Final test Flashcards
1
Q
What is politics?
A
Politics is the joint decision making about rules that will govern our lives together. It is also the pursuit of power for your interests and then to impose your interests
1
Q
Why is politics an inevitable part of human life?
A
Human are social beings paired with the fact that there are differing interests
2
Q
Why is it often difficult to solve political problems?
A
Competing interests and institutional factors
3
Q
What are interests? what is usually the primary interest of political actors?
A
intersts are what actors/individuals want. they are their preferences.interest of political actors Is to remain in office.
4
Q
What are institutions?
A
Rules, laws, and norms that affect behavior through incentives and constraints. human devised constraints
5
Q
How does interaction affect behavior?
A
Interactions affect our choices by making us take into account what we think others will do.
6
Q
what are the three primary interaction challenges www discussed this semester?
A
Cooperation
bargaining
delegation
7
Q
What are the four core principals of IR, according to professor Souva
A
political actors primary goal is to retain political office
institution influence behavior
relative/military power significantly influences behavior
Cognitive bias is common
8
Q
Given that war is costly, why does it occur?
A
There is a bargaining failure
9
Q
What is the most common issue in dispute in war
A
Territory
10
Q
Why is the information problem so difficult to resolve?
A
Actors have incentive to misrepresent and therefore it is hard to prove you are telling the truth and getting other actors to beleive you.
11
Q
What are the two primary causes of bargaining failure
A
- incomplete information with the incentive to misrepresent
- credible commitment issues
12
Q
What is another name for the information problem
A
Risk-return trade-off
13
Q
What is the primary cause of credible commitment problem in international relations
A
expected shift in power
14
Q
What is another name for the credible commitment problem ?
A
Time inconsistency problem
15
Q
Based on insights from the bargaining model, what are three ways to make war less likely? connect each solution for peace to a cause of bargaining failure
A
- send costly signals to reduce the information problem
- third party enforcement to enforce terms of a deal. third party enforce peace during a civil war bc neither side wants to lay down their weapons CC.
- increase the costs of war so that there’s a larger bargaining range
16
Q
Do poor domestic political conditions cause war?
A
No, diversionary theory is not a good explanation for war because it Is so costly
17
Q
What is the democratic peace?
A
The idea that a pair of democracies is less likely to go to war against each other compares to any other regime pair type
18
Q
why do democracies rarely fight eachtother
A
democracy itself
-raises the cost of war
-decreases the benefits of war
-increases transparency
- reduces risk-acceptant behavior
19
Q
Given that there is no institution to enforce an alliance contract, why form an alliance? what do strong states from an alliance with a weak state
A
It is a costly signal of commitment to each other/state
strong states get influence from weak states
20
Q
How do you make an alliance credible? provide an example
A
Send costly signals
-joint military excercises
21
Q
Why is collective security difficult to realize, or why can’t the UN Keep peace
A
- collective action free riding problem and joint decision making
22
Q
Who are the p5? how many members are on the security council? how long are their terms?
A
The p5 are members of the UN security council. they are the five countries essential to the decision process because they have the ability to veto. these countries are the USA, China, France<, Russia, Britain. There are 15 members on the council that change every 2 years.
23
Q
Which is more common today, civil war or interstate war?
A
Civil war
24
Where do civil wars tend to occur
poor countries
in clusters
25
which source of bargaining failure is most commonly present in the outbreak of civil war? explain how this often operated in a civil war context
credible-commitment. the terrorist don't want to give up bc they know they will go to jail or be killed
26
what does the security council do?
maintain peace and security. can deploy peacekeepers to mitigate civil wars
27
How does trade increase aggregate wealth?
resources are used more efficiently and production increases
28
What is not good about international trade
there are winners and losers and some people, mostly domestic producers, will lose their jobs
29
what Is protectionism?
Implementing policies that make trade more expensive so as to keep domestic producers more competitive and keep their jobs, they are trade barrier
30
What are three types of protectionism?
- quotas
- prohibitions
- subsidies
tariffs and non tariff barriers
31
Why do governments enact protectionist policies?
to protect domestic producers. keep them from losing their jobs
narrow political interests and mercantilist beliefs
32
What does the Huckster-Ohlin theory tell us about international trade?
