Studies in Nineteenth Century International History
Thursdays, 1:30-3:18
387 Journalism Building, 242 West 18th Avenue
The Ohio State University
Fall 2005
342 Dulles Hall
2-0314
http://people.cohums.ohio-state.edu/siegel83/
Office Hours: Tuesdays, 2:00-3:30 p.m., or by appointment
This graduate reading seminar is designed to give graduate students an introduction to the historiography of nineteenth century European international history. The reading list relies heavily on a number of the classic texts and authors in the field, but includes various recent works, as well. We will also devote a small portion of the quarter discussing readings examining the differences and similarities between diplomatic history and international relations theory, and the potential role of each methodology in the study of international history.
Prior knowledge of 19th century European history—particularly in the field of international relations—is obviously helpful, but not essential to take this course. However, students who do not have a background in European history are strongly encouraged to read one or two survey histories of Europe in order to familiarize themselves with the subject. (I am happy to make suggestions for good survey texts.)
Course Requirements:
Late work will not be accepted without prior agreement of instructor.
This is a reading and discussion course, the success of which will depend upon the preparation and participation of all the members of our seminar. Please come prepared and willing to contribute to what should be lively and informed discussions. Furthermore, I ask that you contact me ahead of time if you are going to be absent from class.
Either alone or in tandem with another student, each student will lead class discussion of the generally assigned readings once during the quarter. The discussion leaders will introduce the readings, presenting the authors’ backgrounds and attempting to place the works in their broader historiographical context. Then the leaders will guide the group discussion.
In pairs, each student will present one article or chapter on the subject of history, political science and international relations.
Two book reviews of your choice of two of the following monographs which we are reading for this class: Schroeder, Taylor, Baumgart, or Kennedy.
Two review articles discussing the literature from two of the following weeks’ assignments: Weeks five, six, eight, or nine.
Reviews and review articles should be 5-7 pages and will be due at the beginning of class on the day that the text is being discussed. No late papers will be accepted. Book reviews and review articles should both summarize and critically analyze the books’ and/or articles’ narrative details and the authors’ main arguments, use of evidence, historiographical and methodological approach, and conclusions. It should also place the readings into the larger context of other works read in this course, and the broad questions were are examining in class. Bibliographic information should appear at the top of the first page. Please feel free to look at published reviews of each book as you write your own, but be sure to properly cite them.
One final historiographical paper, 10-15 pages in length, further exploring one particular historiographical debate or discussion of interest to the student. The topic of the paper must be agreed upon in discussion with the professor by 22 November. The paper will be due 6 December at 4 pm. Papers should be delivered to 352 Dulles Hall.
Grades will be determined as follows:
Written reviews and review articles: 30%
Oral presentations: 20%
Class participation: 20%
Paper: 30%
1) Academic dishonesty: Papers must represent the work of the student alone. Plagiarism or cheating will result in a failing grade on the assignment and other penalties determined by university regulations. Plagiarism cases will be referred to the appropriate University committee on academic misconduct without exception. It is the responsibility of the Committee on Academic Misconduct to investigate or establish procedures for the investigation of all reported cases of student academic misconduct. The term academic misconduct includes all forms of student academic misconduct wherever committed; illustrated by, but not limited to, cases of plagiarism and dishonest practices in connection with examinations. Instructors shall report all instances of alleged academic misconduct to the committee (Faculty Rule 3335-5-487). For additional information, see the Code of Student Conduct (http://studentaffairs.osu.edu/info_for_students/csc.asp). Information on plagiarism can be found at http://cstw.osu.edu/, particularly at http://cstw.osu.edu/writing_center/handouts/index.htm. For general university regulations governing academic misconduct, see http://oaa.osu.edu/coam/home.html The University Committee on Academic Misconduct has provided the following page, which contains numerous websites dealing with plagiarism and how to avoid it: http://oaa.osu.edu/coam/prevention.html
2) In accordance with departmental policy, all students must be officially enrolled in the course by the end of the second full week of the quarter. No requests to add the course will be approved by the department chair after that time. Enrolling officially and on time is solely the responsibility of each student.
3) Please turn off cell-phones at the beginning of class.
*All students with disabilities who need accommodations should see me privately during my office hours to make arrangements. Please do so by the third week of class. The Office for Disability Services is located in 150 Pomerene Hall, 1760 Neil Avenue; telephone 292-3307, TDD 292-0901; http://www.ods.ohio-state.edu/*
Readings available for Purchase:
All readings for purchase available at SBX and on reserve in the Main Library.
Articles assigned for general reading for which no on-line access is available will be on electronic reserve in the library.
Books that are not available for purchase or available on-line will be on reserve in the Main Library.
Taylor, AJP. The Struggle for Mastery in Europe, 1848-1918. Oxford: Oxford University Press; Reissue edition, 1980.
Hobson, J. A. Imperialism. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1965.
Kennedy, Paul. The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers. New York: Vintage, 1989.
