S1. Ways of Considering the World

Question 1

Who invented the word “international”?

Answer 1

Jeremy Bentham

Question 2

What was the context to how the word “international” was created?

Answer 2

Bentham was accounting for a new reality. He believes that we should move from the law of the people to the law of international states. For him, the world we live in at the time has seen a great success of the states, and the states have become the main players, they are the ones that decide on the rules.

Question 3

Why is International Relations considered a triple restriction?

Answer 3

International relations has a triple restrictions: (1) A historical focalization - most people think that states are the only actors, but there are also NGOs, transnational movements/problems. (2) Ontological concentration - we believe that the state is a good thing because the state gives us protection, and is the best way to organize politics but states are not moral entities. (3) Occultation of “foreign relations” - We sometimes believe that there is a superiority of international affairs rather than foreign affairs.

Question 4

When was International Relations created as an academic discipline?

Answer 4

It was created in 1919

Question 5

What was the context to how “International Relations” was invented?

Answer 5

The discipline was invented in order to focus on the immediate policy crisis confronting the core after the First World War: understanding its causes in order to prevent a second, giving particular attention to the role armaments, diplomacy and the potential of the new League of Nations.

Question 6

Who and where was the first creation of chairs in International Relations were?

Answer 6

The Department of International Politics, the first of its kind in the world, is founded at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. The inaugural holder of the Woodrow Wilson Chair of International Politics is Alfred Zimmern.

Question 7

What does the “Wilsonian” approach talk about?

Answer 7

The Wilsonian approach is an approach that insists on peace and solidarity. It’s idea was “How to never have war again, so let’s try to build peace through negotiation.”

Question 8

Who influenced Wilson’s beliefs in order to create the Wilsonian Approach?

Answer 8

Wilson’s beliefs showed signs of influence from the philosophy of Immanuel Kant. Kant’s 1795 essay Perpetual Peace, stated that democracies are less likely to be warlike in comparison to monarchies and dictatorships. This is because people governed by a democracy are citizens who participate in the governing process, and are not mere subjects to arbitrarily directed by the ruler.

Question 9

What are the two restrictions International Relations as a discipline?

Answer 9

(1) Temporal Restriction - Seems to only deal with present matters. The discipline focuses only focuses on the present and doesn’t care about history or the future.
(2) Thematic Restriction - We only care about common issues. Issues that can be discussed together. There are some issues that are left aside because they are too controversial.

Question 10

What are the three traditions when it comes to international relations?

Answer 10

The three traditions are: realism (realist), rationalist (rationalism), revolutionary (Wright, 1992)

Question 11

What does realism talk about in International Relations?

Answer 11

Realism believes that the state lives in a context of anarchy, meaning there is an absence of anyone being in charge internationally. States act primarily in their own self-interest, seeking power and security. Which is why conversation and negotiation is not possible.

Question 12

What does rationalism talk about in International Relations?

Answer 12

Rationalism talks about the balance between two powers. Discussion is pointless, you only need balance. Rationalism is also liberalism. It focuses on explaining phenomena based on the assumption that actors behave rationally, making decisions based on cost-benefit analysis. Rationalists agree that international society is the state of nature, but for them it is a state of “goodwill, mutual assistance and preservation,” and so “international society is a true society, but institutionally deficient; lacking a common superior or judiciary.”

Question 13

What does revolutionary tradition talk about?

Answer 13

Reject the analogy with the state of nature. Instead, they have an immanent conception of international society, in the sense that they look beyond the apparent or present reality of a society of sovereign states and see behind it a true international society in the form of a community of mankind.

Question 14

Who is the ancestor for the realist approach?

Answer 14

Hobbes (Leviathan, 1651)

Question 15

Who is the ancestor for the liberal approach?

Answer 15

Immanuel Kant (Project for Perpetual peace, 1785)

Question 16

What kind of principle is the “raison d’Etat”

Answer 16

a principle of governance according to which the State has the right and the obligation to take decisions that are in the supreme interest of the country, even if these decisions are contrary to other considerations, such as moral , religious or international laws.

Question 17

What kind of principle is “the reason of state”

Answer 17

a concept that allows public authorities to take exceptional measures, which may be outside the usual legal framework, to respond to extraordinary situations or threats to national security.

Question 18

It refers to the spatial and globalized dimension of political economic and cultural relations but also to the horizon of representations of actors whose identities and expectations are no longer defined exclusively by the territory which delineated them in the first place.

Answer 18

Espace Mondial

Question 19

Who was the French statesman and philosopher who developed the concept of solidarism. Which is a doctrine that sought a middle ground between socialism and capitalism. This author believed that individuals owe a “social debt” to society, which should be repaid through mechanism like income tax. This revenue would then be used to fund social measures for those in need.

Answer 19

Léon Bourgeois

Question 20

What concept was developed by Robert Sack that talks about the attempt to influence or control actions, interactions, and access by asserting control over a specific geographic area?

Answer 20

The concept of territoriality

Question 21

What concept by John Angew critiques the traditional view in international relations that the world is neatly divided into sovereign states, each with a clear and fixed boundaries.

Answer 21

The concept of the territorial trap

Question 22

Who argued that the perspective of the traditional view in international relations is limiting and fails to account for the complexities of globalization and the fluid of nature of political and economic interactions?

Answer 22

John Agnew

Question 23

What are the three geographical assumption that the territorial states?

Answer 23

1. States as fixed units of sovereign space
2. Domestic/foreign polarity
3. State as a container of society

Question 24

What does the first assumption of the territorial trap called “State as fixed units of sovereign space” talk about?

Answer 24

The first assumption talks about how it overlooks the dynamic and often contested nature of state boundaries

Question 25

What does the second assumption of the territorial trap called “Domestic/foreign polarity” talk about?

Answer 25

This assumption assumes that there is a clear distinction between domestic and foreign affairs, ignoring the interconnectedness of global issues

Question 26

What does the third assumption of the territorial trap called “state as a container of society” talk about?

Answer 26

This view treats states as containers that hold societies, failing to recognize the transnational flows of people, capital, and ideas.

Question 27

In terms of dealing with the term “nation” what did the professor talk about this term?

Answer 27

How the term “nation” provides the illusion of a homogenous identity, and that we are one single nation. Which is oversimplifying.

Question 28

In terms of dealing with changes, what did the professor talk about this term?

Answer 28

The professor talked about two things, (1) that the world does not change. Many international scholars believe that the world will not change. That history will just repeat itself. (2) That the world is changing in the right direction, also called as “the progressive narrative”

Question 29

In terms of transformation in espace mondial, what did the professor talked about in terms of globalization?

Answer 29

Globalization is sometimes seen as acceleration. However globalization also causes inequalities, ecological crises and alienation

Question 30

What are the two ways to govern acceleration?

Answer 30

1) Regulation - regulate acceleration by looking for a new governance
2) Resonance - adapt to change