PSCI 3810

Theoretical Frameworks

--A school of thought or was of seeing the world --Context: basic forms of international politics; Realists look at history but they look at it from now ----World imperial system: where one government is dominant over most of the world with which it has contact; e.g. Roman Empire ----Feudal system: politics are governed by a set of legal and military obligations rather than territorial boundaries; revolved around human loyalty than to territory; wars were never fought over territory because it was not important; "you fought for your lord and not your land"; ended with the Peace of Westphalia (established the principles of independent, sovereign states that continue to shape the international system today; basically established the framework we live by today or the anarchic state; established the separation of church and state) ----Anarchic system of states: This treaty established anarchy (lack of a central authority or world government); Sovereignty in this context exclusive right to exercise supreme political authority --Compare along 3 dimensions: ----History of each framework ----Assumptions and concepts of each framework ----Theories of each framework: "Road maps" that allow us to make sense of unfamiliar terrain; Familiarity with theories will allow us to understand a framework's strengths and weaknesses and when best to apply it

Concepts of Classical Realism (Anarchy)

--Anarchy: lack of central authority or government to enforce rules; realists contend that no such central authority exists to enforce rules and ensure compliance with norms of conduct; the power of one state is countered only by the power of other states, some must therefore rely on self-help, which they supplement with allies and the (sometimes) constraining power of international norms (shared expectations about what behavior is considered proper) --Most realists think that IR cannot escape from a state of anarchy and is dangerous as a result --States want to get as much power as possible because power ensures survival; states want resources like land --States operate in an international environment of uncertainty and mistrust --Sovereignty: means that the government has a right, in principle, to do whatever it wants to its own territory; traditionally the most important norm; states are separate and autonomous and answer to no higher authority; means that states are not supposed to interfere with in the international affairs of other states (processes and decisions), although states do try to influence other states on many matters --States have developed norms of diplomacy to facilitate their interactions; an embassy is treated as though it were the territory of the home state, not the country where it is located; diplomatic norms recognize that states spy on each other, even friendly states, and each state is responsible for keeping other states from spying on it --The "Security Dilemma": states' actions, taken to assure their own security (such as deploying more military forces), tend to threaten the security of other states. The responses of those other states in turn threaten the first state; anarchy matters to realists because it leads to this security dilemma; the dilemma is a prime cause of arms races in which states spend large sums of money on mutually threatening weapons that do not ultimately provide security; the security dilemma is a negative consequence of anarchy in the international system

Rational Choice

--Assumptions ----The state is a unitary actor; The state is a single entity that can "think" about its actions coherently and make choices ----States act in their own self-interest; A state's actions seek to advance their interests ----States maximize their expected utility; States perform cost-benefit analyses when deciding among options --Self-Interest: Differs from Realism because of the focus on self-interest; In order to act in their own self-interest, states need to know what that self interest is; Preferences must meet 3 criteria (a state's self-interest is defined by its preferences): • Stable: they do not change over time • Transitive: If A>B and B>C, then A>C • Complete: fully defined for all possibilities --Preferences draw very strongly on Game Theory: ----A branch of mathematics concerned with predicting bargaining outcomes ----A game is a setting in which two or more players choose among alternative motives, either once or repeatedly ----No matter what language, it can always be translated to math ----Goal: to deduce likely outcomes (what moves players will make), given the players' preferences and the possible moves open to them ----History: John von Neumann (1928); Von Neumann and Morgenstern (1944): published a book called a Theory of Preferences; John Nash (1950-53): A Beautiful Mind tells his life story ----Fundamentals: Games may be zero-sum or non-zero-sum; 2-player or N-player; One-shot or iterated (repeated, extensive form); Equilibrium (solution): a set of moves by all the players such that no player can increase her payoff by changing her move; All games are set up to have 4 pieces (Actors: typically states; making the choices and decisions; Actions: the choices or decisions that actors can make; an outcome is a set of actions, on for each actor; Preferences; Payoffs: assigns value to the outcomes)

