Gov Exam 3
What is an externality?
(Cost/benefit of a transaction) that affect a 3rd party who wasn't involved in the transaction. - EX: a factory produces polluted water, and a person who lives in the city who does not buy anything from that factory or work at the factory will still have to deal with the polluted water.
Describe some of the efforts by the United States to promote democracy around the world. What are the political challenges associated with American efforts to promote democracy? What are the benefits and drawbacks associated with promoting democracy around the world?
- 1st major wave of democracy promotion was under WW: leveraged participation in WWI to expand # of democracies - end of Cold war was a boon for democracy promotion: spread of democracy went hand in hand with greater security for US - Clinton admin justified intervention in former Yugoslavia on grounds of spreading democracy - democracy promotion was a major part of the neo-conservative arguments undergirding Bush admin: regime change - negative effects of Iraq war and domestic unpopularity within the US resulted in greater skepticism regarding democracy promotion - esp. through use of military force (as seen with Obama and Trump)
What is the International Monetary Fund? What are its main functions? What is the main source of its influence in the international economy? What is conditionality and how does the IMF use it to promote economic reforms within countries? Why does the U.S. have so much influence within the IMF?
- Acts like a bank to oversee pool of capital created by member countries - Limits exchange rate fluctuations - Lender of last resort: help governments in exchange rate crisis stabilize reserves with loans - Has conditionality: demands conditions that change economic conditions in the country and enhance long term ability to repay -loans as multiple disbursements so get partial money then must implement reforms before get more -often imposes real pain: cut tariff barriers, cut budget deficits Power stems from its willingness to lend when no one else will -good housekeeping seal of approval necessary for private capital to come back in - Voting power not equal and set by relative contribution to fund - US biggest shareholder so has lots of influence on terms of emergency loans or bailouts Often relaxes conditions for strategic reasons
What is the basic scientific claim about the causes and extent of climate change? What are the main environmental consequences that scientists fear will result from climate change?
- CO2 in the atmosphere increasing exponentially. - CO2 is a heat trapping gas and levels have increased since the industrial revolution began. - Average global temperatures increasing at the current rate of CO2 emissions. - Cause droughts and changes in wind patterns. - Ocean levels rising and endanger coastal communities. - Hundreds or thousands of years away, but worries that we will hit a point of irreversible change.
How might international economic organizations, like the WTO and the IMF, facilitate economic cooperation among states and higher levels of international trade?
- Creates joint reduction in tariff barriers - Monetary cooperation: multiple countries coordinate monetary policies to preserve stable exchange rates - Foreign aid . - Emergency lending - Can provide enforcement mechanisms (WTO with judicial panel and IMF with conditionality of loan packages) - Help reveal information about state interests - Reduce distributional challenges.
Why did President Trump formally withdraw the United States from the TPP in 2017? Why did he consider rejoining the TPP in 2018?
- Trump campaigned on opposition to globalization and TPP and withdrew in 2017 - political opposition to TPP in US centered on concerns about manufacturing job losses in US - considered rejoining possibly because tensions with China concerning agriculture exports and possibly looking for new markets
What are the main components of the Paris Climate Accord? How should it operate to limit the growth of carbon dioxide emissions?
- Deal reached in December 2015 - Important role played by US in final terms of agreement - Agreement on the process by which states would submit voluntary reduced CO2 emission targets to keep average global temperature increase below 2.0 Celsius - Important: not legally binding emission targets - Work through politics of naming and shaming - Binding process for monitoring and reporting pledges on emission targets and progress upholding; need to make national plan public every 5 years and needs to be as strong or stronger than prior one
What is the Bretton Woods economic order? What were the main forces that served as an impetus for the U.S. to construct the Bretton Woods order? What are the main organizations that emerged from Bretton Woods?
- Emerges in final stages of WW2 where US supports creation of international organizations to ensure economic growth through international trade - Impetus from great depression and WW2: have collapse of economic cooperation; want to construct organizations to support reduction of trade barriers, political cooperation to sustain globalization, and have peace and economic growth - WTO, IMF, GATT as examples.
Which group of countries will be the recipients of foreign aid under the Paris Climate Accord? How did this aid help facilitate the construction of this international agreement? And how might this aid help countries fulfill their emission targets?
