Review #1 Flashcards
State
All the institutions and individuals that exercise power within a given territory.
Characteristics of a state
Land, people, sovereignty, and legitimacy
Nation
Group of people that share a psychological bond such as ethnicity, language, etc
Government
Particular set of institutions and people authorized by formal documents, to pass laws, etc
Regime
Institutions or practices that endure from government to government. (Administration to administration)
Intergovernmental Organization (IGO)
An entity created by treaty that involves 2+ states working together for common interest
Nongovernmental Organization (NGO)
Non-profit, voluntary citizens’ group, which is organized on local, national, or international level.
Democracy
Rule by people. Free, fair, competitive elections. Guarantee individual liberties. Rule of Law, citizens who live in democracies are typically guaranteed rights in some written form like a constitution or set of laws
Direct democracy vs. representative democracy
look this up.
Authoritarian Regimes/ Semi Authoritarian Regimes
Political power in concentrated into the hands of one leader or a group of leaders who are not bound by a written constitution or contract.
Bureaucratic Authoritarianism
Military takes control of the states’ administration capacity
Totalitarian Regime
State exerts total control of the society
Total repression of civil society and ____ are examples of totalitarian regime
Random pages. Police and security apparatus are unchecked, arbitrary arrests, show trails.
What is a theory?
Body of statements that synthesize knowledge of and explain phenomena. Theory leads to specific, testable predictions about an empirical reality. The more observations we have that confirm a theory, the more we can accept it is valid
Democratic Peace Theory
Democracies do not fight other democracies
Median Voter Theorem
To win elections, a candidate must try to appeal to the median voter on the spectrum
Causation
Book
Correlation
Book
Power
Ability to make another country do what you want
Types of power:
Rational persuasion, economic, cultural, technological, & military
Hard Power
Aggressive. U.S. invasions of other nations
Soft Power
Attraction. Pope’s visit to Poland in 1979. EU speaking out on human rights
Hegemony
Political, economic, or military predominance of one state over the others
The international system is pretty much a….
power map
The international system is ______ in nature
anarchical
Modern state comes to fruition with….
Peace of Westphalia (1648)
Peace of Westphalia did what?
Ended 30 yrs war and 8 yr war between Spain and Netherlands. Establishes basis for international system that is composed of sovereign states. Creates basis for national self-determination.
Responsibility to protect (R2p)
Allows for international intervention in a state that abuses its citizens.
Supranational organizations
Weaken states control of their affairs, and diminish sense of nationalism.
How do supranational orgs differ from IGO’s?
States voluntarily cooperate with IGO’s, but retain the right not to.
Supranational orgs can compel members states to…
comply.
The Real System
Which is the system that is out there. However, it is complex, changeable, and difficult to conceptualize
The Simplified System
What we construct in our heads in an attempt to describe the real system.
In order for our foreign policy to be rational, we need…
our simplified system to be as close to real system as possible
European Balance of Power Systems (until 1914)
Power of several states is similar. Use of alliances to roughly balance power. Napoleon disrupts the balance of power system, but his defeat restores it. Many IR thinkers see this as more dangerous than a hierarchical power system
Unstable Interwar System (1919-1939)
Expansionist powers such as Germany and Japan disrupting the balance of power. Major powers policy of appeasement. Looking the other way to avoid war.
Bipolar Cold War Era (1947-1991)
tense system, but paradoxically relatively stable. Some powers learned that can no longer say shit. (Suez Crisis). Conflicts revolve around maintaining a delicate balance of power.
Bipolar=
Two major powers, US & Soviet Union
Climax of Cold War
Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
Post Cold War Era (1991-now)
Unipolar, multipolar, stratified, globalized, US/China duopoly, Clash of civilizations (Samuel Huntington)
Unipolar
One system remains
Multipolar
No dominant superpower
Stratified
Theres a group of rich states, newly industrializing states, and zones of economic chaos.
Globalized
We are all interdependent on one another
US/China duopoly
States in Asia will seek alliances w/ one of the two, but other states will opt out so no Cold War.
Clash of Civilizations (Samuel Huntington)
Cultural and religious identities will define conflicts in the 21st century.
Realsim
Always pursuing power (book)
Prisoner’s Dilemma
Four boxes, maybe in the book.
Thucydides
Father of International Relations and realism
Thucydides says that power…
drives all decisions.
Meliam Dialogue
Thucydides records this as against the backdrop of the Peloponnesian War being fought between the Athenian-led Delian League and the Spartan led Peloponnesian League.
Athenians eye the islands of..