Miller, Steven E. (Editor), Sean M. Lynn-Jones (Editor), and Stephen Van Evera (Editor). Military Strategy and the Origins of the First World War. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991.
Lenin, V.I. Imperialism the Highest Stage of Capitalism. New York: International Publishing Company, 1969.
Recommended:
Mommsen, Wolfgang. Theories of Imperialism. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 1982.
Course Readings:
Week I:
22 September—Introduction to Course
Week II:
29 September
Schroeder, Paul W. The Transformation of European Politics, 1763-1848. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994. [electronic book available through Oscar, call number D295 .T73 1994eb]
History and Theory article*:
Elman, Colin and Miriam Fendius Elman. “Diplomatic History and International Relations Theory: Respecting Difference and Crossing Boundaries.” International Security, Vol. 22, No. 1. (Summer, 1997), pp. 5-21. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0162-2889%28199722%2922%3A1%3C5%3ADHAIRT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-F
Week III:
6 October
Taylor, AJP. The Struggle for Mastery in Europe, 1848-1918.
History and Theory article:
Levy, Jack S. “Explaining Events and Developing Theories: History, Political Science, and the Analysis of International Relations.” In Colin Elman and Miriam Fendius Elman, eds. Bridges and boundaries: historians, political scientists, and the study of international relations. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2001, pp. 39-83.
Week IV:
13 October
No class meeting
Baumgart, Winfried. Imperialism: The Idea and Reality of British and French Colonial Expansion, 1880-1914. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982.
Start on next week’s reading.
Week V:
20 October
Hobson. Imperialism: A Study.
Lenin. Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism.
Fieldhouse, David K. “Imperialism: An Historiographical Revision.” Economic History Review. XIV (2), (1961). http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0013-0117%281961%292%3A14%3A2%3C187%3A%27AHR%3E2.0.CO%3B2-K
Sutcliffe, Bob. “Conclusion.” In R. Owen and B. Sutcliffe, Studies in the Theory of Imperialism. London: Longman, 1972. [on-line reserve]
Kemp, Tom. “The Marxist theory of imperialism.” In R. Owen and B. Sutcliffe, Studies in the Theory of Imperialism. London: Longman, 1972. [on-line reserve]
Stokes, Eric. “Late Nineteenth Century Colonial Expansion and the Attack on the Theory of Economic Imperialism: A Case of Mistaken Identity?” In The Historical Journal. XII, 2. (1969) http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0018-246X%281969%2912%3A2%3C285%3ALNCEAT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-A
Eckstein, A. M. “Is There a 'Hobson-Lenin Thesis' on Late Nineteenth-Century Colonial Expansion?” In The Economic History Review, New Series, Vol. 44, No. 2. (May, 1991), pp. 297-318. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0013-0117%28199105%292%3A44%3A2%3C297%3AITA%27TO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-E
Week VI:
27 October
John Gallagher and Ronald Robinson, “The Imperialism of Free Trade,” The Economic History Review, New Series, Vol. 6, No. 1. (1953), pp. 1-15. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0013-0117%281953%292%3A6%3C1%3ATIOFT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-O
D. C. M. Platt, “The Imperialism of Free Trade: Some Reservations,” The Economic History Review, New Series, Vol. 21, No. 2. (Aug., 1968), pp. 296-306. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0013-0117%28196808%292%3A21%3C296%3ATIOFTS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-I
D. C. M. Platt, ‘Further Objections to an "Imperialism of Free Trade", 1830-60,’ The Economic History Review, New Series, Vol. 26, No. 1. (1973), pp. 77-91. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0013-0117%281973%292%3A26%3C77%3AFOTA%22O%3E2.0.CO%3B2-S
Robinson, Ronald and John Gallagher. “The Partition of Africa.” In The New Cambridge Modern History, Vol. XI, “Material Progress and World-Wide Problems, 1870-1898.” Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1962.
Hyam, Ronald. “The partition of Africa: a critique of Robinson and Gallagher.” In Reappraisals in British Imperial History, Ronald Hyam and Ged Martin, eds. London: Macmillan, 1975.
P. J. Cain, A. G. Hopkins, “The Political Economy of British Expansion Overseas, 1750-1914,”The Economic History Review, New Series, Vol. 33, No. 4. (Nov., 1980), pp. 463-490. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0013-0117%28198011%292%3A33%3C463%3ATPEOBE%3E2.0.CO%3B2-D
P. J. Cain, A. G. Hopkins, “Gentlemanly Capitalism and British Expansion Overseas I. The Old Colonial System, 1688-1850,”The Economic History Review, New Series, Vol. 39, No. 4. (Nov., 1986), pp. 501-525. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0013-0117%28198611%292%3A39%3C501%3AGCABEO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-X
P. J. Cain, A. G. Hopkins, Gentlemanly Capitalism and British Expansion Overseas II: New Imperialism, 1850-1945,”The Economic History Review, New Series, Vol. 40, No. 1. (Feb., 1987), pp. 1-26.http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0013-0117%28198702%292%3A40%3C1%3AGCABEO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-2
Recommended that you read a bit of each of these:
Robinson and Gallagher, Africa and the Victorians. (especially the “explanation.”)