Theories Within Realism

--Balance-of-Power Theory: argues that the international system is the most stable (the least conflict) when the power distribution among the major powers is equal; Balance leads to the least amount of conflict because it is not clear who would win an equal fight; Balance leads to the least amount of conflict when power is balanced we end up in a world of mutually assured destruction; Ex- Cold War; U.S. and Soviet Union were pretty equal power so things never escalated because it was not clear who would win --Hegemonic Stability Theory: the system is the most stable when there is one dominant power; Aka Power Preponderance (more power than anyone else); A hegemonic world makes for peace because there is one state that can clearly crush everyone and no one is going to mess with that state; in particular, hegemons can maintain global free trade and promote world economic growth; hegemony usually means domination of the world, but it can mean regional domination; this theory holds that hegemony provides some order similar to a central government in the international system: reducing anarchy, deterring aggression, promoting free trade, and providing hard currency that can be used as a world standard --Power transition theory: holds that the largest wars result from challenges to the top position in the status hierarchy, when a rising power is surpassing (or threatening to surpass) the most powerful state; at such times, power is relatively equally distributed, and these are the most dangerous times for major wars; according to this theory, peace among great powers results when one state is firmly in the top position and the positions of the others in the hierarchy are clearly defined and correspond with their actual underlying power

Theories Within Neoliberalism

--Collective Security: refers to the formation of a broad alliance of most major actors in an international systems for the purpose of jointly opposing aggression by an actor; grows out of liberal institutionalism; any states aggression is an aggression against all; No member is going to attack any other member; If someone does try to attack, we're all going to be against that person; League of Nations meant to promote collective security, but it was flawed in two ways (its membership did not include all the great powers; its members proved unwilling to bear the costs of collective action to oppose aggression); UN was the Leagues successor to promote collective security; the success of collective security depends on two points (the members must keep their alliance commitments to the group, that is, the members must not free ride on the efforts of other members; enough members must agree on what constitutes aggression) --Democratic Peace: Democracies do not fight against other democracies; Belief that as democracy increases, rights and freedom should increase; Democracies trade more than other states; however, the transition to democracy is sometimes violent

Theory and Method: How do we understand international events?

--Descriptive research: describes how particular actors and forces operate to bring about a particular outcome; useful way to understand specific conflicts; describes how particular actors and forces operate to bring about a particular outcome; policy makers are more interested in this --Theoretical research: places the particular event in the context of a more general pattern applicable across many cases; associated with scholars

Dyads (Actors in International Relations)

--Dyads: a pair of states; Example: US-USSR; Kuwait-Myanmar

The Prisoner's Dilemma

--Game theory: a branch of mathematics concerned with predicting bargaining outcomes --Zero-sum games: one player's gain is by definition equal to the other's loss; in this game there is no point in communication or cooperation between the players because their interests are diametrically opposed --Non-zero-sum games: it is possible for both players to gain (or lose) --Prisoner's Dilemma (PD): captures the kind of collective goods problem common to IR; in this situation, rational players choose moves that produce an outcome in which all players are worse off than under a different set of moves; occur frequently in IR; one good example is an arms race; (will not see this term in the test)

Scientific Method of the Social Sciences

--Goal: search for patterns and regularities in behavior; want to be able to make general assertions --So, how do we generalize? Scientific method steps for social sciences ----Start with facts ----Organize the facts with concepts ----Organize concepts with theories

Assumptions of Liberalism

--Humans are not naturally self-centered; they are capable of learning and improving and capable of overcoming selfish ways --Tends to focus on the global community; emphasizes cooperation rather than conflict between countries --Point is to explain cooperation --Was once called Idealism; its roots are in Idealism --The state is not the only actor in international politics --Works from the reciprocity principle --The system is anarchic, but norms (standard of appropriate behavior which create expectations and a sense of community) create community among states; liberals say we can escape anarchy through norms --War is an international problem, requiring collective or multilateral efforts rather than national attempts to control it; war is not inevitable, it is something that can be addressed as a national community and not an individual states

