Introduction to International Relations
Paradigm
A family of theories; it identifies what factors are most important in world politics and what issues are central; two functions, explanatory (identify the most important casual factors in world politics) and normative (they tell us how to value the various goals we might seek in making policy); abstraction (leave out what makes the world complicated and focus on what is important), identification of causes, prediction.
self-help system
A state system where participants in international relations look after their own interests and pursue them by employing their own resources. Creates a state-centric view of international relations, wherein the state is the key international actor.
The Cold War
A struggle between the Soviets and Americans; east and west; consisted of an arms race, space race, Cuban Missile Crisis, Arms Control Treaty. Neorealism was basically created to describe The Cold War.
policy
A way of getting to a certain ends or goal; first identify a goal (what ends we seek), the best way to get to said goal (what are the best means to those ends)
Agent-Structure Problem
Agency: the actions of actors or their capacity to act; structure: the broad constraints within which actors act, such as international anarchy or society, global capitalism, or international law; actors and actions help transform society, but social relationships structure actions; norms are the most important determinants of behavior; methodological individualism: social phenomena can be explained by the actions and motives of individuals; there are five levels of analysis: 1) international systems 2) international sub-systems 3) units like states and transnational firms 4) sub-units like bureaucracies/lobby groups 5) individuals; Kenneth Waltz states that short-term states have freedom from structure, but long0term structure dictates all actions and conditions states to act within structure; normative structure: laws, human rights regime; social structure: norms, beliefs, ideas. Structure creates the possibility of agency but does not dictate it
neorealism
Also called structural realism, it is a switch from the classical realism focus on human nature to the study of anarchy; used context rather than nature, and made an argument for power-seeking-ness based on the condition humans find themselves in. Kenneth Waltz; ordering principle (either anarchy or hierarchy); character of the units (all self-help); distribution of capabilities (multipolar, bipolar, unipolar); structure arises from the interaction of states, as a by-product or an unintended product; Results: states will seek power to assure their own security (self-help), balance of power will recur, bipolar systems will be more stable than multipolar ones; attributes power-seeking behavior to the structure of the state system. "The strong do what they can, the weak do what they must" offensive (aggressive, domination of other states, try to maximize relative power/as much power as possible); defensive (security focused, states want enough power to ensure security--KW)
Feminism
An ideology that "opposes the political, economic, and social differences/inequalities between men and women"; women get paid less; political institutions don't provide equal protection and equal access to the vote; denied education and punished for seeking education in some places; there is an emphasis on equality, personal autonomy and right to rebel.
Intergovernmental organizations
Associations of states; UN; hundreds
Humanitarian Intervention
Countries must recognize sole jurisdiction of all other countries; non-intervention is a settled norm but has become unsettled with the growth of humanitarian intervention; most intervention must come with the approval from the security council; it brings about issues of legitimacy and authority. R2P; Responsibility to Protect principle supports the use of force to prevent human rights abuses even without security council approval, and only if military force is the last resort
"The End of History"
Francis Fukuyama; there were consequences to the end of the Cold War; there was a triumph of liberalism as the establishment of the only possible king of human freedom, there is no systematic alternative to liberalism. Why does democratic peace occur: cultural-normative model--decision makers in stable democracies make decisions non-violently and expect similar democratic countries to do the same, structural-institutional factors--checks and balances, the public, etc., will slow violent decisions, liberal internationalism
Classical Realism
Hans Morgenthau--German immigrant prior to WW2, Politics Among Nations; politics is governed by laws rooted in human nature; states are guided by interests defined in terms of power; the state's most important goal is to survive; no nation's moral principles should be universalized; no way to escape power politics; Thomas Hobbes--English, Leviathan; based on human nature with a focus on their aggressive aspects; power struggle because people are inclined to struggle for power. Focuses largely on human nature.
Melian Dialogue
Historical demonstration of realism
United Nations
Important Committees: UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD); UN Development Program (UNDP); UN Environmental Program (UNEP); UN Population Fund (UNFPA); United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR); World Food Program (WFP). 55 Original Members, 193 members today; UN Charter--Its three main purposes are to 1) maintain international peace and security, 2) to develop friendly relations among nations, 30 to solve economic, social, cultural and humanitarian problems.
Other International Actors
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); World Health Organization (WHO); World Bank; International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Marxism
It's all about money and commodities; those who have money (the capitalists or bourgeoisie) don't have to work for a living; those who must work for their living (the working class or the proletariat); workers want the highest wage for the least amount of work; these two groups are said to be locked in mortal combat; the workers are exploited and become poorer and poorer so that they will eventually rise up in a proletariat revolution and overthrow capitalism for communism.
