Final Flashcards
What are human rights?
A right possessed by individuals by virtue of being human
What is the most important statement of human rights?
the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Where do the ideas of human rights go back to?
The enlightenment and the founding fathers
What is contained in the 1948 declaration of human rights?
Civil, political, and cultural rights
Why did human rights activists want official treaties after the 1948 agreement?
They wanted something that would be binding
What was the genocide convention?
The first piece of hard human rights law, defines genocide, and gives states clear obligations to respond
Why did many pieces of international human rights legislation get held up after the genocide convention?
Cold war politics
What is contained in the ICCPR?
Life, liberty, equal standing before the law, freedoms of movement, religion, expression, forbids torture, arbitrary arrest, and detention
What generation of human rights is the ICCP?
first
Why did the US refuse to sign the ICCP at first?
The objected to the fact that it was a self-executing treaty, which made many other countries cry fraud
What rights are included in the ICESCR?
The right to living wages, equal pay for equal work, right to unionize, paid parental leave, free primary education
Did the US ever sign the ICESCR?
Yes
Why are human rights controversial?
States don’t have the same interest promoting the same human rights to the same extent, states have an interest supporting rights they already protect, and states may not protect costly rights, don’t want to spend money, competition of ideas (east vs west), internalizes western rights, we don’t agree what human rights are
What are nonderogable rights?
Rights that cannot be suspended for any reason, including public emergencies
What are some nonderogable rights?
Freedom from torture, recognition as a human being, freedom of religion, thought, and peaceful protest
What rights do sanctions almost always support?
Nonderogable rights
Why might states violate human rights?
They face violent or potentially violent opposition or during war or uprising
Why do states sign human rights agreements?
Demonstrate their commitment to democracy, lock in reforms, receive rewards for compliance, and constrain the human rights practices of others
Are human rights treaties effective?
The evidence is mixed
What factors do human rights treaties rely on?
Domestic rule of law, strong domestic courts, large numbers of domestic NGOs
Why has there been a lack of improvement in civil rights?
Most signers are already good democracies, realists: international laws don’t matter, states want to comply, but can’t, want to look good
Why may some human rights agreements be more effective in the long run?
They encourage activists to get involved, NGOs can use agreements to demand better treatment from states, naming and shaming
What is the International Criminal Court?
A permanent court that prosecutes individuals for crimes against humanity, genocide, and war crimes
When is the ICC applicable?
When the accused lives in a state that is a member OR the crime took place in a member state OR crime is so heinous it is referred to the ICC
What are the two ways to constrain states?
Laws and norms
What is law?
A body of rules that binds states and other agents in world politics and is considered to have the status of law
What is customary international law?
Law that develops slowly over time, and gives legal recognition to practices states already do
What are international treaties?
Negotiations by parties of the treaty and ratified
How do international laws vary?
Through obligation, precision, and delegation
What is obligation?
The degree which the law is binding
What is precision?
The degree which obligations are specified
What is delegation?
The degree which authority is delegated to a third party
What is hard law?
Law that is obligatory, precise, and delegates authority to third parties
What is soft law?
Law that is aspirational, ambiguous, and does not delegate much authority
What are transnational actors?
Individuals or organizations who operate across borders, includes TANs, religious organizations, terrorist groups, and MWCs
What are INGOs?
Global nongovernmental organizations made up of private individuals in pursuit of a normative objective
What is a TAN?
A group that believes in the power of norms to change state ideas
What are the goals of TANs?
Change norms, enforce norms, facilitate cooperation, and provide direct services
How do TANs enforce norms?
Naming and shaming and the boomerang model
What is the boomerang model?
When a good state puts pressure on a bad state to enforce a norm
How do TANs facilitate cooperation?
By endorsing agreements and monitoring
How do TANs monitor?
Through police-patrols, or raising the alarm
Are TANs successful?
There are lots of successes, but more failures
Why do countries trade?
To maximize economic efficiency through specialization
When do you have absolute advantage?
When you are the absolute best at producing a good
What does the Heckscher-Ohlin Trade Theory say?
Export goods that intensively use abundant factors of production and import goods that use a scarce factor of production
What are factors of production?
Land, labor, and capital
What is protectionism?
Restricting trade to protect domestic industries from foreign competition
What are the forms of protectionism?
Tariffs, quotas, subsidies, regulations, and dumping
Does free trade or protectionism benefit the economy more?
Free trade
Who are the winners of free trade?
Consumers, industries with comparative advantage, and large global firms (and their workers)
Who are the losers of free trade?
