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36 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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4 Analytical Tasks of PoliSci
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1. Description
2. Explanation 3. Prediction 4. Prescription |
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Agent-Structure Problem
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People make their own history, but NOT under circumstances of their choosing.
1. Only people are endowed with the capacity to act- agency. 2. people have to act in a real world context that affects what they do and how they do it. Ex: -choice under the condition of scarcity -free will vs. determinism philosophy -nature vs nurture -political will vs. political capacity |
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Levels of Analysis
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1. Individual
-international politics is a series of of choices by international leaders -assumes a high degree of agency -important for crisis management 2. Domestic -international relations is the product of countries' policies -internal dictates external -Miles Law: "where you sit is where you stand" 3. International/Systemic -the engines of politics are in the structure of the international system -balance of power -REALISM |
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Realism- Origins and Lineage, famous realists
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Churchill, Kissinger, Condy Rice all realists
Thucydides- first realist, 5th century Machiavelli, 16th century wrote The Prince Hobbes, 1652 wrote "Leviathan" |
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Hobbes
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-wrote in 1652 "The Prince"
-After Peace of Westphalia, which established the modern state system. wrote in the aftermath of English civil war -theory of anarchy "life is nasty, brutish, and short" -one of the first translator of Thucydides |
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Clausewitz
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"war is an instrument of politics"
19th century |
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Carr
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first realist of the 20th century. wrote "The 20 Years Crisis" in 1939 reacting to idealism
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Morgenthau Pgs. 7-14, 104-113
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classical realist
-a refugee from Nazi Germany -wrote "Politics Among Nations" in 1948, was an elaboration and distillation of realist thought of past 2 centuries. |
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Waltz Pgs. 29-49, 250-260
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establisher of Neo-Realism
-"Man, the State, and War" and "Theory of International Politics" -also known as structural realism |
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Classical Realism vs. NeoRealism/Structural Realism
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Classical = inherent evil of human kind. States are manifestation of evil human nature. Morgenthau established
Neo = origins of the engines of power are systemic, doesn't care about human nature. Waltz established Classical seeks power Neo seeks security |
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Anarchy
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-international system is anarchic
-does NOT mean chaos - = the absence of a sovereign to regulate relations b/w states - domestic politics are hierarchic |
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State Centricity
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-the state is the most important actor in international politics
-political organization with claims to monopoly over force in territory - ONLY states can raise armies and military to develop real power -simplification of global landscape |
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National Interest vs. Self Interest
self interest? |
National: states pursue national interests defined as universal power and security.
-everyone wants power. "vabarian interest" - leader of a country has a moral responsibility to tend to the power and security of a country |
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Self-help
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- because of the anarchic system, states must be self reliant
- states must focus on capabilities rather than intentions b/c you can see military capabilities, but you cannot see an adversary's intentions |
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Relative power vs. absolute power gains
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- power in relation to other countries' power
- power graph - if two countries are growing, the one that is growing faster has the advantage |
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Polarity
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- international distribution of power affect state action
- a neo realist/structural claim - affects likelihood of war, formation of alliances - uni, bi, and multi polarity uni-1991-present bi- 1945-1991 multi- WW1 |
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Balance of Power/Alliance Formation
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- enhancing security by forming alliances OR augmenting own power to counter competing power
- natural shift over time...fluid system - bandwagoning, which jeopardizes autonomy |
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Security Dilemma
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- direct consequence of anarchy
- improvements in one aspect of security undermine another - dilemma is uncertainty, which spurs an arms race - Ex: Iranian nuclear ambitions missile shield as a defensive effort |
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Prudence and Moderation
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be cautious about keeping balance of power, and don't create unnecessary war under the guise of some false pretext
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Neoliberal Institutionalism
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modern day liberalism
ideas fully developed in 1970s |
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Constructivism
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very similar to identity perspective, not big in Washington, but big in academic fields. lots of sociology. people wrongly thing it's anti-scientific/postmodern.
FOCUS: influence of "social facts"- facts that constrain individual actions. -ways of acting, thinking and feeling that are endowed with coercion. -norms -collective ideas -identities-some think of as culture, but coud be too amorphous of an identity that can't explain change with a constant. -asks the "logically prior" question where do political interests come from? -challenges that anarchy develops predictable global cause -not all about states |
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Critiques of three approaches: Marxist
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-believe IR is biasd towards powerful western countries and/or industrial nations
-we must understand how distribution of wealth affects our world -social classes -DEPENDENCY THEORY- Gunderfrank believed the more interaction that a developing country has w/ powerful nations, the poorer and more dependent it becomes |
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post-modernist critique
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we can't study the social world with the same schools we use to study the natural world. there i no archimedian point from which to analyze. lack of objectivity.
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feminist critique
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-divided field but everyone agrees we should pay more attention to gender.