War after World War II
Korean War (1950-53): had a conventional, clear front line, North was under Soviet control/persuasion and the South under the protection of America. Defense Perimeter: Didn't know if Americans would respond because Korea was not crucial to their success as a nation; it was known as a test of the west (Truman)--America intervened because they had the will to defend against the spread of communism, and because nobody had stood up to Hitler and they didn't want to make the same mistake, regardless it was very important to the outcome of the war that Korea had no intrinsic value to the US. The War in Vietnam: the first time that a colonial power was beat by an indigenous Asian group; guerilla warfare and therefore an unclear front line (non-territorial); Though the Americans sponsored the new formation of South Vietnam as a country, they did not like who was chosen as president and therefore approved a coup that killed the president Diem. The war in Vietnam was very crucial because American credibility was at stake; The Tet Offensive was a demonstration of Southeast Asian power, it eliminated the Viet Cong, but proved to be a political loss for America. Iraq: the decision to go to war preceded evidence or cause.
Economic Integration
Levels of economic integration: Free trade area: elimination of barriers to trade (NAFTA), customs union: free trade area plus a common external trade policy, common market: customs union, plus free movement of capital and labor, economic and monetary union: single/common market plus common currency (EU)
comparative advantage
Nations gain from trade by specializing in the goods they make relatively more efficiently than other countries, and trading for goods they make relatively less efficiently.
liberalism
Neoliberalism/institutionalist: direct rival of neorealism, if states create institutions (organizations, international law/rules/norms) they create the environment for states to escape the security dilemma, focus on the liberal political economy, most influential response to globalization; Democratic Peace: democracies don't fight one another, different from authoritarian states, opponents are ALWAYS non-democratic, "perpetual peace", an all democratic world would not have wars. Democracies are just as violent as non-democracies they just don't fight against one another, and they settle disputes through nonviolent means which is a normative explanation, another piece is that people have the ability to recall the leaders of a democratic nation;Economic: economic interdependence can eliminate war, benefit so much from peaceful relations they cannot afford to fight a war.
Key Multilateral Arms Control Agreements
Non-proliferation Treaty: renewed every 25 years; prohibits nuclear weapon states from helping other states get nuclear weapons; prohibits non-nuclear weapon states from acquiring such weapons; Signatories: Britain, France, China, Russia, USA; Not signed: India, Pakistan, Israel and Cuba; North Korea withdrew in 2003. Missile Technology Control Regime: controlling transfers that could contribute to delivery systems. Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty: bans nuclear test explosions; not yet entered into force, needs USA to sign. US-Russian Arms Control Treaties: Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START); Required them to reduce deployed strategic arsenals; constantly being renewed with new, and greater reductions
American Service Members Protection Act
Reflects superpowers' unhappiness with the international criminal court because it takes away from their sovereignty; this creates bilateral immunity agreements so that countries will not turn in US service members to the ICC; The US does not like the ICC because of the risks it poses to military personnel and doubts the scope and nature of international law; USA is more vulnerable to politically motivated accusations/prosecutions, plus there is no world consensus on moral issues.
Westphalia System
Relatively strong territorially-based political units, capable of exerting control domestically, but obliged to accept the existence of similarly formed political units externally; this created the modern global system; sees the state as a concentration of military power but also having a representative function (draws from Enlightenment ideals) with emphasis on community and the nation, power is wielded on behalf of the nation, and national interest overcomes personal power politics. There is also a very important aspect to the identity as a nation state, which proves that the state has a facilitatory role and is a mechanism to ensure individual co-operation. The state operates in two different environments, the first being internal/domestic: institutions within the territory it has authority and means to act here; the second is external/foreign: which includes international interaction and the outcomes depend on all the actors.
Environment
Some global environmental problems: global warming/climate change, ozone depletion, deforestation, desertification, acid rain, water scarcity, pollution, decline in biodiversity; pollution is worse in industrialized nations than it is in developing nations; questions for global warming: 1) is the Earth warming? 2) are increased levels of carbon dioxide causing this warming? 3) how much will the Earth warm in the future? International Regime on Environmental issues: Stockholm Conference, UNEP, Brundtland Commission (for sustainable development), Montreal Protocol, UN Conference on Environment and Development, Kyoto Protocol, World Summit on Sustainable Development, UN Climate Change Conference (Copenhagen Accord and proposed $30bn to developing nations, which didn't pass); all of the International Regime has occurred in the last 40 years, which shows the increased perceived importance of protecting the environment.