International Relations as a Field of Study

--International Relations: concerns relationships and interactions among the world governments; these relationships cannot be understood in isolation because they are closely connected with other actors (such as international organizations, multinational corporations, and individuals); where and when things happen is as important as what happens; subfield of Political Science (interested in politics, but specifically interested in the politics of interaction) --Central trend in IR today is globalization; two hallmarks of globalization (expanding communications technology and integrated markets) propelled events that impacted our daily lives; globalization is internationalizing us --IR revolves around one key problem: how can a group (such as two or more countries) serve its collective interests when doing so requires its members to forgo their individual interests? This is the COLLECTIVE GOODS PROBLEM (the problem of how to provide something that benefits all members of a group regardless of what each member contributes to it) --Focuses on a wide range of issue areas (subtopics within IR), including diplomacy, war and trade; each scholar focuses on a particular area; useful way to focus on certain areas that we care about (examples of issue areas: global trade, then environment, and specific conflicts such as the Arab-Israeli conflict) --Within each issue area, nations can behave cooperatively or conflictually; cooperative action with conflictual interaction; IR scholars often look at international relations in terms of the mix of conflict and cooperations in relationships among nations

Subfields of International Relations

--International Security Studies: focuses on questions of war and peace; the movement of armies and of diplomats, the crafting of treaties and alliances, the development and deployment of military capabilities (these are the subjects that dominated the study of IR in the past) ----War (involvement and intervention) ----Military Capabilities ----Military Alliances --International Political Economy (IPE): concerns trade and financial relations among nations and focuses on how nations have cooperated politically to create and maintain institutions that regulate the flow of international economic and financial transactions; newly important are problems of international environmental management and of global telecommunications ----Trade relations ----Financial relations ----North-South gap- Northern hemisphere tends to be more industrialized and richer than the South who tend to be poorer; income levels overall are over 5 times higher in the North; the North contains only 20% of the world's people but 55% of its goods and services; IPE scholars pay growing attention to relations between developed and developing nations including such topics as economic dependency, debt, foreign aid, and technology transfer; IR scholars have no explanation for this gap; see figure 1.2 on pg. 22

International System (Actors in International Relations)

--International System: the set of relationships among the world's states structured according to certain rules and patterns of interactions; some of these rules are implicit and some are explicit rules; an actor in the sense that it makes things happen; 8/2014: 193 UN member states (explicit rule); the modern international system has existed for only 500 years, before then it was city-states, empires, and feudal fiefs; most large states today are nation-states --a major source of conflict and war at present is the frequent mismatch between perceived nations and actual state border

Liberal Critiques of Realism

--International anarchy is not absolute; Liberals believe cooperation is possible under anarchy --State actions often do not reflect a single set of preferences; State's actions often reflect the preferences of many individuals --The concept of rationality is problematic; States are sometimes unselfish and giving --Military force as a form of leverage is not as important as realists believe

Concepts of Classical Realism (Distribution of Power)

--International system structure=distribution of power --Power distribution as a concept can apply to all the states in the world or just the states in one region, but most often it refers to the great power system --Absolute power vs. Relative power ----Absolute power: measure of how much power a state has; absolute number ----Relative power: how much power a state has compared to another state; you don't care how strong you are as long as you can beat the other person; ex- Cold War --Polarity: refers to the number of independent power centers in the system (unipolar, bipolar, multipolar) ----Unipolar: there is a hegemon or most powerful state; global super power; world was unipolar before WWI (UK) ----Bipolar: 2 global super powers; Cold War was a bipolar system (U.S. and USSR or NATO and the Warsaw Pact) ----Multipolar: more than 2 super powers; typically has 5 or 6 centers of power, which are not grouped into alliances; each state participates independently and on relatively equal terms with the others --There are also tripolar systems (three great centers of power) but are fairly rare because they tend to create a 2 against 1 alliance; ex- U.S., Soviet Union, and China --Alliances

Rationality in International Relations

--Most realists (and many nonrealists) assume that those who wield power while engaging in statecraft behave as rational actors in their efforts to influence others --This view has 2 implications for IR: ----First, the assumption of rationality implies that states and other international actors can identify their interests and put priorities on various interests: a state's actions seek to advance its interests; unitary actor assumption (aka strong leader assumption; many realists assume that the actor exercising power is a single entity that can "think" about its actions coherently and make choices ----Second, rationality implies that actors are able to perform a cost-benefit analysis (calculating the costs incurred by a possible action and the benefits it is likely to bring)

