First Midterm 381 Intro to International Relations Flashcards
Real Politik
- Thucydides and Greek early suggestion of this
- System of politics or principles based on practice not morality or ideology
- Do what you must to protect your interests
- pramatism over ethics, pursue national interest, what is best for state regardless of external moral factors
International Orders
- Regularized practices of exchange among discrete political units that recognize each other to be independent
- Political multiplicity
- Recent rise of the west
Treaties of Westphalia
- Ended 30 years war in 1648
1) territory/geographical location with borders
2) Stable population
3) Some form of government to govern people but ability to defend and maintain territory
4) Ought to be recognized by other states through diplomatic and international legal means.
Sovereignty (modern impact of treaty of Westphalia)
1) Principle of the sovereignty of states and fundamental right of political self determination
2) Legal equality between states
3) Non intervention of one state in the internal affairs of another state
Idealists v.s Realists
Idealist= Norman Angell 1910:
-prospects of war remote because of interconnected economy. proved wrong by WW1
Realists= E.H. Carr:
-interwar years.
-no perfect remedy for war
-competitive nature of politics between nations, war likely outcome. WWII proves him right
Hans Morgenthau
- 1948, Politics Among Nations
- Classical realism
- Competition for power eventually results in war
- Interests not ideology
- Best explained by human nature and human kinds lust for power
- Keep power, increase power, demonstrate power
- Urged for balance of power
- National interest disciplines foreign policy
Name the Pre-20th Century Realists
- Thucydides
- Niccolo Machiaveli
- Thomas Hobbes
- Jean-Jacques Rouseau
Thucydides as a Realist
- Power politics as law of human behavior
- Desire for power and need to follow self interest
- Human nature explains why international politics = power politics
- National Interest= survival
Machiaveli
- Cynical/Pessimistic view of human nature
- Leaders better feared than loved, learn not to be good and act accordingly
Hobbes
- Pessimistic view of human nature in state of nature condition
- Influenced by English Civil War
- Life of man ‘nasty, brutish and short’
Rousseau
- Contract establishing sovereignty reflects general will
- No high power to settle disputes between sovereign states.
Shared Assumptions of Realism
- Statism: within state there is authority that upholds order. Social contract. Legitimate use of force within states. States only actors that matter because of sovereignty. Trade liberty for guarantee of security
- Survival: Core interest of states. Henry Kissinger: first and utmost responsibility. Ethic responsibility.
- Self-Help: no one out there to assist a state. State must help themselves. Can create a security dilemma, one’s quest for security can make other states fearful of intentions. Balance of power emerges from this.
Structural or Neorealism
-Kenneth Waltz 1979 Theory of International Relations
Struggle for power due to structure, anarchy
-More scientific basis
-Structure is a fundamental notion (tangible or intangible) referring to recognition, observation, nature and permanence of patters and relationships of entities
3 Elements of Structure:
1. Organizing principles 2. Differentiation of Units 3. Distribution of capabilities
Elements of Structural/Neo
1. All states are monolithic unity actors capable of making rational decisions based on preference ranking and value maximization
2. Anarchy not chaos is the ordering principle
3.Distribution of power within international system. Waltz placed an emphasis on capabilities: ie) size, econ capabilities, resource endowment, territory
Theory of Offensive Realism
- John Mearsheimer
- States are power maximizers, survival is ensured by being the most powerful in the system
- Self help but states can’t know other states intentions so all states continually search for opportunities to gain more power at expense others
- Hegemony best way to guarantee survival
Reasons States Seek Power Neo/Structural
1) Great powers are the main actors in the world and operate in an anarchic system
2)All states possess some offensive military capabilities. Can only attempt to gauge military capabilities if it possess a threat.
3) States can never be certain about the intentions of others states. Revisionist: determined to use force to alter balance of power. Status Quo: satisfied enough with its position that they have no interest in changing the system balance using force
4) Main goal is survival
5) States are rational actors > monolithic unitary actors capable of making rational decisions
^Incentives to gain power
Reason of State
-1st law: tells statesmen what to do: preserve health and strength of state. State is the key actor and must pursue power. Survival is not guaranteed,
Defensive Realism
Arguments for and against
-Recognize international system creates strong incentive to maximize power but maintain that trying to achieve and maintain hegemony is a foolish strategy. WHY?
Restraints to Hegemony:
-States will balance against you
-Offence-Defense balance, in terms of military capabilities defense is easier
-Conquest does not pay especially in the modern age with national self-determination
Offensive Realist Counter Arguments:
-Balancing is inefficient since each state has a reason to defect
-Offence-defense balance is not straightforward. offense wins wars
-Conquest may not always pay but it CAN pay
States Rational Decision Making Process
- Goal setting and ranking
- Consideration of options
- Assessment of consequences
- Profit-maximizing
What Causes Great Power War? Structural Realist Perspective
1) # of Poles (Major States)
Stable pentarchy 18 and 19th century. Only stable if capability is equal. Bipolar system Cold War era security dilemma. Unipolar.
2) Distribution of Power Between States. Uni polar favors major powers
3) Changes in Distribution of Power. Power Transition Theory A.F.K Organski: even major power will act to ensure survival if there is a change. If a state thinks they can overcome the hegemon they will act. Thucydides trap: when one state tries to replace the dominant power war occurs.
4) Variations in offense defense balance
Neoclassical Realism
- Address these gaps in neorealism: can’t explain all international behavior, treats states as black box rational actors but states often do not act rationally, leaves out human eleven.
- Shares statism, survival and self-help and anarchy
- Human nature foremost determinant of states international behavior.
- Adds individual and domestic factors. Includes unit level analysis
- Fear of others alongside competition for scarce resources leads human beings to seek power and dominate over others
- Power seeking behavior ultimately grows out of human need and desire for power. End in and of itself
- Community, Order and Stability. Morgenthau said all politics is struggle for power that is inseparable from social life itself. No clear distinction between domestic and international politics, differ in degree not kind