Consensus about humanitarian intervention
Sovereign states have primary responsibility for the protection of their citizens, but when they are unwilling or unable to provide support or protection, the international community must take responsibility.
War
Sustained, widespread, coordinated violence between political communities, especially states or entities that intend to become states. The University of Michigan measures war after a threshold of 1000 killed in battle. Clausewitz: "War is a continuation of politics by other means" as well as "a paradoxical trinity--composed of primordial violence, hatred and enmity...; of the play of chance and probability; and of its element of subordination, as an instrument of policy which makes it subject to reason alone" Where violence is provided by and supported by the people, chance is given by the army, and reason is given by the government. Types of War: interstate (armed conflict between the military forces of two or more states), intrastate (civil war; armed conflict between a government and a group within the state; international interstate) and extrastate (colonial; armed conflict between a group and a far off government)
anarchy
The absence of a formal system of government; lack of government completely.
International Law
The body of legal rules governing the interaction between the sovereign states; there are two different types, custom (which is a consistent practice) and convention (which designates there has been an explicit agreement); Human Rights Law: establishes rules for the prevention and punishment of genocide, promotes economic, social and cultural rights as well as political and civil rights; international criminal law is based off the Nuremberg principles; Diplomatic law is based off the Vienna convention; International Environmental Law is based off the Montreal Protocol; Although there is no central authority to enforce international law, states still make and follow such laws for predictability and routine as well as legitimacy--they want their own actions to be seen as just and proper. Realist: international law will reflect the distribution of capability among states, which struggle for power. Liberal: International law will reflect the desire of states to take advantage of the possibilities for mutual gain. Constructivist: International law will express shared values or ideals in the international system.
Bretton Woods System
There has been a significant de-bordering of states as well as globalization; global economic institution; this was a post-war economic system, where countries were off the gold standard and after the Great Depression motivated world cooperation; Created the ITO, World Band and IMF which still remain today although the system itself does not exist. A main goal of these institutions is to promote growth in the theoretical south
Models of Decision Making
There is no basic essence of decision making, only different ways of seeing the same event; Rational Actor Model states that states have rational responses to situations so that their course of action maximizes gains and minimizes losses; Organizational Process Model: decisions are made by multiple organizations within the state, and these organizations have specific routines and procedures, oftentimes basing their decisions on how they solved similar problems; Bureaucratic Politics Model: extent of the impact of political factors on decision making. There are three explanatory levels in foreign policy analysis: 1) intentions 2) explanations, examine dispositions 3) domestic and international structural environment
The EU
Treaty of Rome (1957) to Single Europe Act (1985) to Maastricht Treaty (1992); it is a mix between supranational and intergovernmental approaches; the former focuses on distinctiveness, capability of supranational institutions vis-a-vis states; the latter views supranational institutions and their actions as bargains between states.
American exceptionalism
Where America protects its interests in the world, but it also sees itself as promoting democracy and human rights which are taken to be universally desired; USA is acting in the assumed "global interest"; reverse--everything bad in the world is attributed to the American government.
Trickle Down Effect
a part of neoliberalism and the response to globalization; command economies fail as a legitimate option; now there is a focus on different kinds of capitalism; markets should be as free as possible
emergent property
a property that something has at a high level that is not existent at a lower level; table analogy
positivism
a theory of science that states you should study the social world the way natural scientists study the natural world; predictions, theories and ways of testing theories.
Functionalism
an account of the conditions of peace; working peace system must be based on co-operation; form follows function: cooperation focused on particular activities and the form of the cooperation is based on the nature of the situation; peace in parts: addresses hoped for collective outcome of each function
nongovernmental organization
associations of individuals; non-profit; private entities; thousands
dimensions of power
attribute: something possessed--size/quality of armed forces, resources, geography, population (capability); relationship (ability to exercise influence); structure; actual power: what it possesses at a given time; latent/potential power: what a state could generate; ability to resist change; ability to make credible threats; implicit vs. explicit; as associated with a political figure; non-decision making;
dominant strategy
best option no matter what the other side does; part of the chicken dilemma and the security dilemma
structuralism
center-periphery analysis; stresses the existence of global forces, a world structure in which dominant interests are located in the advanced world, dominate and exploit the rest of the world, using economic, political and military means; a neo-Marxist view; stratified global system; creates allegedly-separate societies.
high politics
changes in the world of great power diplomacy; international
What accounts for the order we see in politics?
coercion/Hobbes/realism exchange and reciprocity/liberalism legitimacy/constructivism
Pluralism
complex interdependence; assumes that there are multiple channels of access between societies including different branches of the state apparatus as well as non-state actors, as opposed to the unitary state assumption characteristic of realism; issues are seen as disaggregated and separate; issue-areas; agenda-setting is a matter of significance, the ways in which actors are able to set the agenda is important
sovereignty
distinguishing feature of the state; idea of legal autonomy; no higher body has the right to issue orders to the state. Means that there is no domestic equal and no international superior; there are two parts of sovereignty: juridical status--legal position so that there is no legal superior and its power is unqualified and a political concept--possesses certain capacities but is also a matter of degree. Pooling of sovereignty is necessary to achieve all goals and to establish international bodies. They won't sacrifice their juridical sovereignty but will sacrifice the political concept.
