The State Challenged by New Actors

When the U.S. and the Soviet Union reached overkill capacity with their nuclear weapons, what did Winston Churchill say?

"How many times do we need to make the rubble bounce?"

Most social humanists lean in the direction of what ideal type?

Idealism's hopefulness, social conscience, and penchant for subjectivity.

How do idealists and realists view the use of nuclear weapons?

Idealists often favor exploring all avenues of human creativity to find ways of defusing the nuclear risk: arms control treaties, disarmament talks, international organizations to address the issue, and grass-roots efforts to change popular attitudes. Realists are skeptical of "do-gooders" and often argue that such efforts are pointless, even delusional, because people and nations use power to enhance their own interests, not some abstract vision of the global good.

Which countries tried to make nuclear weapons in the 1990s? Why is this bad for the West? What has international communities done in the past about dealing with such issues?

Iraq, North Korea, Iran/Because these countries are all undemocratic, secretive, and hostile towards the West/Two main responses:1) Direct approaches tackling the issue head-on, usually via international treaty, or 2) indirect approaches that assume that weapons proliferation will take care of itself if other more basic issues are resolved.

What is a nation-state?

Sovereign political actor recognized by its peers as responsible for governing a cohesive group of people living on its territory.

The great majority of states today consist of ____________________ mixtures. Give some examples.

heterogenous/ Malaysia, United States, India, Canada, Brazil

America's greatest casualties were incurred in its ___________ War, when it lost more than in what wars combined?

Civil/World Wars I and II, Korea, and Vietnam.

What is heterogenous?

Classification of a social group which means diversified.

What is homogenous?

Classification of a social group which means unified and cohesive

Why did Saddam Hussein unleash his military forces against Kuwait in 1990?

Saddam rationalized his aggression by claiming that Kuwait had violated limits on oil drilling set by OPEC; he said that Kuwait had engaged in oblique-line drilling, illegally stealing Iraqi oil; finally, Saddam argued that Kuwait was once part of greater Iraq, now returning home. The real reasons had mostly to do with oil, Iraqi access to Persian Gulf, and enhanced power for Saddam in the Middle Eastern balance of forces. His military crushed Kuwait in a matter of days and Saddam believed that the U.S. would not intervene. The invasion put Saddam in control of 20 percent of the world's oil reserves and it also placed him in a strategic position for a possible invasion of oil giant Saudi Arabia.

Most of the nuclear missiles during the Cold War carried how big of bombs?

1,3, or 5 megaton bombs.

Describe the four traditional methods of prescribing peace in the international community.

1. Balance of power: Favored by realists. Seeks fluid alliances to countervail the power of any country, or group of countries, that might threaten to upset the peace. Potential aggressors are deterred by alliances of committed countries joining together to discourage aggression. The longest and most successful balance of power system prevailed during the century from the end of the Napoleonic Wars (1815) until the outbreak of World War I (1914). 2. Collective security: Popular with realists. Entails not an alliance of balanced power but rather superior strength daunting enough to deter aggression even more assuredly than a balance of power. Was first attempted by the League of Nations after World War I but quickly lost credibility when it failed to act against a tide of militarism sweeping over Germany, Japan, and Italy in the 1930s. Collective security was given another chance with the 1945 creation of the United Nations after World War II. 3. Arms control: Favored by idealists. Uses various forms of agreement between states as the basis of promoting international understanding. Arms control proponents posit that the greater number of sophisticated weapons available to a country, the more tempted it will be to use them. The fear that human nature seeks to use whatever weapons we have; therefore, we are better off agreeing with rival states to get rid of some of these temptations. Some advocates go so far as to suggest abolition of all WMD, or total disarmament. 4. International law: An approach to peace relying on the body of formal and informal codes and rules as salutary influences discouraging violent state behavior. Based on an analogy of domestic politics, where the role of law is robust. Just as it required time to build rule by law in civil societies, proponents of international law says that similar rules of the game are developing globally. Richard Falk claims that the international community needs to revise its ideas of sovereignty, democracy, and security, aiming toward a "vision of human governance."

What principles of just war got gradually incorporated into international law?

1. Discrimination: No civilian-soldier hostilities 2. Proportionality: Violence not exceeding injury suffered 3. Just cause: Good reason 4. Option of last resort: Alternatives to war explored

Over time, traditional international law developed into two separate bodies which are what?

1. Laws of war 2. Laws of peace

How many people have been estimated to have died in the twentieth century due to wars and what percentage within the last 1,000 years?

