International Relations
International Monetary Fund
Established in 1945 with headquarters in Washington, DC. Membership (2004) of 184 states. This body monitors short-term cross-border payments and foreign exchange positions. When a country develops chronic imbalances in its external accounts, the IMF supports corrective policy reforms, often called 'structural adjustment programmes'. Since 1978 the ___ has undertaken comprehensive surveillance both of the economic performance of individual member states and of the world-economy as a whole. The ___ also provides extensive technical assistance. In recent years it has pursued various initiatives to promote efficiency and stability in global financial markets.
Hegemonic stability theory
a Realist-based explanation for cooperation that argues that a dominant state is required to ensure a liberal, free-trade, international political economy
Game theory
a branch of mathematics which explores strategic interaction.
Democratic peace
a central plank of liberal internationalist thought, the democratic peace thesis makes two claims: first, liberal polities exhibit restraint in their relations with other liberal polities (the so-called separate peace) but are imprudent in relations with authoritarian states. The validity of the democratic peace thesis has been fiercely debated in the IR literature.
International regime
a concept developed by neorealists to analyse the paradox—for them—that international cooperation occurs in some issue-areas, despite the struggle for power between states. They assume regimes are created and maintained by a dominant state and/or participation in a regime is the result of a rational cost-benefit calculation by each state. In contrast, Pluralists would also stress the independent impact of institutions, the importance of leadership, the involvement of transnational NGOs and companies, and processes of cognitive change, such as growing concern about human rights or the environment.
Cosmopolitan democracy
a condition in which international organizations, transnational corporations, global markets, and so forth are accountable to the peoples of the world. Associated with David Held, Daniele Archibugi, Mary Kaldor, and others, this model of democracy requires the following: the creation of regional parliaments and the extension of the authority of such regional bodies (like the European Union) which are already in existence; human rights conventions must be entrenched in national parliaments and monitored by a new International Court of Human Rights; the UN must be replaced with a genuinely democratic and accountable global parliament.
Interdependence
a condition where states (or peoples) are affected by decisions taken by others; for example, a decision to raise interest rates in the USA automatically exerts upward pressure on interest rates in other states. Interdependence can be symmetric, i.e. both sets of actors are affected equally, or it can be asymmetric, where the impact varies between actors. A condition where the actions of one state impact upon other states (can be strategic interdependence or economic). Realists equate interdependence with vulnerability.
Bond
a contractual obligation of a corporation, association, or governance agency to make payments of interest and repayments of principal on borrowed funds at certain fixed times.
Empire
a distinct type of political entity, which may or may not be a state, possessing both a home territory and foreign territories. It is a disputed concept that some have tried to apply to the United States to describe its international reach, huge capabilities, and vital global role of underwriting world order.
Multipolarity
a distribution of power among a number (at least three) of major powers or 'poles'.
Coordination
a form of cooperation requiring parties to pursue a common strategy in order to avoid the mutually undesirable outcome arising from the pursuit of divergent strategies.
Europe
a geographical expression that during the course of the cold war came to be identified with Western Europe, but since 1989 has once again come to be associated with the whole of the European continent.
Nation
a group of people who recognize each other as sharing a common identity, with a focus on a homeland.
Globalization
a historical process involving a fundamental shift or transformation in the spatial scale of human social organization that links distant communities and expands the reach of power relations across regions and continents. It is also something of a catch-all phrase often used to describe a single world-economy after the collapse of communism, though sometimes employed to define the growing integration of the International capitalist system in the post-war period.
Community
a human association in which members share common symbols and wish to cooperate to realize common objectives.
Ethnic nationalism
a nationalism which claims the nation is based on common descent, descent which may be indicated through such characteristics as language, history, way of life, or physical appearance.
Appeasement
a policy of making concessions to a revanchist (or otherwise territorially acquisitive) state in the hope that settlement of more modest claims will assuage that state's expansionist appetites. Appeasement remains most (in)famously associated with British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's acquiescence to Hitler's incursions into Austria and then Czechoslovakia, culminating in the Munich Agreement of September 1938. Since then, this has generally been seen as synonymous with a craven collapse before the demands of dictators—encouraging, not disarming, their aggressive designs.