- Foreign aid from developed to developing countries - Ease costs of alternative energies - Compensate for the costs of climate change
According to the reading (Chapter 25: Globalization), what are the chief indicators of the increase of globalization since World War II?
- Fueled by global trading regime centered on GATT and WTO that has encouraged and sustained dramatic reductions in political barriers to trade like import tariffs - Supported by technological developments associated with the internet that made possible to trade services across great distances - Made it possible for multinational corporations to drive down costs and consumer prices by outsourcing important services and stages of production to different locations around the world - Growing levels of economic flows or transactions across national borders demonstrate market integration - International trade has accounted for an increasing proportion of national economic activity
According to this module's reading, what is hegemonic stability theory and how does it relate to the provision of public goods and the free rider problem in international relations?
- Hegemonic stability theory refers to the concentration of global economic activity that results in high trade within the global economy because the hegemon has self-interested economic leadership and coercive strategies (there is one hegemony that dictates trade in the international system). - Provision of public goods through cooperative trade by advocating for low trade barriers so that states can develop (can be bad for the Hegemon, because low export tariffs can put people out of jobs domestically). Having a hegemon rule the trade international system can be beneficial because they will use the hegemon currency for trade, which is more stable. The system is a collective good which means that it is plagued by a "free rider" syndrome. Thus, the hegemon must induce or coerce other states to support the system.
What does globalization in financial terms look like?
- Integration of national markets into global economy - Movement of capital across boundaries; help foreigners invest in the US economy - Lend money to US government purchase treasury bonds; make cars in the US with foreign companies - Help to run budget deficits and spend more than take in by taxes
Describe the tradeoffs associated with participation in international organizations and national sovereignty.
- often requires some delegation of responsibility and authority for policy making outside of the domestic gov. - costs of international cooperation sometimes include altering domestic politics or policies that emerge through a democratic process
Discuss the global patterns of international migration. What are the countries with the largest inflows of international migration and which countries have the largest inflows of refugees?
- Involve a new flow of people from less developed to more developed countries - The US, Saudi Arabia, and Germany are the top receiving countries - India, Mexico, Russia, and China are top sending countries - Not the case with refugees where developing countries like Turkey bear the main burden - The US has the largest migrants by raw numbers, but not by share of total population (more like UAE, Saudi Arabia, Australia, and Canada)
What are the Cold War origins of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)? What did Lord Ismay mean when he said the goal of NATO was "to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down"?
- NATO has its origins in the cold war and containment of Soviet threat - it provided military security for W Europe - it had 3 interlocking foals that helped to establish a zone of peace in W Europe during Cold War: 1. "keep the Russians out" - provide protection against Soviet conventional and nuclear attack of Europe --> lead to peace and prosperity 2. "keep US in" - binding mechanism of US military power - US was a necessary hegemon for collective security arrangement - US provided military power, but it also restrained it - forced US to act multilaterally instead of unilaterally and take European concerns into account 3. "keep Germans down" - maintain peace between democratic powers in Europe by integrating them into alliance led by outsider (US)
Describe the contours of supply and demand on the global oil market? Who are the big players? How has new exploration in North Ameica, such as shale oil, changed things?
- OPEC key supplier: Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Russia, North America - Big growth in production capacity in North America (shale boom for US; shale reserves in North Dakota and Texas; create economic independence for US) - Supply up: new investments in production capacity stimulated by upward price shocks associated with 9/11 and Iraq War
What is OPEC? How much oil does it control? How does it operate to manage oil prices?
- OPEC: and international org formed by the primary oil produces in the world - holds regular meetings in which they negotiate each others production quotas/quantities - these quotas are designed to control supply of oil released from these countries into the broader global economy - control supply --> control prices - Members: Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Venezuela - Holds about 80% of known proven global reserves mostly in Venezuela, S. Arabia, Iran, Iraq, and Kuwait
According to your reading for this module, how does international migration affect the demographic composition of countries? How do these demographic changes create conflict within countries over issues of national identity?
