**SYLLABUS Likely to Change!!!

v. 2/21/07

Great Powers, Grand Strategies, and International Order

PLIR 350, Spring Term 2007
McLeod 1022
TTh 11-12:15

Professor Jeffrey W. Legro

Office Hours:
205 New Cabell Hall
Th 1-3 and
924-3958
by appointment.
legro@virginia.edu
Class Web Page: http://toolkit.itc.virginia.edu/2007_Spring_PLIR350-1
TAs :
Susan Brewer M 10-11 Alderman Cafe svb6m@virginia.edu
Lindsay Flynn W 10-11 Alderman Caf lbe3f@virginia.edu
Kyle Haines T 1-2 Alderman Caf keh5j@virginia.edu
I. Course Overview and Objectives:
In this term we will examine the strategies that great powers have adopted as guides in the
uncertain and complex global arena since 1815 -- and the world those strategies helped produce.
The main aim will be to understand the sources and consequences (for states and international
order) of different national approaches to foreign relations.
We will be concerned with two central concepts as points of departure. The first, grand strategy
refers to plans developed to achieve a countrys interests in the world. While some tend to see it
only in a military sense we will consider grand strategy as a scheme involving multiple tools that
encompass military, diplomatic, economic and political elements and the trade-offs among
them.
The second, international order, pertains to the dominant rules, norms, and institutions that
structure world politics. Different types of orders have existed since 1815 (Concerts,
Hegemonies, Leagues, etc) and we will examine how strategies related to those orders and either
reinforced, changed, or destroyed them.
Our substantive focus will mainly be on three regional powers: The European Union (and
Germany before it), China, and the United States. There are good reasons to look at others as well
and we may do so in a limited fashion, but those three will be our main fodder.
To understand contemporary challenges and preferred solutions requires attention to the causes
and history of strategy. We will begin with three broad alternative arguments about the sources of
strategy and likely impact of strategies. We will then turn history to examine what the record has
been: what choices countries have made and what they produced. We will move promptly through
a few key periods to provide context for the contemporary period. Roughly the second half of the

course will be spent on a comparison of modern day strategy in Europe, China, and the United
States.
Such questions as the following will be addressed:
How did leaders view themselves, their goals, their means, the threats they faced, and the
world that they encountered in the different periods?
Why did they do what they did?
How did they succeed and fail?
What kind of world did they create?
As we discuss each country and period, we will consider the overall orientation of foreign policy.
How do countries relate to international society -- i.e., the dominant rules and institutions that
govern world politics including empire, multilateral cooperation, and withdrawal?
Another basic choice of grand strategy is where the country should focus its attention and
resources. Currently there appears to be a trade-off between dealing with challenges in the
periphery terrorism, failed states, and global health challenges vs. a traditional focus on major
power relations. A similar geographical choice may arise in dealing with the most powerful
countries in the world: e.g., how should Europe weigh its efforts and attention to two very
different regions of the world: The United States and Asia? Such choices are critical as seen in the
Cold War and even in the basic decision of how to fight the Second World War (i.e. Europe first).
Asian and European countries at different times in history have faced or do face similar choices.
A major focus will be on the trade-offs between different tools in major foreign policy toolkits.
These countries have immense economic, military, and political leverage at their disposal, but
such resources are not limitless. Thus they face hard decisions about which means to pursue to
achieve interests and the relative weight to place on each course of action. We will examine a
number of different strategies vis--vis international order, the use of force, economic policy,
managing neighbors, spreading their ideology, etc.
Overall the aim is to better comprehend the approaches that great powers adopt in world
politics and the types of international orders those policies create.
II. Course Requirements and Grading:
1. Class attendance, preparation, and participation are essential and will be
explicitly noted. If you are not in class you cannot participate and will be marked
down. You will keep a strategy log to take notes on the assigned readings. This is not
a traditional lecture class and its success depends on your preparation and
contribution. While I will introduce, provide context to, and summarize ideas, we
will also discuss and debate. You are required to do the readings before the class for
which they are assigned and be fully prepared to talk about them. Quizzes may be
handed out in class on an irregular basis, especially if there is some question about
the quality of preparation. (20%)
2. Midterm (10%)
3. Strategy Analysis (No more than 2500 words) (30%). Drawing on the materials
covered in the class, you will comparatively analyze the strategies of either 1) two

