POLS2401- exam #3 Flashcards
Where did IR begin as an academic discipline?
Abersytwyth University (1919)
Why was IR established?
IR was originally created to explore the idea of how to establish peace
Characteristics of a nation
a group of people that recognize each other as belonging to the same group/identity (e.g. language,religion, ties to homeland)
Characteristic of a state
a place with established borders, sovereignty, domestic support, and recognition from other international entities (“external actors”)
Major outcomes of the end of WWII? (multipolarity to bipolarity)
End of colonial system in Europe. The bipolar system emerges after wwii which is basically when you have two major powers that can compete internationally for influence across the world, they are militarily the most advanced countries. these two powers become the US and the USSR
what are proxy wars
an armed conflict fought between two belligerents, wherein one belligerent is a non-state actor supported by an external third-party power
what is containment in terms of war?
geopolitical strategic foreign policy pursued by the United States during the Cold War to prevent the spread of communism after the end of World War
what is total war?
is a war that incorporates the mobilization of all sectors of society, which means that no sector of society is immune from the impact of war. All sectors become part of that war making machine.
Why was the Cold War called as such?
there was no direct military engagement between the United States and the Soviet Union.
What is anarchy?
absence of government
What are the main differences between Realism and Liberalism? (Focus only on anarchy and role of institutions)
realist believe that no one can rely on anyone for security in terms of anarchy; liberalist believe that anarchy exists but can be tamed through cooperation
What is Marxism?
Marxist believe that history moves based on economic relations/interactions and that states were created simply to help further the economic status of the already elite
What is World Systems Theory?
periphery, semi-periphery, and the core
what is the protection myth?
it is basically the idea that during war women and children are the groups that are mainly protected, but its a myth because they make up the majority of casualties because they end up being targets for the other army to send a message of “hey you cant protect the most ‘vulnerable’ “
gender vs sex
Gender is a social construct, whereas sex is a biological fact.
why is gendering important for the study of politics?
for many years women basically had targets placed on them and became victims of SA during war, but it wasn’t until 2002 that the Rome Statue made it so that rape was a war crime
scope vs domain
Scope is basically the issue area that the organization covers and Domain includes members and who is part of that international organization.
give an example of an IO with small scope, big domain
World Trade Organization
(scope:trade, domain:global)
give an example of an IO with small scope, small domain
NAFTA
(scope: trade || domain: U.S.,Canada, and Mexico)kgmv
give an example of an IO with
big scope, big domain
The United Nations (UN)
(scope: all human dimensions || domain: global)
give an example of an IO with
big scope, small domain
The European Union (EU)
(scope:trade, security, immigration|| domain: Europe)
why is the Security Council considered the most important organ of the UN?
it is the only organ of the UN that can authorize military action, it has 5 permanent member states that can veto any decision trying to be made even it has 9/15 members to agree with the proposition, and once a decision has been made it is binding, meaning that countries have to follow through
What is the function of the Secretariat?
main administrative engine, it deals with logistics and planning? this position holds limited political power. this is the data center of the UN and it sets the agenda for UN meetings
What is the function of the Security Council?
creates binding resolutions between states and decides whether to use military action in crisis
what are the three pillars of R2P?
the responsibility to protect, the responsibility to assist, and the responsibility to intervene
when can R2P be used?
when the state is no longer upholding its responsibilities as a sovereign and allowing harm to be done to its citizens
What is conditional sovereignty?
sovereign rights and immunities are not absolute. They depend on the observance of fundamental state obligations. These include the responsibility to protect the citizens of the state.
Civil and political rights
legal protection against the state, protection from unjust arrest, right to vote.
Social, cultural, and economic rights
access to essential goods and services, equal social and cultural participation, right to food, housing, healthcare, education
What were the color revolutions?
revolutions that ocurred in post communist countries
What was the “anti-color insurance”?
former communist countries passed some regulations to prevent their nations from being removed. they started attacking civil society and political activist.
