathologies of
International Organizations. International Organization. 53.4. (1999) pages 699-732.
(Yale access only)
Hawkins, Lake, Nielson and Tierney. Delegation Under Anarchy: States, International
Organizations, and Principal-Agent Theory. In Hawkins, Lake, Nielson, and Tierney,
Delegation and Agency in International Organizations. 3-23.
8. February 2-International Organizations in Theory II
John J. Mearsheimer. The False Promise of International Institutions. International
Security, Vol. 19, No. 3. (Winter, 1994-1995), pp. 5-49. (Yale access only)

Keohane and Martin, The Promise of Institutionalist Theory International Security.

20.1. 1995. pages 39-51. (Yale access only)
Simmons and de Jonge Oudraat, Ch. 1, Communications, William Drake.
Week 5
9. February 7-- International Organizations in Theory III, Civil Society and
Nongovernmental Organizations
Keck and Sikkink Transnational Advocacy Networks in International Politics:
Introduction. In Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics.
Ithaca: Cornell University Press. 1998. Pages 1-38. (Course Packet)
Simmons and de Jonge Oudraat, Chapter 3, Corruption. Peter Richardson.

Do International Organizations Matter?

10. February 9-- Regulating International Trade: WTO

Keisuke Iida. Is WTO Dispute Settlement Effective? Diehl and Frederking, Chapter
10.
John Jackson, The Case of the World Trade Organization Diehl and Frederking,
Chapter 11.

Cortell and Peterson. Dutiful agents, rouge actors, or both? Staffing, voting rules, and
slack in the WHO and WTO. In Hawkins, et al. pages 255-280.
Recommended: Simmons and de Jonge Oudraat, Ch. 6: Economics: International Trade,
Vinod K. Aggarwal.
Week 6
11. February 14 The IMF
Simmons and de Jonge Oudraat, Ch. 5: Economics: International Finance, Robert E.
Litan.
Michael Barnett and Martha Finnemore. Expertise and Power at the International
Monetary Fund. In Rules for the World. 2004. (Course Packet).
Lisa Martin. Distribution, information, and delegation to international organizations: the
case of IMF conditionality in Hawkins, et al, pages 140- 164.
12. February 16 -- International Organizations and the Environment
Daniel Nielson and Michael Tierney. Delegation to International Organizations: Agency
Theory and World Bank Reform International Organization. 2003. 57:2. 241-276.
(Yale access only)
Kal Raustiala. States, NGOs and International Environmental Institutions.
International Studies Quarterly.1997. 41. Pages 719-740.
Paul Nelson and Ellen Dorsey. New Rights Advocacy in a Global Public Domain.
Diehl and Frederking, Chapter 13.
Optional: Simmons and de Jonge Oudraat, Ch. 7, Environment and Nature
Conservation, Peter Sand.
Week 7
13. February 21 Security Institutions: Collective Security
Charles Kupchan and Clifford Kupchan. "The Promise of Collective Security.
International Security. 20, 1. 1995. 52-61. (Yale access only)
Renee de Nevers, NATOs International Security Role in the Terrorist Era in Diehl and
Frederking, Chapter 9.

Alexander Thompson Screening power: international organizations as informative

agents in Hawkins, et al. pages 229-254.
14. February 23MIDTERM EXAM
Week 8
15. February 28-- Security Institutions: NATO
Celeste Wallander. Institutional Assets and Adaptability: NATO After the Cold War.
International Organization. 2000. 54.4. 705-735.
Strobe Talbott. 2002. From Prague to Baghdad: NATO at Risk Foreign Affairs. 81:6.
Dan Reitner, Why NATO Enlargement Does Not Spread Democracy, International
Security. 25,4 (Spring 2001), pp41-67.
16. March 2-- International Organizations and Democracy Promotion
Theodore Piccone. International Mechanisms for Protecting Democracy. Protecting
Democracy: International Responses. Pages 101-126. (Course Packet)
Michael McFaul. Democracy Promotion as a World Value. The Washington Quarterly.
Winter 2004-5 28:1. pages 147-163.
Diane Ethier. Is Democracy Promotion Effective? Comparing Conditionality and
Incentives Democratization. 2003. 10.1. Pages 99-120.
SPRING BREAK
Week 9
17. March 21-- International Organizations and Development
Simmons and de Jonge Oudraat, Ch. 4, Development, Catherine Gwin.
Lyne, Nielson, and Tierney. Who delegates? Alternative models of principals in
development aid. In Hawkins et al, pages 41-76.
William Easterly The Cartel of Good Intentions: The Problem of Bureaucracy in
Foreign Aid The Journal of Foreign Policy Reform. 2002. 223 250