111 million; 75 percent within the last 1,000 years

As a point of comparison, the Hiroshima A-bomb was a _____________ kiloton bomb that killed roughly __________________ people.

20/100,000

The soviets tested a _________ megaton bomb in 1954.

50

More than _____________ million people died in World War II, ________________ million whom were Soviet citizens.

50/26

What are just wars? How did they come to be?

A distinction drawn in the monotheistic religions between legitimate and illegitimate resort to force by the state, base on explicit criteria. Those who wage war on behalf of one religion's empires against the infidels of other religions clearly believe themselves to be fighting just wars. The Sermon on the Mount's moral imperative of avoiding war by loving your enemies helped to keep war at bay until the fourth century when Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity and established a unity between church and state. This greatly changed the role of Christianity. Christian theologians gradually buried the fifth commandment's "thou shalt not kill" concerning wars, and settled on a set of distinctions between just wars and unjust wars. The evolution of Christian Church positions on war proved convenient for many Christian states eager to legitimize their military campaigns. The eight Crusades (1095-1291) were fought to recapture the Holy City of Jerusalem from Muslims. Later, the Crusades were matched by a series of bloody religious wars unleashed by the Protestant Reformation (1517), pitting Protestant against Catholic for a century prior to the Peace of Westphalia ending the Thirty Years War in 1648.

What is a state?

A political actor possessing sovereignty, territory, population, organization, and recognition from other states.

Who was Hugo Grotius?

A seventeenth Dutch jurist who is considered to be the father of international law. He considered resorting to just war a normal means of redressing grievances after other approaches had failed. This was included in his landmark work, On the Law of War and Peace.

What is a nation?

A sizable group of people identifying with one another because of some perceived ethnic, religious, or racial commonalities.

Debacle

A sudden and ignominious failure; a fiasco.

What is pacifist?

Adhering to the biblical tradition of peacefully turning the other cheek, thus refusing to answer violence with counter-violence.

What is a coalition?

An alliance for combined action, especially a temporary alliance of political parties forming a government or of states.

Brainchild

An idea or invention considered to be a particular person's creation.

What is Idealism?

An ideology in which belief that human reason can find ways to avert war is key and also cooperation by finding common elements uniting all peoples.

What is realism?

An ideology that places a premium on national interest defined as power and suspicious of cooperative endeavors among states.

What is an ideal type?

Archetypes or models, used in social science discourse to portray an image of some abstract concept.

What is an A-bomb?

Atomic bombs that were nuclear fission bombs and served as the precursors of later hydrogen (H) fusion bombs.

Portend

Be a sign or warning that something is likely to happen

How is the 1991 Persian Gulf War unique in terms of just war doctrine?

Because Bush 1 made a noteworthy effort in justifying the war with the doctrine while Bush 2 did not.

Obsolescent

Becoming obsolete.

How has fear of nuclear confrontation been eased?

By improved American-Russian relations, treaties reducing nuclear warheads, and the U.S.'s status as the only global military superpower.

What religions all developed a convenient "just war" concept?

Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism, and Islam.

The popular term generally used to identify the state is what?

Country

Laudable

Deserving praise or commendation.

How did Bush I attack Iraq?

From January 17 to February 27, 1991, the U.S.-led coalition battered Iraq in two stages: 1. A massive bombing campaign and 2. A 100-hour ground attack that outflanked the Iraqis and easily compelled their surrender.

Describe how Bill Clinton approached security during his presidency.

He approached matters of security with a cautiously indirect approach (idealistic in nature). He did lead a successful campaign, however, for permanent extension of the NNPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) officially established in 1970, for a twenty-five-year period. Ninety percent of all countries signed the NNPT, which requires non-nuclear powers to pledge not to seek these weapons. It does, however, allow nuclear powers to share resources for the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and it also binds non-nuclear states to allow unannounced inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), such as those conducted in Iraq during the 1990s. Another part of the treaty binds the nuclear powers to work toward setting a date for eventual nuclear disarmament. That has not happened.

Who is Henry Kissinger

He is the most authoritative modern proponent of realism and former secretary of state under presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. He contends that America needs less idealism and more realpolitik. He believes that the United States must define its vital interests conservatively, set clear priorities, and avoid getting bogged down in the ethnic and religious conflicts of the post-Cold War era. While recognizing that the world has changed significantly, he suggests that the basic determinants of world order do not change. World order will always spring from the "balancing of competing national interests."

How did Bush I justify getting involved to stop Saddam?

