Class 3 Flashcards
Think carefully about the difference between cooperation and bargaining, and come up with examples of when each would pertain to international politics. Be sure you understand the factors that can make cooperation easier, and how international institutions could foster this. Can you come up with an example of bargaining, even irrelevant to international politics, that illustrates coercion, outside options and agenda setting? 1. Key Actors 2. Interests 3. Cooperation 4. Bargaining
Interests:
what actors want to achieve through political action; their preferences over the outcomes that might result from their choices
Big categories:
1. Power and Security
2. Economic or Material Welfare
3. Ideological Goals
Actors:
the basic unit of analysis for the analysis of international politics,
individuals or groups of people with common interests
Types Of Actors:
- States, parts of government (House, Senate),
- interest groups (labor unions, corn farmers),
- international organizations
- individuals, etc.
State:
a central authority with the ability to make and enforce laws, rules, and decisions within a specified territory.
State possess SOVEREIGNTY
Sovereignty:
the expectation of legal or political supremacy– ultimate authority– within territorial boundaries.
Since all states are sovereign, the international system is in a condition of Anarchy
Anarchy
Since all states are sovereign, the international system is in a condition of Anarchy
Anarchy: the absence of a central authority with the ability to make and enforce laws that bind all actors.
Failed States:
countries governed by states that lose central authority and lack common interests.
E.g., post civil war Somalia and pirates
Conflicting Interest Ex: US vs Middle East
- US security interests lead to promotion of democracy in the Middle East
- Some powerful domestic groups in the Middle East may not want democracy
National Interests:
interests attributed to the state itself
- Usually security and power
The Origins of Interests-
Sometimes we will speak loosely about “the state” when we mean actors within the state.
Example: “The US threatened Iraq”—> “Representatives of the US threatened representatives of Iraq”
National leaders’ interest may originate from:
- A particular interest group
- Personal or political agenda
Key Categories of Actors and Interestes in International Politics
Look to Diagram 2.1
*War and economic conflict is costly, so why don’t countries cooperate?
Countries, and their citizens/companies etc., could avoid death and destruction, trade disputes, non-coordination in scientic research, etc
So why cant actors avoid these things?
***Answer: Strategic Interaction makes it hard
Interactions:
the ways in which the choices of 2 + actors combine to produce political outcomes.
In Interactions, Actors have to:
- Anticipate the likely choices of others
2. Take those choices into account
Strategic interactions:
Each actor’s strategy depends on the anticipated strategy of the others
- Actors are purposive
- Actors adopt strategies that are the best response to anticipated strategies of others (a “best response” strategy)
Best Response Strategy
Actors adopt strategies that are the best response to anticipated strategies of others
2 Types Of Strategic Interaction:
- Cooperation
- Bargaining
Strategic Interaction Categories:
1. Cooperation
Cooperation:
occurs when two or more actors adopt policies
that makes at least one actor better o than it would
otherwise be.
Strategic Interaction Categories:
2. Bargaining
Bargaining:
describes an interaction in which actors must choose outcomes that make one better off at the expense of another.
When actors bargain, they move along the Pareto frontier. On the frontier:
- Any improvement in A’s welfare comes at the expense of B’s welfare
The zero-sum game:
- Gains for one side perfectly match the losses of the other
Cooperation Diagram (SEE “Cooperation”)
- All points are possible outcomes produced by different combinations of policies chosen by the two actors
- This line is called the Pareto frontier
Pareto Frontier on Cooperation Diagram
- On the Pareto frontier, one player cannot become better off without making the other worse off
-To the left of the frontier, “Pareto Improvements” are possible that make someone strictly better off without making anyone strictly worse off
At status quo (q) actors are not doing as well as they could.
Any policy combination that leads to an outcome in the area qba makes both actors better off
Any policy combination on the Pareto frontier between b and a makes the actors as well off as possible
Status Quo on Cooperation Diagram
At status quo (q) actors are not doing as well as they could.
Area of ‘qba’ on Cooperation Diagram
Any policy combination that leads to an outcome in the area qba makes both actors better off
What does it mean to be between b and a on Pareto frontier of Cooperation Diagram?
Any policy combination on the Pareto frontier between b and a makes the actors as well off as possible
The Zero Sum Game (Outcome of bargaining interaction)
Gains for one side perfectly match the losses of the other
Combine Cooperation and Bargaining:??
Most interactions in international relations combine elements of cooperation and bargaining.
- Successful cooperation generates gains worth bargaining over.
- If actors cannot reach a bargain, they may end up failing to cooperate
Difference between cooperation and
bargaining: Bargaining is purely re-distributive
Cooperation creates additional value while bargaining only allocates a fixed sum of value between two different actors
Power:
- the ability of Actor A to get Actor B to do something that it would not otherwise do
- The more power an actor has, the more it can expect to get in the final outcome of bargaining
3 basic ways of exercising power:
- Coercion
- outside options
- agenda setting
3 basic ways of exercising power:
- Coercion
- Outside options
- Agenda setting
Coercion:
the threat or imposition of costs on others to reduce the value of the reversion outcome and thus change their behavior.
Examples:
- Roommate with the car can threaten to move out.
- Carless roommate can threaten to frame the car owner for cheating
Means of international coercion include:
- Military force and economic sanctions
Outside Options:
the alternatives to bargaining with a specific
actor.
Examples:
If the roommates do not reach an agreement about the division of costs, each has the following outside options:
- The roommate with the car can bargain with the friend next door, splitting costs with her and sharing the car.
- The roommate without a car can walk a mile to a bus stop to ride a bus that comes once every 2 hrs to run errands without a car.
The roommate with the better outside option has leverage
Agenda Setting
Consider three states, US, UK, France, that want to intervene in a third country. Need to decide how they are going to do this as a group.
Three options: air strikes, ground troops, aid.
Understanding Outcomes
- Understanding the outcomes of complex interplay can be difficult.
- Behind outcomes are (1) interests and (2) institutions
- Game theory helps us study strategic interactions.
Behind outcomes are:
- Interests
2. Institutions
Factors that make cooperation easier:
??
example of bargaining, even irrelevant to international politics, that illustrates coercion,
outside options and agenda setting?
Roommate/ Car Scenario
