Exam 1 Flashcards
Anarchy
no higher authority (you are sovereign)
Bounded rationality
we cannot make rational choices due to our limited mental capacity so we create very simple decision rules to allow us to make hard decisions in life
Marxists believe that
Class Conflict, Base/Superstructure, Non-neutrality of the state
Class Conflict
Bourgeoisie and Proletariat
Bourgeoisie
The rich. Own land and or have a lot of money. The government is not neutral. It represents the powerful (Bourgeoisie) and nobody else.
Proletariat
Workers. Sell labor to the bourgeoisie.
-You work for the bourgeoisie, but they make all the money. Uneven distribution of benefits.
Marxist on Religion
They believe religion was created to keep the workers working. You don’t worry about your economic sufferings so that you don’t rise up.
Base/Superstructure
-The economy is the base in every society. Superstructure: The economy determines everything (religion, government, education, ect.)
Non-neutrality of the state
-The government is not neutral. It represents the powerful (Bourgeoisie) and nobody else.
-Economic power determines political power. Bourgeoisie is always the winner, and the government will follow the policies that advance their interest.
Marxist Major thinkers
Marx, Lenin, Wallerstein
Weaknesses of Marxist Theory
Communist/ Socialist Behavior:
Behavior did not change. Socialist states went to war with each other.
Contradictory explanations: How is war good for the bourgeoisie, not always consistent with beliefs.
Offensive/ defensive advantage
The idea that the area it is either easier to attack someone or it is easier to defend an area
offensive
-Chain gang and passed bucks
States form tight alliances in order to protect themselves
Problem: when one war starts it becomes a large war because the alliances are tight. Ex: NATO
Chain gang and passed bucks
States form tight alliances in order to protect themselves
Cognition
the process by which we acquire knowledge
cognitive Dissonance
humans cannot stand inconsistencies. So if our actions are inconsistent with our beliefs then it will drive us insane. To fix it you do not change your behaviors, instead you change your beliefs.
Complex interdependence
Roots in liberalism
The relationships of two states and an IGO
But there are multiple overlapping relationships.
Ex of Complex Interdependence
Ex:
State 1- realism- State 2
A- state 1 can bypass gov interact directly with society 2
(ex spread of democracy)
B- IOS bypass gov and interact directly with society 2
C- Society 1 bypass own gov and seek aid from an IGO
Ex: citizens of states in europe can bypass them and go directly to EU
D- IO’s to states
Ex: IF makes loans to states to carry out economic development projects
E- Society 1- E- Society 2 (transnational movements)
F- State 2- IO states can go directly to a IO
Ex: Ukraine and nato
Liberals say
realism is limited
Meaning of interdependence
Sensitivity- how quickly you feel the effects of an event that happened around the world
Vulnerability- how great is that affect upon you
Political
-Transnational organizations
Ex: environmental groups, terrorists, etc.
Why do these IGO, NGO, MNCS, factors engage in IR?
Interest: Want to promote and protect their interest.
Ex: security or medical purposes or rights
Prosperity: Want to make more money and improve.
Prestige: Look and be more powerful and important in the international world.
Ex: North Korea, Iram, ect.
Higher Callings: Promote higher things and advocating for things
Ex: Human rights, democracy, ect.
How do these groups achieve these goals? (IGOS< NGOs, MNCS)
-Diplomacy: Direct official communications between representatives of international actors
-Has to be official approved communication and usually is to solve some sort of crisis
Examples of Diplomacy
Ex: Bargaining, negotiations, threats or promises or statements of resolve
Resolve is all about being credible.
Examples of specific kinds of diplomacy
Ex: Henry Kissinger (worked for Nixon) Shuttle Diplomacy (Israles and Arabs) He played messenger between Saudi Arabia to Israel to Syria since they would not meet.
Nixon focused on Soviet Relations and used Linkage Politics. Nixon linked two separate issues together (an area where he is weak together with an area he was strong) and he would negotiate them together.
IGOs
-Inter Governmental Organization
-International groups made up of states
Ex: 1804 Central Rhine Commission
(Increase trade and solve problems on the rhine river)
-Usually there to solve a problem and make something very narrow function
Ex: -United Nations (largest IGO has a global scope) -NATO
NGOS
-Nongovernmental organization
-Do not have states as their membership
-Crossing international borders but no state members
-Redcross, Green Peace
MNCS
Multinational Companies
Businesses that do business in multiple states
-Cross international borders in the business that they do
-Not a government, not individuals.
