Chapter 1 Flashcards
Politics
“the exercise of influence by competing individuals and groups to affect the allocation of values and distribution of resources”
Politics among territorial states is a mixture of continuity and change.
Actor
“an individual, group, state, or organization that plays a major role in world politics”
Sometimes called agents
The most fundamental are individual people.
Nation-state
“a specific geographic area containing a sovereign polity whose population identifies with that polity”
The modern nation-state system was born with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, which ended the Thirty Years’ War.
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation is known to have begun the Thirty Years’ War in 1618 and was mostly about religious matters.
Thirty Years’ War
The end of the Thirty Years’ War is known as the beginning of the nation-state system, also known as the Westphalian system, in 1648. After the Thirty Years’ War, people started identifying with their nationality before their religion.
Nation-state
“a specific geographic area containing a sovereign polity whose population identifies with that polity”
Sovereignty
“under international law, the principle that no higher authority is above the state”
Billiard-ball model
“a conception of world politics that envisions states as the sole movers of global affairs, explains their behavior as unitary responses to external threats, and attributes little importance to domestic sources of foreign policy”
Nonstate actors
“all transnationally active groups other than states, such as international governmental organizations whose members are states (IGOs) and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) whose members are individuals and private groups from more than one state”
Individual level of analysis
“an analytical approach to the study of world politics that emphasizes the psychological factors motivating people who make foreign policy decisions on behalf of states and other global actors”
State level of analysis
“an analytical approach to the study of world politics that emphasizes how the internal attributes of states influence their foreign policy behavior”
Systemic level of analysis
“an analytical approach to the study of world politics that emphasizes the impact of international structures and processes on the behavior of global actors”