He knew that leading a democracy into war requires deft salesmanship, particularly with memories of the Vietnam debacle in the back of American's minds. So he involved the United Nations directly in the decision-making, carefully describing the crisis as one of the United Nations against Iraq, not merely the United States against Iraq. With the Cold War over, no real Russian opposition to his efforts materialized despite Russia's thirty-year alliance with Iraq. The U.N. also imposed an economic embargo against Iraq. The most direct effects on Americans were economic ones, and Bush's secretary of state, James Baker, tried to sell a war against Iraq on the basis of the price of gas at the pump, but American's wanted a better reason. Clear majority support for a war in Iraq didn't materialize until Bush I carried an argument beyond financial self-interest to provide a moral imperative based squarely on the concept of just war, which Bush referred to often in public. He also brought Christian evangelist Billy Graham to his side while invoking the just war doctrine. Bush demonized Saddam as the "worst dictator since Hitler" and justified war in Christian terms, and this led to Operation Desert Storm. Bush had full involved the international community from the outset, and a coalition of 26 robust supporters that went to war fully believed they were doing the right thing in rolling back Saddam's naked aggression against Kuwait. Even countries such as Japan and Germany, forbidden by their constitutions from sending troops, wrote huge checks, and America ended up paying only 20 percent of war costs. The world community was clearly with America in 1991.

Describe Woodrow Wilson's idealistic views?

He once claimed that "America is the only idealistic nation in the world." He favored a world system based on collective security and self-determination. Wilson's brainchild was the League of Nations which was his attempt at establishing a collective security but it failed. However, it led to the United Nations. Wilson also advocated for an international body of law, whereby states would come to accept universal rules of the game as desirable.

How did Albert Einstein view peace and war regarding the atom bomb?

He once quipped that "the unleashed power of the atom has changed everything except our modes of thinking." Although Einstein's observation was undoubtedly once true, a popular book suggests that his desire to see creative thinking about war and peace is finally being realized around the world.

What does political scientist Donald Snow say about peace and war?

He that another hopeful development consists of the redefinition of national security. During the Cold War, security was thought of as just military defense. Today, a broader sense of human security--one including psychological sense of safety that includes ecological global issues like the environment, population, food, and energy--is considered to be worthy of concern.

Describe the realities of the relationships between nations and states.

In a perfect world, a distinct nation of people would blend smoothly with a legally recognized state because the entity suited to mesh with the nation is the state. However, it is only in relatively rare places such as Japan, France, China, and Poland that we find nation and state fitting snugly together in the ideal manner.

Which country became the first undeclared nuclear nation in 1974?

India

What regional rivalries escalate to nuclear confrontation with Russia?

India and Pakistan, Israel and its Arab neighbors, North and South Korea, and China and Taiwan.

How did Jesus's Sermon on the Mount help in the face of war?

It carried great weight among Christina thinkers protesting against acts of war by the state.

How has idealism proven resilient in the face of realism's dominance?

It has gained ascendancy for short periods. The devastation of major wars often encourages pacifistic responses congenial to idealism. In the United States, twentieth-century idealism first flourished under President Woodrow Wilson and into the 1920's following WW1. Its spirit later helped launch the United Nations after World War 2, then thrived during Jimmy Carter's late-1970s presidency, and has more recently rebounded after the Cold Wars' demise and the aggressive policies of President George W. Bush.

What is Jesus's Sermon on the Mount?

It is from the New Testament and describes how instead of loving you neighbor and hating you enemy, you should love you enemy and pray for your persecutors, so that you may show yourselves true sons of your Father in heaven.

What is an embargo?

It is when there is a suspension of trade as a form of punishment against a state deemed to have violated international norms.

After the weakening of the Roman Catholic Church as an all-European force, what did this lead to for states?

It led to intense state competition in this newly decentralized political environment. With sovereignty in hand, the state could compete at will over pieces of territory, economic assets, trade routes, or, later on, colonial possessions. Although these European countries worked out agreements to preserve peace, power was what counted the most. All the states spent power as the main currency to pursue their interests. Competition for power has characterized state behavior internationally since the seventeenth century.

Deft

Neatly skillful and quick in one's movements.

Which is better, realism or idealism?

Neither. To reject one or the other wholly would destroy the balance essential to interpreting the complexities of international politics.

How does the sweeping of democracy across many regions lead many to believe that peace will follow?

Numerous studies make a strong case that the historical record demonstrates that democracies almost never fight with democracies. For the first time in history, democracies have most of the military and economic power; fully 92 percent of the world's wealthiest countries are currently democracies. Therefore, if democracy continues to spread, it is anticipated that fewer wars will occur in the future. Journalist Thomas Friedman adds an entertaining wrinkle to the democratic peace discussion with what he calls the McDonald's factor: not two countries with McDonald's fast-food restaurants have fought one another.

