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The thought that there is no overarching leader to regulate an individual nation or states conduct.
Both liberalists and realists believe that international relations is anarchic, but have different theories regarding it.
Independent states with no central authority above them who can settle international disputes. |
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The legal doctrine state states have supreme authority to govern their internal affairs and manage their foreign reltions with other states and nonstate actors as independents.
Significance: in IR states strive to be sovereign so that they can choose their national self determination. |
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| Legal Monopoly of Violence |
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Violence is a public good. Within territories, a state is the only one that can use violence in the territory. As a result, they are able to use law and order and are able to tax.
State can use physical force in order to enforce its rule. |
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An independent legal entity with a government exercising exclusive control over the territory and population it governs.
Significant because, unlike a nation, it is a bordered area that can use a legal monopoly of violence. Usually founded as a nation (nation state) but not necessarily having a nation.
People living within the state are called citizens. |
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a state that self-identifies as deriving its political legitimacy from serving as a sovereign entity for a nation and as a sovereign territorial unit. State implies political and nation implies ethnicity or cultural.
Significance: creates culture through state policy. Most states today are still composed of nation-states (ex Israelis, Americans, Egyptians, etc)
Most states try to promote a policy of national identity |
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| A mindset glorifying one's own particular state and the nationality of the group living in it. Pride in your country. Sees the state's self interest as supreme value. States number 1 goal is survival, followed by prosperity, according to Mearsheimer. |
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| A paradigm predicated on the hope that the application of reason and universal ethics to international relations can lead to a more orderly, cooperative world. Assumes that anarchy and war can be policed by institutional reforms that empower international organization law. Positive sum gain - countries gain from interdependence. Believe economic interdependence, cooperation, institutions are good, believe in democracy. |
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Paradigm based on the premise that world politics is essentially and unchangeably a struggle among self-interested states for power and position under anarchy, which each competing state persuing its own national interest.
Win-lose sum gain:for one to win, the other has to lose. Mearsheimer was a realist and believed that all hostile situations refer to power asymmetry. |
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A condition in which power is concentrated in two competing centers so that the rest of the states define their allegiances in terms of their relationsips with both rival great power superstates, or "poles". Ex) US and USSR.
Significance: Generally pretty stable according to Mearsheimer and Waltz because the two powers check eachother and there aren't many peripheries. |
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The distribution of global power into three or more great power centers, with most other states aligned with one of the rivals.
Significance: According to mearsheimer, lead to WWII. No real checks and balances. Very unstable due to power asymmetry. Tons of peripheries. |
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A condition in which the global system has a single dominant power or hegemon capable of prevailing over all other states.
IR: Currently a multipolar system with US as hegemon. Eventually leads to smaller states grouping up against the world power or another power slowly building their way up to rival the one national power. |
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The factors that enable one actor to manipulate anothe actor's behavior against its preference. Military power is the ability to dominate another state physically. Soft powers include Economic, International, Informational, and Institutional.
Sig: whoever has the power governs how the world is run. |
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General dynamic of IR. Unipolarity, Bipolarity, multipolarity
Sig: whichever is chosen dictates the dynamic of IR; its stability, whether or not there is conflict, etc. |
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One state builds up its military in anticipation of another country doing the same
Countries tend to overestimate hostility according to Jervis, which also leads to war. |
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Being a membrr of a sovereign state. Significant to IR because it endows the individual with rights and regulations relative to the state.
Don't need to be of the nationality of the state, ex US other ethnicities are here but they are still citizens of the US even though they arent American. |
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Nationalism is being proud of your nation. Being exessively prideful however, called hypernationalism, can lead to war and hostility. Can also lead to fighting an unwinnable war because youd rather have the pride of losing than not fighting.
Nations are groups of people with common ethnicities, cultures, or languages (ex, Native Americans)
Not all nations belong to a state, must be bordered, have a government, laws and rights. Still have the right to self determination. |
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| Crossing the Rubicon Fallacy |
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Definition
Stems from Greek story of Julius Caesar. Basically an irrevokable commitment. Can create inflexibility in policies. Imagine throwing a steering wheel out of a window - can still hit the brakes but dont.