-focuses on the variability of constructing gender identities -women represent 50% of population, but 60% are illiterate -unequal distribution, politically and professionally |
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Organizational vs. psychological restraints on rationality
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Organizational:
1. SOP's- standard operating procedures -the rules, habits, and procedures of a political organization, which sometime lead people to irrational behavior 2. Bureaucratic politics- Miles Law determines what you want -bureaucratic rivalries Psychological Constraints: 8 cognitive and affective biases a. misperception - cognitive - refers to expectations, we tend to see what we expect to see b. wishful thinking - cognitive - calculation of probabilites and a systematic ignorance of evidence to see what they want c. cognitive dissonance - affective - selective use of evidence, people ignore what they've seen d.bounded rationality - cognitive - "satisficing" a quick fix, not using all info, eliminates indecisiveness e. false analogies - cognitive - taking wrong lessons from history, simple-minded f. prospect theory - cognitive - risk assessment, people accept risk in the face of unacceptable loss g. fundamental attribution error - cognitive - people make dispositional attributions about others behavior and situational attributions about their own h. sleep deprivation, emotion, stress Belief systems group dynamics |
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War
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Sontag: "War is not the weather" - people choose to go to war
120 major wars since 1500 20th century: 1 war every 15 years DEFINITION: the sustained and intentional use of violence b/w two or more states with a political aspect, intnentional 3 Common causes: misunderstanding, evil, greed Realist Insight: even if we lived in a world withouth misunderstanding, evil, and greed, there would still be war. war is tragic and caused by anarchy. Neorealists- anarchy is active cause of war, pushes actors to war. Classical- Anarchy is a permissive condition that allows war to happen Anarchy+Survival Needs --> self help --> security dilemma, relative gains --> war according to a realist Liberal - failure of international institutions Constructive - anarchy is what we make of it |
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Strategy, Grand Strategy, Nuclear Strategy
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Strategy- link b/w means and ends
- the connection b/w the use of force and political objectives Grand Strategy- use to describe foreign policy, national means and ends. - must identify and prioritize goals and think about resources Nuclear Strategy- link b/w nuclear means and political ends |
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Deterrence and compellence
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the threat to use force against an adversary if they act unacceptably. creates fear
compellence- compel an adversary to do something used if detterence fails Ex: Irag in Kuwait, 1990 harder to do adversaries must be rational and must be states for deterrence to work |
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Proliferation
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the spread of certain weapons to new actors
-used to refer to nuclear issues. -includes nuclear, biological, but not conventional spread of 4 things: full-blown working weapons - missiles, launcher, warhead technology - hardware and software raw materials - either naturally occurring or chemically produced human expertise - theoretical scientists and engineers |
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Proliferation - Is it problematic
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Waltz - it's not so bad b/c states don't want to commit national suicide. states just have to just be weakly rational. deterrence will continue to work and maintain stability, may decrease power differentials.
Sagan: proliferation is a problem: certain organizational factors make accidental detonations likely PAL's - launch codes, passwords, don't exist all countries, some countries don't have required political structure. |
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WMD's
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pg. 153 in Nau
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non-proliferation treaty
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1968
Ireland first to sign 188 signees including 5 major nuclear powers north korea withdrew iran in 3 components: divides world into nuclear haves and have nots haves: 5 nuclear powers that promise not to release weapons info have nots: promise not to seek weapons info institutionalized power domination encourges the peaceful sharing of useful technology dual-use problem- created the probability of military program embedded in civilian structure, creates the possibility of cheating |
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Terrorism/ Assymetric Warfare
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includes: guerilla warfare, terrorism, insurgency
some say its the future of warfare Terrorism: a plan of action, "politics by other means" - the use or threat of violence against non-combatants as a psychological strategy in pursuit of political ends. 4 aspects: 1. violence-either perpetrated or threatened, usually lower level of violence than conventional war 2. non combatants - legally, you can't target non combatants 3. Psychology - use of terror is not intended to win military victories -targets of terror are not immidiate victims, but the people who live 4. Politics - contest of power, terrorists are not just crimininals. Is it rational, instrumental behavior (goal oriented) or is it immotive, expressive behavior (discursive)? Most is instrumental What do terrorists want? -demoralize -publicize -mobilize -polarize |
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The United Nations
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normative structure
established oct 1945, 51 original members. replaced League of Nations "the centerpiece of global governance" Liberals see UN as an international institution that regulates power. Realists see as a product of power relations UN Charter- 4 principals 1. sovereign equality of all member states. 2. maintaining peace and security 3. non-intervention - states shouldn't interfere with each other 4. right of self defense - Art. 51 Bodies of UN: general assembly- 192 member states world parliament security council - executive body, has power over general assembly, maintain international peace 15 members - five permanent |
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International Court of Justice
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The Hague
-15 judges, 9 year terms -no more than 1 judge from every country -only has jurisdiction over state actions -moves at a slow pace |
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International Criminal Court
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the single most important development in in International Law in years
-jurisdiction over people -began over WW2, but cold war locked up system -conditions added to allay American fears: U.S. personell couldn't be tried if they were already being tried in the US. Jurisdiction: -crimes against humanity -war crimes -genocide entered into force on July 1, 2002, US renegged from treaty of Rome at last minute |