- Part of broader demographic change in the US and other top receiving countries - Accentuating racial lines of conflict - In the US, debate over English as primary language and national identity rooted in Anglo-Protestant culture. This is echoed in West Europe, as the majority of people surveyed think it's very important that residents speak the national language, be it English German, French, Dutch, etc. - In Europe, largely over concerns over muslim immigration - Demonstrated by strong public sentiment that knowing national language and identifying as Christian is important to national identity - Created issue for 2016 election: small group that switched votes from Obama in 2012 to Trump in 2016 worried about losing social/racial/cultural dominance and wasn't about economic anxiety.
What types of international behavior does power transition theory expect from global powers that are ascendant versus global powers that are in decline? What is the commitment problem in this situation and how does it help to explain the incentives for declining powers to launch a preventive war against rising powers?
- Powers that are in decline will unleash a preventive war and want to maintain the current status quo political order. - The ascending power does not have the legitimacy to build partnerships or alliances. - The commitment problem is amplified because states are uncertain if they should commit to the dominant state or if they should err on the side of the rising power to secure safety in a future political order. This commitment problem to a rising state over uncertainty incentivizes a current but declining global leader to seek a preventative war because more states will back them.
What is the special role of Saudi Arabia? What has OPEC done in response to the US shale oil revolution and how has the "price war" initiated by Saudi Arabia and OPEC affected global oil prices and US oil production?
- SA is very critical because it has the highest oil production capacity - it is known as the swing producer - altering its own production to influence global prices and ensure other members of OPEC uphold their quota arrangements - OPEC has taken measures to lower oil prices and disrupt US production - SA trying to re-est. OPEC production levels
What is a Nationally Determined Contribution?
- Set nationally and voluntary, and not negotiated internationally - EU: pledged to reduce emissions by 40% in 2030 from 1990, set legally binding target in October 2014 already down 19% - US: reduce emissions by 26-28% by 2025 from 2000, this is 16.3% reduction -relies on Obama EPA restrictions -depends on executive orders -Trump reverses EPA executive order in March 2017 - China: pledges peak emissions by 2030, cut CO2 by 60-65% per unit of GDP by 2030 from 2005, boost non fossil fuels to 20% - Not strong enough yet: all current pledges would still leave 2030 emissions too high to stay under 2 degree mark
According to the reading by Glaser and Kelanic, why should the United States consider halting its physical protection for oil sales from the Middle East?
- Shift to one-war requirement because no other region poses a significant threat to dislodge the Persian Gulf from 2-year construct; so US can do this if end commitment - Would save roughly $75 billion a year or 15% of defense budget and this can be done by moving toward smaller force, down by 2 aircraft carrier strike groups, 2 army divisions, and a few hundred air force fighter jets and bombers - The US has fought expensive wars that were either directly or indirectly related to protecting oil interests - Would yield large savings in both dollars and lives - The US could pursue a wide range of nonmilitary options for increasing supply and reducing demand that would enhance ability to weather a major disruption - Cutoff no longer poses a serious threat to US and well cushioned against all but the worst oil disruptions and has options for further reducing its vulnerability on economic side
What is the Paris climate accord? How might it operate to reduce carbon emissions and limit the increase of average temperatures? How did it navigate the tension between developed and developing countries?
- The Paris Climate Accord is an agreement between both developed and developing countries that aims to reduce carbon emissions, give developing countries a route out of poverty, and mitigate climate change. - It is a voluntary agreement that has voluntary targets (goals for emissions) for those in the agreement. - It gave developing countries $100 billion for development that is not an industrial revolution (to appease developing countries) while also maintaining that they reduce carbon emissions (to appease developed countries).
According to this module's reading, what is the Mundell-Fleming Trilemma? How does it create tradeoffs in a country's exchange rate policies?
- The tension between monetary policy autonomy, exchange rate stability, and capital mobility - States that although governments often want monetary policy autonomy, exchange rate stability, and capital mobility, they can't simultaneously possess all 3 - Must choose 2 based on relative tradeoffs involved - Sometimes give up monetary policy autonomy in smaller countries because manipulating interest rates would in turn put pressure on the value of their currency, offsetting the peg (fix currency to that of larger country) - Usually comes to choice for governments between fixed or floating exchange rate; often dictated by tradeoff in exchange rate stability versus preservation of monetary policy autonomy and political implications of this are also determined by understanding who wins and loses from various exchange rate arrangements
What is the tragedy of the commons? Why is it rational for individuals to overuse public goods? How does this phenomenon help to explain the difficulty of managing the sustainable use of commonly held public property? Know some examples.