In the HO model, there are two countries, two types of goods, and two factors of production. each country is only abundant in one factor or production, either labor or capital. A country should export goods that make use of the abundant factor and import goods that make intensive use of the scarce factor
33
What does the Stolper-samuelson theory tell us about the international trade preferences
An individuals trade preferences are based on which factor of production they possess and the abundant factor in their country. In a capital-abundant country, if you have a lot of capital then you benefit from trade and will have free trade preferences. In this same country, a person who is labor abundant will have more protectionist preferences. this theory indicates that there should be class conflict
34
What does the Ricardo-Viner theory tell us about international trade preferences?
An individuals trade preferences are base don the industry in which they are employed. if you are in a competitive industry and good at exporting then you will have free trade oriented preferences. If you are not competitive then you will have protectionist preferences
35
which set of domestic institutions, democratic or autocratic, tends to be more supportive of free trade and why?
Democratic institutions are more supportive of free trade because It improves aggregate wealth. Non-democratic institutions are threatened by increasing aggregate wealth because the citizens become more powerful and can diminish the rulers power.
36
What is the primary difference between the GATT and WTO?
The WTO has a court which can decide to enforce punishments where they see fit
37
What are the two types of foreign investment
FDI
Portfolio
38
What is austerity?
Austerity measures are policies that are meant to reduce the budget deficit such as a reduction in government spending and benefits, and an increase in taxes,
39
What is moral hazard
Mora hazard is when an actor takes risks because they do not have to fully pay for the consequences due to some kind of insurance
40
What are the Bretton Woods Twins
The international Monetary Fund and the World Bank
41
What does the IMF do? Why do some people dislike IMF Loans and Policies
- Regulate the international monetary system to decrease the chance of another crisis such as the Great Depression from happening
- they can be biased towrd the loaner; they usually have austerity measures
42
What are the exchange rates? why do they matter?
the price of a national currency real-time to other national currencies, it can fluctuate. They effect who trades what and to whom and where international investment goes.
43
How are exchange rates determined?
market forces and government policies
44
Who wants a strong currency
Domestic consumers
45
Who wants a weak currency
exporters
46
What is the trade-off between a fixed versus floating exchange rate regime?
- a floating exchange rate is stable but the government can not easily intervene
- a floating exchange rate allows for more government autonomy but is less stable and there less cetainty in the rare
47
What are the three major international exchange rate systems since 1870? how much does each operate?
gold standard
Bretton woods
managed float
48
What is international law?
Rules that Fascinate cooperation by influencing behavior. institutions that seek to shape how states understand their interests and that constrain many ways in which states interact
a body of rules on warfare, trade, and human rights
49
How does international law fascilitate cooperation
By affecting behavior in two ways: punishment and creating standards of behavior. changing incentives to do certain actions
50
What are primary rules in international law? what are secondary rules?
- primary rules: what to do and what not to do (don't directly target non-combatants
- secondary rules: rules about how the law is made (constitution),
51
What are two types of international law?
- Customary: a norm that developed overtime, not necessarily formal, reciprocal relationship, common in many legal systems (diplomats immunity)
- Treaties: formal and codified, each country political system ratifies the treaty. the treaty is the law of the land in the USA after senate signs it (becomes domestic law).
52
What is an example of customary international law
Diplomatic immunity
53
How does a treaty become an international law
Countries have to ratify it
54
What are three characteristics of international law
Obligation
Precision
Delegation
55
Why do proponents of international law say it matters?
it gets weaker states to do things that they normally would not do
56
Why do skeptics of international law say it does not matter
it only applies to the weak, strong countries can overcome punishments strong states do whatever they want to do, strong states only follow international law when it is in their interests .
57
Which type of treaty is most likely to contain a punishment provision.
Economic and human rights treaties have most punishment provisions
58
What is a norm
an informal law
social contention
59
How does a norm differ from a law
Socially enforced whereas a law is enforced by a government. The punishments. depend
60
How does a norm affect behavior
They affect behavior by creating an identity. defines what we should do by shaping our understanding and interests.