Understanding States

--One way to understand the processes and outcomes of bargaining is to begin with individual states --Since states are complex, we make assumptions to simplify the world --Simplifying frameworks so far: ----(Neo) Realism ----(Neo) Liberalism

Policy-makers vs. Scholars

--Policy-makers are close to world conflicts as they unfolds; want to describe and understand some issue so they tend to focus on descriptive research (test question); question is why Darfur?; focus on specifics --Scholars are not responsible for day-to-day politics; want to know how does the world work; for this reason, they tend to seek abstract, long explanations; focus on theoretical research (test question); question is why genocide?

Neoliberal Institutionalism

--Robert Keohane→ After Hegemony; Accepts many of realism's main propositions like anarchy; Says the main difference is the role of institutions in generating and maintaining cooperation among states; Very much a response to neorealism --Concepts: Norms are very important because they are a way to get out of the security dilemma; Preferences in the economic sense; outcomes valued by each actor in the order they are valued; Interdependence; largely but not exclusively economic; states who depend on one another are not going to fight; concedes to realism in several important ways (states are unitary actors rationally pursuing their self-interests in a system of anarchy); neorealist's pessimistic view about international cooperations is not valid; states can create mutual rules, expectations, and institutions to promote behavior that enhances cooperation --Avoiding the Security/Prisoner's Dilemma: Iteration; All interactions are iterated (repeated); countries interact with each other more than once; What happens now will cast a shadow for what happens in the future; "extend the shadow of the future"; An iterated (repeated) interaction will result in more cooperation because it allows for (More chances to interact with the same actors; Opportunities to punish defection through reciprocity); Reciprocity: a means to punish cheating and reward cooperation; Best strategy for reciprocity is Tit-for-Tat (a strategy of strict reciprocity after an initial cooperative move can bring about mutual cooperation in a repeate1d PD game; "exchange of punishments"; is a strategy that requires the actor to begin with cooperation and then play the same strategy the other actor played in the last interaction; if you mess with me this time, I'll mess with you this time; if you go back to cooperation, so will I)

State Actors in International Relations

--State actors: state is analogous with country; the principal actors in IR are the world's governments; states trade, they become independent or interdependent; some nations (united by shared characteristics) can be states, but nations are not states; the state actor includes the individual state leader as well as bureaucratic organizations such as foreign ministries that act in the name as the state (what the U.S. calls departments are called foreign ministries elsewhere) --3 requirements of state actors: ----That actor must have territory, a population, and government; a state is a territorial entity controlled by a government and inhabited by a population; the population inhabiting a state forms a civil society to the extent that it has developed institutions to participate in political or social life; a population that shares a group identity may consider itself a nation; the state's government is a democracy to the extent that the government is controlled by the members of its population ----Sovereignty (domestic): the exclusive right to exercise supreme political authority; a state government answers to no higher authority; it exercises sovereignty over its territory (to make and enforce laws, to collect taxes, etc); sovereignty is recognized through diplomatic relations and usually by membership in the UN ----Recognition (internationally): in practice, this is given through joining United Nations --Unitary actor assumption: Makes the assumption that actors are singular; makes it easier to explain the actions of a state by assuming them to be a singular actor

Non-State Actors in International Relations

--Sub-state actors: roots and interests within a state that influence the state's foreign policy; they exist within one country but either influence that country's foreign policy or operate internationally, or both --Transnational actors: actors operating below the state level and also across state borders; ex-multinational corporations, drug cartels --Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs): private organizations that interact with states, sub-state actors, transnational organizations, and each other; some NGOs have a political purpose, some a humanitarian one, some an economic or technical one; there is no single pattern to NGOs; ex-green peace, amnesty international, etc. --Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs): organizations whose members are national governments; ex- United Nations, NATO, OPEC, WTO, etc.; anything with the list of members as countries --together IGOs and NGOs are referred to as international organizations (IOs)