Types of theories
explanatory: explain why and under what circumstances, wars happen; normative or prescriptive: tell us what our attitude about war should be; interpretive: give meaning to certain events; all theories are related to one another.
Global Development
four categories: advanced economies, in transition, less developed, least developed; income inequality--mean is no where near the median value; Human Development Index uses an average of life expectancy index, literacy index and per capita income index; to measure HDI you take the average value minus the minimum value all over the maximum value minus the minimum value.
statecraft
how states attempt to change their environment in accordance with aims and objectives they have set for themselves; propaganda: manipulation of verbal symbols, diplomacy: negotiation, economic statecraft: reliance on resources which have a reasonable semblance of a market price in terms of money, military statecraft: reliance on violence, weapons or force
Regime
implicit or explicit principles, norms, rules and decision making procedures around which actors' expectations converge in a given area of international relations. Principles: beliefs of fact causation, rectitude; trade is good, free trade is better than controlled, and it promotes peace Norms: standards of behavior, rights and obligations; provide practical content/context Rules: specific prescriptions for actin; what norms imply, expectations; if these expectations converge, there is a regime Hegemonic stability: one country must have the capacity, will and legitimacy to act for a system to work (this country must have most at stake and therefore inclined to act fairly and not cheat) With a regime, the collective security is greater and more important that a self-help system, and nations are encouraged to look past just national concerns.
Identity Politics
importance of nationhood, ethnicity and religion; the individual as an international actor; ethnic/national conflicts that were resolved elsewhere in Europe were preserved by communism and now came back after its collapse (Serbia, Yugoslavia, Kosovo, etc.); increasing amount of people have developed a political identity based on religion. Combats globalization which creates a uniform world with global production and consumption patterns, and irons out the differences between peoples and societies; caricature stereotypes are used to show that differences between countries still exist, even if these are untrue and magnified differences; people feel as though things are being lost with fewer differences between societies; McWorld--rising of a "bland sameness"; people don't want to become cogs in a machine; revival of identity politics has increased opposition between the global and the local; ideologies are changing rapidly, so people focus their political identities on ascribed characteristics like ethnicity, or religion
hegemony
in neoliberalism: the way in which certain kinds of ideas become seen as so much part of the common sense of a society that they cease to be seen as ideas at all but rather become a part of how things really are; a form of power
global/political economy
integrated global economy; multinational corporations have transnational influence; growth of information technology industries/importance of electronic communication; dematerialization: contemporary capitalism is not about producing physical goods; disembedding: more difficult that it once was to conceptualize a national economy; state encompasses a national economy, and the national economy trades; direct foreign investment: ownership/control of assets located abroad; indirect foreign investment: assets purchased for financial return; extraction of raw materials: location determined by geography; manufacturing; holding companies: firms owned by the same corporation--produce different products in different countries
security dilemma
intentions versus capabilities; focuses on an enhancement of self-defense capabilities, which can be seen as a potentially hostile act; more important is building up the offensive capabilities than the defensive intentions.
constructivism
interactions produce identities, which determine interests; most important factors: ideas, norms and identities; most important issues: those that offer insight to the role of legitimacy; world is a social construction; because the world is something we make up and put together ourselves, and not something that is given to us, the search for laws (patterns of behavior) is inappropriate; ideas shape behavior, norms shape behavior, identities determine interests which emerge from interaction. "Anarchy is what states make of it"
states
international actors; sovereign territorial units; no higher authoritative structure; about 200 states
multinational corporation
international businesses (profit-making entities)
the political conception of war
it is a normal feature of international relations; human nature; theological; psychological; psychoanalytic; socio-biological; war is needed to keep the balance of power--if the distribution of power ever becomes unbalanced, they need to reinforce it through war/violence/threat; between different types of societies (liberal vs. autocracies/monarchies, autocratic vs. democracies, Leninist vs. capitalist societies, capitalist vs. communist societies); there are clashing interests in the international system; Clauswitzian: war should be a controlled political act; fought for but not by the nation
basic force model
it is a reasonable assumption that the power an actor is able to exercise in a relationship is a direct reflection of the amount of power in the attribute sense possessed by an actor; there is a comparison of resources; doesn't take into account quality of leadership; context is also very important, especially because conflict is not always limited to two parties; best when there is asymmetry.
low politics
less dramatic socio-economic changes; domestic
bandwagoning
lining up behind a state that is rising in power in order to gain some benefits. It is an alternative to balancing powers.