Nation state
a political community in which the state claims legitimacy on the grounds that it represents the nation. The nation-state would exist if nearly all the members of a single nation were organized in a single state, without any other national communities being present. Although the term is widely used, no such entities exist.
Integration
a process of ever closer union between states, in a regional or international context. The process often begins with cooperation to solve technical problems, referred to by Mitrany (1943) as ramification
Prisoner's Dilemma
a scenario in game theory illustrating the need for a collaboration strategy.
International system
a set of interrelated parts connected to form a whole. In Realist theory, systems have defining principles such as hierarchy (in domestic politics) and anarchy (in international politics).
Offensive realism
a structural theory of Realism that views states as security maximizers.
International hierarchy
a structure of authority in which states and other international actors are ranked according to their relative power.
Capitalism
a system of production in which human labour and its products are commodities that are bought and sold in the market-place. In Marxist analysis, the capitalist mode of production involved a specific set of social relations that were particular to a specific historical period. For Marx there were three main characteristics: (1) Everything involved in production (e.g. raw materials, machines, labour involved in the creation of commodities, and the commodities themselves) is given an exchange value, and all can be exchanged, one for the other. In essence, under capitalism everything has its price, including people's working time. (2) Everything that is needed to undertake production (i.e. the factories, and the raw materials) is owned by one class—the capitalists. (3) Workers are 'free', but in order to survive must sell their labour in order to survive, and because they own the means of production, and control the relations of production, they also control the profit that results from the labour of workers.
Anarchy
a system operating in the absence of any central government. Does not imply chaos, but in Realist theory the absence of political authority
Hegemony
a system regulated by a dominant leader, or political (and/ or economic) domination of a region, usually by a superpower. In Realist theory, the influence a Great Power is able to establish on other states in the system; extent of Influence ranges from leadership to dominance. It is also power and control exercised by a leading state over other states.
Neoclassical realism
a version of Realism that combines both structural factors such as the distribution of power and unit-level factors such as the interests of states (status quo or revisionist).
Rational choice
an approach that emphasizes how actors attempt to maximize their interests, how they attempt to select the most efficient means to achieve those interests, and attempts to explain collective outcomes by virtue of the attempt by actors to maximize their preferences under a set of constraints. Deriving largely from economic theorizing, the rational choice to politics and international politics has been immensely influential and applied to a range of issues.
IGO
an international organization in which full legal membership is officially solely open to states and the decisionmaking authority lies with representatives from governments.
International nongovernmental organization
an international organization in which membership is open to transnational actors. There are many different types, with membership from 'national' NGOs, local NGOs, companies, political parties, or individual people.
Nongovernmental organization
an organization, usually a grassroots one, with policy goals, but neither governmental nor corporate in make-up. Examples include Amnesty International and the Internati-onal Campaign to Ban Landmines. An NGO is any group of people relating to each other regularly in some formal manner and engaging in collective action, provided that the activities are non-commercial and non- violent, and are not on behalf of a government. People are often baffled by the dry, bland term, 'non-governmental organization'. Nevertheless, some of the international NGOs, such as Amnesty International, Greenpeace, or the Red Cross are better known than some smaller countries.
International organization
any institution with formal procedures and formal membership from three or more countries. The minimum number of countries is set at three rather than two, because multilateral relationships have significantly greater complexity than bilateral relationships.
Enlightenment
associated with rationalist thinkers of the eighteenth century. Key ideas (which some would argue remain mottoes for our age) include: secularism, progress, reason, science, knowledge, and freedom. The motto of the Enlightenment is: 'Sapere aude! Have courage to use your own understanding'
Mutually Assured Destruction
condition in which both superpowers possessed the capacity to destroy their adversary even after being attacked first with nuclear weapons.