History of Liberalism

--Tends to focus on the global community; emphasizes cooperation rather than conflict between countries --Point is to explain cooperation --Was once called Idealism; its roots are in Idealism --Montesquieu --Kant: gave 3 answers to try to explain how peace and cooperation are possible (states could develop the organizations and rules to facilitate cooperation, specifically by forming a world federation resembling today's United Nations; operating at a lower level of analysis, was that peace depends on the internal character of governments; trade promotes peace because it develops economic interdependence) --Jeremy Bentham --John Stewart Mill --More recently related to Woodrow Wilson (Fourteen Points)

The Evolving International System

--The 2 World Wars: these wars were global or hegemonic wars in which almost all major states participated in an all-out struggle over the future of the international system; they remain a key reference point for the world today --The Cold War: containment (U.S. sought to halt the expansion of Soviet influences globally on several levels- military, political, ideological, economic); the fight against communism; saw the first summit meeting in Geneva; Cuban Missile Crisis (Soviet Union had missiles in Cuba) --The Post-Cold War Era: 1990-present; Gulf War; collapse of the Soviet Union; genocide in Rwanda was virtually ignored by the international community; terrorist attacks of 2001 and Bush declares the "war on terrorism"`

Concepts of Classical Realism (Power)

--The behavior between states in an anarchic system is governed by the power relationships between them; explains IR in terms of power; the exercise of power by states toward each other is sometimes called realpolitik, or just power politics --Power: the ability or potential to influence others behavior; the ability to get another actor to do what it would not otherwise have done (or not to do what it would have done); a variation on this idea is that actors are powerful to then extent that they affect others more than others affect them; central concept in IR and is THE central concept in realism --Why is it important? States seek to increase their power due to the inherent selfish nature of humans (classical realism); states seek to increase their power to maximize survival, security, and influence (neorealism) --Types of power: ----Hard power: useful for coercive bargaining, deterrence, and compelling behavior; (e.g. military capabilities, economic capabilities, tangible capabilities, etc.) ----Soft power: intangible; if a state's own values become widely shared among other states, it will easily influence others; dominance is not the only way to have power, you can also have power through reciprocity and identity; "power of ideas" (ability of one state's culture and values to consistently shape the thinking of other states; the ability to maximize the influence of capabilities through a psychological process; this process includes domestic mobilization of capabilities-often through religion, ideology or (especially) nationalism); e.g. diplomacy, national will, public support --Relative power: a state can have power only relative to other states' power; it is the ratio of the power that two states can bring to bear against each other --Elements of Power: ----Power resources/capabilities (the best single indicator of a state;s power may be its total GDP; long-run potential/ long-lasting; e.g. population, territory, geography, and natural resources (tangible capabilities); less tangible are political culture, patriotism, education of the pop, and strength of the scientific and technological base; the credibility of a state's commitments (keeping its word); "power of ideas"/ soft power ----Power capabilities (short-term availability; e.g. capacity and capability of military forces; intangible capabilities such as the capability for political leaders to mobilize and deploy these capabilities effectively and strategically; potential to influence others is based on specific, tangible and intangible, characteristics or possessions of states- such as their sizes, levels of income, and armed forces; this is power as capability; capabilities are easier to measure than influence and are less circular in logic) ----Fungibility: measure of how one good may be exchanged or substituted for another; ex- building up military forces diverts resources that might be put into foreign aid; the more fungible the states power is, the easier it can turn that power into capabilities for survival; the most fungible asset is money (easiest thing to take and turn into something else); realists tend to see military force as the most important element of national power in the short term, and other elements such as economic strength, diplomatic skill, or moral legitimacy as being important to the extent they are fungible into military power ----Geopolitics: the use of geography as an element of power; often tied to the logistical requirements of military forces; three most important considerations are location, location, location; states increase their power to the extent they can use geography to enhance their military capabilities, such as by securing allies and bases close to a rival power or along strategic trade routes, or by controlling key natural resources; today control of oil pipeline routes is a major geopolitical issue