- Tragedy of commons - a situation in a shared-resource system where individual users acting independently according to their own self-interest behave contrary to the common good of all users by depleting or spoiling that resource through their collective action. - Emerges with public property or resources for which it is difficult to restrict their use - Divergence between private benefits and social costs: individually rational for people states to consume, but diffused costs to society insufficient to prevent overuse - Resource gets depleted - Examples: oil fields, common grazing lands, overpopulation, fisheries, atmosphere - Another example: factory upstream dumps pollutants in river which is key water source for city so people getting sick but also depend of factory for job and if change factory becomes less profitable and out of business and if city pays it can subsidize production; hard because absence of property rights over river so creates externalities
Describe some important steps in the emerging trade war between China and the United States.
- Trump began trade war by imposing a 25% tariff on steel and a 10% tariff on aluminum - China responds with tariffs on $3 billion US imports (fruits, nuts, wine, and pork) - China trying to impose economic pain on certain groups so these groups will pressure Trump to drop the tariffs
How do shifts in exchange rates alter patterns of imports and exports? How can exchange rate changes influence trade policy?
- as the dollar appreciates, the currency its being measured against necessarily falls in values - influence aggregate trade flows among economies: - when the dollar appreciates relative to another currency, imports from that country become cheaper --> imports tend to increase --> undermine competitiveness of US firms
How can power transition theory be used to understand the evolution of the maritime disputes in the South China Sea?
- china's efforts to establish territorial claims in the region to the detriment of other countries is also viewed as altering the political status quo in the region - skeptics of china's rise point to such activities as indicative of a much broader set of revisionist interests consistent with principles of PTT - China is using such activities to expand its ability to project military power in asia
How do trade and globalization shape political relations and order in the international system?
- creates a globally interdependent supply chain - Within the international system, trade creates an underlying issue for politics. For example, the US gets much of its oil from Afghanistan, but has issues with their government. The US has to almost "play nice" in order to continue trade. Similarly with China, another major trading partner of the US. In order to maintain our economy, the US has to consider the politics between us and China. - Create anti-globalization political pressure - Big in 2016 election - Trump: against some trade policies that his base agrees with; said would cut imports and slow integration to broad global economy
What are the two main dilemmas facing NATO and how has the Trump administration addressed these dilemmas?
- dilemmas: European shirking and US reluctance to be its hegemon - Europe not fulfilling responsibilities by not providing enough military security/not spending enough on their militaries - sense of US carrying too much burden - arguments that costs outweigh benefits US receives
What is the Ricardian model of trade? Describe the processes by which it suggests that trade and specialization can increase aggregate national income.
- globalization and trade integration help to foster economic growth - specialization and trade generate higher income levels - comparative advantage theory states this should apply for countries as well - states should eliminate trade barriers to max economic growth - increases national income in the aggregate
What is the shale oil revolution? What does it mean for the US to be energy independent and how does the shale oil revolution affect American energy independence? How has the shale oil revolution affected the global price of oil and how have lower oil prices affected geopolitics, especially in the Middle East?
- huge growth in production capacity in US generated by technological break through which have made it cost-effective to extract oil from shale formations - US is now 3rd largest producer of oil in world - increase in energy independence suggests shale revolution has increased perceived and real political strength and leverage of US - Allows US to rethink foreign policy in the Middle East - Saudi Arabia fought back against US by flooding market and allowing prices to fall so low that it became unprofitable for American Shale production. US production has since reduced and supply has been controlled. Prices have gone up recently.
What is the political significance of the dollar's reserve currency status in the global economy?
- many international transactions outside of US occur in $s - US treasury bonds are considered safest investment in the world and biggest banks in world hold US treasury bonds as cash/source of reserves - source of economic and political power for US - source of leverage for US gov --> can buy/implement things its people necessarily do not want to pay for
How does oil compare with other natural resources in terms of its share of energy consumption? What sorts of consequences occur when oil prices go up?