Structural approach to understanding hunger makes what argument?
it is not about availability, but rather having the means to pay for food and there is a unequal distribution of supply so that areas with money have more and areas with less money have none
Define a referent object
(be able to identify referent objects based on given scenarios)
any object that need protection
What has been the referent object traditionally in international relations?
the state
What type of wars have increased in occurrence since the end of the Cold War?
intrastate wars (conflicts between groups within the same state)
What type of wars have decreased in occurrence since the end of the Cold War?
interstate wars (conflict between different states)
what is the difference between positive and negative peace?
positive peace: absence of both direct/personal and indirect/structural violence
negative peace: absence of direct/personal violence
direct/personal vs indirect/structural violence
direct/personal violence: assault, riot, use of weapon (what you’d traditionally think of as violence)
indirect/structural violence: invisible violence such as racism, discrimination, sexism etc.
what is peace ecology?
the idea that peace needs to be understood as an interconnected issue and those issues cannot be taken apart; they must all be assessed
How does Clausewitz define war?
“war is politics by other means”
What is the purpose of war, according to Clausewitz?
driven by political objectives; bending the other side to your will
Why is war not considered haphazard use of force?
war is always calculated and it has an objective
what are the types of war w/ an example for each
(hint: there are 3 types)
interstate wars: wars between states
ex.) iran and iraq war
intrastate wars: war between groups within states
ex.) the american civil war
asymmetric wars: war between actors whose power differ significantly
ex.) war on terror
causes of War (know how each explains the occurrence of wars)
security dilemma, power transition, war cycles, type of governments, nationalism, natural resources competition, calculated choice, personality, and misperception
What is hybrid warfare?
mix of traditional and non-traditional war tactics
What types of tactics does hybrid warfare include?
fake news, hacking, shutting off access to energy sources, influencing elections
Why is the term “terrorism” have negative implications?
it is associated with the use of violence, killing, and use of force
What makes modern terrorist groups different from their predecessors?
their predecessors used terrorism to fight anti-colonialism, and anarchist and just performed in like old timey ways and were confined to one state; whereas modern terrorist have greater communication, transportation, and are much more widely spread because of these modernizations
Motivations and goals of terrorist groups
motivations: religious, ethnic, and political
goals: create panic, strike fear, and provoke state action
Why is it important to pick specific locations and targets for attacks?
terrorist groups don’t have the capability to fight at a large scale so they attack public places because it will be more publicized and thus have a more impact on the people of that area
provoking states into action; why is it something that terrorist groups want?
the action that govts usually take is enhancing security and if they are doing that some citizens may begin to feel that they are having their civil liberties violated
Creating fear; why is this important for terrorist groups?
it helps them to appear more powerful
Recruitment and reinforcement of loyalty
terrorist use attacks as a way to show loyal members that their group is still active and have impact
Define: “plug and play”
put themselves into usually poor communities and manipulate them into fighting for their cause and they’ll do it because they usually don’t have much to lose
Define: sleeper cells
groups of people who are hiding as terrorist and become active when triggered
Three ways to counter terrorism
aid, use of technologies, and increase of state power
Why is terrorism considered a weapon of the weak?
they know that they can create a a lot of fear by doing small attacks
The three characteristics that define globalized transnational groups (see slide 3; least section)
links in many countries, link similar minded people, impact in more than on place
what are the three types of weapons of mass destruction?
chemical, nuclear, and biological
Why do states develop WMDs despite them being taboo in international politics?
to deter attacks from others
Why are these WMD considered taboo in international politics?
they are sometimes used to make up for conventional weakness
What program led to the creation of nuclear weapons?
The Manhattan Project (1942)
when were nuclear weapons first used?
August 6, 1945 (Hiroshima)
Why is it difficult to develop nuclear weapons?
They require large amounts of highly enriched Uranium
Why are nuclear weapons considered deterrents?
other countries think twice about attacking because they know that the retaliation of possibly using a nuclear weapon would be devastating
What are dirty bombs?
bombs that are not as advanced that are made to simply inflict pain and are laced with radiation
Dual use of nuclear programs – what does this mean?
it means that nuclear programs can be used to create nuclear weapons, but they can also be used to create nuclear energy
What do proliferation optimists and pessimists say about the spread of nuclear weapons?
proliferation optimists: they believe that nuclear weapons should be spread as much as possible to prevent wars between countries and provide the countries with stability like prices
proliferation pessimists: they want to curb the spread of nuclear weapons because humans are prone to making mistakes
Two groups of states when it comes to nuclear weapons and foreign policy – why are they different from each other?
