Chapter 1 - Foundations Flashcards
Interests
What actors want to achieve through political action; the preferred outcomes that might result from their political choices.
Theory
A logically consistent set of statement that describe the phenomenon of interest. They help us describe, predict and prescribe.
Interactions
The ways in which the choices of two or more actors combine in order to produce political outcomes.
Institution
A set of rules shared by a community that shape interactions in specific ways.
Bargaining
An interaction in which actors must choose outcomes that make one better off at the expense at the other one. It is redistributive - requires allocating fixed sum of value between different actors.
Cooperation
An interaction in which two or more actors adopt policies that make at least one actor better off relative to the status quo, without making the other one worse.
Realism
Interests: the state is a dominant actor which seeks security and power
Interactions: Generally about bargaining
Institutions: International system is anarhic and they reflect the interests of powerful states only.
Liberalism
Interests: No single actor dominates, wealth is a common goal
Interactions: Cooperation
Institutions: Setting out rules, providing information, and democratic political institutions
Constructivism
Interests: many important, influenced by culture, identity and appropriate behavior
Interactions: socialize actors to hold particular interests
Institutions: define identities and shape norms of just and appropriate behavior
Mercantilism
An economic doctrine based on a belief that military power and economic influence complemented each other (applied to colonial empires 16th to 18th century). It favored the mother country over its colonies. They used the military power to enrich themselves and then used those riches to support the military power.
Peace of Westphalia
The settlement that ended the Thirty year war (1618 - 1648). It included a general recognition of sovereignty and nonintervention.
Sovereignty
The expectation that states have legal and political supremacy (ultimate authority) within their territorial boundaries.
Hegemony
Predominance of one nation state over others.
Pax Britannica
“British Peace” from 1815 to 1914 in which Britain’s economic and diplomatic influence contributed to economic openness and peace.
Gold Standard
The monetary system (1870 - 1914) in which countries tied their currencies to gold at a legally fixed price.
Treaty of Versailles
The peace treaty between the Allies and Germany that formally ended World War I in 1919
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
An alliance formed in 1949 among US, Canada and western Europe in response to threat posed by the Soviet Union.
Bretton Woods System
Economic order negotiated between allied nations involving a commitment to relatively low barriers to international trade and investment.
Warsaw Pact
Military alliance formed in 1955 to bring together the Soviet Union and its cold war allies in Eastern Europe
Decolonization
Process of shedding colonial possesions
State systems
Liberal - A liberal state system is rooted in the principles of classical liberalism, which emphasizes individual freedoms, limited government intervention in the economy, and protection of private property rights. The state plays a minimal role in regulating economic and social activities, favoring free markets, competition, and personal responsibility
Communist - A communist state system is based on the ideology of communism, where the state seeks to abolish private ownership of the means of production and instead advocate for collective ownership. Under communism, the state typically controls all economic activity, and resources are distributed according to need, rather than market forces or individual wealth.
Social democratic - A social democratic state system blends elements of capitalism with substantial government intervention to promote social welfare and equality. It combines a commitment to democratic governance with policies that address income inequality, provide universal healthcare, education, and other essential services, and regulate markets to ensure they operate in the public interest.
Defection
Conscious abandonment of a party, agreement, duty
