Theories Flashcards
Tenants of classical realism
- Conflict is normal and always will be (pessimism)
- Anarchy defines the international system due to no supranational government
- States are the primary actors
- States are rational actors
- Power struggle is ever-present and always central to IR → Ultima ratio, or final decision-maker
- Immutability of the system
Classical realism theorists
- Hans Morgenthau, EH Carr
- Machiavelli, Thucydides, Hobbes
What is rational choice theory
Rational Choice Theory
- Rational actors seek maximum gain at minimum cost (instrumental rationality)
- Contradicted by value-rationality, which permits material sacrifice for immaterial gain
power via classical realism
Power
- Hard power is the use of military and economic means to influence the behaviour of other actors → both
carrot and stick
- Soft power is the ability to attract actors towards one’s interests without coercion: eg; British monarchy,
American media culture
Tenents of structural realism
- International systems are anarchic whereas domestic systems are hierarchic
- Anarchy creates a self-help system → states need not dominate, only survive → this self-help system
causes historical patterns of behaviour → balancing occurs - Co-operation is difficult as it causes vulnerability → problem with eco/pol integration
structural realists theorists
Kenneth Waltz
What is Fearon’s theory of war
- War is unnecessary as states can bargain rationally, however they do not
1. “Blood and treasure”: war is costly, often more than it is rewarding
2. War is easy to fall into: private information misrepresents other state’s capabilities; no credible
commitments or guarantee against betrayal; resources are not equally divisible
Tenents of classical liberalism
- Rejection of realism power-politics → the system is not immutable
- Mutual benefit through international co-operation
- Non-state actors and NGOs implement state preferences
Classical liberal theorists
- Immanuel Kant
- Woodrow Wilson
Tenents of neoliberalism
- Non-state actors emphasised → institutions are powerful, ought to be built
- Espouses for market liberalism and free-trade
- Greater economic integration disincentivises conflict
Neoliberalist theorists
- Michael Doyle
- Francis Fukuyama
- Robert Keohane
- Joseph Nye
Tenents of democratic peace thesis
- Democracies will not go to war
1. Familiarity and ideological adjacency
2. Accountability to voters discourages conflict
3. Greater public wealth of democracies discourages conflict
Democratic peace thesis theorists
- Immanuel Kant
- Michael Doyle
Tenents of rationalism
- Rationalism combines realism and internationalism
1. Multinational organisations have a place in the world order, but world government is unachievable and undesirable
2. Pure self-interest is wrong
3. Sovereignty may be violated under exceptional circumstances
Rationalism theorists
- James Fearon
Tenents of reflectivism
- A range of theoretical ideas rejecting rational choice theory
- All postpositivists are reflectivists but not all reflectivists are postpositivists
Theorists for reflectivism
- Joseph Nye
Postpositivism
Rejects positivist fixation with empirical observation through scientific method
- Non-state actors are important
- Everyday world is studied as well as high-politics → harder to collect data from individuals
- Rejects metanarratives
- Focuses on how power is experienced rather than how it is exercised
- Promotes normative questioning of ethics and morality
- Aims to understand rather than explain/account for → hermeneutics
Tenents of constructivism
- Everything is socially constructed; the world is what we make it
- Reflectivist rejection of empirical primacy and rational-choice theory
- Aims to understand rather than explain
- Norms influence actor’s identities and constantly fluctuate
Reflectivist
theories - Social and material factors are equally important
What is norm building under constructivism?
- Norms are standards of appropriate behaviour for actors with a given identity
- Critical-states are crucial to the creation and upholding of norms
o Issue-specific critical states are relevant to the norm because they have been violators
o Powerful critical states are relevant simply because they have power and influence - An actor that pushes for a norm is a norm-entrepreneur
- Norm-spiral: public shaming of a state until they internalise the norm:
o Accusation and denial of the norm
o Accusation and denial of an action, but not norm
o Recognition of norm violation but inaction
o Behavioural/identity change
What is wendt’s Social Theory of International Politics
- ‘Ideas’ and cultural version of Waltz’s systemic analysis of IR
- States behave according to three normative systems:
o Hobbesian: conflict
o Lockean: competition, live-and-let-live
o Kantian: friendship and rules
Constructivism theorist
- Alexander Wendt
- Martha Finnemore and Kathryn Sikkink
Tenents of poststructuralism
- Challenges accepted truths and knowledge of the world
- Questions power-dynamics of dominant narratives
- Challenges universal laws
- Emphasises subjectivity of truth
- Emphasises words and language
What is Securitisation theory?
- Securitising is the process by which states transfer matters into “national security” interests in order to
enable extraordinary means - Securitised issues are originally non-threatening but become so because they are labelled as such
- Eg; Islamisation now means radicalism rather than historical conversion to Islam; Canadian aluminium is
now a threat to US interests; “war on terrorism”
What is liberal feminism?
- Equality may be gained through representation in liberal structures such as state-institutions from which
rights are derived
What is radical feminism?
Existing systems are oppressive by nature and shaped by gender bias → inherent differences exist
between men and women → masculinity and femininity should be valued equally for their different
qualities
What is intersectionality?
- An awareness of how different forms of disadvantage modify eachother and one’s experience of power
- Class refers to how one is socialised and influences all aspects of identity
Feminist theorists
- Cynthia Enloe
Tenents of postcolonialism
- Examines lasting implications of colonialism
- Challenges eurocentricity of IR, and the assumption that enlightenment thinking is superior, progressive
and universal - Primacy of enlightenment is enabled by portraying ‘the other’ as lesser
- Cultural chauvinism
postcolonial theorists
- Edward Said
