Race and World Politics

MIA and MPA Politics II Core.  This six-week course introduces students to debates around the role and effects of race and racism in international politics. Scholars of international politics have long neglected such factors in world affairs, even though the origins of international relations – as an academic discipline – can be traced back to the early years of the 20th century, when questions of colonialism and ruling over different populations inspired new ways of thinking about inter-state and inter-racial relations. Over the past two decades, drawing on insights from post-colonial theory, Black Studies, and political sociology, but also prompted by continued Western military intervention in Africa and Southwest Asia, a new sub-field has emerged re-visiting the question of “the color line” in world politics. This course also examines how different political theorists and actors from the Global South responded to systems of empire and global racial hierarchy by proposing alternative projects of worldmaking throughout the 20th century. The major themes covered in this course include critical debates around the definition and salience of race; race and international relations theory; decolonization, Third Worldism, and anti-racism; norms of humanitarian intervention and international organizations; colonial legacies and ethno-racial movements; the rise of Asia and “civilizational conflict;” and efforts to export American “racecraft.”