D. C. M. Platt, Finance, Trade and Politics in British Foreign Policy 1815-1914.
W. R. Louis (ed.), Imperialism: The Robinson and Gallagher Controversy.
Cain and Hopkins. British Imperialism: Innovation and Expansion, 1688-1914. London, New York: Longman, 1993.
History and Theory article:
Pelz, Stephen. “Toward a New Diplomatic History: Two and a Half Cheers for International Relations Methods.” In Colin Elman and Miriam Fendius Elman, eds. Bridges and boundaries: historians, political scientists, and the study of international relations. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2001, pp. 85-110.
Week VII:
3 November
Kennedy, Paul. The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers. (all recommended, part II required).
Martel, Gordon. “The Meaning of Power: Rethinking the Decline and Fall of Great Britain.” The International History Review, XIII, 4 (Nov 1991), pp. 662-694.
History and Theory article:
Lebow, Richard Ned. “Social Science and History: Ranchers versus Farmers?” In Colin Elman and Miriam Fendius Elman, eds. Bridges and boundaries: historians, political scientists, and the study of international relations. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2001, pp. 111-135.
Week VIII:
10 November
Fischer, Fritz. Germany’s Aims in the First World War. New York: W. W. Norton, 1967. Chapters 1 & 2.
Kennedy, Paul M. “The First World War and the International System,” International Security 9 (Summer 1984).
Kennedy, Paul . The Rise of the Anglo-German Antagonism. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1980. Chapter 22, “From Antagonism to War (1907-1914),” pp. 441-463.
Langhorne, Richard. The Collapse of the Concert of Europe. Chapters 1 and 7.
Wilson, Keith. “British Power in the European Balance 1906-1914.” In D. Dilks, ed., Retreat from Power, vol. 1.
Wohlforth, William. “The Perception of Power: Russia in the Pre-1914 Balance,” World Politics 39 (April 1987), pp. 353-381. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0043-8871%28198704%2939%3A3%3C353%3ATPOPRI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-B
History and Theory article:
Bennett, Andrew and Alexander L. George. “Case Studies and Process Tracing in History and Political Science: Similar Strokes for Different Foci.” In Colin Elman and Miriam Fendius Elman, eds. Bridges and boundaries: historians, political scientists, and the study of international relations. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2001, pp. 137-66.
Week IX:
17 November
Gordon, Michael R. “Domestic Conflict and the Origins of the First World War: The British and the German Cases.” The Journal of Modern History, Vol. 46, No. 2. (Jun., 1974), pp. 191-226. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-2801%28197406%2946%3A2%3C191%3ADCATOO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-K
Fischer, Fritz. World Power or Decline. 1965. Theses 1 and 2, pp. 3-31.
French, David. “The Edwardian Crisis and the Origins of the First World War.” International History Review, IV, 2 (1982), pp. 207-221.
Gordon, Michael R. “Domestic Conflict and the Origins of the First World War: The British and German Cases.” Journal of Modern History 46 (1974), pp. 191-226.
Mayer, Arno J. “Domestic Causes of the First World War,” in The Responsibility of Power: Historical Essays in Honor of Hajo Holborn. Ed. by Leonard Krieger and Fritz Stern, pp. 286-293.
Mommsen, Wolfgang. “Domestic Factors in German Foreign Policy Before 1914.” In Central European History, 6 (1973), pp. 3-43.
Schroeder, Paul. “World War I as Galloping Gertie: A Reply to Joachim Remak.” In Journal of Modern History, 1972, pp. 101-127.
Searle, G. “The Revolt from the Right in Edwardian Britain,” in Kennedy and Nicholls (eds.), Nationalist and Racialist Movements in Britain and Germany before 1914., pp. 21-39.
Eley, Geoff. “Defining social imperialism: use and abuse of an idea.” In Social History, no. 3 (October, 1976), pp. 265-290.
History and Theory article:
Jervis, Robert. “International History and International Politics: Why Are They Studied Differently?” In Colin Elman and Miriam Fendius Elman, eds. Bridges and boundaries: historians, political scientists, and the study of international relations. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2001, pp. 385-402.
Week X:
1 December
Miller, Steven E. (Editor), Sean M. Lynn-Jones (Editor), and Stephen Van Evera (Editor). Military Strategy and the Origins of the First World War. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991.
Joll, James. Origins of the First World War. chapter 4.
History and Theory article:
Schroeder, Paul W. “International History: Why Historians Do It Differently than Political Scientists.” In Colin Elman and Miriam Fendius Elman, eds. Bridges and boundaries: historians, political scientists, and the study of international relations. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2001, pp. 403-416.
* Only the students presenting the article are expected to read the history and theory article each week.