18. March 23 The United Nations

Sashi Tharoor. Why America Still Needs the United Nations. Foreign Affairs.
September/October 2003.
The United Nations Millennium Declaration. General Assembly resolution 55/2 of 8
September 2000.
Simmons and de Jonge Oudraat, Ch. 11, Human Rights, Dinah Shelton.

Simmons and de Jonge Oudraat, Ch. 13, Refugee Protection and Assistance, Kathleen
Newland.

19. March 28-- The United Nations

Edward Newman and Roland Rich. The UN Role in Promoting Democracy: Between
Ideas and Reality. United Nations University Press. 2004. Chapter 1. (Available
through Yale library access to ebrary).
Inis Claude. Collective Legitimization as a Political Function of the UN. International
Organization. 20. 3. 1966. 367-379.
Ian Johnstone. The Role of the UN Secretary-General: The Power of Persuasion Based
on Law. In Diehl and Frederking, Chapter 4,
[MOCK OP-ED DUE]
Week 10
20. March 30 Peace, Democracy, and International Organizations
Jon Pevehouse and Bruce Russett. Democratic International Governmental
Organizations Promote Peace. International Organization, 2006.
Jon Pevehouse. 2003. Democracy from the Outside In? International Organizations and
Democratization International Organization. 56.3: 515-550. (Yale access only)
James H. Lebovic and Erik Voeten. The Cost of Shame: International Organizations and
Foreign Aid in the Punishing of Human Rights Violators. In Diehl and Frederking,
Chapter 14.
Week 11
21. April 4 Peru and the OAS
The Inter-American Democratic Charter. Organization of American States. September
11, 2001.
Andrew Cooper and Thomas Legler. 2005. A Tale of Two Mesas: The OAS Defense
of Democracy in Peru and Venezuela Global Governance 11 (2005), 425444.

22. April 6 Humanitarian Intervention

David Forsythe. Global Application of Human Rights Norms. In Human Rights in
International Relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2000). Pages 55-83.
(Course Packet)

Ramesh Thakur 1994, Human Rights: Amnesty International and the United Nations.
Journal of Peace Research, 31, 2.
Alex Bellamy, The Responsibility to Protect and the Problem of Military Intervention.
In Diehl and Frederking, Chapter 8
Week 12
23. April 11 Humanitarian Intervention (cont.)
Peter Wallersteen and Birger Heldt, International Peacekeeping: The UN Versus
Regional Organizations. In Diehl and Frederking, Chapter 7.
Paul Diehl and Elijah PharaohKhan, Financing UN Peacekeeping: A Review and
Assessment of Proposals. In Diehl and Frederking, Chapter 6.
Michael Barnett. Eyewitness to Genocide: The United Nations and Rwanda. 2002.
Chapters 1-2. Introduction optional but recommended.
24. April 13 Rwanda and the United Nations
Michael Barnett. Eyewitness to Genocide: The United Nations and Rwanda. Cornell
University Press. 2002. Chapters 3, 4, 5.
Week 13
25. April 18-- Sudan and the Demand for Intervention
David Mozersky and John Prendergast. Love Thy Neighbor: Regional Intervention in
Sudans Civil War. Harvard International Review. 2004. 26.
International Crisis Group. Latest report on Sudan (to be announced).
26. April 20 Looking Ahead
Christine Chung, The Punishment and Prevention of Genocide: the International
Criminal Court as a Benchmark of Progress and Need. In Diehl and Frederking, Chapter
16
Edward C. Luck, Reforming the United Nations: Lessons from a History of Progress.
In Diehl and Frederking, Chapter 18.
Campbell Craig, The Resurgent Idea of World Government In Diehl and Frederking,
Chapter 19
Final exam as scheduled on OCI: Thursday May 5, 2pm.