Liberalization
describes government policies which reduce the role of the state in the economy such as through the dismantling of trade tariffs and barriers, the deregulation and opening of the financial sector to foreign investors, and the privatization of state enterprises.
Petrodollars
earnings from oil exports deposited outside the USA; they provided the largest single spur to growth in the euromarkets in the 1970s.
General agreement on trade and tariffs (GATT)
established in 1947 with offices in Geneva. Membership had reached 122 states when it was absorbed into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995. This coordinated eight 'rounds' of multilateral negotiations to reduce state restrictions on cross-border merchandise trade.
Cold War
extended worldwide conflict between communism and capitalism that is normally taken to have begun in 1947 and concluded in 1989 with the collapse of Soviet power in Europe.
Justice
fair or morally defensible treatment for individuals, in the light of human rights standards or standards of economic or social well-being.
End of history
famous phrase employed by Francis ***uyama in 1989; this argued that one phase of history shaped by the antagonism between collectivism and individualism had (two hundred years after the French Revolution) come to an end, leaving Liberalism triumphant.
OECD
founded in 1962 with headquarters in Paris. Membership (2004) of 30 states with advanced industrial economies and other relationships with 70 states. Provides a forum for multilateral intergovernmental consultations on a wide range of economic and social issues. Measures have especially addressed environmental questions, taxation, and trans-border corporations. At regular intervals the Secretariat produces an assessment of the macroeconomic performance of each member, including suggestions for policy changes. See further www.oecd.org. Ostpolitik: the West German government's 'Eastern Policy' of the mid-to late 1960s, designed to develop relations between West Germany and members of the Warsaw Pact.
Internationalism
growing interactions between national states. This term is used to denote high levels of international interaction and interdependence, most commonly with regard to the world-economy. In this context it refers to the volume of international trade and investment and to the organization of production. The term is often used to distinguish this condition from globalization as the latter implies that there are no longer distinct national economies in a position to interact. It also describes the increase in transactions among states reflected in flows of trade, investment, and capital (cf. the argument that these flows have not increased as much as is claimed: UNDP 1997).This processes has been facilitated and are shaped by inter-state agreements on trade, investment, and capital, as well as by domestic policies permitting the private sector to transact abroad
Regionalization
growing interdependence between geographically contiguous states, as in the European Union.
Modernism
has a variety of meanings but in the nationalism literature it is the view that nations and nationalism are modern constructs and that the idea of a long pre-modern basis for nations (whether primordialist or ethno-symbolist) is best understood as one element in modem nationalist myth-making. However, modernists differ very much among themselves as to how modernity has led to the construction of nations and nationalism
Idealism
holds that ideas have important causal effect on events in international politics, and that ideas can change. Referred to by Realists as utopianism since it underestimates the logic of power politics and the constraints this imposes upon political action. Idealism as a substantive theory of international relations is generally associated with the claim that it is possible to create a world of peace. But Idealism as a social theory refers to the claim that the most fundamental feature of society is social consciousness. Ideas shape how we see ourselves and our interests, the knowledge that we use to categorize and understand the world, the beliefs we have of others, and the possible and impossible solutions to challenges and threats. The emphasis on ideas does not mean a neglect of material forces such as technology and geography. Instead it is to suggest that the meanings and consequences of these material forces are not given by nature but rather driven by human interpretations and understandings. Idealists seek to apply liberal thinking in domestic politics to international relations, in other words, institutionalize the rule of law. This reasoning is known as the domestic analogy. According to Idealists in the early twentieth century, there were two principal requirements for a new world order. First: state leaders, intellectuals, and public opinion had to believe that progress was possible. Second: an international organization had to be created to facilitate peaceful change, disarmament, arbitration, and (where necessary) enforcement. The League of Nations was founded in 1920 but its collective security system failed to prevent the descent into world war in the 1930s.
Self help
in Realist theory, in an anarchical environment, states cannot assume other states will come to their defence even if they are allies. Each state must take care of itself.
