Midterm Review POV

Question 1

Human Nature: Realist View

Answer 1

• Portrayed as ‘biological realism’
• Influenced by Hobbes and Machiavelli
  
  • The core of human nature is fixed/unchanging
  • Nature is more influential&raquo_space; rejects impact of nurture
  • Instinct prevails over itellect
  • Humans are self-seeking and egotistical

Question 2

Human Nature: Liberal View

Answer 2

• Broadly optimistic
• Humans are self-reliant creatures
• Humans are governed by reason and are capable of self-development but their nature is unchanging and fixed at birth
• Faith in a harmony of interest (Peace)
• non-violent solutions
• anti: force and aggression

Question 3

Human Nature: Critical View

Answer 3

• Humans don’t have a definitive nature
• Human nature is determined by the individual
  
  • Molded through experience
• Favors nurture and not nature
• Humans are social creatures
• ‘plasticity’
• we develop our personalities and wants and perceptions from our own POV

Question 4

The State: Realist View

Answer 4

• States are unitary and coherent actors
• Leaders will speak up on behalf of their states
• The state is driven by ‘the wish to survive’
• Realists disagree about whether this implies a defensive desire to avoid invasion and attack or an aggressive wish to maximize power and achieve domination.

Question 5

The State: Liberal View

Answer 5

• States arise out of the need of society
• Reflects the interests of individual citizens
• The state was established in order to escape from chaos and the brutality of human nature
• The state acts as a referee or umpire
• Liberals generally accept that Globalization has been marked by the decline of the state

Question 6

The State: Critical View

Answer 6

• They reject both realist and liberal views
• The identity of the state has a fixed and objective character ; rather ; the identity of the state is shaped by a variety of factors (historical and sociological)

Question 7

Society: Realist View

Answer 7

• Give little attention to society
• The focus of their attention is on the state and not society
• Internal social, political, constitutional and cultural arrangements are irrelevant to its behavior in the global system
• The state imposes their views on society and used their resources to attain their goals
• Defined as competition and struggle and not regular patterns and social interaction.

Question 8

Society: Liberal View

Answer 8

• Based on individualism
• Society isn’t a mass of people it’s a collection of individuals
• Favors an international society&raquo_space; interactions among states and non-states actors tend to be structured by principles, procedures, norms and rules.

Question 9

Society: Critical View

Answer 9

• Largely influenced by Social constructivism
• Identities and interests in world affairs are socially constructed
• Social, cultural, and historical factors are therefore of primary interest in world affairs and affecting the behavior of states and other actors.

Question 10

Human Rights: Realist View

Answer 10

• Believe that human rights are a ‘soft’ issue in international affairs
• the association of human rights with IA is ‘wrong-headed’
• It is unreasonable and impossible to think of politics in moral terms
• Morality and national interest are separate things

Question 11

Human Rights: Liberal View

Answer 11

• The modern doctrine of human rights is largely based on the product of liberal political philosophy.
• Liberals used the notion of human or natural rights to establish the basis of legitimacy
• Belief that the central purpose of government is to protect natural rights

Question 12

Human Rights: Critical View

Answer 12

• Openly hostile towards the liberal view on Human rights
• The global justice movement has used economic and social rights as the basis of calls for a radical redistribution of power and resources, both within countries and between them.
• Human rights has been turned into a doctrine of global social justice

Question 13

International Organization: Realist View

Pg.444

Answer 13

• Realists are deeply skeptical about international organizations
• They view such bodies as largely ineffective and also question their authority
• The weakness of IO is because I. Politics continues to be characterized by a quest for power amongst all states
• If there isnt work being put towards a harmony of interests there is little room for collaboration and coooperation internationally.

Question 14

International Organization: Liberal View

Pg.444

Answer 14

• Most committed supporters of IO
• States corporate because it is in their best interest to do so» doesn’t imply that there is a harmony of interests
• Mutual cooperation is reasonable
• IO represents the interdependence between states

Question 15

International Organization: Critical View

Pg.444

Answer 15

• They challenge both views
• states are rational actors guided by their objective interest
• The levels of cooperation depend on the similarity of ideals and goals
• it all depends on how the states construe their own identities and interest as well as that of others