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Recommended Reading

A Message From the Faculty Chair

Hello,

Congratulations on your acceptance to the M.A. program at the School of Diplomacy and International Relations at Seton Hall University!

Our faculty offer internationally recognized research and teaching programs. Students work with faculty mentors to select and develop two areas of coursework concentration and take a minimum of three courses for each specialization. Thirteen functional and regional specializations are available to help you develop a more detailed understanding of critical global issues and processes. Learn more about:

Faculty »
Specializations »

As you prepare for graduate study, we would like to provide you the opportunity to get a head start in learning about international relations. Our alumni have suggested that introductory readings are helpful preparation for the first semester of graduate coursework. Accordingly, our faculty has compiled a list of works from which you can make your own selection.

The readings on the list are by no means required, but we hope you will find them interesting and useful. You will find that the first set of readings under International Relations Theory and Methods are a useful overview - and we've broken down the rest of the list by specialization in case you want to study specific topics in more depth.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. I look forward to seeing you on campus.

Martin Edwards
Associate Professor and Chair
Phone: (973) 275-2507

Recommended Reading List for Incoming MA Students

International Relations Theory:

  • Anievas, Manchanda, and Shilliam, eds., Race and Racism in International Relations: Confronting the Global Colour Line (Routledge, 2014).
  • Luoma-Aho, God and International Relations: Christian Theology and World Politics (Bloomsbury Academic, 2013).
  • Sajed and Persaud, eds., Race, Gender, and Culture in International Relations: Postcolonial Perspectives (Routledge, 2018).
  • Kenneth N. Waltz, Man, the State, and War (Columbia University Press, 2001)
  • Karen Mingst and Jack Snyder, Essential Readings in World Politics (Norton, 2008)
  • Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War (Penguin, 1972)
  • Thomas C. Schelling, Arms and Influence (Yale University Press, 2008)
  • Bueno de Mesquita, Bruce and Alastair Smith; The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior Is Almost Always Good Politics (Public Affairs, 2011)
  • Robert J. Art and Robert Jervis, International Politics: Enduring Concepts and Contemporary Issues 12 th Edition (Pearson, 2015).
  • Michael Doyle, Ways of War and Peace: Realism, Liberalism, and Socialism (Norton, 1997)
  • Martha Finnemore. National Interests in International Society (Cornell University Press, 1996)
  • Anievas, Manchanda, and Shilliam, eds., Race and Racism in International Relations: Confronting the Global Colour Line (Routledge, 2014).
  • Luoma-Aho, God and International Relations: Christian Theology and World Politics (Bloomsbury Academic, 2013).

  • Sajed and Persaud, eds., Race, Gender, and Culture in International Relations: Postcolonial Perspectives (Routledge, 2018).

Research Methods:

  • Janet B. Johnson, H.T. Reynolds, and Jason Mycoff. Political Science Research Methods 9th Edition. (SAGE/CQ Press, 2019)
  • Stephen Van Evera, Guide to Students of Political Science (Cornell University Press, 1997)
  • Eugene Bardach and Eric >. Patashnik. A Practical Guide for Policy Analysis: The Eightfold Path to More Effective Problem-Solving . 4th edition. (Sage, 2019)

Writing:

  • Chicago Manual of Style: The Essential Guide for Writers, Editors, and Publishers, 16th ed., (University of Chicago Press, 2010)
  • Strunk, W., Jr. and White, E.B. The Elements of Style, 4th ed. (Allyn & Bacon, 1999)

Foreign Policy Analysis:

  • Graham Allison and Philip Zelikow, Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis (Longman, 1999)
  • Paul Gordon Lauren, Gordon A. Craig and Alexander L. George, Force and Statecraft: Diplomatic Challenges of Our Time5 th Edition (Oxford, 2013)

Global Health and Human Security:

  • Lawrence Gostin, Global Health Law (Harvard University Press, 2014)