- oil accounts for about 1/3 of total global energy consumption and about 37% of energy consumption in US - when oil prices go up, the cost of pretty much everything else goes up too - oil price collapses act as income boost to consumers
What are the unique characteristics of the demand for oil? What does it mean that oil has "inelastic" demand and few substitute goods? How does this affect demand for oil?
- oil prices are determined by the intersection of supply and demand - on the whole, the demand for oil is inelastic - AKA it is not responsive to large price swings because there are relatively few substitute goods for oil at a similar price - AKA the demand for whole won't change much even if the price goes up a lot
If trade makes states wealthier, why is there political resistance to globalization?
- standard trade theory tells us globalization alters the distribution of income within an economy just as it increases the aggregate income of the economy wholly - some groups face real income losses from global trade --> gives these groups reason to lobby for tariffs that insulate US economy from international competition - globalization tends to drive down the returns to owners of scarce factors of production in an economy
What are the domestic distributional consequences of globalization? Which groups win and lose from globalization inside the United States?
- the US tends to export financial services and high tech products because of ease of access here to key input - high skilled labor - jobs are lost in sectors that rely disproportionately on resources scarce in US - differential in production costs between US and other countries that can pay their workers much lower wages EX: evidence in declining size of manufacturing sector in US
What is interstate cooperation? What are some of the primary impediments state face when trying to reach cooperative settlements with each other?
- the agreement to create policies that ultimately result in the same goals - Primary impediments to reach settlements include: - collective action problem (when everyone agrees about the benefits of a common goal, but no one will pay to realize that goal) - free rider problem - enforcement - transaction costs that harm the exchange or coordination of states - disagreements of the form of cooperation that results in coordination problems.
What are the two main political bodies of the UN? How can they confer legitimacy? Which states have the most power within these political bodies?
- the general assembly and security council - all member states can sit in the general assembly so they rarely achieve consensus, but provides a powerful political vehicle to secure international legitimacy or broader political acceptance for some fp actions - but the most important actions occur through the security council - 5 states have permanent seats: US, UK, Russia, China, France - have the international power to veto any matter before the security council but needs consensus - 10 rotating members
What are the important characteristics that make the international oil market unique? Why is it important that oil is traded in a single open market?
- there is a single, interconnected market for oil, composed of spot markets in which oil is physically traded and future markets in which the right to take delivery of oil at a certain point in time is exchanged - even if US became energy independent, its own oil prices would still be based on the global oil price
What is a trade deficit? How are trade deficits related to foreign capital inflows and investment in the United States?
- trade deficit (current account deficit) occurs when imports exceed exports in a given year - finances these trade deficits with loans from foreigners --> financial capital coming into US - trade deficits also indicates a healthy investment climate inside of US: - foreigners wouldn't finance imports if they didn't think their debts would be repaid - drive domestic investment levels up
How do the factors that contribute to democracy's influence over foreign policy in general - electoral constraints, institutional constraints on power such as checks and balances, and a shared democratic identity - help to explain, in particular, peaceful relations between democracies?
1. elections raise the political cost of going to war - elections are a mechanism that causes the democratic peace - society pays the real cost of war in terms of loss of life and its economic consequences - encourages politicians to find peaceful settlements instead because its in best interests of elected officials 2. the institutional checks and balances associated with democracy helps to solve the commitment problem among democracies - settlements constructed by democracies with each other tend to be more robust because they are hard to change domestically - groups benefitting from peace can block change by directly lobbying congress 3. democracies also possess a shared democrat identity with each other - fosters expectations of nonviolent compromise and a belief that other democratic societies will view them in reciprocal terms - democratic publics view other democracies differently - backed by experimental evidence
Understand, explain, and give examples of how international institutions/organizations shape international politics.
1. institutions regulate behavior/actions - minimize conflict in international system 2. institutions help to provide info about other states in the international system - codes of conduct can be used to asses the behavior, the interests, and potential threat posed by any state/actor - facilitates cooperation among states - IOs reduce transaction costs associated with reaching cooperation
Describe Robert Dahl's three "procedural minimal" conditions of democracy.