Who was Charles Kegley?

One of the prominent political scientists who recognized the value of idealism and said that "classical realism to the contrary, human nature is subject to modification and not permanently governed by an eradicable lust for power."

How many tons of TNT does 1 nuclear kiloton equal

One thousand tons.

Augur

Portend a good or bad outcome.

Traditionally, which ideal type has represented the prevailing outlook?

Realism

What two broad types of ideologies underpin most people's views on specific issues of international politics?

Realism and Idealism.

Most scientistic colleagues fell more comfortable with what ideal type?

Realism's skepticism, action orientation, and objectivity.

How do realists and idealists view as the correct method to keep the peace?

Realists share the notion of peach through strength while idealists lean toward peace through mutual obligation. Realists see idealists notions of human governance as a distraction causing us to let down our guard.

Paltry

Small or meager; petty or trivial.

Describe some ideas that people have had to solve the nuclear proliferation problem.

Some argue that if the North-South economic gap can be controlled, it will remove much of the impetus for proliferation. Others suggest that encouraging democracy worldwide will help. An interesting thesis has been developed by political scientist Richard Rosecrance, who believes that countries that are capable of building a bomb will decide that doing so is just simply not in their best interest. First, he says there are many examples of "nuclear abstainers"--countries that definitely could have developed nukes but didn't. Equally notable is the case of South Africa--A recent demobilizer of its nuclear stockpile, consisting of six bombs, which have since been converted to civilian power projects. New thinking says the possession of nuclear weapons is of "diminished utility." Threats to launch nuclear weapons are no longer believed, and with every passing year, what can only be called a "nuclear taboo" has taken firmer and firmer hold. Thus, if rival nations don't believe you will use your nuclear weapons, they are of little value to you.

Describe chemical and biological weapons as WMDs.

Sometimes labeled "poor man's nukes," chemical and biological weapons round out the triple threat (nukes, biological, chemicals) of weapons of mass destruction. Not only are chemical and biological weapons cheaper and easier to produce, they also can be distributed in more diverse and unpredictable ways than can nukes.

What is MAD?

Stands for Mutually Assured Destruction and is a policy of the nuclear superpowers in the Cold War that is a pact that detered each side to use nuclear weapons because any nuclear attack would be met with retaliation, destroying both superpowers. MAD worked quite well; no nuclear war occured between Americans and the Soviets during the Cold War.

How have the Kurds, Palestinians, and Chechens dealt with their repressed minority status?

The 25 million Kurds in places such as Iraq, Iran, and Turkey make up one of the largest such groups. These dissatisfied peoples find themselves dispersed throughout these countries. Many Palestinians live as legal aliens in Jordan, Syria, or Egypt. The Chechens in the Caucus Mountains of southern Russia have been so disgruntled as to fight civil war against the Russian army.

How did the U.S. react to Saddam's invasion of Kuwait?

The U.S. had sold military hardware to Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988). Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush had tilted toward Iraq with considerable aid. America had looked the other way when Saddam unleashed illegal chemical weapons in 1988 against Kurdish citizens in a northern Iraqi town, killing more than 5,000 of his own citizens. With no clear criticism of Iraqi's provocations or any statements of commitment to Kuwait sovereignty, Saddam assumed that President Bush would reluctantly accept an invasion of Kuwait as a fait accompli. Bush I was energized by the crisis and reacted most adroitly. North America, Europe, and Japan were all dependent on Persian Gulf oil, and Bush and his advisors believed that Saddam could not be allowed to remain atop so much oil nor so close to Saudi oil--which, if captured, would give Saddam about half of the known global reserves. The economic effects of the Iraqi invasion quickly rippled across the world's oceans. Financial investors took a bath as the Wall Street stock market plunged in response to the invasion; all Americans felt concerned when gas prices jumped sharply at pumps across the U.S.

What is overkill?

The capability to destroy an enemy many times over.

What is sovereignty?

The legal concept asserting that countries are independent actors solely responsible for what transpires within their borders.

Describe Anatol Rapoports view of peace and war.

The mathematician and peace researcher suggests that many ideas lie dormant in human consciousness until the "ideational environment" becomes receptive to their germination. He believes that the time for peace has arrived.

Confluence

The point where two or more things meet.

What is nuclear proliferation?

The process whereby states not previously possessing nuclear weapons come to possess them.

