This course is an introduction to the theoretical and empirical concerns of international politics. It is designed to go beyond the simple observation of international politics and delve into the ways we seek to explain and predict how political actors behave. The first section of the course is dedicated to understanding the history of the field of international relations as a foundation for further study. The second section will consider the traditional Realist perspective of international relations and then move on to deal with more modern revisions of received scholarship such as Liberalism, Marxism, Feminism, and Constructivism. Along the way, we will encounter explanations for war and peace, cooperation and dispute, as well as explanations for the creation of major international treaties and organizations such as the United Nations. The third section of the course will begin to deal with modern challenges and themes in international political economy and security.