1. public contestation - required multiple parties competing in elections - also the right of citizens to freely express themselves, form associations, a receive info from the media 2. inclusion - the system must allow universal and equal participation by all segments of society 3. democratic sovereignty - democratic elections must result in the establishment of truly powerful decision making bodies such as legislatures and chief executives
What are some critiques of the democratic peace theory?
1. scholars have pointed out that while established democracies tend not to fight one another, countries that are undergoing democratic transitions ten to be more likely to experience war 2. other scholars have offered alternative explanations for the absence of war between democratic states - particularly after WWII a. peace between W European states was not due to common democratic regime type but rather because they had a common enemy b. peace is a product of US hegemony in W Europe and Soviet hegemony in E Europe - each superpower retains peace in their sphere of influence and nuclear standoff kept them from fighting each other - absence of war is simply a correlation, not a causal relationship
What is comparative advantage and how does it contribute to aggregate economic gains for states from trade?
Comparative advantage: gains from trade stem from difference in relative efficiency of individuals, firms, or whole economies in production of some mix of goods; captured in comparative costs of producing some good and alternative good across two countries; countries could gain from trade by specializing in production of those goods in which held greatest efficiency gains relative to all other goods; generate economic benefits for all countries, even for country capable of producing all goods at lower costs than international competitors -suggests that governments can boost national income through a mix of policies that promote international trade and encourage greater specialization in sectors that possess greater efficiency advantages over the rest of the domestic economy
How and why has Democracy Promotion been a more or less important element within U.S. foreign policy over the years?
Democracy promotion has been a major facet of most of the interventions of the United States for several decades. The existence of widespread democracy has bolstered American legitimacy and increased its military security.
What are the three different distributional struggles related to the problem of climate change?
Distributional struggle within countries; different industries might agree or disagree with political changes to mitigate global warming. Think about how the coal industry lobbies politicians to continue with the status quo because they lose jobs with a political shift, whereas the solar panel industry might lobby for political change because they benefit. Distributional struggle among countries; There is a conflict between developed countries vs developing countries. Developing countries argue they shouldn't have to take the brunt of the work when it was industrialized countries such as the US who produced the most CO2 emissions, that policy change now would impede their growth because it would have short term consequences on their economy, etc. There are also different issues that different countries will need to confront, for example the US produces a lot of emissions in transportation and Europe has less, so their policies on these things might be different. Distributional struggle across generations; the majority of the effects of climate change will be in the future, for different generations. Politicians are less likely to make change now because their current constituents don't see immediate effects of climate change, and they don't want to think about future constituents.
According to the reading (Chapter 20: Global Governance), what are the incentives for global governance through international institutions? How are efforts at global governance confronted by the collective action problem? Once international agreements are established, what types of problems of compliance and enforcement do international organizations face?
Externalities are costs or benefits that are felt by the parties outside of specific interactions and they have a distributional stake in the outcome of events such as new trade agreements, intervention by a third party. These incentives that global governance helps to mitigate the impact of negative externalities/reduce transaction costs. Global governance to try to reduce something like carbon emission risk that everyone agrees in the benefits but no one wants to pay for it. Enforcement mechanisms are needed via institutions and organizations. The problem with compliance and enforcement is that each state determines how to enforce it in their sovereign land, thus it is tough to have all parties comply with the international agreement. Ex: Paris Climate Agreement
What is the GATT? What is the WTO? How does these organizations differ? What are some of the norms, principles, and rules associated with the GATT and WTO? How does the dispute settlement mechanism in the WTO support international trade?
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade: -multilateral org designed to support reduction of trade barriers on a reciprocal basis -provided a series of rules that guide negotiating rounds during the cold war -No enforcement capabilities and disputes handled on bilateral basis The World Trade Organization: -institutionalized a dispute settlement mechanism with established procedures for filing grievance, investigating complaints, and punishing -ensure states uphold existing trade concessions negotiated -judicial panel can enforce these obligations by authorizing compensation to injured parties in form of trade sanctions; plaintiff has a lot of discretion on where to impose tariffs -keeps global economy open by punishing states pursuing protection -ineffective over the last decade in securing further trade liberalization because limited support in developed world
What causes shifts in the distribution of power among great powers and how can they alter the larger international political order and heighten the risks of war?