How did Bush II handle Iraq?

The world community was not with America when Bush II decided to invade Iraq in 2003. American's invaded Iraq and occupied it deposing Saddam. The U.S. news media failed to report about street demonstrations abroad that were unprecedented in scope. Bush II failed to establish any consistent justification for invading Iraq, crafting an unpopular unilateral solution arrived at from the top down. Even America's closest allies skewered Bush II's headlong leap into the uncertain abyss of war. Why, they asked, was it so suddenly imperative to get rid of Saddam Hussein? When America did occupy Iraq, there was only paltry planning that was used to rebuild it. At no point did Bush II address the just war doctrine that his dad did in 1991.

How does James Rosenau and John Rourke see war and peace?

They both see the information age contributing to a more peaceful world because of "people power" where previously only passivity existed. More and more people have the ability to express themselves through the more and more prevalent communications technology. Humble individuals have become global players of consequence.

How did states emerge?

They emerged in Europe. Beginning loosely in the fifteenth century and coalescing around the 1648 Peace of Westphalia, which brought closure to the bloody Thirty Years War. Beginning with the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 A.D., power was exercised by the Roman Catholic Church as the chief source of political and spiritual power and feudalism on the local level, reigning in the form of fiefdoms, baronies, and principalities--all run by minor royalty who were largely independent within their own limited sphere. By the fourteenth century, however, both powers began weakening. Small fiefdoms could no longer provide safety due to new military inventions, especially gunpowder and then, during the Renaissance, the idea of individual freedom swept across Europe like a tornado, challenging the Church. These opposing forces culminated in the Thirty Years War (1618-1648). The 1648 Peace of Westphalia established the legitimacy of secular political authority and ended the Catholic Church's political domination of Europe. From these beginnings sprang the consolidation of fiefdoms and principalities into the modern state.

How did Americans deal with the threat of nuclear attack during the Cold War?

They took it very seriously. Citizens and governments built fall-out shelters and practiced civil defense drills to ease their fears. Americans also tried to avoid thinking about the possibility of nuclear war. The Hollywood film industry, often a barometer of popular attitudes, ignored nuclear war for the twenty tensest years of the Cold War. A few films in the 1950s were brave enough to imagine a post-holocaust world, although not nuclear war itself. Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove and Sidney Lumet's Fail-Safe broke Hollywood's nuclear taboo in 1964.

What states turned their nuclear weapons over to Russia?

Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus (of the former Soviet Union)

Briefly, how has the modern state of the United Kingdom come to be?

What is properly known as the United Kingdom consists of four nations of people with a total population of 60 million: England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. The largest and most powerful group, the English, managed b military and diplomatic mans over many centuries to consolidate the four into one state. In the southwest, Wales was the first nation to be formally linked to England, in 1284; Scotland to the north officially joined the union in 1707. The entire island of Ireland to the west was subdued by the 1800 Act of Union and remained so until 1921. Badly shaken by its losses in World War 1, London then decided to accord independence to the lower three-quarters of the Irish island. The northern quarter has remained part of the United Kingdom as Northern Ireland. What local residents refer to as the "Troubles" has been a quarter-century cycle of bloodshed, recrimination, and retaliation between Catholic and Protestant factions. The Protestant majority in Northern Ireland are mostly Loyalists--meaning loyal to the British government and favoring Northern Ireland's remaining in the United Kingdom. The Glorious Revolution (1688-1689) officially elevated Protestantism to a status as the religion of Britain. Predictably, the Catholic minority feels much more affinity with their co-religionists to the immediate south in the independent Republic of Ireland. Many Northern Ireland Catholics are poor and consider themselves repressed minorities.

Who was the twentieth centuries first and greatest idealist voice?

Woodrow Wilson

Often nations possess a political ________________ and thus want their sense of _________________ recognized officially by other similar groups.

attitude/identity

International competition has seen dramatic __________________ in both the number and severity of wars.

increases

You are unlikely to fit either realism or idealism any more perfectly than you would fit the ideologies of what?

liberalism or conservatism in American domestic politics.

Some scholars contend that the very idea of war is gradually being ________________, resulting in what? How does John Mueller see this?

rejected/antiwar global culture/He brands war as a "thoroughly bad and repulsive idea, like dueling or slavery, sub-rationally unthinkable and therefore obsolescent. Mueller attributes much of the new thinking about war to the end of the Cold War, equating the collapse of the Soviet Union to the "functional equivalent of World War III."

Even if we dismantle all nuclear weapons, humanity can never what?

unlearn how to make them.