Psychology of International Relations

If international politics is governed by states as rational as our traditional theories assume, why does it appear so unpredictable in practice? Does this instability reflect the irrationality of decision-makers, or does it suggest that conventional theories have misunderstood the nature of rationality itself? This course begins from a simple but consequential premise: like all forms of politics, international politics is ultimately shaped by human beings. Although this observation may seem self-evident, its implications have often been overlooked because the state, rather than the individual, has traditionally served as the primary unit of analysis in international relations. The course therefore asks how a deeper understanding of the workings of the human mind can enrich our explanations of international conflict, cooperation, war, and peace.

The course explores the growing field of psychological approaches to international relations, examining how insights from psychology can refine existing theories and generate new explanations of international politics. Rather than surveying the field as a series of discrete topics, it is organized around a sequence of interconnected questions, with each week building on the problems raised in the previous one.