Assumptions of Classical Realism

--The state is the primary actor in IR --The state is unitary and rational (states have interests and they work in their own self interest to maximize what they want) --The international system is anarchic --(a). States seek to increase their power (classical realism) // (b.) all states are interested in survival (neorealism) --Table 2.1 on page 45 compares assumptions of realism and idealism

Theory

--Theory: proposed explanation for the relationship between concepts --Goals: a good theory will do 3 things ----Describe the relationships between concepts ----Understand dynamics of how changes occur over time and space ----Able to forecast or predict these changes

History of Classical Realism

--Thucydides: History of the Pelopennesian War; "What made war inevitable was the growth of Athenian power and the fear which this caused in Sparta"; "the strong do what they have the power to do and the weak accept what they have to accept" --2,000 years ago Sun Tzu advised the rulers of states how to survive in an era when war had become a systematic instrument of power for the first time (the "warring states" period) --Machiavelli (today, the term Machiavellian refers to excessively manipulative power maneuvers; Hobbes (discussed the free for all that exists when government is absent and people seek their own self-interests which he referred to as the "state of nature" or "state of war"; favored a strong monarchy which he called Leviathan); E. H. Carr; Hans Morganthau (reasoned that no nation "had God on its side" and tat all actions had to base their actions on prudence and practicality) --Emphasize the relationship between wars, power, and states acting in their national interests --Realist thinking was dominant after WWII due to the false optimism of the idealists of the 19th century (who thought war was obsolete); realism provided a theoretical foundation for the Cold War policy of containment --Modern realist theory developed in reaction to a liberal tradition that realists called idealism (emphasizes international law, morality, and international organizations, rather than power alone, as key influences on international events; believe human nature is generally good; the principles of IR must flow from morality; they see the international system as one based on a community of states that have the potential to work together to overcome mutual problems; particularly active between WWI and WWII) --Realisms foundation is the principle of dominance; realists tend to treat political power as a separate form, and predominant over, morality, ideology, and other social and economic aspects of life; ideologies and religions do not matter much, nor other cultural factors --Neorealism: The father of modern neorealism is Kenneth Waltz (wrote Theory of International Politics); Aka "structural realism"; Neorealists care about the whole picture or the structure of the system, not individual states; More scientific and parsimonious (simple) than classical realism; chooses to focus on anarchy, power, sovereignty, structure of the system and ignores things like diplomacy and morality like classical realism does; it explains patterns of international events in terms of the system structure- the international distribution of power- rather than in terms of the internal makeup of individual states

Alliances

--a coalition of states that coordinate their actions to accomplish some specified goal --Needs to be formalized through a written treaty; Must be concerned with issues of national security --also must endure across a range of issues and a period of time --alliances are security-minded and all about defense --Purposes: strength in numbers, maximizing joint power --Generally are formed in response to perceived threats (military, economic, etc.) --of all the elements of power, none can change as quickly and decisively as alliances --realists emphasize the fluidity of alliances --alliance cohesion: the ease with which the members hold together an alliance; cohesion tends to be high when national interests converge and when cooperation within the alliance becomes institutionalized and habitual --burden sharing: even when alliance cohesion is high, conflicts may arise over who bears the costs of the alliance --3 of the most powerful alliances in 2013: ----North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was created during the Gulf War against the Soviet Union (Soviets had to Warsaw Pact); encompasses Western Europe and North America; the NATO allied supreme commander has always been a U.S. general; founded to oppose and deter Soviet power in Europe; 28 member nations ----U.S.-Japanese Security Treaty: signed to bring Japan in alignment with U.S. during the Cold War; the alliance was created against the potential Soviet threat to Japan; bilateral alliance; asymmetrical alliance (for ex- the U.S. would defend Japan if it were attacked, but Japan likely would not defend us; U.S. maintains troops in Japan while Japan has none in the U.S.) ----Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) these states were republics but wanted to become independent so they pulled their resources through this treaty; 11 members comprise the former Soviet republics except the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania); Russia is the leading member