61
What is a transnational advocacy network
a set of individuals and nongovernmental organizations acting in pursuit of a normative objective
62
Why do TANs aim to promote norms?
influence views about what is right and wrong and to change behavior by changing identities and understanding about what is right and wrong
63
What are the three stages of the norm life cycle
- Convince: norm entrepreneurs have cause that the promote and convince others of this position
- Cascade: more people will buy in and the norm will cascade through out society
- internanice: overt time, it is internalized, second nature
64
What is a Frame that is often very successful at changing behavior? Give an example
Describing people as innocent because most people don't want to harm innocent people. preventing harm to innocent people (land mines harm children)
65
Who is jody Williams
Nobel Prize winner for banning the use of land mines
66
If there is not international government, then how can there be international law?
Governments voluntarily choose to bind themselves because of their own sovereignty
67
If there is no world government, does international law effect behavior?
it affects the behavior of small/weaker states but only affects the behavior of strong states in less salient issues. it is unclear
68
What does it mean to affect behavior?
to get someone to do something they. otherwise would not do.
69
Why do states take costly actions to protect human rights of people outside their borders?
Human empathy
political interest- spill over
belief in the principal
70
In light of the widespread support for the principlal of human rights, why has the movement to protect those rights not been more successful?
bargaining and collective action issues. there's controversy over what is a human right. there is a hard time mobilizing countries to sign treaties
when countries ave signed rights and treaties they fail to honor them due to a lack of enforcement/limited enforcement.
71
What was the first widespread international human rights agreement?
After WWII, the UN declaration of human rights
72
what event led to the increase In International human rights agreement
the holocaust
73
What is a human right?
something that belongs to all humans by virtue of being a human. Usually things that you can't lose or forfeit. they are owed to us.
74
What sort of rights has the west tended to focus on?
civil politics rights
75
What sort of rights has the east tended to focus on?
social economic rights
76
What agreements comprise the international bill of rights?
ICCPR
ICESCR
77
In terms of implentation. what is the primary difference between the ICCPR and the ICESCR
- the ICESCR is a progressive realization. countries are bound to progressively realize these rights. depends on the resources the country has
the ICCPR are things that you must do and provide if you sign the agreement
78
Has the United States ratified the ICCPR? has the United States ratified the ICESCR?
The USA has ratified the ICCPR but opted out of the death penalty. the use signed the ICESCR but did not ratify it because of opposite to provisions
79
What are the four primary reasons states violate human rights? example
- Lack of capicity: they do not have the resources/ability to provide rights
- foreign threats: an encroachment on civil liberties when there's a foreign threat (Japanese in was camps)
- Sovereignty as a principal: chinas reasons for violating excusing rights
- To maintain power: Violated for political reasons to maintain power
80
Given that it is unlikely that human rights treaties will be enforces internationally. why do states sign them?
a) costly signals
b) Lock-in: performative action/signal, lock it in to their countries domestic law by signing on to the treaty.
c) Inducements/ linkage: trade privileges, easier travels, pressuring less developed countries to agree to rights
d) empathy, and identity with a common humanity.: its the right thing to do, people should have these rights
81
Given that state leaders care more about what is happening in their country than what is happening elsewhere, why do state leaders sometimes take action on human rights abuses elsewhere?
Empathy
concerns about spill over- strategic interests
domestic political interests
82
Do human rights treaties make a difference?
there are differing views, some things that they do, others don't.
83
What is the pessimistic view on human rights treaties
they don't make a difference, there are no punishments if they are violated.
democracies are already protecting the rights and non democracies will ignore the treaties. they are not changing anything
84
What is the optimistic view on human rights treaties?
they so make a difference, they create domestic groups within countries which can slowly push for change
85
What ae the Helsinki act of 1975
A US agreement with Soviet Union that gave a certain amount of political freedom for voicing political dissent. Did not make the Soviet Union fall immediately but may have contributed to turning public opinion against soviet regime.
86
What does the data say. bout whether respect for human rights has improves or not since 1946?
- traditional data sources say that there has not been much improvement
others say that there has been a lot of improvement, governments are not harming their citizens as much.
getting data is really had bc no one is reporting how much they are torturing people
traditional data says no but Farris's new measure shows improvement.
