Exam 2 Flashcards
world imperial system
western: Spanish, French, British
regional empires: Sumerian, Persian, Chinese
feudal system
crosscutting, non-territorial loyalties and conflicts
examples of anarchic system of states
- city-states
b. dynastic territorial states
NGO
non-governmental organization
IGO
intergovernmental organizations
who said that people can make contracts?
john locke
who emphasized insecurity, force, and survival?
Thomas Hobbes
what is the dominant tradition, it is more pessimistic?
realism
strategos
general
who was the father of realism?
Thucydides
what is a characteristic of an anarchic organization?
security dilemmas
prisoners dilemma
a. cooperation
b. issues of trust and credibility
the more optimistic tradition, traces back to baron Montesquieu, Immanuel Kant, Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, Woodrow Wilson?
Liberalism
what is often called idealism?
liberalism
constructivists
a. concepts are socially constructed, subjective, and impermanent
b. focus on ideas and culture
c. understanding of “security” evolves
d. feminist critiques
e. debates over basic concepts: sovereignty, humanitarian intervention
f. john maynard keynes dead scibblers
world imperial system (empires)
a. Roman Empire (27 BC- 476 AD),
b. Habsburg Spain,
c. Bourbon France,
d. British Empire
feudal system
crazy quilt of loyalties, but knit together by a common order under the empire and church
anarchic system of states
greek and italian city-states, sovereign territorial states, peace of westphalia
what is Thomas Hobbes’s state of nature?
no common enforcement of international law
how do domestic and international politics differ?
- no one has monopoly on the use of force
2. lack of common loyalties and standards of justice
what says the central problem is war and the use of force; the central actors are states; states seek to maximize their power?
realism
what says the global society functions alongside states and sets part of the context; ecological interdependence blurs borders; it aspires toward an international legal order?
liberalism
what is marxism?
class conflict and struggles among capitalist states (imperialism) lead to war
what is the dependency theory?
the wealthy countries of the “core” dominate and hold back countries of the periphery
what are merely variations on one state-centric rationalist mode of international relations?
neorealism and neoliberalism
who adds neoconservativatism, a convergence of liberalism with anticommunism?
Codevilla
what concepts are socially constructed rather than expressions of permanent reality?
nation and sovereignty
who (group) seeks to understand how preferences are formed and knowledge is generated prior tot he exercise of instrumental rationality?
constructivists
building blocks: goals
military security, economic strength
instruments
link between military strength and achievement has loosened; but the balance of power is usually determined by a hegemonic state, a role by the British empire, and more recently, the US
who oppressed the allies by raiding the Delian treasury for his public works projects?
Pericles
why did Sparta form the Peloponnesian League?
as a defensive alliance
what happened in Epidamnus (Albania) that threatened to shift the balance of power?
outbreak of civil war
why did Athenian deterrence fail?
Athens intervened to protect Corcyra; Corinth stirred a revolt in Potidaea in 432; the Athenians, among them Alcibiades and Socrates, put it down
why did Sparta go to war?
to maintain the balance of power
what led to the fatal miscalculation in the attack on Sicily?
the overconfidence and imperial hubris of the Athenians
advantage of “tit for tat”
Robert Axelrod
Donald Kagan: precipitating causes:
Corinth misjudged the Athenian response: Pericles overreacted
modern lessons
1) Be aware of regularities and changes
2) Beware of patently shallow historical analogies
3) Be aware of the selectivity of historians: See “Models of Historical Interpretation”
4) Be aware the questions change; historians are affected by their contemporary concerns
5) The need to select does not mean that everything is relative or that history is bunk
Corcyra used what in its appeal to Athens?
the language of ethics
moral arguments can be mere propaganda…
used to disguise less elevated motives e.g. melian dialogue
what are the two traditions of moral judgment?
- Kant: internationalism (idealism)
2. Benthan: consequentialism (utilitarianism)
who holds lying wrong because of negaive consequences produced by lying—but may accept it in some cases?
a consequentialist
who might argue that lying is always wrong despite any potential good that might come from lying?
deontologist
who focuses less on lying on any particular case and instead considers what a decision to tell lie or not tell a lie says about a person’s character and moral behavior
virtue ethicist
jeremy benthan
english utilitarian philosopher, ethical hedonist
immanuel kant
german idealist philosopher, ethical deontologist
aristotle
aretaic (virtue) ethicist
what are the three views of the role of morality?
skeptics, state moralists, cosmopolitans
skeptics
moral categories are meaningless; no institutions exist to provide order; but there are choices
“a balance of power alleviates the condition of international anarchy”
Hobbes
points to international law and customs, along with areas of cooperation
liberals
“national boundaries have a moral significance because states represent the pooled rights of individuals who have come together for a common life”?