different countries in the same or different periods or 2) one of the countries in two
different time periods. You will 1) describe what the strategies are and 2) explain why
they were as they were. You will include outside research especially involving
primary documents from the country you study. More details on this will follow.
4. Final Exam (40%)
IV. Class Policies:
All work is due on the dates scheduled. Incompletes will not be granted except when very
unusual circumstances dictate and only if arrangements have made with the instructor ahead of
time. Assignments and the paper must be completed as scheduled. You should do all graded work
independently. Any outside materials or sources should be explicitly noted according to proper
citation format. Any work that is based on other sources without citation will be failed and could
involve the Honor system. If you have any questions on this or any other course related matter
please do contact me.
V. Course Materials:
The following books are required and will be available for purchase at the bookstore:
Jack Snyder, Myths of Empire: Domestic Politics and International Ambition (Ithaca, NY:
Cornell. University Press, 1991).
John J. Mearsheimer, Tragedy of Great Power Politics (New York: W. W. Norton, 2001)
Jeffrey W. Legro, Rethinking the World: Great Power Strategies and International Order (Ithaca:
Cornell University Press, 2005). (paper edition Jan 2007).
There will also be additional readings that will be on the toolkit. If they are missing on the toolkit
they may be located on PLIR490H toolkit.

Class Schedule: Topics and Assignments*

* Please note that this is a working syllabus. Some of the following readings will
not be required.
1. Introduction
2. What is strategy? What ought strategy do?
Paul Kennedy, Grand Strategy in War and Peace: Toward a Broader Definition, in Kennedy, ed.
Grand Strategies in War and Peace (Yale 1991), 1-6
Bernard Brodie, Vital Interests: By Whom and How Determined? in Strategy and National
Interests: Reflections for the Future National Strategy Information Center, Inc., 1971.
Clausewitz War is an Instrument of Policy, in On War
http://www.clausewitz.com/CWZHOME/VomKriege2/Bk8ch06.html#B
3. What is Order? What causes it?
Hedley Bull, The Anarchical Society 2nd ed. (Columbia University Press 1995), 22-50.
Henry Kissinger, Diplomacy (Simon and Schuster 1994), 17-28.
John Hall and T.V. Paul, eds. International Order and the Future of World Politics (Cambridge
1999), 1-15.

General Sources of Strategy and Order

.
4. Power

What does Mearsheimer see as the cause of grand strategy? How does strategy
relate to order?
John Mearsheimer, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics (Norton, 2001), 1-54
5. Interests and Institutions

What does Snyder see as the cause of grand strategy? How does strategy relate to
order? How does this view compare with Mearsheimer's?
Jack Snyder, Myths of Empire: Domestic Politics and International Ambition (Ithaca:
Cornell University Press, 1991), 1-20; 31-55.
6. Ideas

What does Legro see as cause grand strategy? How does strategy relate to order?
How does this view compare with Mearsheimers and Snyders?
Jeffrey W. Legro, Rethinking the World: Great Power Strategies and International Order (Ithaca:
Cornell University Press, 2005) 1-48.

The European International Order

7. The Concert and its End
What was the Concert of Europe? How did it work? Why did it end?
Kissinger, Diplomacy, 78-102.
Paul Schroeder, Did the Vienna Settlement Rest on a Balance of Power? American Historical
Review (June 1992): 683-706.
Georges-Henri Soutou, Was there a European Order in the Twentieth Century? From the Concert
of Europe to the End of the Cold War, Contemporary European History, Volume 9, Number 3
(November 2000), 329-333.
8. British Hegemony and Imperialism
What was Britains strategy as the dominant power in the 19 th century? Why? How did it
affect world politics?
Patrick OBrien, The Pax Britannica and American Hegemony, in OBrien and Clesse, eds.,
Two Hegemonies: Britain 1846-1914 and the United States 1941-2001 (Ashgate 2002), 3-27, 4854.
A. G. Hopkins, British Imperialism, ReFresh 7 (1988), 5-8.
http://www.ehs.org.uk/society/pdfs/Hopkins%207b.pdf
Snyder, Myths of Empire, (174-64) 189-211.
Mearsheimer, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, 234-238, 261-66.
9. Germany Ascendant
What Strategy did Germany adopt in the 19th Century as a rising power? Why? Was
Bismarck a brilliant or misguided helmsman?
Mearsheimer, Tragedy of Great Power Politics, pp. 267-9, 288-97.
Snyder, Myths of Empire, pp. 66-76, 82-91, 97-105.
Joseph Joffee, Germany: The Continuities from Frederick the Great to the Federal Republic, in
Robert Pastor, ed. A Centurys Journey: How the Great Powers Shape the World, 91-102
(Recommended: Kissinger, Diplomacy, chapters 4-6.)