Industries with comparative disadvantage and small businesses that struggle to compete with imports
What is the Stolper-Samuelson theorem?
Protection benefits the scarce factor of production and open trade benefits the abundant factor of production
What do realists say about trade?
Fear depends on trade, trade can lead to war as countries worry about relative gains, and trade should be strategic, not free
What do liberals say about trade?
Policies and economics should be separate, trade leads to peace, and trade maximizes absolute gains
What do marxists say about trade?
Economics determines policy, trade increases inequality, gains go to elite, and it can lead to war as corporate actors need to ensure access to resources and markets
What are the three major types of investment?
Portfolio investment, sovereign lending, and foreign direct investment
What is portfolio investment?
Stocks and bonds
What is sovereign lending?
Banks lend to governments
What is foreign direct investment?
Acquisition of facilities in another country
Why do people/companies invest abroad?
To make money
Where is most international investment?
In rich countries
What do investors care about, besides interest rates?
Risk, likelihood of repayment, likelihood of nationalization, and the stability of society
Why should you borrow?
If you’ll make more ROR than interest rate, you’ll make a profit
Why do governments borrow abroad?
Borrowing leads to more investment and consumption, which leads to a higher GDP
What is the downside of governments borrowing?
Conflicts of interest between actors, debt repayment leads to austerity measures, objections of creditor nations, and bailouts
What is the goal of the IMF?
To prevent and alleviate financial crises, so they don’t spread
How does the IMF prevent financial crises?
By acting as a lender of last resort
What is a multinational corporation?
An enterprise which operates in a number of countries, with production or service facilities outside its country of origin
Why do corporations go multinational?
To make more money by having access to local markets or take advantage of local resources
Why do countries want FDI?
Jobs, skills and technologies
What are the downsides to FDI?
Fights over taxations, profits go abroad, wages are kept low, and corporate exits can be devestating
What are the four big reasons for economic development?
Geography, domestic policies, domestic institutions, and international factors
Why do countries closer to the equator tend to be less economically developed?
There are more diseases and agriculture is not productiive
What happens with economic development when a country is landlocked with bad neighbors?
They cannot access shipping ports
What is the resource curse?
Countries with more resources tend to have less economic development
What are the two biggest things government can do to encourage economic growth?
Provide public goods and protect property rights
What are public goods?
Goods consumed by everyone, regardless of whether or not you paid for it
Why should property rights be protected?
People will not save if they don’t think they can keep their money
What is import substituting industrialization?
Government protects domestic markets from imports so they could grow up without competition
Does ISI work?
No
What is export oriented industrialization?
Government supports exporters right away to become globally competitive
Does EOI work?
Yes
How can domestic policy go wrong?
Don’t protect property rights, policies that favor narrow groups at the expense of the rest of the population, failure to pursue a certain strategy of industrialization/globalization
What happens when domestic institutions are not representative?
They will provide less public goods, leading to less economic development
What occurs when a country fails to restrict executive authority?
They will keep everything for themselves
What does it mean that institutions are sticky?
They tend to persist, even when it doesn’t really make sense anymore
Why has colonialism been such a huge factor on industrialization?
Europeans relied on extractive political and economic institutions, created a weak national identity, and only created strong institutions in places they wanted to settle
What does it mean that developing countries face declining terms of trade?
They are never going to get the upper hand in trade negotiations
What is the tragedy of the commons?
Every individual has incentive to use as much as they can of a resource, even if they know the resource is running out
What are the two challenges that environmental protection faces?
Collective action problems and bargaining problems
What is the collective action problem with environmental protection?
Environmental solutions require collective action, but everyone has incentives to free ride
What happens in the collective action problem when the problem is more complex, and involves a larger group?
It is harder to solve, and the incentive to free ride is stronger
Who are the winners of measures to reduce climate change?
The public, clean producers of newer technology, and rich countries
Who are the losers of measures to reduce climate change?
Consumers of cheap, dirty goods, dirty producers, and poor countries
Who does the developed world say should pay for climate change measures?
Everyone
Who does the developing world say needs to pay for climate change measures?
The rich countries that are mostly responsible, and they are poor and cannot pay
How did COP27 deal with the struggle of who should pay for climate change measures?
It created a fund for poor countries to transition away from fossil fuels
What did the Paris climate agreement do that helped get over the problem of who should pay for climate change measures?
It let every country set its own goal, and make its own contribution
What are some ways to solve environmental problems?
To create private property and create regulations