Balance of Power
in Realist theory, refers to an equilibrium between states; historical Realists regard it as the product of diplomacy (contrived balance) whereas structural Realists regard the system as having a tendency towards a natural equilibrium (fortuitous balance). It is a doctrine and an arrangement whereby the power of one state (or group of states) is checked by the countervailing power of other states.
Dual moral standards
in Realist theory, the idea that there are two principles or standards of right and wrong: one for the individual citizen and a different one for the state.
Security
in finance, a contract with a claim to future payments in which (in contrast to bank credits) there is a direct and formally identified relationship between the investor and the borrower; also unlike bank loans, securities are traded in markets.
Diplomacy
in foreign policy it refers to the use of diplomacy as a policy instrument possibly in association with other instruments such as economic or military force to enable an international actor to achieve its policy objectives. Diplomacy in world politics refers to a communications process between international actors that seeks through negotiation to resolve conflict short of war. This process has been refined, institutionalized, and professionalized over many centuries.
Revolution
in military affairs: describes a radical change in the conduct of warfare. This may be driven by technology, but may also result from organizational, doctrinal, or other developments.When the change is of several orders of magnitude, and impacts deeply on wider society, the term 'military revolution' is used to describe it.
Power
in the most general sense, the ability of a political actor to achieve its goals. In the Realist approach, it is assumed that possession of capabilities will result in influence, so the single word, power, is often used ambiguously to cover both. In the Pluralist approach, it is assumed that political interactions can modify the translation of capabilities into influence and therefore it is important to distinguish between the two. Power is defined by most Realists in terms of the important resources such as size of armed forces, gross national product, and population that a state possesses.There is the implicit belief that material resources translate into influence.
Poverty
in the orthodox view, a situation suffered by people who do not have the money to buy food and satisfy other basic material needs. In the alternative view, a situation suffered by people who are not able to meet their material and non- material needs through their own effort.
Measurement of development
in the orthodox view, economic growth; Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita: industrialization, including of agriculture. In the alternative view, fulfilment of basic material and non- material human needs of everyone; condition of the natural environment. Political empowerment of marginalized.
Process of development
in the orthodox view, top- down; reliance on 'expert knowledge', usually Western and definitely external; large capital investments in large projects; advanced technology; expansion of the private sphere. In the alternative view, bottom-up; participatory; reliance on appropriate (often local) knowledge and technology; small investments in small-scale projects; protection of the commons.
Purpose of development
in the orthodox view, transformation of traditional subsistence economies defined as `backward' into Industrial, commodified economies defined as 'modern'. Production of surplus. Individuals sell their labour for money, rather than producing to meet their family's needs. In the alternative view, the creation of human well- being through sustainable societies in social, cultural, political, and economic terms.
Normative structure
international relations theory traditionally defines structure in material terms, such as the distribution of power, and then treats structure as a constraint on actors. By identifying a normative structure, Constructivists are noting how structures also are defined by collectively held ideas such as knowledge, rules, beliefs, and norms that not only constrain actors, but also construct categories of meaning, constitute their identities and interests, and define standards of appropriate conduct. Critical here is the concept of a norm, a standard of appropriate behaviour for actors with a given identity. Actors adhere to norms not only because of benefits and costs for doing so but also because they are related to a sense of self.
Cooperation
is required in any situation where parties must act together in order to achieve a mutually acceptable outcome
Civilization
is the broadest construction of cultural identity to which individuals may subscribe. A number of broad cultures have emerged from world history, including the Western, Islamic, and Chinese. However, this term has sometimes been conflated with a particular standard of good or achievement. At one time or other, for instance, people from the Western, Islamic, and the Chinese have claimed that their _________ represented the ultimate standard of good
Neorealism
modification of the Realist approach, by recognizing economic resources—in addition to military capabilities—are a basis for exercising influence. Also, the concept of a single international system is abandoned in favour of analysing issue-specific systems, each characterized by their own power structure. Thus Saudi Arabia may be the most powerful state in the politics of oil, while Brazil is the most powerful in the politics of rainforests.
