International relations exam 1 Flashcards
(69 cards)
What is state centric?
whatever goes on in the state or is attributed to the state is causal
States not really solid actors until
- end of Napoleonic Wars
- New Organization of Europe
Social science theory
- seeks to explain social phenomena, NOT PROVE
- logical explanations of social phenomenon
Domestic vs international politics: Social
-In Domestic politics there is a social diminstion, there is a common sense of community and loyalty, a shared identity
-What happens to people in my community matters to me in a way that happens to ppl outside my community doesn’t
- A common sense of community that doesn’t exist in international politics
SOVEREIGNTY
Ability of a state to govern its territory free from control of its internal affairs by other states.
Is the concept of the state weak or strong from the beginning?
weak
Do all states have sovereignty?
Yes
Is Sovereignty equal among states?
States are deemed equal just by their status as states under international law. (YES)
what is the first image? (Individual level)
Great Man Theory
What is the Great Man Theory?
Cause is found in individuals or small groups based on their characteristics (FIRST IMAGE)
What is systems theory?
means SYSTEMIC OR STRUCTURAL variables are CAUSALLY/ANALYTICALLY PRIOR to unit level variables.
Pelopennesian Wars
reshaped the ancient Greek world. On the level of international relations, Athens, the strongest city-state in Greece prior to the war’s beginning, was reduced to a state of near-complete subjection, while Sparta became established as the leading power of Greece
Proxy wars
are conflicts in which a third party intervenes indirectly in a pre-existing war in order to influence the strategic outcome in favour of its preferred faction
In Liberalism
cooperation matters
In realism
Power matters
international relations
A field in political science which concentrates on relations between countries, such as foreign policy, war, trade, and foreign aid.
Security Studies
The study of what causes, prevents, and ameliorates conflicts between militaries or social groups
IPE
International Political Economy; analyzes international relations in combination with political economy; inter connectivity between economics/trade and politics/IR
Goal of IR theory
- Logic and Debate
- Solve or predict problems and improve the world
- Generalizability (Generalize explanations)
What should theory do?
Provide a:
* Causal explanation
* Use empirical evidence
* Make a general argument
X causes Y
causation
§ In the balance of power, one state gains power while one loses power
§ One state is satisfied with the power gain while the other isn’t
§ The state who is losing power begins to think of what it needs to do to gain power
§ That in return causes both states to disagree with one another and makes them change their politic, which ends with war
parsimony
Getting to the smallest number of explanatory variables to explain the largest numbers of why
(YOU CAN’T HAVE ZERO, SO YOU CAN HAVE)
Falsifiability
to falsify a theory—all theories can be falsified, because they are SOCIAL in nature…no laws in social world.
Theoretical degeneration
to add to the independent or add more independent variables—hurts the strength of the explanation, hurts parsimony. Trying to explain every case by adding to the independent variable is DEGENERATION.