-British East India Company was first
-Ex: General Motors (GM), Walmart’s, Target, big companies
Diversionary Theory Leaders use the rally round the flag effect to divert attention from domestic problems.
Leaders use the rally round the flag effect to divert attention from domestic problems.
(Weak to no proof that it actually occurs) Popular in entertainment, weak in scientific.
-A manufactured crisis by leaders diverts attention from scandals or weak economy ect.
Example of Diversionary Theory
Ex: falcons war in 80’s. Argienta was failing so the generals invaded the falcons islands (controlled by England). The British decided they wanted to keep the island and mobilized and Argentina lost the war.
Ex: Once sex scandal happened to Clinton, the administration started launching attacks on terrorist groups the very next day.
Rally around the flag
phenomenon whereby large segments of the public express support for the President’s policies in any crisis situation, regardless of the substance of the policies,
Example of Rally around the flag
Ex: Democrats rally to a republican president vice versa.
Public Opinion is shaped by international events
Free rider problem
you enjoy the benefits of other people’s work without bearing any of the cost of paying for it.
Problem is (free rider)
we want peace but it comes at a cost. There is no natural incentive to provide public goods. Private goods make money.
Solution (free rider)
coercion- I can make you pay for these goods. I can coerce you to pay.
Ex: Taxes (gov. Forces you to pay for public goods)
or the hegemonic stability theory.
Group Think
groupthink says groups make worse decisions than the individual because social dynamics cause one or two people dominating the group.
The group shuns you if you don’t go along with the group, so everyone usually agrees with the group.
The group starts to ignore information that does not agree with it’s idea
Groups starts to pressure any dissenters to conform and join the group
Subordance (people working for you) stop questioning the group dynamics
Ex: Battle of stalingrad
How to fix group think
Rotate members of the group.
Assign a devil’s advocate to bring rational arguments and data
Secret ballots ( not knowing who voted yes or no)
Weaknesses of group think.
-Argument by examples (hard to test in broader scientific way)
-Backward reasoning (they all start with a mistake and work backwards until they find groupthink, can’t predict)
Hegemon
the really powerful state.
Hegemonic Stability Theory
What does the world look like when you have a dominant state?
The one dominant state provides stability and prosperity.
Ex: it brings global peace, free trade, and deal with all the annoying threats (non-state actors that are violent or terrorist groups)
the hegemonic stability theory.
The hegemon provides these goods (peace, stability, free trade) but don’t do it for altruism (hey that’s a good thing i’ll do it) uses their dominant position and provides these because the peace and stability and free trade provides them with benefits that outweighs the cost it takes to provide them.
Peace is good for trade so they provide a peaceful world and then they benefit from it.
They provide public goods because it is within their best interests to do so.
Innate drives
biological make up of human race
Something about how humans are made
International Relations #1
Politics in the absence of a common sovereign.
International Relations #2
the factors and the activities which affect the external policies and the power of the basic units into which the world is divided (Stanley Hoffmann)
Iron Triangle
money moves through each of the three points. Called this because it is very hard to break these relationships. Ex: in order to change policy you have to break this movement of money.
Three points of Iron Triangle
Interest group, Congressional Committee, Bureaucracy
How Iron Triangle functions
-Interest group: gives money to candidates
-Congressional Committee: the committee members than support increase spending in the policy area of the interest groups
-Bureaucracy: that money directly goes to government spending and they buy stuff from the groups that support that special interest group. (hard to prove)
Revolving door
The same people work together but their places within the iron triangle can rotate.
Military industrial complex
profits from war so they encourage militaristic solutions to US problems because they gain money
-coined by Eisenhower (even though he was once a military general he did not support it and said it drives us to be more involved in conflict)
A specific example of an Iron triangle
Nations
a population that shares identity, usually including a language and culture” (Goldstein)
“a collection of people loyal to each other because of perceived ethnic, linguistic, or cultural affinity” (Mansbach)
-Cultural instead of geographic
-Shares a common identity
Nation State
-“synonymous with “state” or “country,” but with the added implication that the subject population identifies itself as a nation”
-A country that has one nation inside of it. Culture and politics are aligned.
Ex: Japan
Paradigm
comprehensive framework for the identification of the variables about which the theory is to be developed.
world view
Politics
using power to get people to do things they would not otherwise do (the study of power) + arts/ science of government.
proximate cause
domestic politics focuses on it. What happens just before the war started or just before something happened?
-The match that starts the fire
Economic Strength
States employ economic strength through Sanctions.
Sanctions
Deliberate government action to inflict economic deprivation on a target state or society through the limitation or cessation of customary economic relations.