Relative gains
one of the factors that Realists argue constrain the willingness of states to cooperate. States are less concerned about whether everyone benefits (absolute gains) and more concerned about whether someone may benefit more than someone else.
NATO
organization established by treaty in April 1949 comprising 12 (later 16) countries from Western Europe and North America. The most important aspect of this alliance was the American commitment to the defence of Western Europe.
Institution
persistent and having connected sets of rules and practices that prescribe roles, constrain activity, and shape the expectations of actors. Institutions may include organizations, bureaucratic agencies, treaties and agreements, and informal practices that states accept as binding. The balance of power in the international system is an example of an institution,
Capacity building
providing the funds and technical training to allow developing countries to participate in global environmental governance
Rationality
reflected in the ability of individuals to place their preferences in rank order and choose the best available preference.
Reciprocity
reflects a 'tit for tat' strategy, only cooperating if others do likewise
Detente
relaxation of tension between East and West; Soviet-American détente lasted from the late 1960s to the late 1970s, and was characterized by negotiations and nuclear arms control agreements.
Group rights
rights that are said to belong to groups such as minority nations or indigenous peoples rather than to Individuals.
Pluralist international society theory
states are conscious of sharing common interests and common values, but these are limited to norms of sovereignty and non-intervention.
Bipolarity
term employed by scholars of International Relations to describe the post-war order before the USSR fell apart in 1991, leaving the United States as the sole superpower.
Anarchic system
the 'ordering principle' of international politics according to Realism, and that which defines its structure
Treat of Versailles
the Treaty of Versailles formally ended the First World War (1914- 18). The Treaty established the League of Nations, specified the rights and obligations of the victorious and defeated powers (including the notorious regime of reparations on Germany), and created the 'Mandatories' system under which 'advanced nations' were given legal tutelage over colonial peoples.
Influence
the ability of one actor to change the values or the behaviour of another actor.
Liberal rights
the agenda of human rights that is driven largely from a Western perspective and derived from classical Liberal positions.
Sovereignty
the condition of a state being free from any higher legal authority. It is related to, but distinct from, the condition of a government being free from any external political constraints. It is the rightful entitlement to exclusive, unqualified, and supreme rule within a delimited territory. The state has supreme authority domestically and independence internationally.
Institutionalization
the degree to which networks or patterns of social interaction are formally constituted as organizations with specific purposes.
Global governance
the evolving system of (formal and informal) politi cal coordination— across multiple levels from the local to the global—among public authorities (states and intergovernmental organizations) and private agencies (NGOs and corporate actors) seeking to realize common purposes or resolve collective problems through the making and implementing of global or transnational norms, rules, programmes, and policies. The loose framework of global regulation, both institutional and normative, that constrains conduct. It has many elements: international organizations and law: transnational organizations and frameworks; elements of global civil society; and shared normative principles.
International law
the formal rules of conduct that states acknowledge or contract between themselves.
Nationalism
the idea that the world is divided into nations which provide the overriding focus of political identity and loyalty which in turn demands national self- determination. Nationalism also can refer to this idea in the form of a strong sense of identity (sentiment) or organizations and movements seeking to realize this idea (politics).
International order
the normative and the institutional pattern in the relationship between states. The elements of this might be thought to include such things as sovereignty, the forms of diplomacy, international law, the role of the Great Powers, and the codes circumscribing the use of force. It is a shared value and condition of stability and predictability in the relations of states.
Natural law
the origin of natural law thinking can be traced to the classical Greeks and early Christians, but in its modem form it is based on medieval Catholic theology. The central idea is that human beings have an essential nature which dictates that certain kinds of human goods are always and everywhere desired; because of this there are common moral standards that govern all human relations and these common standards can be discerned by the application of reason to human affairs.
Equality of states
the principle that sovereign states enjoy legal equality in their international relations, so that, for example, all have the same voting power in the United Nations.
Ratification
the procedure by which a state approves a convention or protocol that it has signed. There will be rules in the treaty concerning the number of ratifications required before it can enter into force.