Political economy and trade
most countries' well-being depends on economic success; must be evaluated in context of the international economy; grew through trade, obviously; the world consists of those who are in regular contact with one another
solidarism
moving away from state-centric view; expansion of institutions; strengthening of international law; increasing emphasis on global norms; changed understanding of state sovereignty; Responsibility to protect: the state has the right to protect its territory only if it can protect its people. If it can't, the international system has the right to intervene.
influence
propaganda, diplomacy, economic, military; antonyms: authority and control; versus authority: authority requires a legitimate relationship/must be authorized to act; versus control: control implies the loss of autonomy, those being controlled are no longer agents and they cease to be a state. Influence is defined as the capacity or power of persons or things to be a compelling force on or produce effects on the actions, behavior, opinions of others.
International Criminal Court
protects against genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and hold individuals internationally responsible for war crimes; the ICC poses a challenge to state sovereignty; it also gives no exceptions to those in governments, bureaucracies or the military; the more powerful countries tend to oppose the ICC
levels of analysis
scheme for classifying causes; 1st: individual level--tied to properties of individuals, human nature; 2nd: state--economic, political and ideological structures; 3rd: system--anarchy, lack of a ruler/government and distribution of power (multipolarity, bipolarity and unipolarity)
Universal Human Rights
surge in importance after the collapse of the Berlin Wall; 1948 Declaration on Human Rights; after 1989, political barriers to universal human rights came down, and there was a belief that conflict prevention and reduction efforts need to be combined with measures aimed at reducing human rights abuses; NGOs have been crucial in the spread of human rights ideas, and they act as a global conscience; there has been a tendency to elevate civil and political rights above social and economic rights, but how can human freedom be promoted when so many people are so poor? economic rights are important to the idea of rights in general. Women have not been particularly protected by the human rights regime, and have been marginalized or even excluded from the public sphere
Liberal Internationalism
the adaptation of broadly liberal political principles to the management of the international system; promotion of democratic political systems (liberal-democratic, constitutional regimes) and national self-determination; critiques pre-1914 world especially secret diplomacy; League of Nations; Woodrow Wilson; law not war
International Relations
the diplomatic-strategic relations of states as understood in diplomatic, military and strategic terms; stresses a relationship of anarchy; self-help system; try to control borders over which transactions are made; regulate international activities of their citizens--issue passports and visas; make treaties with one another to manage trade flow; set up international institutions; complex interdependence
globalization
the idea of a borderless world; creation and evolution of a world economy, and the impact that it had on the theories of IR; many problems associated with the global change; emergence of a global society
compellance
the power to influence some international actor into a desired action through force or threat of force.
deterrence
the power to influence some international actor into inaction through threat of force
Rational Choice Theory
the presumption of this theory is that politics can be understood in terms of goal-directed behavior of individuals who act rationally in the minimal sense that they make ends-means calculations designed to maximize the benefits they expect to accrue from particular situations (or to minimize losses)
diplomacy
the theory of "conversational implicature"; people follow the following rules of conversation: quality (people say only what is true); quantity (give the right amount of information); relevance (say only what is relevant to the topic); affirmativeness (be as polite and upbeat as possible)
humanitarian intervention
the use of force in the domestic affairs of another state for the purpose of protecting a population at risk (military intervention) Just war criteria: 1. Just Cause (self-defense, assisting an invaded, friendly nation, human rights violations) 2. Legitimate Authority (declared by a legitimate government) 3. Right Intention (peace or safety) 4. Probability of Success 5. Proportionality (benefits>harm) 6. Last Resort objections--often just an excuse for self-interested action, international order depends on the principle of non-intervention, what happens inside one state is not the business of other states in support--international law permits it, intervention disrupts order, but why preserve and order that leads to human suffering, responsibility
balance of power
underlying principle of stability; image of a chandelier--exerted forces are in equilibrium; unstable if one part becomes heavier (more powerful) or if two parts become closer (closer relationship); flexibility of system decreases with alliances because the system begins to look bipolar; states notice surroundings and adjust their policies if a redistribution can form a balance; balance could emerge as an unintended consequence of state action