Gender Theories

--difference feminism: focuses on valorizing the feminine- that is, valuing the unique contribution of women as women; believe there are real differences between the genders that are not just social constructions and cultural indoctrination --liberal feminism: rejects these claims as being based on stereotyped gender roles; believe men and women are equal; they deplore the exclusion of women from positions of power in IR but do not believe that including women would change the nature of the international system --postmodern feminism: tends to reject the assumptions about gender made by both difference and liberal feminists; where difference feminists consider gender differences important and fixed, and liberal feminists consider those differences trivial, postmodern feminists find them important but arbitrary and flexible

Social Theories (Postmodernism; not on exam)

--has left its mark on various academic disciplines, especially the study of literature --postmodernists pay special attention to texts and to discourses- how people talk and write about their subject (IR) --a central idea is that there is no single, objective reality but a multiplicity of experiences and perspectives that defy easy categorization --postmodern scholarship in IR preceded, set the stage for, and has largely been supplanted by constructivism --postmodern critics of realism see nothing objective about state interests, and certainly nothing universal (in that one set of values or interests applies to all states) --calls into question the whole notion of states as actors; states have no tangible reality; they are "fictions" that we construct to make sense of the actions of large numbers of individuals --postmodernists seek to "deconstruct" such constructions as states, the international system, and the associated stories and arguments (texts and discourses) with which realists portray the nature of international relations

Marxism (not on exam)

--holds that both IR and domestic politics arise from unequal relationships between economic classes --branch of socialism; a theory that holds that the more powerful classes oppress and exploit the less powerful by denying them their fair share of the surplus they create --class struggle: the oppressed classes try to gain power in order to seize more of the wealth for themselves --includes both communism and other approaches --Marx believed labor was the source of economic surplus

Levels of Analysis

--many influences affect the course of IR; levels of analysis provide a framework for categorizing these influences and thus for suggesting various explanations of international events --Individual level: concerns the perceptions, choices, and actions of individual human beings; great leaders, citizens, thinkers, soldiers, and voters influence the course of history --Domestic level (or state or societal): concerns the aggregations of individuals within states that influence state actions in the international arena; aggregations include interest groups, political organizations, and government agencies --Interstate level (or international or systematic): concerns the influence of the international system upon outcomes; focuses on the interactions of the states themselves; traditionally the most important level of analysis --Global level: seeks to explain international outcomes in terms of global trends and forces that transcend the interactions of states themseles

Bargaining

--rational process that falls under rational choice --Tacit or direct communication in an attempt to reach an agreement on an exchange of value --About the exercise of power; leveraging to get more than you give up --Always involves 2 or more participants (direct stake in the outcome); also has mediators (mediators do not) --Formal bargaining: negotiation/ diplomacy --A bargaining space is defined by 2 things: ----Issues: always one or more issues at stake ----Interests: states agree on what the issues are, but the participants interests with respect to the issue are different/diverge which creates a conflict of interest ----Both sides want totally different things but they know if they don't settle that much more will be lost; this situation creates an opportunity for a solution; ex- Arab/ Israeli conflict

Balance of Power

--refers to the general concept of one or more states' power being used to balance that of another state or group of states --can refer to any ratio of power capabilities between states or alliances, or it can mean only a relatively equal ratio; can also refer to the process by which counterbalancing coalitions have repeatedly formed in history to prevent one state from conquering and entire region --alliances play a key role; states do not always balance agains the strongest actor; sometimes smaller states "jump on the bandwagon" of the most powerful state (bandwaggoning) --Great powers: generally considered the half-dozen or so most powerful states; until the past century the great power club was exclusively European; often defined as states that can be defeated militarily only by another great power; also tend to share a global outlook based on national interests far from their home territories; generally have the world's strongest military forces- and the economies to pay for them- and other power capabilities; only rarely does a great power lose its status; United States, China, Russia, Japan, Germany, France, and Britain --Middle powers: rank somewhat below the great powers in terms of their influence on world affairs; some are large but not highly industrialized; others have specialized capabilities but are small; might include some countries of the global North as Canada, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland, Ukraine, South Korea, and Australia; it could also include large or influential countries in the global South such as India, Indonesia, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa, Israel, Turkey, Iran, and Pakistan

