Io Midterm

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Anarchy

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a concept in international relations theory holding that the world system is leaderless: there is no universal sovereign or worldwide government, no central governing authority. There is thus no hierarchically superior, coercive power that can resolve disputes, enforce law, or order the system like there is in domestic politics

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League of Nations

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an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919–1920, and the precursor to the United Nations. At its greatest extent from 28 September 1934 to 23 February 1935, it had 58 members. The League's primary goals, as stated in its Covenant, included preventing war through collective security, disarmament, and settling international disputes through negotiation and arbitration

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Concert of Europe

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• based on understanding that the inability of Austria, Prussia, Britain and Russia to form an alliance, made things easier for Napolean
• the 4 powers agreed to confer periodically and discuss their common interests and to work together to preserve the status quo in Europe
• first attempt to put emerging liberal approach to international affairs in practice

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Treaty of Westphalia

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1648, established the rights of sovereign states. The Treaty ended the 30 years’ War. Spruyt argues that the sovereign state system was not the inevitable outcome of historical developments and Darwinian pressures like superior size and war-making ability.

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Sovereignty

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the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. Specifically, the concept that states have complete authority over their own territory. The current notion of state sovereignty was laid down in the Treaty of Westphalia (1648), which, in relation to states, codified the basic principles of territorial integrity, border inviolability, and supremacy of the state (rather than the Church). An international norm or ‘institution

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Globalization

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increasing networks of interconnections

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Collective Action Problems

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• A situation in which everyone (in a given group) has a choice between two alternatives and where, if everyone involved chooses the alternative act that is Individualistically Rational (IR), the outcome will be worse for everyone involved, in their own estimation, than it would be if they were all to choose the other alternative (i.e., than it would be if they were all to choose the alternative that is not IR).

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Analytic Eclecticism

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refers to pragmatic approaches to understanding world politics that consciously take into account and selectively recombine theoretical and substantive elements and insights from different theoretical traditions and paradigms.

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Validity

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standard of theorizing, must have valid measures of the variables. They must accurately reflect the concepts they are meant to represent

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Positivism

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The belief or theoretical commitment that the social world consists of ‘facts’ that can be objectively known and measured. The goal of social research is to test theories and discover objective ‘laws’. Post-positivism: all events are subject to interpretation.

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Hypothesis

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research answer to the research question the scholar proposes

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Assumption

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underlying sets of beliefs that a scholar uses to organize his or her theorizing about international affairs

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Normative Theory

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to determine what the purpose of our action SHOULD be. Explanatory (or empirical theory) asks: ‘How does the world work”; Normative theory asks: “What outcomes do we want?”

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Selection Bias

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if you select only on the DV, you select only cases that support the theory

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Empirical Theory

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an explanatory theory that asks: ‘How does the world work”. Contrasted with a normative theory.

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Observable Implication

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things we would expect to observe in the real world if our theory is right

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Epiphenomenal

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A secondary phenomenon that occurs alongside or in parallel to a primary phenomenon.realists believe IOs are epiphenomenal because they are secondary to state power/interests.