Global Negotiation and Conflict Management:

  • Charity Butcher and Maia Carter Hallward. Understanding International Conflict Management (Routledge, 2020).
  • John Paul Lederach. The Moral Imagination: The Art and Soul of Building Peace (Oxford University Press, 2005)
  • Roger Fisher and William Ury. Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement without Giving in. (Penguin Books, 1991)

International Economics and Development:

  • Dani Rodrik, The Globalization Paradox: Democracy and the Future of the World Economy (W.W. Norton & Company, 2012)
  • Gregory Mankiw, Macroeconomics (Worth Publishers Inc., 2013)
  • Paul Krugman and Robin Wells, Microeconomics, 2nd edition (Worth Publishers Inc., 2012)

International Organizations:

  • Margaret P. Karns, Karen A. Mingst, and Kendall W. Stiles, International Organizations: The Politics and Processes of Global Governance, 3rd edition (Lynne Rienner, 2015)
  • Sebastian von Einsiedel, David M. Malone, and Bruno Stagno Ugarte, editors The UN Security Council in the 21st Century (Lynne Rienner, 2016)

International Security:

  • The Use of Force: Military Power and International Politics, eds. Robert J. Art and Kelly M. Greenhill, 8th edition (Rowman & Littlefield, 2015)
  • Coercion: The Power to Hurt, eds. Kelly Greenhill and Peter Krause (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018)
  • Margaret MacMillan, War: How Conflict Shaped Us (New York: Random House, 2020)
  • Bear F. Braumoeller, Only the Dead: The Persistence of War in the Modern Age (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020)
  • Stephen Biddle, Nonstate Warfare: The Military Methods of Guerillas, Warlords, and Militias (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2021)

 

International Law and Human Rights:

  • Mark Janis, International Law (Aspen Student Treatise series, any edition)
  • Buergenthal and Murphy, Public International law in a Nutshell 5 th edition (West Publishing, 2013)
  • Michael Byers, War Law (Grove Press, 2007)
  • Daniel Bodansky, The Art and Craft of International Environmental Law (Harvard University Press, 2011)
  • Samantha Power, A Problem from Hell (Harper Perennial, 2002)
  • David Moeckli, Sangeeta Shah, and Sandesh Sivakumaran, eds, International Human Rights Law (Oxford University Press, 2014)
  • Andrew Clapham, Human Rights: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2016)
  • David Kennedy, The Dark Sides of Virtue: Reassessing International Humanitarianism (Princeton University Press, 2005)
  • Martha Minow, Between Vengeance and Forgiveness: Facing History After Genocide and Mass Violence (Beacon Press, 1999) 

Post-Conflict State Reconstruction and Sustainability:

  • Robert Rotberg, When States Fail: Causes and Consequences (Princeton University Press, 2004)
  • Theo Neethling and Heidi Hudson, Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Development in Africa: Concepts, Role-Players, Policy and Practice (United Nations University Press, 2013)
  • Ashraf Ghani and Clare Lockhart, Fixing Failed States:  A Framework for Rebuilding a Fractured World.  (Oxford University Press: 2008)

Africa:

  • Goran Hyden, African Politics in Comparative Perspective (New York, Cambridge University Press, 2006)
  • Jack Mangala, Africa and the New World Era: From Humanitarianism to a Strategic View (Palgrave, 2010)

Asia:

  • James Steinberg and Michael E. O'Hanlon, Strategic Reassurance and Resolve: U.S.-China Relations in the Twenty-First Century (Princeton University Press, 2014)

Latin America and the Caribbean:

  • Daniel Hellinger, Comparative Politics of Latin America: Democracy at Last? (Routledge, 2021)

Middle East:

  • Louise Fawcett, International Relations of the Middle East (Oxford University Press, 2013)
  • Tareq Y. Ismael and Glenn E. Perry, The International Relations of the Contemporary Middle East: Subordination and Beyond (Routledge, 2013)