Deregulation
the removal of all regulation so that market forces, not government policy, control economic developments.
Capabilities
the resources that are under an actor's direct control such as population and size of territory, resources, economic strength, military capability, and competence
Citizenship
the status of having the right to participate in and to be represented in politics.
Multilateralism
the tendency for functional aspects of international relations (such as security, trade, or environmental management) to be organized around large numbers of states, or universally, rather than by unilateral state action.
Realism
the theoretical approach that analyzes all international relations as the relation of states engaged in the pursuit of power. Realism cannot accommodate non-state actors within its analysis
Civil society
the totality of all individuals and groups in a society who are not acting as participants in any government institutions, or (2) all individuals and groups who are neither participants in government nor acting in the interests of commercial companies. The two meanings are incompatible and contested. There is a third meaning: the network of social institutions and practices (economic relationships, family and kinship groups, religious, and other social affiliations) which underlie strictly political institutions. For democratic theorists the voluntary character of these associations is taken to be essential to the workings of democratic politics.
Cosmopolitanism
the ultimate source of meaning and value in human life resides with the individual (or perhaps with God). Cosmopolitans are disposed to favour very extensive accounts of universal human rights.
Individualism
the view that structures can be reduced to the aggregation of individuals and their interactions. International relations theories that ascribe to ____________ begin with some assumption of the nature of the units and their interests, usually states and the pursuit of power or wealth, and then examine how the broad structure, usually the distribution of power, constrains how states can ad and generates certain pattems in international politics. _____________ stands in contrast to holism.
Explanatory theories
theories that see the social world as something external to our theories of the social world. On this view, the task of theory is to report on a world that exists independent from the observer and his or her theoretical position.
Decision making procedures
there identify specific prescriptions for behaviour, the system of voting, for example, which will regularly change as a regime is consolidated and extended. The rules and procedures governing the GATT, for example, underwent substantial modification during its history. Indeed, the purpose of the successive conferences was to change the rules and decisionmaking procedures
Regimes
these are sets of implicit or explicit principles, norms, rules, and decisionmaking procedures around which actors' expectations converge in a given area of international relations. They are social institutions that are based on agreed rules, norms, principles, and decision making procedures. These govern the interactions of various state and non-state actors in issue- areas such as the environment or human rights.The global market in coffee, for example, is governed by a variety of treaties, trade agreements, scientific and research protocols, market protocols, and the interests of producers, consumers, and distributors. States organize these interests and consider the practices, rules, and procedures to create a governing arrangement or regime that controls the production of coffee, monitors Its distribution, and ultimately determines the price for consumers.
Security regimes
these occur 'when a group of states cooperate to manage their disputes and avoid war by seeking to mute the security dilemma both by their own actions and by their assumptions about the behaviour of others'
Failed state
this is a state that has collapsed and cannot provide for its citizens without substantial external support and where the government of the state has ceased to exist inside the territorial borders of the state.
Order
this may denote any regular or discernible pattern of relationships that are stable over time, or may additionally refer to a condition that allows certain goals to be achieved.
Common Security
to accept 'as the organizing principle for efforts to reduce the risk of war, limit arms, and move towards disarmament, means, in principle, that co- operation will replace confrontation in resolving conflicts of interest. This is not to say that differences among nations should be expected to disappear . „The task is only to ensure that these conflicts do not come to be expressed in acts of war, or in preparations for war. It means that nations must come to understand that the maintenance of world peace must be given a higher priority than the assertion of their own ideological or political positions.'
European Union
was formally created in 1992 following the signing of the Maastricht Treaty. However, the origins can be traced back to 1951 and the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community, followed in 1957 with a broader customs union (The Treaty of Rome 1958). Originally a grouping of six countries in 1957, 'Europe' grew by adding new members in 1973, 1981, and 1986. Since the fall of the planned economies in Eastern Europe in 1989, Europe has grown and now includes 27 members states,
Gender
what it means to be male or female in a particular place or time; the social construction of sexual difference.
