(cache) SYLLABI ON THE INTERNET

SELECTED SYLLABI

You'll find below links to a number of syllabi (for political science courses mostly) which I downloaded off the internet. Some links to various other collections of (mainly political science) syllabi are also given here. To find syllabi for diplomatic history courses, check the course materials subpage from Sarantakes website and the SHAFR syllabus bank. Various other collections of syllabi are available online. See, for example, the Miller Center (Dave Robertson) list of syllabi on international relations, or the collection of syllabi relating to German history generated by the H-German syllabus contest. Some of these syllabi—for example, Margaret Anderson’s syllabus for a course on the “History and Historiography of the German Problem”—are really superb. One should also remember that history courses are sometimes taught in political science departments by political scientists. Note, for example, the syllabus for Branislav Slantchev’s History of International Relations course (UCSD, 2009) (download).

You might want to use Google to search for syllabi yourself. Click into the advanced search window, limit your search to the edu domain and to files in pdf or doc format, and include as search terms a short version of the title of a particular book or article that you would expect to find in the sort of syllabus you’re interested in. You might try to guess what the sort of course you’re interested in would be called and then search for keywords or phrases (including “Political Science” or “History”) likely to be found in a such a course title.

A list of history department websites is available online. A list of political science department websites is also on the internet; for another list, click here. Those lists can help you identify syllabi. Often a department website will include links to that department’s course offerings and the course webpages will have links to syllabi. Or you could click into a list of instructors teaching in a particular department; those lists are often broken down by field and instructors’ webpages will often have links to webpages for the courses they’re teaching. Sometimes syllabi will be linked directly to an instructor’s webpage.

The section of the MIT Open Courseware website for political science is very much worth checking out if you’re looking for syllabi in this area. Syllabi and lists of readings are linked to the courses listed there, and the readings are often linked to actual texts. You should also know about the American Political Science Association’s collection of online political science syllabi. The APSA has also published various field-specific collections of syllabi, and also has a collection of syllabi from award-winning teachers (link).

Some of the syllabi listed below are already a little out of date. To get more recent versions, just do a Google search for the title plus the instructor’s name, if necessary limiting it to a particular site or domain (e.g., “harvard.edu”).

The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) has a very useful website if you’re interested in checking out fairly new syllabi. Click the academics tab on their website, and then click into one of the sets of programs listed on the left side of the page (e.g., “Functional Studies Programs,” or “Regional Studies Programs”), and then select a particular program (e.g., “Strategic Studies” or “European Studies”). Then click for “courses” (e.g., “Strategic Studies courses”) on the left. On the page that turns up, click the course titles; those course titles are linked directly to the corresponding course syllabi.

I. General International Relations Courses (various levels, but mostly courses for beginning graduate students; listed alphabetically by last name of instructor)

Theories of Security in World Politics (Deborah Avant, GWU, 2002)

International Politics and Public Policy (Matthew Baum, Harvard—JFK School, 2009)

Foundations of International Relations Theory (Andrew Bennett, Georgetown, 2001)

International Relations History and Theory (Hein Goemans, Rochester, 2008)

International Politics (Robert Jervis, Columbia, 2000) (introductory course)

International Relations Theory (Stephan Haggard, UC San Diego, 2003)

Global Politics in the Post-Cold War World (Huntington, Harvard, 2003)

Seminar in International Politics (Robert Jervis, Columbia, 1998)

Theories of International Relations (Robert Jervis, Columbia, 1997)

Theories of War and Peace (Jack Levy, Rutgers, 2003). A very extensive 97-page syllabus. Links to other syllabi at various levels, some quite extensive, are given on the courses and syllabi page of Levy's website.

Introduction to International Relations (Charles Lipson, Chicago, 1999)

International Relations: Perspectives on Conflict and Cooperation (Charles Lipson, Chicago)

Realism (John Mearsheimer, Chicago, 2006)

Field Seminar on International Relations (Moravcsik and Stam, Harvard and Dartmouth, 2004). For links to other Moravcsik syllabi (including very useful ones on European integration and IPE in general), see the teaching page on his website

International Conflict (Dan Reiter, Emory. 1999)

Conceptual Foundations of International Politics (C. Roberts, Columbia SIPA, Summer 2001)

International Relations Theory (Scott Sagan, Stanford, 2003)

Theories of International Relations (Kenneth Schultz, UCLA, 2004)

Conflict and Peace (Randall Schweller, Ohio State, 2002)

Contemporary Issues of World Order (Jack Snyder, Columbia, 2000)

Theories of International Relations (Arthur Stein, UCLA, 2007) A very useful 18-page syllabus, with all sorts of important information for beginning graduate students in IR.

Causes and Prevention of War: Theory and Method (Stephen Van Evera, MIT, 2001). An extraordinary 35-page handout, more an introduction to the field than a syllabus in the usual sense.

Bargaining, Diplomacy and International Conflict (Robert Walker, Washington University in St. Louis, 2007)

International Relations: Theory and Practice (Stephen Walt, Harvard—JFK School, 2008)

Note also the reading list for the graduate exam in international relations (with sections on security and IPE), University of Chicago, 2004, and the international relations reading list (Yale, 2005).

II. Security Studies

A number of syllabi have been posted on the Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Strategic website at SAIS. For a list of courses, with links to syllabi, click here. has created a “master list of syllabi in strategic studies”; that collection is available by clicking here. Eliot Cohen, the Director of the Merrill Center, has made a number of his own syllabi available over the internet:

Eliot Cohen syllabi:

Soldiers, Statesmen, and the Use of Force (2000)
Strategy and Policy (2001)
Research Seminar (2001)
War in the Modern World (2002) (pdf)
Understanding Military Technology (2002) (pdf)

Note also Cohen’s “Strategic Studies Core Readings” list.