Power In International Politics Barnett & Dual (2005) Flashcards
Definition of power according to realism particularly neorealism
Power is the ability of a state to use its economic and military resources to make another state do something it otherwise will not do.
Dahl’s definition of power, first face of power.
narrow, coercive understanding of power is evident in the analysis of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, which took place in the broader context of the aftermath of the September 11 attacks by al-Qaeda on the United States. While Iraq was not directly involved in the attacks, the U.S. invasion was part of a larger strategy framed as a response to global terrorism, with the Bush administration justifying the invasion under the premise of eliminating weapons of mass destruction and promoting regime change. Realist scholars frame this event as a demonstration of U.S. unipolarity, where the United States used its military and economic power to overcome resistance and force political change in Iraq. Much of the discourse focuses on whether other states would balance against or bandwagon with U.S. power, emphasizing material capabilities. Similarly, Tony Blair’s’ decision to support the U.S. as the leader of UK in the invasion of Iraq is often viewed through the lens’s of compulsory power, where the pressure exerted by alliances and shared interest influenced Blair’s decision to align with the US.
Barnett and Duval challenge this narrow perspective
E.H Carr
Historically, this dominance of realism in IR stems from E.H. Carr’s critique of “utopianism” in the early 20th century. Carr’s dismissal of idealist approaches and his claim that power is the domain of realism set the stage for realism’s conceptual monopoly over the study of power. Since then, power in IR has been equated largely with coercive state behavior. Most IR textbooks and realist scholars continue to focus on how states use military and economic resources to compel others to act against their will.
Power Gallie
As gallie famously noted, and as a social theorist have continued to debate, power remains an essentially contested concept, with is meaning and implications varying widely across different theoretical perspectives
Barnett and Duvall puzzle
Fourfold taxonomy of power (compulsory, institutional, structural and productive) (power’s polymorphous character) is based in 2 key dimensions: the types of social relations through which power works (direct vs. diffuse) and the specificity or social relations (interactions between specific actors vs. broader social structures)
Comprehensive frameworks to understand how power works in international politics
Barnett and dual critic to realism view of power (coercive, material and state-centric)
Theoretical tunnel vision: overemphasis in material capabilities, coercion and state behavior, Mae West “too much of a good thing is not always wonderful”
Power as a contested concept: power can not be reduced to one singular definition or form
Beyond power over: power also includes the ability to shape conditions, structures and the environment (indirect)
Compulsory power
Relational specificity: direct and specific
Power works through: interactions of specific actors
Direct control of one actor over another (actor centric)
Align with realist view of coercion and material resources (military, economic power). L
Max Weber, Robert Dahl
U.S military actions in Iraq
Barnett and dual: compulsory power does not rely solely in intentionality (eg. victims of collateral damages of bombing campaigns. Compulsory power should be understood from the recipient perspective, who experiences the effect whether intentional or not.
Characteristics: direct and observable, intentional or unintentional. Material, symbolic (arab states have successfully used symbolic sanctions to alter the behavior of other Arab states on various issues) or normative resources.
Examples: great power politics (Russia), multinational corporations, non state actors (NGO), unconventional warfare by nonstate networks (terrorist or guerrilla forces).
Institutional power
Relational specificity: indirect or diffuse.
Power work through: interactions of specific actors
Power operates through formal and informal institutions where rules and norms indirectly (determining parameters within which actors operate) shape actors’ actions.
Indirect control, mediated by institutions, temporal and spatial distance.
Second (control what is discussed and decided) and their face of power (shapes preferences and interests and preferences of actors)
Examples: UN Security Council (veto power and agenda setting of US, Russia and china), WTO (the rules benefit powerful economic)
Structural power
Relational specificity: direct and specific.
Power works thought: social relations of constitution (co- constitutive relations between actors)z
Global social structures that define the positions of actors within the international system.
Internal relation within a system. Third face of power.
Asymmetrical capabilities (unequal privileges)
Embbedded ideology: it shapes capabilities + actors self understanding and subjective interest
Broader economic, political and social hierarchies. S
Deep roots in Marxist thoughts.
