International relations exam 1 Flashcards
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.
who are the Primary actors?
states/ The state
What is a state?
a nation or territory considered as an organized political community under one government.
sovereign state
independent and free from all external control
sovereign state examples
Australia, Afghanistan
Anarchy
The clarity of what is the authority of the nation state, and the answer is the authority of the state is to its own
International system
What is the arragenment of the political units, how are they arranged with respect to each other
When does sovereignty appear?
Treaty of Westphalia—1648 official start of sovereign state system (end of 30 Years War)
Is sovereignty the absolute authority in 1648?
no final and absolute authority exists elsewhere
When does it (sovereignty) appear…19th century?
the English jurist John Austin (1790-1859) developed the concept further by investigating who exercises sovereignty in the name of the people or of the state
Levels of analysi
the differing complementary views, from biological to psychological to social-cultural, for analyzing any given phenomenon
What is the second image? (State level)
State centric
What are the attributes of domestic/state level
mestic politics, regime change, crisis or change WITHIN THE STATE, nationalism -
WITHIN THE 2
STATE, ANYTHING THAT IS CENTRAL TO THE STATE
What is the Third image? (Structural or systemic level)
Systems theory
Kenneth Waltz
Waltz notes the levels of causation or analysis
(Man, the State, and War)
NON-STATE ACTORS
Multinational corporations’ Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) International organizations (IOs)
Blurred line of state vs. non-state
while STATE ACTORS are the ruling governments of a country,
NON-STATE ACTORS are the influential organizations or wealthy individuals having the potential to influence the actions of state actors but are not directly allied to a particular country.
Thucydides
Greek historian. Considered the greatest historian of antiquity, he wrote a critical history of the Peloponnesian War that contains the funeral oration of Pericles
treaty of Westphalia 1648
- state system
- move from religious to secular “political” units
- 30 Years War
First World War
open the black box and stop anthropomorphizing countries, it becomes much easier to see that Germany’s role was more limited than assumed
Interwar Period—League of Nations, Depression
- Attempts to maintain peace and improve living conditions on a global scale saw the introduction of the League of Nations.
- Peace Settlements saw new countries formed.
Second World War
- was a divide
- The war itself brought about a drastic change in the agenda of world politics, and the postwar intellectual climate was characterized by a marked shift away from many earlier interests, emphases, and problems.
Cold War
- has strong elements of the East-West dichotomy.
- It appears as if the East is ideologically opposed to the West.
Post-Cold War
- an invigoration of the role of the United Nations took place
- played an important role in ending, through a collective security war the Gulf crisis resulting from the occupation of Kuwait by Iraq.
Post September 11th
The phase of history that ensued in the aftermath of the 11 September catastrophe marked the beginning of a chronicle of episodes that have had a tectonic impact
Where are the major states?
United States, Germany, China, India, Bolivia, South Africa, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam.
Where do the wars take place?
war states
Joseph Lepgold
Theory-policy debate *
4 key arguments:
1) IR is composed of many groups beyond this rift
2) institutions support integration
3) Shared goals of these groups and institutions—make better policies based on good assumptions about actors, motivations, etc. HELP THE STATESMEN to HELP THE STATE, which informs theory…
4) Some theories are more helpful
Hans morgenthau
Politics among nations, 1946
First realism/theory-based textbook
Relative power
power of a state relative to another
“Theory of International Politics” 1979
Kenneth Waltz
Paradigm
dominant theory in the field - all -isms come back to same core beliefs
the 5 principles
International law
International morality
Economic exchange
International organizations and institutions
Collective security
Do institutions matter?
Yes
Realism
prisoner’s dilemma is a defection strategy
Liberalism
cooperation from both is the best option
Democratic peace theory
Dyadic Democratic Peace theory
In Neoliberalism
institutions matter
In constructivism
Ideas matter
Ideas all the way Down
-Major problem for Constructivism
-What precedes a material structure, an idea
(CHICKEN VS EGG)
What is Free riding?
All state has incentive to defect: Y’all do the thing and I’ll still benefit without doing work
Constructivists have what type of worldview?
an ideational worldview
Realists and Liberals have what type of worldview?
a material worldview
Realism sees 3,3 as relatively the same as 2,2 because of
equilibrium
No real difference in PD because?
They measure differently
They say WALT is
‘smuggling’ threat in an ideational variable
