The Nation and The State Flashcards
1
Q
What is sovereignty?
A
- The highest governmental authority in a territorial state (the
Sovereign) - The power to enforce rules of conduct (including life and death)
- Power to make law
- Control of executive functions (tax)
- Independent from external control
2
Q
What types of sovereignty are there?
A
- Personal Sovereignty
- Parlimentary Sovereignty
- Popular Sovereignty
3
Q
What is parliamentary sovereignty?
A
- The supreme authority of parliament is to make laws - Blackstone
- “Parliament can do anything except make a man into a women” - AV Dicey
- (Locke)
4
Q
What is popular sovereignty?
A
- Supreme authority resides in the people and can not be delegated - Rousseau
- People should make laws themselves via direct democracy
- American Declaration of Independence - “Governments derive their power from the consent of the governed”
5
Q
How do the different sovereignties exist in Australia?
A
- Personal - Queen Elizabeth II is the sovereign
- Parliamentary - legal sovereign (to make laws)
- Popular - elect members of House of Representatives
6
Q
What is the State?
A
- The state is the combination of people, territory and sovereignty
- A state exists when a sovereign power (i.e. Parliament - wherever the power is vested according to the constitution) rules over a population residing within the boundaries of a fixed territory
7
Q
What is citizenship?
A
- Citizenship
- Membership in the state
- 2 methods of natural citizenship:
8
Q
What are the 2 methods of natural citizenship?
A
- Birth (jus soli)
- Being born in a particular place
- Blood (jus sanguinis)
- Having at least 1 parent of a place
- Countries define how many generations may pass without an ancestor being born in said country before the descendants in question are no longer citizens by blood (Canada - 1 generation - grandkids won’t be Canadian)
9
Q
What is the nation?
A
An identity shared by a large number of people based on, but not reducible to, objective factors such as common race, language, religion, customs and government
10
Q
What is the difference between civic and ethnic nations?
A
- Civic nations: identity that depends primarily on acceptance of political order
- Ethic nations: identity depends on objective factors such a language or religion
11
Q
What is the difference between the state and the nation?
A
- The state is a legal entity
- A nation is a feeling of belonging based on identifiable or
non-identifiable characteristics
12
Q
What are nation-states?
A
- A state with a single predominate national identity - Iceland, Sweden, Poland
- Binational or multinational states - two or more nations exist under a single government - Canada, Australia
13
Q
What is the international order?
A
- The combination of major actors, mechanisms and understanding that manage the co-existence and interdependence of states
- International relations is about states and how they get along
14
Q
What is the Westphalian System?
A
- Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 - ended the 30 Years War in Europe
- Beginning of the sovereign state as the unit of action and analysis in IR
15
Q
What is anarchy in the international system?
A
- Anarchic system - no central command (i.e. no world police)
- Must ensure self-preservation
16
Q
What is the history of the international order?
A
- Tired of meddling in the affairs and territories of others
- Balance of Power - if no one state gets too strong, there is over (i.e. no one state can dominate the system)
- If one state gets too strong, the other states align to balance out (shifting alliances)
- aka. Multi-Polar System (1500-1900)
- WW1 - WW2 the international system breaks down
- Post WW2 - Bi-Polar System - USA & USSR (1944-1989)
- Stability through mutual force
- 1989 (end of the cold war) - present day
- Fall of communism and rise of one super/hegemonic power (USA)
- Uni-Polar System (USA) (1989 - ?)
17
Q
What is MAD?
A
- Mutually Assured Destruction
- Nuclear policy where both parties in effect destroy each other
- Neither party can win the war, both destroyed - order
- Problem: may not apply?
18
Q
What is NUTS?
A
- Nuclear Utilisation Target Selection
- Limited nuclear exchange
- Attack one or more cities (vs. all out attack)
- First Strike/Counter Strike mentality - attack and retake before eventual peace
- Idea that we can survive a limited nuclear exchange
19
Q
What does the geography of the EU, USA and China tell us about the system?
A
Regional economic powers, multi-Polarity system based on regionalism
20
Q
What is Realism?
A
- A theory where the international system is understood as: self help, lack of trust, and dependence on one’s (military) power
- Order comes out of the balance of power - lack of trust
- No state wants to rely on another for help (the other guy is out to get me)
- Question the ability of international law (World Court), international organisations (UN) and regimes to limit the competition between states (because fosters peace (check keeping))
21
Q
What is Liberalism?
A
- A theory of relations between that streeses the rule of law
- Cooperation can create order (no guarantee)
- As countries become more independent (trade & investment) they become less likely to ‘rock the boat’ because of the cost
- Idea that spreading democracy leads to a more peaceful world
- Democracies have never gone to war with each other
22
Q
What is the security dilemma?
A
- Trying to make yourself more secure leads to less security
- Arms race - downward conflict spiral: Action/Reaction cycle may lead to conflict (building of military can provoke other states who then produce more etc)
- Paradox
23
Q
What are the problems with the international order?
A
- Non-state actors
- Terrorism
- Human trafficking
- Enviornment
- Non traditional state challenges - climate change
