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.