10. The Periphery Powers: China and the United States

What were China and the United States up to in the 19th century? Why? How did they fit
in international order?
John Garver, The Legacy of the Past, Foreign Relations of the People's Republic of
China, (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1993), pp. 9-17.
Norman Rich The Great Power Competition Over China in Great Power Diplomacy, 18141914 (McGraw Hill, 1992): 300-328.
Frank Ninkovich, The Emergence of Normal Internationalism, 1900-1913, from The Wilsonian
Century: U.S. Foreign Policy since 1900 (Chicago 2001), 17-47.
The Decline of OrderThe Interwar Period
11. The League of Nations
Was there an interwar order?
MIDTERM
League of Nations Covenant, the confederation of peace
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/leagcov.htm
Georges-Henri Soutou, Was there a European Order in the Twentieth Century? From the Concert
of Europe to the End of the Cold War, Contemporary European History, Volume 9, Number 3
(November 2000), 333-338.
12. American Isolationism
Why did the United States return to its aloofness after WWI? What were the consequences?
Legro, Rethinking the World, 49-83
Mearsheimer, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics 252-54
Jeff Frieden, "Sectoral Conflict and U.S. Foreign Economic Policy, 1914-1940," International
Organization 42:1 (winter 1988): 59-90 (first few pages closely and skim)
Robert Gilpin, The Political Economy of International Relations (Princeton 1986), 72-80.
13. German Expansionism
What were the Germans thinking? Were they nuts?
Legro, Rethinking the World, 84-108
Mearsheimer, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, 305-22
Snyder, Myths of Empire, 72-73, 92-95, 105-111.

The Atlantic International Order

14. Bipolarity and American Hegemony

What was the Cold War order and where did it come from?
Georges-Henri Soutou , Was there a European Order in the Twentieth Century? From the
Concert of Europe to the End of the Cold War, Contemporary European History, Volume 9,
Number 3 (November 2000): 338-347.
Mearsheimer, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, 260-61, 322-329.
Snyder, Myths of Empire 255-77, 279-89, 296-99.
D. Deudney and J. G. Ikenberry, The Nature and Sources of Liberal International Order,
Review of International Studies 25(2) (1999): 179196.

15. European Unity

Why did Europe do during the Cold War? Why did countries begin to integrate?
Joffee, Germany, 110-124.
Legro, Rethinking the World, 108-115.
Desmond Dinan, How Did We Get Here? in The European Union: How Does It Work?, edited
by Elizabeth Bomberg and Alexander Stubb, 19-38.
TBA
16. China Returns -- Twice
What did China do in the new order? Why?
John Garver, The Legacy of the Past, Foreign Relations of the People's Republic of
China, (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1993), pp. 2-8, 17-30.
Chen Jian, China and the Cold War , 1-15.
ThomasW.Robinson,ChineseForeignPolicyfromthe1940stothe1990s,inChinese
ForeignPolicy:TheoryandPractice,pp.555602.
Michael Hunt, The Genesis of Chinese Communist Party Foreign Policy (Columbia 1996): 1-27.
Andrew J. Nathan, and Robert S. Ross. Great Wall and Empty Fortress. New York, NY: W.W.
Norton, 1997, pp. 1-18.
John W. Garver, The Opportunity Costs of Mao's Foreign Policy Choices,
The China Journal, No. 49 (Jan., 2003), 127-136
Chen Jian, A Response: How to Pursue a Critical History of Mao's Foreign Policy,
The China Journal, No. 49 (Jan., 2003), pp. 137-142

The Pacific International Order?

17. The EU I
What is the European Union and its foreign policy? Why?
Helen Wallace, William Wallace, and Pollack, Mark A.: Policy-Making in the European Union,
The New European Union Series, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2005, chapter 1, An
Overview pp. 3-10.
Joffee, Germany, 124-138.
John Peterson and Michael E. Smith, The EU as a Global Actor, in The European Union:
How Does It Work?, edited by Elizabeth Bomberg and Alexander Stubb, pp. 195-215
Robert Kagan, The U.S. Europe Divide, Washington Post, May 26, 2002.
18. The EU II
What is the EUs security strategy? Why? Can Europe act strategically? Will it overtake
the United States?
"A Secure Europe in a Better World - A European Security Strategy, European Council,
December 12, 2003 http://ue.eu.int/uedocs/cmsUpload/78367.pdf **
White Paper 2006 on German Security Policy and the Future of the Bundeswehr, 4-10
http://www.bmvg.de/portal/PA_1_0_LT/PortalFiles/C1256EF40036B05B/W26UWAMT995INF
OEN/WB+2006+englisch+DS.pdf?yw_repository=youatweb
Barry Posen, ESDP and the Structure of World Power, International Spectator 34:1 (2004), 517 http://www.iai.it/pdf/articles/posen.pdf **
Mark Leonard, Ascent of Europe,

Prospect magazine, March 2005, 22-25.

Mearsheimer, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, 360-86, 392-6.