Examples: core (economically dominant) vs periphery (less developed) in world-system theory, capital- labor relations, BRICS (Brazil; Russia; India, china, and South Africa) bloc challenging structural inequality
Capitalist system
Productive power
The most diffuse, it shapes social reality through discourse and knowledge.
Relation specificity: diffuse
Power work through: constitution
Influences how actors understand their roles, identities and interests by shaping what is considered legitimate or possible in global politics.
Foucault: power does not just target individuals, it also produces them by shaping their subjectives, rights, responsibilities and capabilities.
Discourses in human rights or democracy (normative pressures that led Tony Blair to align with the US in the Iraq invasion
Examples: discourses like civilized be uncivilized or western non western, china’s south south cooperation discourse , democratic vs rogue states, weapons of mass destruction
Barnett and Duvall def power
The production, in a through social relations, of effects on actors that shape their capacity to control their gate.
Includes…
1st face: observable conflicts
2nd face: controlling the agenda and determining what issues are discussed
3rd face: shaping preferences, ideologies and desires
Power’s analytical dimension Barnett and Duvall
2 key dimensions of power
1) KINDS OF SOCIAL RELATIONS: how power operates.
Interaction: power is an attribute that actors possess and used in direct relationship. Coercion and domination, power over. Direct interaction (military and political domination). Russian’s military intervention in Ukraine. Economic activities of multinational corporations.
Constitution: social relations that shape the identities and capabilities of actors. Constructivist perspective, power to (the ability of social relations to enable or constrain actors. Eg capital vs labor
2) SPECIFICITY OF SOCIAL INTERACTIONS through with power effects are produce
Direct and specific: observable, immediate interactions. Dahl’s classic formulation of power. Marxist approach. Eg direct control exerted by capital over labor. Russia’s military actions in Ukraine
Indirect and socially diffuse: power operates across time, space and institutions in more subtle and indirect ways, through mechanisms such as norms, rules and discourses that shaped long term outcomes as. Michael Foucault (poststructuralims): power is embedded in the very systems of meaning, language and knowledge that define what is considered normal or legitimate in society ; historical and contingent discourses produce subjectives and shoes behavior indirectly. Eg. UN, IMF
Power’s analytical dimension Barnett and Duvall
2 key dimensions of power
1) KINDS OF SOCIAL RELATIONS: how power operates.
Interaction: power is an attribute that actors possess and used in direct relationship. Coercion and domination, power over. Direct interaction (military and political domination). Russian’s military intervention in Ukraine. Economic activities of multinational corporations.
Constitution: social relations that shape the identities and capabilities of actors. Constructivist perspective, power to (the ability of social relations to enable or constrain actors. Eg capital vs labor
2) SPECIFICITY OF SOCIAL INTERACTIONS through with power effects are produce
Direct and specific: observable, immediate interactions. Dahl’s classic formulation of power. Marxist approach. Eg direct control exerted by capital over labor. Russia’s military actions in Ukraine
Indirect and socially diffuse: power operates across time, space and institutions in more subtle and indirect ways, through mechanisms such as norms, rules and discourses that shaped long term outcomes as. Michael Foucault (poststructuralims): power is embedded in the very systems of meaning, language and knowledge that define what is considered normal or legitimate in society ; historical and contingent discourses produce subjectives and shoes behavior indirectly. Eg. UN, IMF
Power in global governance operates through different forms
Is not solely cooperation and production of public goods, power also plays a role
Agenda setting
Institutional bias
Great powers (compulsory power) and institutions : institutional power
Power in global governance operates through different forms
Is not solely cooperation and production of public goods, power also plays a role
Agenda setting
Institutional bias
Great powers (compulsory power) and institutions : institutional power
The 4 powers in the American empire
Compulsory: coercing or intimidating states through military intervention or economic pressure: us response to 9/11 and the subsequent occupation of Italy. National security strategy of 2002 under president George W. Bush.
Institutional : indirect control, shaping global governance and maintaining dominant position without coercion. Creation of UN, World banco and IMF after WW2z
Structural: global capitalism state that supports global capitalism system , division of labor between core (wealthy) and periphery (poorer). Use of coercion and consent ensuring that structural disadvantage countries accept the global order.
Productive: discourses of democracy, human rights and development
