Perspectives on International Relations

Question 1

Canadas GDP Spending

Answer 1

• GDP measures the monetary value of final goods and services—that is, those that are bought by the final user—produced in a country annually.
• Canada’s military spending lags behind other wealthy countries. OECD = 38 countries. Includes Canada and US.

Question 2

Levels of Analysis

Answer 2

Analytic categories that suggest where to look for answers to questions.

Question 3

Three main levels of Analysis

Answer 3

–Individual: focuses on the personalities, perceptions, and choices made by people.

–State: focus is on the government, economy, interest groups, and national interests of countries.

–International system: focus is on the alliances, inter-state interactions, international organizations, norms, and/or rules that operate at the regional or global level.

Question 4

Realism Key Terms

Answer 4

Realism is an argument about the international system
–Anarchy
–Balance of power
External balancing
Internal balancing
–Paradigm
–Rationality
–Self-help
–Theory

Question 5

Realism: Core Assumptions

Answer 5

–State is principal actor in international relations.

–State is a unitary actor: acts with one voice.

–Decision makers are rational actors.

–Primacy of security: states must first protect themselves from foreign and domestic enemies. #1 concern, they are self-interested and want the maximum benefits with min things that hurt

Question 6

Absence of third-party enforcement.

Answer 6

–Promises and contracts between nation-states are inherently unreliable.

–Every state has some offensive military capability.

–No one can know another state’s intentions perfectly.

Question 7

Insecurity

Answer 7

–States must find ways to reduce their insecurity
–Engage in external and internal balancing.

Question 8

Take aways

Answer 8

–Levels of analysis are a way for people to organize and categorize the explanations they rely on to understand world politics.

–There are three primary levels of analysis. Most analysts use one of these levels, but there are others as well.

–Realist theory relies on the level of the international system. It suggests that the absence of global government makes states fundamentally insecure. The behavior of states in the world can be traced to this fundamental insecurity.

Question 9

Why does Canada spend less on its military than other economically developed countries?

Answer 9

why question, not descriptive–root causes
– Justin Trudeaus attitude towards government spending
–State of the Canadian economy (interest rates, potential mild recession)