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| The ability to punish or reward leaders for the decisions they make. Frequent fair elections make it possible for voters to hold elected officials accountable for their actions by granting or withdrawing access to political office |
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| The basic unit for the analysis of international politics; can be individuals or groups of people with common interests |
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| A “first mover” advantage that helps an actor to secure a more favorable bargain |
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| Institutions that help their members cooperate militarily in the event of a war. Usually embedded in formal treaties, alliances spell out the terms of cooperation, specify the division of the cost and spoils, and/or set up procedures for joint decision-making. Alliances improve cooperation by increasing war-fighting effectiveness, increasing the costs of abandonment, and signaling resolve to other states |
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| The absence of a central authority with the ability to make and enforce laws that bind all actors |
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| Negative repercussions for failing to follow through on a threat or honor a commitment |
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| A situation in which the military capabilities of two states or groups of states are roughly equal. Balance of power theory holds that alliances form when relatively weak states come together to try to balance the capabilities of the stronger state |
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| A strategy in which states join forces with the stronger side in a conflict. This strategy is the opposite of balancing, which occurs when weak states join to counter a stronger state |
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| An interaction in which actors must choose outcomes that make one better off at the expense of another. Bargaining is redistributive: it involves allocating a fixed sum of value between different actors |
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| The set of deals that both parties in a bargaining interaction prefer to the reversion outcome; when the reversion outcome is war, the bargaining range is the set of deals that both sides prefer to war |
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| A strategy in which adversaries take actions that increase the risk of accidental war, with the hope that the other will "blink" first, or lose its nerve, and make concessions |
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| The collection of organizations that carry out many of the tasks of governance within the state. Each organization generally has jurisdiction over and expertise in a particular aspect of government. Examples of bureaucratic actors include the military, the diplomatic corps, and the intelligence agencies |
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| In military terms, the state's physical ability to prevail in war |
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| A war in which the main participants are within the same state, such as the government and a rebel group |
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| The ability of Actor A to get Actor B to do something that B would otherwise not do; the ability to get the other side to make concessions and to avoid having to make concessions oneself |
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| Use of threats to influence the outcome of a bargaining interaction |
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| A type of cooperative interaction in which actors gain from working together but nonetheless have incentives to not comply with any agreement |
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| Collective Action Problem |
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| Obstacles to cooperation that occur when actors have incentives to collaborate but each acts in anticipation that others will pay the costs of cooperation |
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| Collective Security Organizations |
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| Broad-based institutions that try to promote peace and security among their members; either global or regional in scope, these organizations facilitate cooperation designed to resolve disputes, prevent the use of force, and punish acts of aggression, both between and within states. Examples include the League of Nations and the United Nations |
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| An effort to change the status quo through the threat of force |
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| An interaction in which two or more actors adopt policies that make at least one actor better off relative to the status quo without making others worse off |
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| A type of cooperative interaction in which actors benefit from all making the same choices and subsequently have no incentive to not comply |
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| Believability; a credible threat is a threat that the recipient believes will be carried out. A credible commitment is a commitment or promise that the recipient believes will be honored |
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| A bargaining interaction in which at least one actor threatens to use force in the event that its demands are not met |
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| A political system in which candidates compete for political office through frequent, fair elections in which some sizable portion of the adult population can vote. Participation, meaningful choice, and protection of civil liberties are three necessary components of a democracy |
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| The observation that democracies rarely fight other democracies, although they are not less war-prone overall |
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| An effort to preserve the status quo through the threat of force |
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| The incentive that state leaders have to start international crises in order to rally political support at home; this temptation is strongest when the leader is unpopular because of domestic unrest, economic hardships, or political scandals |
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| The situation that arises when military technology, military strategies, and/or geography give a significant advantage to whichever state attacks first in a war |
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| To fail to contribute to a public good while benefiting from the contributions of others |
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| Intentional and systematic killing committed with the intention of eliminating an identifiable group, such as a religious or ethnic group |
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| A situation in which actors in strategic interaction lack information about other actors' interests and/or capabilities |
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| A good that cannot be divided without diminishing its value |
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| Sets of rules, known and shared by the community, that structure political interactions in specific ways |
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| The ways in which the choices of two or more actors combine to produce political outcomes |
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| Groups of individuals with common interests that organize in order to influence public policy in a manner that benefits their members. Examples include business groups, labor unions, professional organizations, ethnic lobbies, and environmental or human rights groups |