Melos, demand Melians surrender and pay tribute to Athens of they will be conquered
Athenians are shocked by…
Melians’ lack of realism
“The strong do what they can…
The weak suffer what they must”
Machiavelli
The Prince (1532)
No morality for Machiavelli, only..
political morality
Political morality means…
The Prince does whatever is necessary in order to maintain the state
Goal of Prince is to maintain…
the state and his own power by any means
The ends justify
the means
Powers maintained by
Fear, avoid hatred,be a fox (deceitful). Should appear to be merciful, just, religious.
Assumptions of Realism says..
States are he highest actor in world politics, therefor the international system is anarchic.
Cooperation is only impossible under…
anarchy given certain assumptions about human nature (Doyle 1997)
States are the ___ actor in world politics
PRIMARY
States are…
rational, self-interested entities
Interests are defined in term of…
power
States have the ultimate goal of maximizing their relative gains. Relative because
the amount of power in the system is limited-inelastic in order to survive
Relations between states are driven by their respective capabilities…
derived primary from military capabilities but economic capabilities matter because they reflect their ability to obtain more military capabilities or hard power
Cooperation is unlikely in an anarchic, self-interested environment where states are amoral, a…
State of Nature if you will.
Neorealism
Original structural of realism (defensive realism)
Offensive Realism
Empirical study of great power since 1972
Wilson’s 14 Points Speech
End of WW1. German Armistice took place 10 months after speech
14 puts speech not only directed to American citizens to ensure them war was worth it, but also to Germany to…
encourage surrender
Principles of 14 puts became basis for
Treaty of Versailles
14 puts speech had may ideas associated with…
classic liberalism and American progressive movement, translated those ideas to internality norms
Adam Smith
Free trade
Locke
Self-determination, open agreements
US Senate never
ratified Treaty of Versailles because they wanted to be isolationist
Point 1
Open covenants and diplomacy are key to the future international system (balance of power system often was characterized by secret treaties.)
Point 3
Removal of economic barriers between peace-loving nations.
Point 4
Reduction of national armaments to the “lowest point consistent with domestic safety”
Point 5
Adjustment of colonial claims based on populations determining sovereignty
Points 6-13
Issues of sovereignty for a variety of states (territorial gains made in previous wars relinquished)
Point 15
Establishment of general association of “nations” be formed under specific covenants for the “purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike”
All points based on…
underlying principles of justice, liberty, and safety
Classic Liberalism
Human nature is good
Institutions make us do bad things
Rules incentivize it
Once you secure enough power…. (classic liberalism)
you are in a safe position to pursue other interests
Neoliberalism
Stresses the importance of international institutions in reducing the inherend conflicts that realists assume in an internality system
Neoliberalism differs from traditional liberalism in that it…
acknowledges realism has several important assumptions, in particular that states are unitary actors rationally pursuing their self-interests in a system of anarchy. States cooperate because it is often in their interest to do so and they can learn to use institutions to do so. well fuck that was a lot to type.
Nationalism
Extreme form of patriotism, especially marked by a feeling of superiority over other countries
Nationalism emphasizes role of..
individual or human agency
Imagined Communities
Idea by Benedict Anderson
Constructivism
We shape reality, so the social world in which we live is always changing according to our perceptions of that world
Realism=
power
Liberalism=
complex interaction, interdependence
Constructivism=
How we can develop alternative social structures/ processes
Marxism=
focuses on the world economy
Levels of Analysis
Points on an ordered scale of size and complexity
International System (marco)
External influences outside of state borders affect state actions. Looks at overall global patterns of behavior among states
State (micro)
Internal influences actually come from within state.
Individual Level
Revolves around rationality.
State Level
Focus on characteristics of the states that may make them more or less prone to use violence in resolving conflict. What goes on in state effects outside state
Dyadic
Examines the interaction between a pair of states. Most utilized level of analysis in international relations
Systemic Level
Concerns the influence of the international system (interactions between states as well as their level of interdependence) upon outcomes. often includes distribution of capabilities (power) resources, level of trade in the international system, status in world politics, etc.
Pros/ Cons
Look at notes
Biological theories of war
humans are animals. genetic aggression causes war
Balance of power theory
Balance of power creates peace & prevents war
Hierarchy -of-power theory
impossible to know when power is balanced
Power Dilemma
State must have sufficient power to protect itself
No more munichs
false analogy that contributed to intervention in Vietnam. Do elements of analogy outweigh elements of dysanalogy?
Vital National Interest
Interests close to home
Secondary national interests
Interests farther from home