Instability and war from power transitions (shift in distribution of power that reduces or eliminates hegemon's supremacy) - less capable of enforcing international order rising challenger tries to alter status quo order. - Declining power may want to start a preventive war to stop another great power from rising and taking their place Link to commitment problem - Many great powers don't want to give up their place as a great power not only because it is a reduction of power, but also because it is hard to trust that the new rising great power won't disrupt the values and rules that the past great power has put in place (may disrupt international system)
Using the module's reading, describe historical waves of democracy and the possible causes of these waves such as demonstration effects, neighborhood effects, conditionality of international organizations, and the influence of hegemons.
Large scale socioeconomic changes normally create waves of democracy promotion through a common cause behind many social movements. Additionally, ideological shifts commonly occur at the same time in multiple places. - Demonstration effects occurred in the fall of the Berlin Wall and mass demonstrations in Tunisia in which other countries try to model revolutionary politics after events that have a large following. - Neighborhood effects create waves of democracy b/c states tend to emulate the level of democracy in neighboring states. - Conditionality of international organizations have incentivized states to become democratic in order to join attractive economic and military orgs like the EU and NATO. - International hegemons can build democracies in nations with aid like the Marshall Plan.
How does trade contribute to the economic sources of order in the international system?
Markets help structure interactions among individuals and groups by building new economic connections across national boundaries. globalization increases role played by markets in generating order in the international system -important source of order -influence distribution of political authority within and between states and help create political order -democratic transitions in some countries can be attributed to political influence of commercial class strengthened by international trade -rising income levels within countries make presence of democracy more likely; globalization supports democracy -alters quality of political interactions among states
What are remittances? How do remittances help to redistribute wealth from wealthy countries to poorer ones?
Money sent from migrants to family and friends back home Represent one of the largest transfers of capital across international borders Represent much greater redistribution of wealth from wealthy to poor countries than foreign aid Have certain advantages over other forms -involve transfers between family members so can't be withdrawn and are unconditional -avoid governmental structures and corruption; avoid costly overhead because targeted to individuals -provides valuable form of social insurance, credit, and investment in countries that lack these markets
How is international migration a part of the broader phenomenon of globalization? How does the international flow of labor through international migration create winners and losers within domestic economies?
Movement of labor across national borders also increases economic growth in the aggregate Creates income distributional effects, creating economic winners and losers -hi tech wants to employ high skilled workers to lower costs -agriculture, construction, and service want to employ low skilled workers to keep costs down -benefit consumers too through lower prices and can increase economic growth; migrants also increase demand for goods, spurring economic growth Costs are borne by workers and taxpayers by pushing labor supply up in certain sectors causing real wages to drop; can also present a cost through increased demands for social services like schools, public safety, and health care that are paid by taxes
According to the Urpelainen reading, what are the pros and cons of the Paris climate accord?
Pros - Includes both developed and developing countries - Is voluntary - Addresses the needs of developing countries Cons - Has a slight challenge in executing the accord, there is no enforcement mechanism - Needs to deepen, current members alone will not completely mitigate climate change. This is a good first step, but only a first step.
Why is there a gap between public opinion regarding the preferred levels of immigration and immigration policies adopted by democracies? How does the collective action problem help to explain this gap?
Public is not in favor of open immigration policy and this correlates to countries with the most immigrants -they want to keep at the same levels or decrease Powerful interests like agriculture and high-tech sectors experience concentrated benefits from immigration like lower labor costs while the costs are distributed widely across less organized interests like labor and taxpayers -they do this by keeping immigration off the political agenda and keep an open immigration policy Immigration policy tied to partisanship so Republicans worry that more voters from immigration will vote for Democrats especially in key electoral states like Texas and Florida -This fuels a lax immigration policy
How does international migration intersect with national security? According to your reading for this module, how does international migration present challenges for national security but also resources that can enhance a country's security?
