S3 - Issues & Interests Flashcards
interests - high politics
= issues (of sovereignty) that threaten the survival of states and thus demand the attention of its highest officials
military - security issues
economic interests
interests - low politics
= issues that challenge state sovereignty but not necessarily the survival of the state
environment, human rights, aid and development, health
issue salience
the importance a particular actor or set of actors gives to an issue - the perceived stakes
overlap high and low politics
There is more and more overlap between high and low actors and which actors are involved. What is a high or low politics issue can also differ from actor to actor.
percieved stakes
the importance a particular actor or set of actors give to an issue - the percieved stake
salience affects who will be involved in the negotiations and how
issue salience is affected by…
domestic stakes
sense of urgency
commitment to the issue
media attention
issue salience - affected by domestic stakes
interest groups increase the salience.
there are different perceptions on an issue which can increase or decrease salience (diverging / competing perceptions)
interest groups increase salience
issue salience - commitment to the issue
an advantage is that the issue will become a priority (resources)
a disadvantage is that the issue will be subject to emotions and irrationality (pride and identity)
priority / also subject to emotions
issue salience - sense of urgency
aim to not to further aggravate the situation
preventive scope
issue salience - media attention
CNN effect. Making an issue salient, due to visual aid, information overload and (re)framing of issues.
the issue becomes more prominent for citizens so emotions run high.
visual aid makes issue salient / emotions run high
two level game
level 1 = international (stage 1 = bargaining)
level 2 = domestic (stage 2 = ratification)
Success dependent on overlap of win-sets: overlap of
perceptions of acceptable outcomes at both levels. Emotions and mistrust are very high during the peacemaking stage, so level 2 acceptance is hard to achieve.
two-level games: openness vs. secrecy
publicizing willingness to negotiate internationally = more pressure from interested groups domestically. Allows you to be more creative in solutions.
utility of secret meetings: avoiding pressure from Level II. At the end risk of it not being accepted when going public.
willingness to negotiate = more pressure domestically
secret meetings –> less pressure from domestic level
win-set
sets of agreements possible at the international level that would be acceptable to domestic constituencies.
The size of the win-set is crucial as it determines the flexibility of negotiators and the likelihood of ratification.
So win-set is the set of agreements made at level 1 that will be accepted at level 2.
Zone of potential agreement gives win-sets within these. Less pressure domestically is less leverage.
set of agreements made at level 1 that will be accepted at level 2
two-level games: regime type
Generally speaking democracies more affected by domestic pressures than autocracies.
Example of Cuban missile crisis: Soviet sending US pacifist letter and then antagonizing letter day after. Last letter was meant to show his people that he is a hardcore leader, so Level II can still be important in autocracies.
two-level games: sense of urgency
if you make too many concessions internationally you can commit political suicide, because they can be fired when going home if it is not good enough.
This can be used to negotiate in a way to say that the other party needs to take the deal because another negotiator will come in who is more harsh and won’t make a lot of concessions → political responsibility of the other party.