The fallacy is you can make other options but you think youre in too deep and have to proceed.
Example bay of pigs
Significance: countries will stay in an unwinnable war or wont change policies or will make policies based on already crossing the rubicon. |
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Humans are biologically programmed to aggression. Aggression leads to wanting to physically dominante other countries with lack of a reason to go to war.
Jervis: people deviate from rational norms due to aggression instinct. |
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Before WWII, France and England voted to appease Hitler and let him just take Czechoslovakia unchallenged so that he would be happy and hopefully WWII would be averted. They were wrong.
learned not to appease dictators. Today in politics Munich Analogy used. Ex) NK invaded SK, we didnt want to appease to helped SK out. |
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| Regards state making decisions with conflict internally. Eventually produces one decision from a state as a unit. Ends up producing a rational choice because, according to realists, states act rationally, so this decision making process is ideal. |
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A movement by an ethnic national group to recover control of lost territory by force so that the new state boundaries will no longer divide the group
ex) Israel and Palestinians fighting over who gets the homeland. |
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| National Self-Determination |
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Any state having the right to pursue whatever they want to be doing.
Significance: when someone elses agenda conflicts with a states national self determination, there tends to be conflict and war. |
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| Vietnam and Quagmire Images |
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Quagmire: a difficult situation to get out of. Vietnam: stuck in the grind, it seemed winnable but it really isnt.
Similar to afghanistan today |
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| Dominoes and Checkers images |
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Definition
Domino theory: In vietnam, if one country falls to communism, surrounding countries will also fall. Eisenhower coined the term.
Checkers: Configuration of non alligned powers so one country cannot invade, designed as a deterrent to counter communism.
Funding the opposition, checking powers. |
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Human beings have a tendency to form groups. We have a psychological tendency to demonize (or at least look at in a negative light) the outgroup (ex blacks and whites).
Significant because it causes tension from the outgroup and can lead to violence. Bush doctrine: either youre with us or against us |
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| people who identify with a particular state and get the benefits of rights and laws within that state. Dont necessarily belong to the nation of the state, but still a citizen which allows the state to tax you. |
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| Systemic level of analysis |
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| Looking at an issue from a very broad scope. Looking at how a decision made by a state will affect international balance of power in international relations as a whole. Realists tend to look through this level. Taking a snapshot of the world: you see in the 70s bipolarity, some countries building nuclear wars, how that will affect other states and the balance of power. |
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| Warsaw Treaty Organization |
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The eastern bloc during the cold war. Led by the Soviet Union, aligned with Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Hungary.
Military alliance to counter NATO, if one gets attacked all will support. |
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| North Atlantic Treaty Organization |
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NATO, the western bloc during the Cold War. Led by USA, aligned with France, West Germany, UK.
Countered the WTO led by USSR
Alligned so if one got attacked the others would help out |
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| Council of Mutual Economic Assistance |
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Also called Comecon, an economic organization led by the Soviet Union providing economic assistance to the Eastern Bloc as well as other communist states.
Significance: was the economic organization of the eastern bloc
Along with EEC represents the bipolarity of the system |
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| European Economic Community |
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| Economic community for the western bloc |
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During the cold war, no major battles were fought.
Significant because it represents the power that nuclear weapons have over a war. Both had these weapons that cold wipe eachother out. Represents bipolarity. |
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In a bipolar world, each pole is trying to become more powerful as far as weapons, so they are constantly trying to one up eachother weapons wise.
Relates to security dilemma. Overestimating hostility (Jervis) leads to conflict |
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Occurs during a bipolar world. Have all attention turned to the other major power, and dont have to worry about the other smaller countries because they are insignificant and would have little impact.
Significance: Waltz argues that absence of peripheries are one of 4 factors that lead to stability. |
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| Same essential thing as the arms race, except economically. Easterm bloc had CMEA and Western bloc had EEC. Represents the bipolarity of the time |
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