Raises fears of infiltration by terrorists through lack of regulation Leads to calls for stricter control/regulation of access through borders, especially among refugees and migrants from countries experiencing war More pronounced in Europe in countries on the front lines of migrant crisis caused by Syrian civil war and instability in the Middle East International migration can also provide resources that enhance national security. Countries can improve relations with other countries by accepting their migrants. International migration also affects the nature of internal conflicts within countries through international terrorism, organized crime, and civil war. - Migration can allow terrorists organizations to infiltrate target states. - Migration provides an environment for organized crime through human smuggling across borders and organized crime syndicates can expand their crime to migrant communities that are in other countries. - Migrants can affect civil wars in their home countries by providing important sources of funding and political support from abroad.
What is the collective action problem? How might it be applied to the challenges of managing climate change? What are some of the political solutions to the collective action problem in the case of carbon dioxide emissions?
The collective action problem is the idea that it is difficult to get countries or members of a market to work together to solve a problem. One issue is the "Free rider" problem, that states that some countries will minimize their efforts because they believe other countries will maximize their efforts to pick up their slack. This leads to lots of countries free-riding, and eventually not meeting the original goal. There are two potential solutions outlined in the lecture 1. That large actors, such as the US or China, work to stop climate change on their own. They would reap enough benefits that it would be profitable for them to do large policy changes to stop climate change 2. Creating an international agreement that has some way to punish noncompliance, so that countries that don't follow the laws to reduce emissions get punished and are therefore less likely to do so. (The lecture notes that because of the fact that single markets generally undersupply goods, ie the US or China wouldn't do enough on their own, climate change necessitates an international agreement)
What are the main differences between voluntary and forced migration?
Voluntary Migration: moving to another country for personal gain - Usually for economic opportunities (ie. higher-paying jobs) - Can be attained through legal and illegal means Forced Migration: When migrants leave their home countries to escape war, repression or natural disasters - Human trafficking Main differences: is sometimes contested - Forced - international agreements and norms mandate that states must accept refugees and asylum seekers in forced migration - Voluntary - States are not required to take in those engaged in voluntary migration
What is the TPP?
Trans-Pacific Partnership reached by 12 countries in 2015 - a device to reduce China's economic influence in E Asia - would have altered trading patterns in 40% of global economy - designed to cut trade barriers and increase trade flows among participants - kinda re-negotiated NAFTA - US secured some concessions that raised labor and environmental standards in other countries
What is the difference between unipolar, bipolar, and multipolar systems and how does each affect relations between great powers?
a multipolar system has 3+ great powers and tends to be least stable - makes destabilizing alignments and great power war more likely a bipolar system includes 2 great powers which is slightly more peaceful and stable - these 2 powers are so far ahead of all other middle powers they do not have to worry about realignments - realignments between middle powers won't really shift military power between the 2 dominant states - EX: Cold War a unipolar system includes 1 great power and is the most peaceful because the single great power is so far out in front of everyone else no middle power has any incentive to challenge it militarily because it would be defeated - accounts for absence of great power challenges to US military dominance since 1991
How can global capital markets discipline or influence the economic policy of governments?
by selling financial assets that are denominated in the home currency of the gov. or by selling gov. bonds - drive down value of currency and raise govs. borrowing cost - as borrowing costs increase, govs. have to raise interest rates, cut public spending, or raise taxes
Hard to define- free and fair elections have become a catalyst for democracy in which citizens have some determined amount of power in deciding the political outcomes of the country.
democracy
holds that the likelihood of military conflict between any 2 states falls when both of them are democracies - does NOT suggest democracies are more peaceful the non-democracies in general
democratic peace theory
captures the price at which one currency can be traded for another - indicates the relative value of 2 currencies
exchange rate
the rules of the game in a society or more formally, the humanly devised constraints that shape human interaction - structure incentives in human exchange - rules - reward/punish - EX (domestic): laws, regulate political competition, determine politicians - EX (international): sovereignty
institutions
political actors in the system that include individuals and groups from many states, often their members are nation states - generally created by these member states to fulfill some larger set of political goals that these individual members share - EX: UN, NATO
international organizations
counts the number of great powers in the international system
polarity
shifts in the distribution of power among great powers can encourage declining great powers to launch preventative wars against great powers that are getting stronger or rising
power transition theory
How does the distribution of power between great powers influence their relations?
shapes great power politics by helping to structure coalitional dynamics among them - a destabilizing realignment occur when 1 great power abandons an alliance with another great power and joins a different great power