1st group: US, UK, France, and China
2nd group: India, Iran, North Korea, and Pakistan
Role of NPT
prevents the spread of nuclear weapons
Define: nuclear opacity and provide an example
presence of a nuclear weapon but never conducted a test and publicized to the world
ex.) Israel
Define: latent nuclear capacity and provide an example
presence of capacity of building a nuclear weapon but never has done so
ex.) Japan
Define: stability-instability paradox, provide an example
when two rival countries have nuclear weapons, the chances of these two countries going to war, decreases because there’s always this fear that such a war will escalate into nuclear warfare, right. so what ends up happening is that this fear creates stability between two nations.
ex.) India and Pakistan
Which conference sought to eventually make chemical weapons obsolete?
1925 Geneva Protocol
What chemical weapon did Aum Shinrikyo use for the Tokyo subway attacks?
biological weapon
he used vaporized sarin gas, a highly toxic nerve agent
How are biological different from chemical weapons?
A biological weapon uses a living organism like a bacteria or virus to inflict harm, while a chemical weapon uses a manufactured chemical compound to cause damage
Why are biological weapons very ineffective in usage?
they need ideal conditions because they are living organisms
what is the tragedy of the commons?
individuals with access to a public resource (common) act in their own interest and, in doing so, ultimately deplete the resource
how does “the tragedy of the commons” apply to the global environment?
the environment is a global system, so if there’s collapse in one area, it is going to impact other areas of the world as well.
Dual meaning of global commons
the idea that it encompasses both the physical spaces like the high seas, atmosphere, and Antarctica, which fall outside any single nation’s jurisdiction, and the concept of shared resources within those spaces that require international cooperation to manage sustainably
Megaconferences in international/environmental politics
usually focus on a particular issue at hand; their goal is to
engage in productive collaborative efforts to reach agreement and consensus
on specific strategies to protect the environment and solve global challenges.
why was the megaconference: Brundtland Report (1987) important?
introduced the idea that we need to focus on development that is not going to overextend resources and is actually leave resources for future generations, emphasized sustainable developmen
why was the megaconference: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (1994) important?
first time nearly all nations agreed to take collective action to address climate change by aiming to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, preventing dangerous human interference with the climate system, thus laying the foundation for future international climate agreements and negotiations to combat climate change
why was the megaconference: Paris Agreement (2015) important?
marked the first time nearly all nations on Earth agreed to collectively take action to combat climate change by aiming to limit global temperature rise to well below 2°C, ideally to 1.5°C, above pre-industrial levels,
why was the megaconference: COP 27 (2022) important?
breakthrough agreement to provide loss and damage funding for vulnerable countries hit hard by floods, droughts and other climate disasters
How do the different theories approach environmental cooperation?
realism: they believe that states will do what they need to; don’t really care
liberals: they believe that through cooperation changes can be made to protect the people
What are epistemic communities?
a bunch of different climate experts from across the world who have come together and formed specific organizations
What is Siddharth Kara’s argument in regard to the exploitation of people in the extraction and production of Cobalt?
describes it as modern day slavery, Kara advocates for a reformation of the supply chain of Cobalt
What are artisanal mines?
small-scale mining, a largely informal economic sector that includes workers who use basic tools to extract from the earth
How are artisanal mines connected to human rights violations in the Democratic Republic of Congo?
these mines have basically no safety measures which results in many injuries and death. workers work for very minimal pay and are sometimes coerced by armed groups to keep working
Why is the government of the DRC not doing much about the human rights violations in artisanal mines in the DRC?
there is a lot of corruption in their govt
what is China’s role in the Cobalt production process?
China purchases the raw cobalt and refines it to later sell on the market for much more than they paid for it
Why is it problematic for the US that only a few controls have deposits of lithium and control the production of lithium? Why is it specifically problematic for the US since 50% of the total lithium market is controlled by China?
it allows China to dominate processing and manufacturing, potentially leveraging this dominance to influence markets, increase costs, or gain geopolitical advantages, leaving the U.S. strategically disadvantaged
The author says that Australia finds itself in a conundrum when it comes to Cobalt – what is that conundrum?
whether to maintain its current role in the lithium boom or to invest and become a more high value actor and start processing and manufacturing lithium into batteries etc.
China controls 75% of the world’s production of lithium-ion batteries – why is this problematic for the US?
it creates economic and geopolitical vulnerabilities
What if China leverages its lithium-ion production capability?
If leveraged, China could restrict exports or manipulate markets, hindering the U.S.’s energy transition goals and economic independence