19. The EU III
How does the EU use economic and political power in world affairs? How does that
compare with traditional strategies? Why?
Sophie Meunier and Kalypso Nicolaidis, The European Union as a Conflicted Trade Power,.
Journal of European Public Policy, 13:6 (September 2006), 908-27.
James Mayall, The Shadow of Empire: The EU and the Former Colonial World, in Hill and
Smith, IR and the EU.
Geoffrey Edwards, The Pattern of the EUs Global Activity, in Hill and Smith,eds,
International Relations and the European Union (Oxford University Press 2005): 40-63.

20. China I
What has Chinas post Deng strategy been? What is new? Why?
Evan S. Medeiros and M. Taylor Fravel, China's New Diplomacy, Foreign Affairs 82:6 (2003)
Chong-pin Lin, Beijing's New Grand Strategy, China Brief (Jamestown Foundation) December
2006.
Bijian, Zheng. "Chinas Peaceful Rise to Great Power Status, Foreign Affairs (Sept/Oct
2005):18-24.
David Lampton, The Faces of Chinese Power, Foreign Affairs, January/February 2007.

21. China II
What are the military and non-military aspects of Chinas strategy? Are they coherent?
How do they compare to Europes?

ThomasMooreandYongDeng,ChinaViewsGlobalization:TowardsaNewGreat
PowerPolitics?TheWashingtonQuarterly27:3(Summer2004),117136
http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/index.jsp
David Shambaugh, China Engages Asia: Reshaping the Regional Order, International Security
29(3) 2005
Information Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China. China's National
Defense in 2006. December 2006, Preface Chapters I-II, IX-X.
http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/book/194468.htm
Office of the Secretary of Defense. The Military Power of the People's Republic of China (July
2005). (PDF - 1.3 MB) Executive Summary
22. China III
How do Chinas leaders describe their strategies? Why? Are their accounts believable or
are they likely to change?
Jiang Zemin's Report at 16th Party Congress. "VII. National Defense and Army Building."
Jiang Zemin's Report at 16th Party Congress. "IX. The International Situation and Our External
Work.".
Hu Jin Taos report.
Mearsheimer, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, 396-402
Legro, Rethinking the World, 173-178.

23. The United States I

What is the U.S. Strategy? Should the United States be more engaged in the world?
Why? How does U.S. strategy compare to that of other great powers in history?
The White House, The National Security Strategy of the United States of America (Fall 2002)
Executive Summary plus skim.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/nssall.html.
Thomas P.M. Barnett, The Pentagons New Map, Esquire March 2003.
http://www.esquire.com/features/articles/2004/040510_mfe_barnett_1.html
The First Failed Empire Of The 21st Century
Michael Mann, Review of International Studies (2004), 30, 631653
http://www.journals.cambridge.org/action/displayFulltext?type=1&fid=251278&jid=&vo
lumeId=&issueId=04&aid=251277
Michael Mandelbaum, David's Friend Goliath, Foreign Policy, 20 January 2006
http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=6855
Eugene Gholz, et. al. Come Home America, The American Conservative June 7, 2004, 15-19.
Jack Snyder, Imperial Temptations, The National Interest, Vol. 71, Spring 2003, 29-40.
Mearsheimer, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, 386-392.
Legro, Rethinking the World, 166-72.
24. The United States II
How much attention should the United States pay to new threats versus traditional
ones?
9/11 Commission Report, Executive Summary,
http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/index.htm
John Mueller, Is There Still a Terrorist Threat? Foreign Affairs September/October 2006.
If interested, also see the exchange on this article on the CFR website
25. The United States III
Which of the following grand strategies is most promising? why?
The White House, The National Security Strategy of the United States of America (Winter 2006)
http://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/nss/2006/ Executive Summary Plus Skim.
Princeton Project on National Security
http://www.wws.princeton.edu/ppns/report/FinalReport.pdf , 1-32, skim.
26. The Emerging Order

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What kind of World will contemporary great power strategies create?

Peter Katzenstein, A World of Regions: Asia and Europe in the American Imperium (Ithaca:
Cornell University Press, 2005). 208-225; 242-8
James C. Hsiung, "Pacific Asia in the Twenty-first Century World Order", in Asian Affairs, an
American Review, Summer 2002, Volume 29, Issue 2, pages 99 - 115.
Georges-Henri Soutou , Was there a European Order in the Twentieth Century? From the
Concert of Europe to the End of the Cold War, Contemporary European History, Volume 9,
Number 3 (November 2000), 347-53.
Mark Leonard, Why Europe Will Run the 21st Century. Chapters 10-11 (121-143).
27. Strategy and Order: Past and Future
28. Paper Session** (this will be inserted somewhere in the semester).
FINAL EXAM: Tuesday May 8th, 9:00am-12:00.

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