IR 2 Flashcards
Anocracy
A government that is neither a democracy nor an authoritarian regime but instead has aspects of both
Constructivism
A grand approach of IR that examines how changing international norms and actors’ identities help shape the content of state interests
Epistemic (knowledge) communities
Global groups of specialists who promote the importance of specific issues or causes
Institutions/regimes
Institutions/regimes: Sets of rules, norms and procedures around which the expectations of actors converge in specific issue areas
Issue linkage
The policy of connecting issues in different fields (e.g. politics, economy, military) and, hence, making cooperation among actors more likely
Logic of Consequences
Logic of Consequences: The idea that decisions are made on the basis of what the consequences of those decisions are (i.e., “What will happen to me if I behave in a certain way?”)
Logic of Appropriateness
Logic of Appropriateness: The idea that decisions are made on the basis of whether or not a particular course of action is socially acceptable (i.e., “How should I behave in this situation?”)
Norm
Norm: A principle of right action binding upon the members of a group and serving to guide, control, or regulate proper and acceptable behavior
Norm entrepreneurs
Norm entrepreneurs: Individual activists who publicly call attention to a particular state’s policy in order to effect change or emulation
Power projection
Power projection: The use of symbolic action as a means of showing non-military power (e.g., aircraft carriers)
Side-payments
Side-payments: Incentives offered by an actor in an agreement to another to induce them to join and honor the agreement
Social Facts
Social Facts: Things that have no material reality but exist only because people collectively believe they exist and act accordingly
Socialization
Socialization: A form of preference shaping that arises from interaction with and learning from the behaviors/policies of other actors/countries
Unitary Actor Assumption
Unitary Actor Assumption: An understanding of states as individual actors, rationally motivated to achieve goals that are strictly in their national self-interest
Gender Gap
Gender Gap is the difference in opinion on an issue or action that is markedly different between men and women (e.g., the substantial difference between women’s support for war and men’s support for war found in many public opinion polls).
Difference Feminism
Difference Feminism is based on the belief that there are fundamental differences between men and women. In application to IR, this would presume that more women involved in international relations would result in different outcomes.
Liberal Feminism
Liberal Feminism is based on the belief that there are no real social differences between women and men. In application to IR, this would presume that women would be the same as men in positions of power.
Chicken
Chicken: A model of game theory where each player prefers to defect while the outcome where both players defect is the worst possible one for both players
Deterrence
Deterrence: A key example of bargaining based on the policy of persuading an adversary, through the threat of military action, that the costs of an action will outweigh the benefits
Levels of Analysis
Levels of Analysis: A useful way to answer ‘why’ questions in International Relations is to pick a certain angle from which to look for the answer. Three levels at which one can do this are individual, state/society, and system level.
The Madman Theory of IR
The Madman Theory of IR: intentionally making another state believe that the president/leader in power is crazy in order to gain a political bargaining advantage
Nation-state
Nation-state: A legally recognized state comprised overwhelmingly of one nation
Mirror imaging
Mirror imaging: the psychological tendency to consider one’s own actions to be good, moral, and just, and the actions of the enemy as automatically evil, immoral, and unjust
Nation
Nation: A group of people who share a common identity based on a shared history, language, culture, etc.
Nationalism
Nationalism: The idea that nations should have their own nation-states—i.e., there should be congruence between state and nation, and that the dominant nation should have power in a state.
The international system
The international system: The pattern of regular interactions between state and non-state actors concerning global or cross-border issues.
Polarity
Polarity: The distribution of power in the international system, specifically the number of great power states that balance against one another.
Public diplomacy (also: track one diplomacy):
Public diplomacy (also: track one diplomacy): diplomacy involving foreign public and elites in order to facilitate negotiations and/or create a positive image of another country
Track two diplomacy
Track two diplomacy: diplomacy carried out by individuals outside of the government, e.g. non-state actors
Two-level games
Two-level games: the phenomenon that international leaders often negotiate simultaneously with domestic political actors and international actors concerning the same issue.
Alliance
Alliance: A coalition of states that coordinate their actions to accomplish some end
Ratification
Ratification: International treaties usually have to be ratified, i.e. passed as domestic law, in order to become legally binding
Bargaining
Bargaining: A type of negotiation where two or more actors dispute to reach an agreement regarding how to distribute the outcome of the agreement
Rationality
Rationality: The assumption that states and other international actors can identify their interests, put priorities on various interests, and make their choices accordingly
Conflict
Conflict: A difference in preferred outcomes in a bargaining situation that can arise over ideas (ethnic, religious, ideological) or interests (territorial, government, economics)
Leverage
Leverage: Using power capabilities to influence an actor to reach a more favorable agreement, types of which include nonmilitary means (e.g., trade, economic sanctions, foreign aid, diplomats) and military means (e.g., conventional forces, irregular forces, weapons of mass destruction)
War
War: Sustained, organized violence between two internationally recognized groups that results in at least 1,000 deaths
Territorial conflicts
Territorial conflicts: A type of conflict over land between states or between different groups within a state
Coup d’etat
Coup d’etat: The sudden overthrow of a government through a small, powerful group (military or non- military, domestic or foreign)
Irredentism
Irredentism: A form of territorial conflict where state 1 wants to annex territory from state 2 because it previously belonged to state 1 or because some ethnic group of state 1 lives in state 2
Border dispute
Border dispute: A form of territorial conflict where one state questions the demarcation line to another state and intends to incorporate part of the other state’s land
Secessionism
Secessionism: A form of territorial conflict where a group wants to withdraw from an existing state and form its own state
Economic Conflicts
Economic Conflicts: A type of conflict over territory that is important for trade routes or resource production
Societal Cleavages
Societal Cleavages: Divisions within a society, which can be based on socio-economic status, ethnicity, religion, national identity, and ideology etc.
Cross-Cutting Cleavages
Cross-Cutting Cleavages: Social divisions where the salient cleavage lines cut across society, meaning individuals fall into multiple categories. Nationalism is harder to foster in this environment.
Parallel Cleavages
Parallel Cleavages: Societal divisions where the salient cleavage lines run parallel to each other. In these cases, it is easier to foster nationalism but also easier to cause civil war by mobilizing along relevant cleavages.
Democratization
Democratization: The process of political transformation from authoritarianism to democracy. During this process countries are often vulnerable from inside and outside, which can lead to a rise of aggressive nationalism.
Kimberley Process
Kimberley Process: UN-sponsored process since 2000 to monitor trade in rough diamonds. It attempts to regulate cross-state trade in rough diamonds.
Resource Curse
Resource Curse: A phenomenon where states with a large amount of valuable natural resources tend to be authoritarian states with non-industrialized economies, based primarily on the service sector surrounding the resource, with huge rich-poor gaps and low growth rates.
Terrorism
Terrorism: Although difficult to define, terrorism tends to be a premeditated form of violence, the point of which is not the violence itself but rather the fear inspired by the violence and anticipation of future attacks. Terrorist attacks tend to be perpetrated by non-state actors against non- combatants with the aim of changing state policies.