Peace Studies

--seeks to shift the focus of IR away from the interstate level of analysis and toward a broad conception of social relations at the individual, domestic, and global levels of analysis --connects war and peace with individual responsibility, economic inequality, gender relations, cross-cultural understanding, and other aspects of social relationships --believe a good way to gain knowledge is to participate in action- not just to observe objectively --conflict resolution: the development and implementation of peaceful strategies for settling conflicts- using alternatives to violent forms of leverage; uses a third party whose role is mediation between two conflicting parties; UN is the most important mediator in the world scene; if both sides agree in advance to abide by a solution devised by a mediator, the process, is called arbitration --Militarism: the glorification of war, military force, and violence through TV, films, books, political speeches, toys, games, sports, and other such avenues; also refers to the structuring of society around war; some evidence shows that war occurs more frequently in societies with internal (especially gender) inequalities, with harsh child-rearing practices and with fathers who are absent from child rearing --positive peace: refers to a peace that resolves the underlying reasons for war- peace that is not just a cease-fire but a transformation of relationships --Ghandi was a promoter on nonviolence

International Regimes

--set of rules, norms, and procedures around which the expectations of actors converge in a certain issue area --regimes can help solve collective goods problems by increasing transparency- because everyone knows what everyone else is doing, cheating is riskier --the most common conception of regimes combines elements of realism and liberalism; states are seen as autonomous units maximizing their own interests in an anarchic context --hegemony is crucial for establishing regimes but it is not necessary for maintaining them --in part, the survival of regimes rests on their embedding in permanent institutions such as the UN, NATO, and the International Monetary Fund; these institutions become the tangible manifestations of shared expectations as well as the machinery for coordinating international actions based on those expectations

Social Theories (Constructivism)

--social theories rely on social interaction to explain individuals' and states' preferences vs. realism (states want more power) and liberalism (states, interests groups, and individuals want peace and prosperity); Social frameworks rely on social interaction to explain actors' preferences --Assumptions: ----Actors' identities are constructed by interactions with each other ----Actors' interests are defined based on identities --Key Concepts: ----Identity & Interaction: What is the relationship between a state's identity and its international interests?; When interacting with another state, that state's identity matters as well as its power and wealth; Example: Nuclear proliferation in North Korea and Great Britain ----Norms: States' actions are informed by a "logic of appropriateness" rather than a "logic of consequences"; Example: US intervention in Somolia (constructivists would say our norms about who we should care about are changing) --asks how states construct their interests through their interactions with one another; Interested in how actors define or construct their national interests; fast-growing approach in IR --its lessons about the nature of norms, identity, and social interactions can provide powerful insights into the world of IR (even though the approach itself doesn't really say anything about IR); pulls from the identity principle --interested in how actors define their national interests, threats to those national interests, and their interests' relationships to one another; states decide what they want based not only on material needs, but also on "social" interactions --constructivists are quick to point out that what societies or states consider dangerous is not universal or timeless; social norms and conventions change, which can have huge implications for foreign policy --Example: Why is the U.S. concerned when North Korea builds nuclear weapons, but not is Great Britain does? Because, even though Great Britain has a far superior military and logically they should be the biggest threat, they are not because we don't have to worry about GB being a nuclear threat like we would with North Korea; have to look at shared history, shared alliances, and shared norms

Strategies

--statecraft: the art of managing state affairs and effectively maneuvering in a world of power politics among sovereign states; power strategies are plans actors use to develop and deploy power capabilities to achieve their goals --a key aspect of strategy is choosing the kinds of capabilities to develop, given limited resources, in order to maximize international influence --Deterrence: uses a threat to punish another actor if it takes a certain negative action (especially attacking one's own state or one' allies); if it works its affects are invisible; its success is measured in attacks that did not occur --Compellence: refers to the threat of force to make another actor take some action (rather than refrain from taking action); sometimes used after deterrence fails ----escalation: a series of negative sanctions of increasing severity applied in order to induce another actor to take some action --Arms race: reciprocal process in which to (or more) states build up military capabilities in response to each other