IR 140

• International Relations (IR)


  A subfield of study in political science; emphasizes the relationships among the world's state governments and the connection of those relationships with other non-state actors (ex. UN, MNCs, etc.), with other social relationships (including economics, culture, domestic politics), and with geographic and historical influences; has three subfields: IS, IPE, IOs
• Globalization


  The increasing integration of the world in terms of communications, culture, and economics; may also refer to changing subjective experiences of space and time accompanying this process
• State


  For a country to be a state it must have: borders, international recognition (ex. from the UN) and exhibit sovereignty over its fate
• Non-State Actors


  Actors other than state governments that operate either below the level of the state (aka within states) or across state borders (ex. terrorists; NGOs; MNCs; IOs)
• Sovereignty


  A state's right to do whatever it wants within its own territory; is the most important international norm; the state can control its fate
• Power


  The ability to get someone to do something they wouldn't otherwise do / ability to influence others' behavior. Three types: material, agenda setting, social
• GDP


  Gross Domestic Product; the size of a state's total annual economic activity; often used as a measure of power or potential power
• Public Good


  Non-rival, non-excludable
• Collective Goods Problem


  Tragedy of the Commons; All individual actors have incentives to underprovide on the assumption that others will pitch in which results in "free riding" when dealing with non-rival, non-excludable goods
• North-South Gap


  The disparity in resources (income, wealth, power) between the industrialized, relatively rich countries of the West and former East, and the poorer countries of Africa, the Middle East, and much of Asia and Latin America
• Nation


  Large body of people united by common descent, history, culture, or language, inhabiting a particular country or territory
• Nation State


  A sovereign state whose citizens or subjects are relatively homogeneous in factors such as language or common descent
• Bandwagoning


  The belief that weaker states will try to ally with larger states. Ex. WWI: common belief in bandwagoning - everyone tried to be the strong state so they could get the weaker states to get what they want; importance: one of the causes of WWI – there was fast bandwagoning and there was strong belief in bandwagoning
• Cult of the Offensive


  The belief/idea that the first country to strike first would win a war, so under this doctrine, one country's mobilization for war practically forced its enemies to mobilize as well – so minor crises escalate, and mobilization pushes states to war – importance because this is what happened in lead up to WWI
• League of Nations


  An organization established after WWI that included many important states with the goal of achieving humanitarian and political goals. However, it was weakened by (1) absence of U.S. membership and (2) lack of effectiveness in ensuring collective security
• Munich Agreement


  An agreement signed in 1938 allowing Nazi Germany to occupy a part of Czechoslovakia, which was followed by further German expansions (instead of its goal of appeasing the Germans), which triggered WWII - a symbol of the failed policy of appeasement – now has a negative connotation in IR
• Bretton Woods


  1944, Architecture of post-WW2 global economy; created the following institutions - International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), International Monetary Fund (IMF), Fixed Exchange Rates, General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT)-MFN
• United Nations


  Hope: A League of Nations with "teeth." Institutions: (1) General Assembly: "Parliament of Humanity" (2) Security Council: Enforcement arm for peace - The Veto System - Reality: Squabbling between US and USSR paralyzed much of the UN system from its inception to the end of the Cold War
• Marshall Plan


  June 1947: $12.4 billion for Europe (about $100 billion in current dollars); Attempt to spur economic growth and development – a reaction to poor economic conditions and Soviet/Communist electoral strategies. Condition: Europe must attempt to integrate itself economically
• Anarchy


  A key assumption of realists (and liberalists), anarchy is the absence of hierarchy; Absence of sovereign arbiter to solve disputes, allocate resources, or enforce agreements (DOES NOT mean chaos)
• Balance of Power


  Changes in relative power lead to changes in behavior among states
• Realism


  A theoretical tradition that explains international relations mainly in terms of power; considered to be the dominant theory; the oldest theory in IR-importance: it was the dominant approach because it seemed to be able to explain elements of IR in general
• Relative Power


  The ratio of the power that two states can bring to bear against each other; is a key focus of realist theory; takes place at the international/system level of analysis
• Security Dilemma


  The ideal that, in trying to advance one's own security, one ends up lessening one's own security; a situation in which actions that states take to ensure their own security are perceived as threats to the security of other states; it is an outcome of anarchy and lack of central authority; ex. one state purchases WMDs which leads to insecurity in another state
• Deterrence


  The policy of persuading an adversary, through the threat of military action, that the costs of an action will outweigh the benefits; key elements: Adversary, Threat, Costs, Benefits, Action. Ex. Chicken
• Alliance


  Formal or informal agreements between states that offer protection to small states and autonomy and control to large states; alliances are honored 40%-60% of the time ex. NATO in 1949; Article V: any state that is a member of NATO will get the support of other NATO states if it is attacked
• Unitary Actor/Rationality


  A key assumption of realism; actors are conceived of as single entities that can "think" about their actions coherently, make choices, identify their interests, and rank their interests in terms of priority
• Neorealism


  A version of realist theory that emphasizes the influence of the system's structure on state behavior--especially the international distribution of power
• Collective Security


  Formation of a broad alliance of most major actors in an international system for the purpose of jointly opposing aggression by any actor; sometimes seen as presupposing the existence of a universal organization to which both the aggressor and its opponents belong
• Democratic Peace


  Mutual democracy leads to no war --theory that democracies almost never fight wars against each other, though they do fight authoritarian states –essentially a deterministic hypothesis
• Liberalism


  A strand of IR theory that assumes rational actors, including states, IOs, domestic institutions; comprised of liberal institutionalism (which emphasizes IOs) and liberal internationalism (which emphasizes domestic institutions)
• Constructivism


  A movement in IR theory that examines how changing international norms and actors' identities help shape the content of state interests
• Institution


  A set of formal rules, informal rules, and shared understandings that constrain and prescribe political actors' interactions with each other; domestic institutions: ex. universal adult suffrage; competitive elections; international institutions can mitigate the problem of anarchy by lengthening the shadow of the future (time horizons), reducing fears about cheating, providing information, and monitoring and enforcing agreements; the European Union, for example, is an institution. International Organizations are formal institutions – they wrote the rules down and states agreed to them
• Logic of Appropriateness


  A state behaves in a certain way because it believes it should behave that way; used in Constructivist IR
• Logic of Consequences


  A state behaves a certain way because it calculates the possible outcomes of its actions; used in Liberal and Realist IR
• Norm


  A principle of right action binding upon the members of a group and serving to guide, control, or regulate proper and acceptable behavior expectations held by participants about normal relations among states
• Difference feminism


  A strand of feminism that believes gender differences are not just socially constructed and that views women as inherently less warlike than men (on average) --- less war; more diplomacy; more emphasis on humanitarian efforts internationally
• Liberal feminism


  A strand of feminism that emphasizes gender equality and views the "essential" differences in men's and women's abilities or perspectives as trivial or nonexistent --- war is just as likely; not much different from how international politics are currently conducted
• Conflict


  A difference in preferred outcomes in a bargaining situation; Conflict ≠ War
• Leverage


  Using power capabilities to influence an actor to reach an agreement more favorable to you; War is a means of leverage but there are others...