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| What actors want to achieve through political actions; their preferences over the outcomes that might result from their political choices |
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| A war in which the main participants are states |
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| Repeated interactions with the same partners |
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| A collective security organization founded in 1919 after World War I. Although it played a constructive role in resolving some postwar disputes, it proved unable to deal with the challenges posed in the 1930s by Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. The League of Nations ended in 1946 and was replaced by the United Nations |
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| The linking of cooperation on one issue to interactions on a second issue |
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| Military-Industrial Complex |
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| An alliance between the military and industries, such as arms manufacturers, that benefits from international conflict. The term was coined by U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower, who warned that the political influence of these groups would push the United States toward a more belligerent foreign policy than its national interests dictated |
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| Interests attributed to the state itself, usually security and power;Interests that can be assumed or claimed to belong to the state. These generally include an interest in maintaining the state’s territorial integrity and political sovereignty. They may also include interests that are shaped by all, or virtually all, of the people within a country—such as interests deriving from the dominant religious or ethnic identity |
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| An alliance formed in 1949 among the United States, Canada, and most states of Western Europe in response to the threat posed by the Soviet Union. The alliance requires members to consider an attack on any one of them as an attack on them all. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, NATO expanded to take in a number of former Soviet allies in Eastern Europe |
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| The alternatives to bargaining with a specific actor |
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| Goals that a group pursues for its material benefit. Particularistic interests often conflict with the national interests |
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| Peace-Enforcement Operation |
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| A military operation in which force is used to make and/or enforce peace among warring parties that have not agreed to end their fighting; compared to peacekeeping, peace-enforcement operations are generally harder, require a higher level of investment, and historically have a poorer track record |
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| An operation in which troops and observers are deployed to monitor a ceasefire or peace agreement; peacekeepers generally act as neutral parties, trying to ensure that the terms of the deal are carried out by all sides- they may also help train police forces, monitor elections, and help in post-conflict reconstruction |
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| Refers to the five permanent members of the UN Security Council: the United States, Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union (now Russia), and China. Each member of the P5 can veto any substantive resolution of the council |
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| The ability of Actor A to get Actor B to do something that B would otherwise not do; the ability to get the other side to make concessions and to avoid having to make concessions oneself |
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| Refers to the five permanent members of the UN Security Council: the United States, Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union (now Russia), and China. Each member of the P5 can veto any substantive resolution of the council |
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| The ability of Actor A to get Actor B to do something that B would otherwise not do; the ability to get the other side to make concessions and to avoid having to make concessions oneself |
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| A war fought with the anticipation that an attack by the other side is imminent |
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| War fought with the intention of preventing an adversary from becoming relatively stronger in the future. Preventative wars arise because states whose power is increasing cannot commit to not exploit their power in future bargaining interactions |
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| Individually and socially desirable goods that are nonexcludable and nonrival in consumption, such as national defense |
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| The tendency for people to become more supportive of their government in response to dramatic international events, such as crises or wars; rally effects manifest as increased political support for leaders at the onset of international conflicts |
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| A classification of the governing institutions of a country, most typically democratic versus nondemocratic |
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| The willingness of an actor to endure costs in order to acquire some good |
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| In crisis bargaining, the tradeoff that exists between trying to get a better deal and trying to avoid war |
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| The ability to withstand an attack from the enemy and retaliate |
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| The branch of the United Nations in charge of collective security; the council has the authority to identify threats to international peace and security and to prescribe the organization’s response, including military and/or economic sanctions. It is composed of fifteen members: five permanent members (see Permanent Five) and ten nonpermanent members with two-year terms. To pass, substantive resolutions require support from a majority of the council and all five permanent members |
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| The expectation that states have legal and political supremacy—or ultimate authority—within their territorial boundaries |
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| A central authority with the ability to make and enforce laws, rules, and decisions within a specified territory |
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| A collective security organization founded in 1945 after World War II. With over 190 members, the UN includes all recognized states. Through its Security Council, the UN can authorize peacekeeping and peace-enforcement operations |
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| The ability to prevent the passage of a measure through a unilateral act. In the UN Security Council, each permanent member can prevent a substantive resolution from being adopted by casting a vote against it—even if a majority of the council supports the resolution |
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| An event involving the organized use of military force by at least two parties that satisfies some minimum definition of severity |
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| A military alliance formed in 1955 to bring together the Soviet Union and its Cold War allies in Eastern Europe and elsewhere. It dissolved on March 31, 1991, as the Cold War ended |
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