The English School Flashcards
The English School approach
Interpretive not just scientific:
- subject matter not just states but the global political system incl regions, institutions, ngo’s etc
- historical context
- look at values
- IR as normative - how to construct an international society that was orderly and just
Who are agents - constructivist vs English School
In English school, agents in international society are diplomats and leaders whereas constructivists see states acting like people
International society
Shared rules of sovereign states: group of states conceive themselves to be bound by a common set of rules in their relations with one another - diplomats are the real agents of international society
Pluralist international society
Institutional framework geared towards the liberty of states and the maintenance of order among them - norms of sovereignty and non intervention UN Charter
Solidarist international society
Collective reinforcement of international rules. Often associated with the guardianship of human rights - but also collective security.
International system
System of states - where two or more states have sufficient contact to cause them to behave as parts of a whole.
World society
Shared values among the society of human kind - institutional dimension ngo’s aimed at embarrassing states into upholding transnational commitments.
What is the ontology of the English School?
Studying order - life, truth and property
What is the epistemology of the English School?
Interpretive: Explaining versus Understanding
Purpose of theory
- How to construct an ordered society
2. Policy relevance
What is meant by order?
For realists absence of war achieved by balance of power. For English school, this is the only purpose that culturally diverse, sovereign units can agree on. Institutions of international society - diplomacy - the balance of power, peace conferences, great power management, international law - were primarily designed to achieve the goal of order upon which the liberty of the units depends.
What is sovereignty
Independent, territorially self standing and self determining quality of states. Control over their territory and people and independence from external authority.