87
Why might states not enforce human rights treaties
goes against political interests/survuval
concern about naming and shaming backlash
economic costs of doing so
88
Under what conditions are states likely to enforce human rights?
it is in there political strategic interests to do so
not too costly
89
what is individual petition?
allows individuals within a country to appeal to international tribunals for final jusrdiction on human rights violations. redress
90
what is universal jurisdiction
Allows prosecutors in one country to prosecute cimes of perpetrators in another country
91
What is the International criminal court? what can it do? has the USA signed it?
It is a court to try individuals for war crimes and threats to international pease. your country arrests the person charged if they come in to your country and export them to the right country for trail. The USA has not ratified it because there are concerns about politically motivated prosecutions
92
What is the article 98 agreement
- Bilateral treaties that legally bind countries to not extradite any Americans to the ICC, this is a response to the ICC.
-the bilateral agreements supersede the ICC
93
Given broad based support? why is the international environmental cooperation so hard to achieve?
Collective action free riding problem
bargaining problem
94
What is the greenhouse effect
The emissions of carbon dioxide and the trapping of it in the atmosphere which causes global warming. Brought on by the industrial revolution and ramps up in 1850
95
What is the collective action problem concerning environemental issues
It is difficult to get may people to cooperate because everyone wants to benefit without paying the cost. the marginal benefit of each of our contributions is really small. the efforts only work if lots of people also contribute
96
What is an externality ?
an additional effect that is a byproduct of the action. can be positive or negative
97
what is the tragedy of the commons and what is the original example?
it is another name for the collective action problem. when you have to many sheep grazing in the field, the field becomes over grazed and is destroyed. the shed now have nowhere else to eat. one sheets eating will not destroy the field bu if everyone does It then it will be destroyed
98
What type of goods do collective action problems tend to arise over?
non-excludable
99
what type of goods are excludable and rival
private
100
what type of goods are excludable and non-rival
club goods
101
what type of goods are non-excludable and rival
common pool
102
what type of goods are non-excludable and non-rival
public goods
103
What are five general strategies for solving/mitigating collective action problems?
- privatizing public goods (making them excludable)
-keep group size small
- encourage repeated interaction
-encourage joint products
- create a privaledge group
104
What is the enclosure movement?
fencsin off land so that people didn't overgraze it. individuals had their own private land and gave them an incentive to take care of their land
105
What is the Kyoto protocol
international treaty to reduce greenhouse gasses. it is an emissions trading scheme/
106
What is the emissions trading system,
firms or countries are allocated a cetin amount of emissions that they can send out. if your firm wants to ramp up production you have to pay more to emit more pollution
107
How does privatizing a public good help adress the problem?
It aligns individual incentives so that doing the right thing for the environment is all in their interests.
108
How does group size affect the CAP? explain?
Smaller groups are more incentivized to overcome collective action problems. they can organize better as well.
109
What did the Long Range transboundary Air pollution convention 1979 regulate?
Sulfar emissions that caused Acid rain
110
The example of Nepalese farmer was used to illustrate what strategy for solving collective action problems?
Repeated interaction
111
How does repeated interaction help adress a CAP?
repeated interaction facilitates reciprocal punishment. When people know they are going to keep seeing each other, they hold up their end of the bargain.
112
How do Joint products help solve the CAP
Gives actors a financial incentive to provide the public goods Public goods become a byproduct of a private good. the producers are profiting from their private good, but also helping everyone else by providing a public good. DuPont.
113
What environmental problem was reduced through joint products?
The holes in the Ozone created by CFCs was reduced after DuPont created a joint product that did not have any CFC'sin it. this benefitted the environment (public good), and DuPont because they had a market advantage
114
What is a priviledged group?
A small group that has an incentive to provide the public goods on its own. they might get an economic advantage for providing the good. USA
115
Why do environmental interests usually lose the political battle?
- Firms are better situated than individuals to solve CAP due to size
- Consumers want to pay as little as possible
- existing industries have more political clout
116
In the context of the environenment, bargaining problems are about who bears the cost for reducing pollution, what are the 3 different sets of actors bargaining ?
All individuals v.s. firms
people today v.s. people tomorrow
Richer countries v.s. poor countries
117
Who is the biggest emitter of carbon dioxide today? Which set of countries has been the biggest emitter of carbon dioxide for approximately the last 50 years
china
richer countries/eurppe and North America
118
What are two general ways that International institutions facilitate cooperation?
