Final Exam Flashcards
Liberal Theory
Belief that interactions need to be shaped in a way that incentivises collarboration and deincinctives defection
Realism (Offensive)
All states inherently seek regional hegemony and the intl. system forces this. The ideal position in OR is for a state to be so powerful, that no other state will want to challenge it, otherwise known as “Peace through Strength.” States seek to MAXIMIZE SECURITY by MAXIMINZING POWER; security is the GOAL, power is the MEANS.
Realism (Defensive)
The structure of international politics forces states’ behavior, not an inherent drive. States Maximize Security by MODERATING Power and Demand.
Constructivism
It is a theory that argues that significant aspects of global politics, like state identities and interests, are not fixed but are “socially constructed” through interactions, ideas, norms, and shared understandings between states.
What are the three types of liberal theory?
Social, Economic, and Institutional
Globalization
Any development resorting in the “shrinking” of the world.
Realism (General)
IR Theory that Liberalism is too idealistic and that the state is the Principle in Intl. Politics and the natural drive for power; their actions revolve around how it will affect state’s power.
Assumptions of Realism
- Intl. System is ANARCHIC
- All states have CAPACITY TO HARM
- States are UNCERTAIN of each others’ intentions
- All states are RATIONAL
- All states seek SURVIVAL and SECURITY
Security Dilemma
The “tragedy” of international politics, where by a state trying to maximize its security with investment in armaments, it makes neighboring states do the same, making the former state less secure.
National Interests
Set of Preferences over Objects or Goals that motivates the behavior of states
Types of National Interests
Territorial Security (Survival and Military Defense) and Economic Security (Water, Food, and Energy)
Coordination
A type of cooperative interaction in which actors benefit from all making the same choices and subsequently have no incentive not to comply.
Collaboration
A type of cooperative interaction in which actors gain from working together but nonetheless have incentives not to comply with any agreement.
Coercion
A strategy of imposing or threatening to impose costs on other actors in order to induce a change in their behavior.
Maritime Borders
Can only span 12 nautical miles off of coast to be claimed by a state
Interactions
The ways through which the choices of two or more actors combine to produce political outcomes
Dominance
Coercive Power
Identity
Values and Ideas; what constitutes a “good” or “bad” state
Reciprocity
Incentives of give-and-take; rewards system
Agenda Setting Power
Actions taken before or during bargaining that make the reversion outcome more favorable for one party.
What are institutions?
Sets of rules (known and shared by the relevant community) that structure interactions in specific ways.
Economic Liberals
Make states redefine their interests in a way that makes conflicts unappealing or unprofitable, such as economic sanctions
Social Liberals
Person-to-person contact and exposition to other cultures to presumably lessen threat and make them seem less foreign
Institutional Liberals
Neoliberalism; Facilitate coordination and cooperation, believe best way to behave in the international system is to create institutions that maximize cooperation
Economic Gloablization
In economic discourse, globalization refers to the progressive “networking” of national market economies into a single, tightly interconnected global political economy (via advances in communications technology and falling transportation costs) whose accumulation and distribution of resources are increasingly governed by neoliberal principles- emphasizing the role of the market while minimizing governmental involvement in economic matters.
Cultural Gloablization
Cultural globalization encompasses the transfers of popular culture in food, music, dance, and fashion, as well as business practices and procedural techniques in industries and cross-national social movements. The proliferation of ideas, based on political participation, gender, race, ethnicity, poverty, and affluence, as well as the spread of religious fundamentalism are all part and parcel of the process of globalization.
Political Globalization
Observing that, increasingly, states are bound up in complex institutionalized interdependencies, much of the debate on political globalization shows an attempt to move away from the existing state-centered paradigms of international relations theory, arguing that the transnational networks of intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations that play political roles arguably represent a structural change in the international system and therefore constitute a new form of global governance.
Heckscher-Ohlin’s (H-O) Theory
It is a theory that a state will use the resources it is the most plentiful in to create products for export. That could be; labor and producing products that require it, wood and items made with wood, or rare earth minerals and mining them.
Tariff
Tax on imported (international) goods so that domestic producers have less harsh competition against foreign producers. It raises the price of the foreign product domestically since the cost of it is passed off to consumers.
Quota
A cap on a imported product and limit its sale domestically.
Protectionism
Creation of barriers to limit, hinder, or restrict imports.
Neo-mercantilism
The stance on exports being good as they result in job creation, and conversely that imports are bad because jobs are taken away since, so the government should boost the domestic economy by limiting imports and encouraging exportation.
Comparative vs. Absolute Advantage
A nation gets the most benefits from focusing on producing and exporting what it produces the most efficiently vs. Ability to be the best at producing a certain thing than others.
Power
The ability of Actor A to get Actor B to do something that B would otherwise not do: the ability to get the other side to make concessions and to avoid having to make concessions oneself.
Hegemony
Hegemony is the political, economic, or military dominance of one state or social group over others. (In context of IR one states power over other states)
Why do states seek regional but not global hegemony?
Global hegemony has been proved impossible due to the sheer size of the oceans and always creates internal conflicts according to realists
Offensive Alliance
When two or more states agree to attack another state or states together.
Factors that shape state’s interests
Geographical Neighbors, State Ideology, Economic Power, Resources, Military Capabilities, and History
Defensive Alliance
An agreement that if one gets attacked that all states bound by the alliance will come to that state’s defense.
Balance of power
When states or groups of states have equal military capabilities.
Bandwagoning
When a state joins what they perceive to be the stronger side of a conflict so they can ensure their own victory through that alignment.
Entrapment
When an ally provokes a war and then as a result of the state having an alliance with that nation is then dragged into a war they might not want to be in.
War
Violent conflicts between two or more states resulting in at least 1000 battle deaths
Crisis Bargaining
A bargaining interaction in which atleast one actor threatens to use force if their demands are not met
Deterrence vs. Compellence
Deterence is threatening an action to preemptively dissuade an action vs. compellence is to threaten an action if an action isn’t done
Why is the term “use of force” employed rather than war?
It reflects a desire to prohibit not only conflicts from a formal state of war, but resorting to conflict in general.
Anticipatory Self-defense
Response to an imminent armed military attack that has not yet ocured.
Pre-Emptive Self-Defense
Respond to an armed attack that is not imminent but may occur at some point in the future if action isn’t taken
Distinguish between the strict constructionists, imminent threat, and qualitative threat schools.
-Strict constructionists believe self-defense is only justified while state is under ongoing attack (Article 51).
-Imminent Threat believes its okay to respond to imminent attacks
-Qualitative threat believes in predicting threats using math, not just that its imminent, and then if they predict that a grave attack will occur in the future they would act
Are terrorist attacks more domestic or transnational?
Domestic with 89% being so since 1970
How do terrorists hope to win?
Coercion, Provocation, Spoiling, and Outbidding
Study of Foreign Policy
How States Behave
Why States Inherently Behave Differently on an International Scale
Goals, Population and Territory, Economic Resources, Government, Ideology, and Culture/History
3 Parts of Kant’s Perpetual Peace
International organizations (Institutions), Democracy (Republicanism), and Economic Interdependance (Economic Globalism)
Democracy
- A form of government where leaders are elected through frequent and fair elections
- A large portion of the population can vote
Self Defense Threshold
Use of force has already started
Use of Force
The Use of Force is generally prohibited. The prohibition is on all uses of force, not just international wars. If you used force, you are presumed guilty until proven innocent
Article 51
The use of force in self-defense has always been recognized as legitimate in international law