Ex: Thou shall not trade x with state x (ex: Cuba sanctions)
Downsides of sanctions
(Sanctions rarely harm the military power of a state ex: North Korea is under many sanctions for a while, but the military is fine, “soldiers well-fed but people are starving”)
How can sanctions have an effect?
Sanctions have an effect if they are threatened, but not imposed. Everyone must participate.
Satisficing vs optimizing (in OP Model)
we find the first decision that is good and enough and that is the one we pick. Saves time.
Sovereignty
supreme power or authority. The sole legitimate right to use violence within a given geographic area - no higher power acknowledged.
States
Most possess some form of government, must have territorial integrity, must have population (people), must have sovereignty, and states dominate the study of international relations.
Strategic culture:
different states have different predominant strategic preferences that are rooted in the early or formative experiences of the state. (Johnson 1995)
-long term and embedded within the being of the state. Past experiences of a state can determine how they act. (pyscho analysis) Mix or IR and PS
Theory
Collection of assumptions, laws, and empirical evidence used to explain a phenomenon.
What we build in order to explain why the world works the way it does. The answer to the why?
Theories are NOT truth, but instead stories we tell in order to help us understand complex events.
Why is there terrorism? How does power influence war?
Treaty of Westphalia (1648)
It established the principle of sovereignty, it created the principle of non-intervention, created the idea of legal equality among states, created the principle of a binding international treaty, and the treaty recognized the right of the ruler in each land to control their religion for the territory.
Realism unitary actor
our states speak with ONE voice.
Liberalism unitary actor
Liberals like to focus on policies inside a state and say domestic politics matter to international relations.
State as a unitary actor
-Characteristic of state that makes it behave the way it does
Ex; Geographic location
Realist see it as Zero-sum competition
(The more power I have, the less you have)
zero-sum competition
If there are two of us and I take some, theirs less for you. Constant conflict in order to get more.
A bipolar world would be very conflictual.
Bureaucratic Politics Model
mini political battle inside big parts of government
-pluralism at the top
-Role vs personality: Personal relationships between officials matter for policy outcomes. These people may argue what is good for your group (ex department of defense) not necessarily what is within the best interests of the state.
Where you sit determines where you stand, views or outcome are driven are determined by the role/ job your in
-Occasionally people jump out of their roles during a crisis
This is all a part of “Going Native”
Diplomacy:
Direct official communications between representatives of international actors
-Has to be official approved communication and usually is to solve some sort of crisis
Constructivism
-Takes feminism one step further
-Focuses on all identities are socially instructed (not just gender)
-Identities serve three purposes
-Identities serve three purposes
Tells you who you are
Tells others who you are
Tells you who others are
Example of identities in IR
Ex: China has decided they are a great power and feel as if the world does not treat then as such. They do stuff to simply get attention to be treated as important.
Main idea of construtivism
Identities change how people/states behave
International Politics
there is no rule against the use of force. Nothing can stop that. Disputes in IR last hundreds of years
Organizational Process Model
Decided to look at outputs (decisions of large groups)
-Satisficing vs optimizing we find the first decision that is good and enough and that is the one we pick. Saves time.
-Avoid uncertainty: emphasize choices that have clear outcomes
Leads to SOP Standard Operating procedures.
Public Opinion:
Range of views on foreign policy issues held by citizens of a state
Types of public opinion:
Fundamental- something that is deeply embedded in our belief structure ex: Nationalism or belief of free trade in the U.S.
Short-term- fluctuates rapidly and changes quickly. Usually support of a specific policy. Ex: Public Moon
Elite- deal with different groups. Key policy makers, lobbyists, and big journalists. Inform upper level thought.
Activists- People that are very involved in topic areas. Special interters. Foreign policy special interest groups. Their opinions do not reflect general societal opinions. They are biased to a specific policy outcome that usually helps them.
Mass Public- The average citizen’s opinion. Usually more focused on domestic policy and usually concerned with foreign policy. Will focus on ir though when something like 9/11 happens. Tends to be very fickle and change fastly.
2 way relationship b/w state behavior and public opinion.
Opinion of people drives gov behavior
Gov helps shape opinion and sway public opinion through release of info
Realism
Direct reaction to idealism
Assumptions of Realism
Human nature is aggressive.
-We’re power seeking and sinful fallen creatures
-We are imperfect, but we are imperfectible
-Our states are rational actors (You look at all your options and choose the one that achieves your goal)
Realist view of anarchy
they see the conflictual and chaos of anarchy continual struggle for power.
