EUROCENTRICISM AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS THEORY

PSIR571

Course Code: PSIR571
Semester: -
Theory+Practice: 3 + 0
ECTS: 10

Course Type

Elective Course

Course Level

Master's Degree With Thesis

Year of Study

Semester

ECTS

Name of Lecturer(s)

Professor Menderes Çınar

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this course, the students;

Develop an understanding about the role and place of religion in late modern or postmodern so-cieties,
Gain knowledge about the old and new impacts of ?the religion factor? on the international relations and how it has been neglected by the Westphalian-system-based international relations theory,
Develop analytical skills to assess the impact of cultural essentialism on international relations and international relations theory,
Develop skills to discuss the capacity of the civilizational foreign policy discourse to contribute to the making of the universal civilization.

Mode of Delivery

Face to face

Prerequisites

Recommended Optional Programme Components

None

Course Description

This course comprises of three parts. In the first part, recent academic literature that investigates the secular prejudice of the international relations theory and carries the 'religion' element of international relations into this theory will be introduced to the students and the "Eurocentrism" of international relations theory will be discussed. In the second part, Orientalist essentialism as a prelude of the exclusionary and Islamophobic approaches that complicate the civilization imagination based on mutual citizenship will be examined. Debates on Turkey?s membership in the European Union and the cases of Muslim diasporas in the West will be examined and the instances of essentialist approaches will be presented. Lastly, recent Turkish Foreign Policy will be reviewed and its capacity and potentiality to overcome the obstacles to a common civilization based on citizenship will be evaluated. Finally, the course will investigate whether values such as human rights and democracy are universal at the level of international relations theory.

Course Contents

WEEK	TOPICS
1^st Week	Introduction
2^nd Week	Secularism, post-secularism and religion I
3^rd Week	Secularism, post-secularism and religion II
4^th Week	Secularism in the İnternational Relations Theory
5^th Week	Religion in the İnternational Relations Theory
6^th Week	The role of religion in foreign affairs I
7^th Week	The role of religion in foreign affairs II
8^th Week	Mid-term Exam
9^th Week	Cultural essentialism in the IR theory I
10^th Week	Cultural essentialism in the IR theory II
11^th Week	Islamophobia
12^th Week	Europhobia
13^th Week	The search for a non-Eurocentric IR theory
14^th Week	Islamist aspects of the civilizational foreign policy

Recommended or Required Reading

A. Davutoğlu, Principles of TFP, SETA DC, 8 December 2009.
Alexander Murinson, The Strategic Depth Doctrine of Turkish Foreign Policy, Middle Eastern Studies, 42, 6 (2006), pp. 945-964.
Charles Taylor, Western Secularity, in Rethinking Secularism, eds. Craig Calhoun et al. (Oxford University Press, 2011), pp. 31-53.
Clifford Geertz, Kültürel Bir Sistem Olarak Din, in Din Sosyolojisi, ed. Yasin Aktay ve M.E. Köktaş (Vadi: Ankara, 1998)
D. Jung and W. Piccoli, Turkey at the Crossroads: Ottoman Legacies and a Greater Middle East, (Zed Books, London, 2001), pp.132-152.
D. Philpott and T. S. Shah, Faith, Freedom, and Federation: The Role of Religious Ideas and Institutions in European Political Convergence, in Religion in an Expanding Europe, ed. T. A. Byrnes and P. J. Katzenstein (Cambrigde University Press, Cambridge, 2006), pp. 34-64.
Diwar Hussain, The Holy Grail of Muslims in Western Europe: Representation and their Relationship with the State, Modernizing Islam: Religion in the Public Sphere in Europe and the Middle East, eds., J. L. Esposito and F. Burgat, (Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, 2003), pp.215-250.
Edward W. Said, Şarkiyatçılık: Batı'nın Şark Anlayışları (Metis: İstanbul, 1995), Giriş pp. 11-41.
Elizabeth S. Hurd, The Politics of Secularism in International Relations, (Princeton Univeristy Press, Prince-ton, 2008), pp. 1-45.
Elizabeth S. Hurd, The Politics of Secularism in International Relations, (Princeton University Press, Prince-ton, 2008
Fred Halliday, West Encountering Islam: Islamophobia Reconsidered, in Islam Encountering Globalization, (Routledge: London, 2002), pp. 14-35.
Haldun Gülalp, Enlightenment by Fiat: Secularization and Democracy in Turkey, Middle Eastern Studies, 41, 3 (2005), pp. 351-372.
Heiner Bielefeldt, `Western versus `Islamic Human Rights Conceptions A Critique of Cultural Essentialism in the Discussion of Human Rights, Political Theory, 28, 1 (2000), pp. 90-121.
ICG, Turkey and the Middle East: Ambitions and Constraints, International Crisis Group Report No. 203, 7 April 2010.
James P. Piscatori, Islam in a World of Nation-States, (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1988), pp. 42-45.
Jashua Walker, Turkey's Imperial Legacy: Understanding Contemporary Turkey through its Ottoman Past,? Perspectives on Global Development and Technology, 8 (2009), pp. 494-508.
Jonatan Fox, Religion as an Overlooked Element of International Relations, International Studies Review, 3, 3 (2001), pp. 53-73.
Jose Casanova, Religion, European Secular Identities, and European Integration, in Religion in an Expanding Europe, ed. T. A. Byrnes and P. J. Katzenstein (Cambrigde University Press, Cambridge, 2006), pp. 65-91.

Planned Learning Activities and Teaching Methods

Lecture
Discussion
Questions/Answers

Assessment Methods and Criteria

	Quantity	Percentage (%)
Mid-term	1	40
Total(%)		40
Contribution of In-term Studies to Overall Grade(%)		40
Contribution of Final Examination to Overall Grade(%)		60
Total(%)		100

ECTS Allocated Based on Student Workload

Activities	Quantity	Duration (Hour)	Total Workload (Hour)
Midterm exam	1	2	2
Preparation for Quiz
Individual or group work	14	7	98
Preparation for Final exam	1	80	80
Course hours	14	3	42
Preparation for Midterm exam	1	80	80
Laboratory (including preparation)
Final exam	1	3	3
Homework
Total Work Load			305
Total Work Load / 30 (h)			10.16
ECTS Credit of the Course			10

Language of Instruction

Turkish

Work Placement(s)

Programme Qualifications / Learning Outcomes

	LO1	LO2	LO3	LO4
K1	X	X	X	X
K2		X	X
K3			X	X
K4	X	X	X	X
K5				X
K6	X	X	X	X
K7	X		X	X
K8	X	X	X	X