Walzer
intervention
a long-standing problem, but the means and consequences differ widely
radical view of cosmopolitans
inequality must be abolished; national boundaries lack moral standing; but realists warn against formenting disorder
moderate view of cosmopolitans
policies can be designed to assist basic human needs and rights without destroying order
what is a state?
a type of political unit that combines two crucial characteristics
territoriality
governing a specific space
sovereignty
the absolute right to do so
the structure and processes of political institutions
government
a cultural concept like ethnic group
nation
any person or body whose decisions and actions have repercussions for itnernational politics: anthropomorphizing is common
actor
attributes of states
- all but failed states control the flow of people and goods across their borders
- states are normally the only actors that wield significant armies
- states have the power to tax and spend in sinificant amounts
- only states promulgate and enforce laws and are answerable to no higher authority
what is power?
the ability to achieve one’s purposes or goals
Power Conversion
Capacity to convert potentia (physical power), as measured by resources, to realized power, as measured by the changed behavior of others
power resources
Population is a critical resource, providing a base for taxes and military recruitment; industry, railroads, and nationalist sentiment have become important
Hard Power
may rest on inducements (carrots) or threats (sticks).
Soft Power:
The propaganda of attractive ideas, the ability to set the agenda, determining framework of a debate. Classic realists understood the role of ideas.
authority
can be a power resource when others respect it, but power can be had without authority
system
interrelated sets of units or a pattern of relationships among these greater than the sum of the parts
the structure of a system=
distribution of power; it is more basic and changes slowly
what does the process of a system refer to?
patterns and types of interaction among its units
Kenneth Waltz distinguishes three levels of causation:
individual, state, and system
individual level
we may focus on the character or personality of individuuals, or we may focus on common characteristics, such as “human nature”
what are the four main approaches of political psychology?
cognitive, motivational, behavioral economics, psychobiography
cognitive
analogies: western leaders misjudged Gamal Abdel Nasser as an opportunistic aggressor like Hitler or Mussolini
motivational
fears: don’t shoot the messenger, dismissal as “going native”
behavioral economics
prospect theory: taking greater risks to avoid losses
psychobiography
Signumd Freud and William C. Bullitt on Woodrow Wilson
what does a state or domestic level analysis focus on?
on the nature of a given society: whether it is democratic, tyrannical, capitalist, or whatever
system level analysis focuses on what?
the way the overall system constrains the states
rule of parsimony
simple explanations that shave away unnecessary detail-but also look at the range of a theory and its explanatory fit.
parsimonious neorealist view:
a state’s position in a system determines how it acts; states with similar positions will act similarly
who argues that the internal organization of the state under capitalism causes war?
marxists
what is the critique of the Marxist foreign policy?
fails to explain onset on WWI, sino-soviet split, trialteralism
classical liberalism
capitalist states tend to be peaceful since war is bad for business
social strand argues what?
that personal contacts reduce conflict by promoting understanding, but the evidence in its favor is at best mixed
what emphasizes the importance of international institutions, which provides a framework that shapes expectations and, by reducing the acuteness of the security dilemma, reduces the effect of the anarchy that realists assume?
political liberalism (neoliberalism)
hypothesis qualified
many new democracies are only plebiscitary democracies without liberal democratic process of free press, checks on executive power, and regular elections
counterfactuals
are contrary-to-fact conditionals; they are thought experiments to define causal claims
who spread the exogenous french revolutionary idea of popular sovereignty?
Napoleon
development and use of new weapons made WWI particularly bloody
technology
social organization of war
frederick II employed a mercenary army of summer soldiers
levee en masse
mass mobilization
constant rule of prudent politics
Hume
chimera, incomprehensible nothing
Cobden
evil principle ignores public wishes
wilson
states balance power not to preserve peace, but their independence
its rationale
hegemonic stability theory
imbalanced power produces peace; war is more likely when a strong power slips and a new challenger rises
who said “there are no permanent alliances, only permanent interests”?
Lord Palmerston
who supported the defense of France against Germant?
Sir edward Grey
who restored the structure of the old order at the Congress of Vienna?
Prince Klemens con Metternich and his counterparts
who sought to unify Germany at that time and promulgated a liberal constitution, but he soon backpedaled and withdrew his proposed Erfurt Union in 1850 because of Austrian objections?
Fredrick William IV
who was an agile diplomat who delayed the effects of this major structural change to the system’s political process?
Otto von Bismark
idealism (german wars of unification)
underlying harmony in human relations; abnormality of war
realism (german wars of unification)
right, as the world goes, is only in questions between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.
german national problem
- German Confederation, 1848: 38 states
- Growth of national feeling, desire for unity
- Question of Austrian vs. Prussian hegemony
- Liberal nationalists sought a constitutional federal government; conservatives sought cooperation with the Austrian monarchy
- The Prussian king refused the offer of an imperial crown; a Prussian Union also failed
realist methods used for conservative aims
- national sentiment used to unify Germany
- Austria excluded from the new German state
- army used as a nation-building instrument
how did technology influence the german wars of unification?
Prussian railroads made possible rapid mobilization of troops to the frontlines and shifting them to other battlefields as needed for concentrated firepower
2) The telegraph enabled orders to go out more rapidly, the Railway subsection to control trains, and Moltke to control a large army
3) The new breech-loading rifle was quicker to load and more maneuverable
revanchism
french outcry for revenge
early 19c german general and strategist
karl von clausewitz
what is the basis for military prowess?
industrial strength