Realist on power
the strong will do what they will the weak will do what they must
(Realist) all states are sovereign.
but not equal (power is distributed unequally within the world)
Realism- Domestic politics and ______ are distinct from each other
International relations
-Realist see it as Zero-sum competition
(The more power I have, the less you have)
Realist believe states are
principal actors (Focus on states because they have the power)
Realist believe our states are rational actors
(You look at all your options and choose the one that achieves your goal)
Realists believe we are always trying to maximize
their national interest
Realist dominate issue
National security (keep yourself safe) - big military
Realist measure events based on
safety/ national security
Realist major thinkers:
Thucydides, Morgenthau, Henry Kissinger
Realist rationality
The goal does not matter. We judge how people go about making their decisions.
Realist major policy
Balance of power
Realist believed
Give up mortality from politics
Liberalism
Critiques of realism
Liberalism main ideas
-Shifts our focus back to society and cooperation
-Believe Anarchy has order and organization
-Liberals believe that there are norms on how states should behave
-They believe there are Hedgemons that are powerful and vital to IR
-Liberals say Supranational actors
(mncs igos) serve a purpose in international relations
Because they provide information
(ex: someone is threatening to attack you, send info to igos, igos investigate state, receive information on what state has or can do to you)
Liberals believe
the rational actor model isn’t important because states are not very good at maximizing their interests.
Liberalism on state preferences
no one preference dominates states . Different states want different things at different points in time. What a state deems to be important can change over time.
Liberalism idea on war
War is not a good tool. War is not a good way to achieve goals.
Liberalism believes humans and nations
Humans/nations are not just self-interested: We can change over time/ We can think about others. Altruism is possible.
Core assumptions of Liberalism:
Primacy of societal actors, Representation and state preferences, Interdependence and the international system
Realism focuses on
power- can you get it?
Liberalism focuses on
goals- what do you want?
Liberalism Major thinkers
Bob Keohane, J.S. Mill
Marxism
Radicalism
Critical Theory
stands apart from the prevailing order of the world and ask how the world and asks how that order came about
ex: Feminism and Constructivism
Feminism
-Focuses on individuals and groups
-Specifically gender or gender differences
-Gender differences are socially constructed’
Feminism believes
he idea that women and men are not born behaving differently. Gender differences are socially constructed. The behaviors are learned. We repeat what we see, and it teaches us how to act and we then take on identity structures.
Feminism focuses on
Masculinity vs Femininity
Masculinity = power, autonomy, rationality, public
Femininity= weakness, dependence, emotion, private
How is Feminism IR?
scholars of feminism use it to understand IR
Assumptions of Feminism:
The international/state system is based on gender roles and reinforces them.
Feminism view anarchy
state must defend themselves
-Feminist would say to end this cycle of masculine and tough little boys we must
elect nonconflictual leaders (sneaky complex theory of the world)
Major thinkers of feminism
Ticker, Goldstein
Constructivism
-Takes feminism one step further
-Focuses on all identities are socially instructed (not just gender)
-Identities serve three purposes
How is constructivism IR?
Elite identity
The identity that these elites adopt determines how they will behave
Collection of identities determine what the world will look like
Main idea of construtivism
Identities change how people/states behave
Major thinkers of constructivism
Wendt, Kratochwill
Weakness of Constructivism
It takes a behavior, action, and then looking backwards to see what caused it.
You can never predict.
4 main levels of analysis:
Domestic
State
Dyadic
Systemic
Domestic:
-Looks inside of a state.
-Looking at individuals, groups of people, and domestic politics inside the state.
-Focuses on proximate cause.
What happens just before the war started or just before something happened?
-The match that starts the fire
State:
-State as a unitary actor
-Characteristic of state that makes it behave the way it does
Ex; Geographic location
Dyadic:
-Focuses on comparison of two states to make an explanation
-Dyad = pair
-Shared behavior or interests that explain how the states behave
Ex: two democratic states are very unlikely to go to war.
^that is a dyadic explanation
Systemic:
-How the international system shapes the behavior of states.
-How the forests explains the trees
-Most abstract level of analysis
-Underlying causes (the environment that helps create those events)
-What were the conditions?
The level of analysis problem of IR:
-Which level is best for explaining international relations
Good research sources
Credible sources; Wall Street Journal and Library
Scholarly: JSTOR, EBSCO
Newspapers: NYT, WSJ, Wapo
Magazines: Economist, TIME, Foreign Affairs
Avoid opinion pieces, blogs, or websites
Read current
event
Innate aggression
due to our biological make up we are aggressive
