Thinking, Doing, and Writing International Relations Theory

Abstract

This article describes an experientially based approach to the teaching/learning of international relations (IR) theory. The course is designed with the pedagogical goal of decentering the classroom, which implies taking the focus off of the instructor and creating a more collaboratively oriented learning environment. Students actively engage in peer editing, and review of one another’s written work, they work in small discussion/interpretive circles, they utilize the class website to create an international issues forum, they design, format, and participate in a mock conference at the end of the semester, and their capstone project involves the creation of their own IR theory writing portfolio. The theoretical perspectives of realism, liberalism, globalism, constructivism, feminism, and postmodernism are introduced as a series of “lenses” through which students will view various international issues, problems, and events. Our operative premise is that all international events are given meaning by their interpreters; therefore, the lens through which we view the world is crucial. This course is designed to introduce students to the work of the IR theorist in a collaborative and actively engaged educational setting.