Set standards and verify compliance, facilitating decision making
119
what institutional change occurred in 1978 to make the international convention for the prevention of pollution of the seas by oil much more effective than previous agreements?
new standards
they requires tankers to have a piece of equipment to monitor discharge. the technology change was easer to observe and thus easier to enforce
120
The IWC was created in 1949 to limit annual catches. why did it fail, what changed in 1982, how did this happen, how is Japan trying to change it?
1. there was no incentive to comply and not enough monitoring
2. in 1982, the IWC made a 5 year ban that was easier to track and punish people
3. environmentalist started stacking the membership/ paying for other countries to virtue
4. Japan is using the same strategy by paying countries to vote against the ban
121
Institutions are a function of what factors?
Interaction
interests
122
What leads to a change in interests
change in institutions and technologies
123
What are weapons of mass destruction
Nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons that have the ability to harm/kill large groups of people
124
Approximately how many countries have WMD? how many are capable of developing WMD?
9
20
125
Why are the concerns about the proliferation of WMD greater now than in recent past?
Advances in technology
the diffusion of knowledge
126
Do WMD encourage peace or war?
it depends on the situation. if two states have WMD then it encourages peace because the states are concerned about MAD. IF only one state has WMD then it doesn't make a difference, overwhelming military power is the better explanation for increased conflict.
127
Why is MAD? what does MAD depend on to work successfully
Mutually assures destruction
secured secondary strike capability, a reasonable number of WMD
128
Why might MAD not work outside of the Cold War?
Because there are more countries involved, multilateral vs bilateral. Governments may lose control of the WMD and fringe groups could steal it.
129
What are some alternatives to MAD?
Nuclear umbrellas
Global treaties
coercive agreements
130
We discussed two general effects on international politics of chinas increase in economic power. What are those effects?
Increase in military spending
increased diplomatic activity
131
In power transition theory, what other condition affects the probability of conflict with a power transitions
dissatisfaction with the status quo
132
What led to the current wave of globalization that began in early 1980's
A change in an idea. the fallen soviet union and the perceived triumph of western market. seeing the economic success of countries that adapted to the reforms.
GATT and WTO
technological changes
133
Three primary concerns of globalization
increased economic inequality
empowers businesses more than individuals
more instability caused by inequality
134
What are the two primary ways that TANS try to alter incentives?
Naming and shaming
pressure governments to impose sanctions
135
which of the following issue ares had the highest percentage of TANs in 2000
human rights
136
What are two primary ways that TANs try to redifine interests?
Framing issues
promoting norms
137
What is the process in the boomerang model?
Tan in country b and country A
there Is a problem in b. tans in b motivates group members in countries a to pressure a government to sanction b
138
Which concepts and questions does the Ottawa convention treaty comnnect to?
convention about land mines
tans, boomerang model, collective action problem, international law
the ineffectiveness of international law
139
What is the central unifying principle of international law
sovereignty
140
Human rights increase the rights of ______ and decrease the rights of ____
individual
states
141
why do states sometimes not punish other states that are violating human rights?
political strategic interests
economic intrests
naming and shaming
142
Explain the onset of the Ukraine-russia war of 2022 from the perspective of the credible commitment problem
Putin was concerned that if Ukraine became a member of NATO there would be a significant change in power against Russia. To stop this change, putin attacked Ukraine as first strike advantage
143
What common political problem is the newly elected leader of Argentina, Milei, trying to adress with his proposal to dollarize the Argentinian economy? explain how this strategy is supposed to address that problem
Credible commitment. they need to reduce inflatio. the leaders want to say they are going to have a better budget but no one believes that. the commitment to change policies is not credible. Dollarizing takes a lot of the control of the economy out of the governments hands so they are forced to run a better budget
144
What was the effect of the universal jursidiction and the ICC on Henry Kissinger?
It limited his international travel. Kissinger would not travel to some countries for fear of being arrested
145
Why have both major political parties in the USA abandoned the creation of a Trans pacific trade partnership.
Mercantilist preferences. Concerns about labor and environmental standards. Concern Among many in US that any trade agreement would lead to a loss of US jobs, therefore, there is less political support.
146
Since 2021 there have been 7 coups in sub-Saharan Africa. what two structural factors are common to these coups and many civil wars
poor countries and poor neighborhoods.
