Lecture 5 Flashcards
Geopolitics
- If IR Theory addresses the relationships between (primarily) states in the international system, than geopolitics (in the contemporary usage of the term) considers the conduct of international relations across space and how geography and politics interact and shape each other.
- Geopolitics examines how these factors impact a state’s political, military, economic and even ideological power; it can also lead to the creation of defined regions and relationships between states, regional associations, and power blocs
Geopolitics, Realists
Realists tend to see borders as concrete definers and protectors of state sovereignty and security.
Geopolitics, Liberals
Liberals are more likely to view geography in terms of how places are integrated into the global system with stability lying in well integrated, predominantly democratic and capitalistic states with and instability and threats emanating from less integrated rogue states and ungoverned spaces
Geopolitics, Constructivists
Constructivists are less concerned with physical geography and location and more so on how spaces are socially constructed or perceived.
IR Theories help us to…
- Explain state behavior
- Apply key concepts to explain the interaction of states in the international political system
—- Anarchy
—- Sovereignty
—- Power
Levels of Analysis- Individual, State, System
What is the Realist Worldview?
- Views states as most important actor
- Primary goal is national interest
- Repetitive struggle for power
- Security dilemma → perpetuates self-help
- Stability maintained with a balance of power
- Cooperation is difficult
Realism
paradigm based on premise that world politics is essentially and unchangeably a struggle among self-interested states for power and position under anarchy, with each competing state pursuing its own national interests.
Self-help
principle that, because in international anarchy all global actors are independent, they must rely on themselves to provide for their security and well-being.
Relative gains
conditions in which some participants in cooperative interactions benefit more than others.
National interest
goals that states pursue to maximize what they perceive to be selfishly best for their country.
Security dilemma
tendency of states to view the defensive arming of adversaries as threatening, causing them to arm. In response to that, all states’ security declines.
Balance of power
theory that peace and stability are most likely to be maintained when military power is distributed to prevent a single superpower hegemon or bloc from controlling the world.
War System
- We have enemies
- War is inevitable; we have always had it and always will
- War is “human nature,”
- War is necessary
- War is beneficial
- The world is a “dangerous place”
- The world is a zero-sum game (What you have I can’t have and vice versa, and someone will always dominate, better us than “them.”)
What is Liberalism’s Worldview?
- Emphasis on unity of humankind
- Importance of individuals
- The power of ideas
- Unequal living conditions seen as source of conflict
- Diplomacy leads to mutually acceptable solutions
- Emphasis on free trade
- Global institutions & intergovernmental organizations (IGOs)
–International progress is possible; defined as movement toward increasing levels of cooperation between political communities
Liberalism
Paradigm predicated on the hope that the application of reason and universal ethics to international relations can lead to a more orderly, just, and cooperative world; liberalism assumes that anarchy and war can be policed by institutional reforms that empower international organization and law.
