Gov 1742: Psychology of International Relations
This class investigates the intersection of international relations and political psychology, exploring how leaders make decisions in foreign policy, and how publics make sense of the world around them. Topics explored include: how do leaders’ previous experiences before coming to power shape how they behave once they’re in office? Are reputations worth fighting for? When are apologies successful in international politics? Why are some territorial disputes so hard to resolve? What role do emotions and identity play in international relations? Professor: Joshua D. Kertzer.
Class Materials:
Legacies of violence
Additional resources
- Jonathan Chu, "A Clash of Norms? How Reciprocity and International Humanitarian Law affect American Opinion on the Treatment of POWs," Journal of Conflict Resolution 63(5) (2019).
- Jamala, "1944," Eurovision Winning Performance (2016).
- Noam Lupu, "Groups in Conflict and the Legacies of Violence," Presentation at CDDRL (5/27/22)
- Michal Bauer et al., "Can War Foster Cooperation?" Journal of Economic Perspectives 30(3) (2016).
- Kahoot! individual review practice link
Nationalism & historical memory
Additional resources
- Clint Smith, "Monuments to the Unthinkable," The Atlantic (11/14/22) [audio available]
- Ta-Nehisi Coates, "The Case for Reparations," The Atlantic (June 2014)
- Risa Kitagawa and Jonathan Chu, "The Impact of Political Apologies on Public Opinion," World Politics (2021)
Status & social identity
Additional resources
- ISSF Roundtable 10-23 on Jonathan Renshon. Fighting for Status: Hierarchy and Conflict in World Politics. (3/18/2019)
- MacMillan Report interview with Elizabeth Nugent. (2/13/2019)
Values & reputation
Additional resources
- Thomas Edsall, "Do you live in a 'tight' state or a 'loose' one? Turns out it matters quite a bit," New York Times (3/29/2023).
- Joshua Schwartz, "Dovish reputation theory: When fighting to demonstrate resolve backfires," Dissertation (UPenn: 2022).
- Roundtable 10-3 on Fighting for Credibility: U.S. Reputation and International Politics.
Operational codes, personality, & ideology
Additional resources
- Margaret Hermann, "Assessing Leadership Style: A Trait Analysis" (1999)
- Gloria Baker-Brown et al., "Coding Manual for Conceptual/Integrative Complexity"
- Jonathan Swan, Maggie Haberman, & Kitty Bennett, "The DeSantis Foreign Policy: Hard Power, but With a High Bar," New York Times (3/23/23)
- Adam Grant, "MBTI, If you want me back, you need to change too," Medium (11/17/15)
Indivisible issues
Additional resources
- Adam Waytz, "The Psychology of the Taboo Trade-Off," Scientific American (3/9/2010)
- Philip Tetlock, "A Value Pluralism Model of Ideological Reasoning," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (1986)
Emotions
Additional resources
- Omar McDoom's YouTube series on The Path to Genocide in Rwanda
- Amoz Hor, "The Everyday Emotional Lives of Aid Workers" in International Theory
Stereotypes
Additional resources
- Overview of image theory (see pages 10-13): https://jkertzer.sites.fas.harvard.edu/Research_files/OHPP-Kertzer.pdf.
Signaling & perception
Additional resources
- Edward Wong, Julian Barnes, and Adam Entous, "How questions over a spy balloon and UFOs fed a diplomatic crisis," https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/15/us/politics/balloon-ufo-us-china.html (2/15/2023)
- Dr. Roseanne McManus' talk on madman theory at the Notre Dame International Security Center, https://soundcloud.com/user-982486961/madman-theory
Biases & heuristics
Additional resources
- NPR interview w/ Daniel Khaneman, https://www.npr.org/2018/03/12/592986190/daniel-kahneman-on-misery-memory-and-our-understanding-of-the-mind
Rationality & prospect theory
Additional resources
- Getting Inside Putin’s Head: Is He Irrational? New York Times (3/14/2022)