Theoretical Debates on International Relations

Recommended Prerequisites

Not applicable.

Teaching Methods

A general overview of the topics, followed by content analysis and debate centred on previously indicated scientific texts. This organisation encourages active student participation in their learning and student-student and student-teacher interaction. Students learn to research, write about and present certain topics linked to the themes discussed, in various formats: essay, review, oral presentation. This interaction is complemented by the tutorial guidance available to the students.

Learning Outcomes

1. Explain the centrality of the oceans in IR, articulating strategic, economic, legal, ecological, and symbolic dimensions, and deriving implications.

2. Distinguish and justify epistemological and ontological choices in IR.

3. Critically compare theoretical perspectives, identifying what each lens foregrounds and what it obscures with respect to the oceans’ centrality in international relations.

4. Apply these theoretical perspectives to empirical cases, producing diagnoses and policy options.

5. Evaluate ocean governance regimes and institutions, weighing their effectiveness, legitimacy, North–South justice, and contribution to environmental sustainability.

6. Integrate critical approaches to ocean justice by identifying power asymmetries, socio-environmental impacts, and alternative governance pathways that incorporate local/Indigenous knowledge, logics of the commons, and gender perspectives.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

1. The centrality of oceans in international relations

2. Theoretical perspectives on international relations

2.1. Epistemological and ontological issues in IR

2.2. Realism: Oceans in the global balance of power

2.3. Liberalism: Ocean governance institutions

2.4. Constructivism: The social construction of the ocean

2.5. Critical Theory: Oceans in human security and emancipation

2.6 Fundamental debates between theories

3. Contemporary Debates on Oceans and International Relations Theories

a. International Seabed Authority

b. Thalassocracy and rivalry between great powers

c. The commons and the common heritage of humanity

d. The submarine digital network

4. The future of ocean issues in IR theories

Head Lecturer(s)

Sofia José Figueira Santos

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Mini Tests: 40.0%
Synthesis work: 60.0%

Bibliography

Steinberg, P., & Peters, K. (2015). Wet Ontologies, Fluid Spaces: Giving Depth to Volume through Oceanic Thinking. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 33(2), 247-264.

Enloe, Cynthia H. (2014). Bananas, beaches and bases: making feminist sense of international politics. Berkeley, California:University of California Press,

Mahan, Alfred Thayer (1918 [1890]). The Influence of Sea Power upon History,

Weber, Cynthia. (2005). International Relations Theory: A Critical Introduction (2nd.ed.). London: Routledge.

Steinberg, Philip E. (2001) The Social Construction of the Ocean. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Agnew, J., & Corbridge, S. (1995). Mastering space: Hegemony, territory and international political economy. Routledge.

Blachford, K. (2024). Ocean flows and chains: sea power and maritime empires within IR theory. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 37(1), 44-59