The race for power

Question 1

Contractual approach

Answer 1

Ernest Renan, historian, 1882: nation is a daily plebiscite: agreement. Nation is not imposed upon people bc of whatever characters they have.

Question 2

Organic approach

Answer 2

Yohan Van Herder, philosopher: nation does not come out of concept or willingness but from people’s culture, language, religion. The fact that they speak the same language or share some part of a culture is the reason to be part of a nation.

Question 3

Notion of nation

Answer 3

How an ideology can serve a nation: nationalism. The safest bet to build a nation is education. Another safe bet is language.

Question 4

Nationstate

Answer 4

When the nation coincide with the state: cultural and territorial dimension, state = political institution. Cultural identity that goes along with the state’s approach.

Question 5

Links between nation and state

Answer 5

Role of the nation in the state’s formation. Role of the nation has been long overlooked. The state makes the nation and the nation makes the state.

Question 6

I. Wallenstein

Answer 6

Marxist approach on a global scale: according to him, there are processes of domination on different scales.

Question 7

M. Weber

Answer 7

believes that a political organization is a state if its administrative staff successfully uphold a claim to the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force.

Question 8

What makes the state weaker

Answer 8

Communitarian - Globalisation, especially in the West - Empire: alternative to the state.

Question 9

Anarchy

Answer 9

Because we have anarchy, political actors have to deal with this environment. We know that people COULD use violence: we instinctively want to survive.

Question 10

Race for power

Answer 10

H. Morgenthau believes that everybody wants power. Within the state you manage to find solutions so that the quest for power doesn’t become violent.

Question 11

Risk of war

Answer 11

We need to be in competition and be challenged: need to be aware of how power is distributed on the IR scene: risk of war. War studies are important because it COULD happen rather than because it is happening. War is at the center of IR

Question 12

Distribution of power

Answer 12

States look at how power are distributed along the IR system. What does it change if we have one big power in the system (unilateral), two great powers (bipolar) or more than two power (multipolar)

Question 13

Balance of power

Answer 13

Equilibrium of power or means that the way the power is distributed matters in IR reactions.

Question 14

What is power?

Answer 14

Most scholars have their own vision of power. Difference between hard and soft power is about coercition & attractiveness (Joseph Nye). Hans Morgenthau & his categories of power

Question 15

Balance of power strategies

Answer 15

1. Bandwagoning: you follow the leader
2. Balancing: allying with other states to balance the leader