Political Science Midterm Exam

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Modern State System

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A relatively small number of relatively large independent political units, recognizing no binding, higher political authority

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Feudal Order

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Large #, Small size, Not independent or Sovereign

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Commercial Revolution(Economic)

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Provided a powerful economic impetus for the creation of larger entities

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Gunpowder Revolution (Military)

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Dramatically altered the requirements for defense in ways that gave substantial advantages to larger entities

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Protestant Reformation (Religious)

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Marked the emergence of a non-Catholic version of Christianity. Major contributing force to the Thirty Years War

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Thirty Years War (1618-1648)

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Series of Bloody and devastating wars fought largely on German lands between 1618 and 1648

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Peace/Treaty of West Phalia (1648)

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Agreement that officially closed the Thirty Years War

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Absolutist Monarchism

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Political order in almost all of Europe before the French Revolution in which kings and queens claimed divine sources for their absolute rule and power unrestricted by laws of constitutions

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Divine Rights of Kings

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The legitimacy of rulers was granted by God, not the people over whom leaders ruled

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Dynastic Nationalism

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National conflicts

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Balance of Power

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Classical International System (1648-1749)

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French Revolution (1789)

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Popular revolt against the French monarchy in 1789 that resulted in the establishment of the French Republic

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Concert of Europe (1815)

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Monarchs of Europe tried to restore international order after the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, maintaining a balance of power

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(Modern) Nationalism

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Political creed: Sense of connection and loyalty between people and their governments, belief that governments must derive their legitimacy from the people over whom they rule, commitment to national or ethnic self-determination

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Popular Sovereignty

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pronciple that governments must derive their legitimacy from the people over whom they rule

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Self-determination

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Modern nationalism hold the nation-state as the political idea

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Nation, State, Nation-state

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Nation-ethnic group
State-political institutions/government
Nation-state-when the two coincide

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Multinational States

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A single state or government ruling over people of many distinct ethnic identities

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Multi-state nations

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A single ethnic group divided into several different, independent political units or states

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Otto van Bismarck

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Prussian general who waged a series of quick and decisive wars to unify the German states

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The Great War(WWI)

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War greeted with enthusiasm across Europe

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Total War

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A war in which participants mobilize all available resources for the purpose of waging war

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Treaty of Versailles (1919)

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Terms on which WWI was concluded. Harsh on Germany(the losers)

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Appeasement

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A policy in which nations deal with international conflicts by giving in to the demands of their opponents

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The Munich crisis/agreement (1938)

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An agreement in which France and England allowed Germany to take over the Sudetenland

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Second Front

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Used to relieve the burden of fighting on the Soviet Union

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Manhattan Project

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making of the Atomic Bomb

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George Kennan

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American diplomat that composed an analysis of Soviet policy

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Containment

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U.S. policy of resisting the expansion of communist influence during the Cold War

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Truman Doctrine

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Policy that commited the U.S. to assist foreign governments threatened by communist forces

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Cold War

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Conflict between the U.S. and the Soviet Union

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Marshall Plan

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The program of economic assistance to rebuild the nations fo Western Europe in the aftermath of WWII

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Korean War

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Communists in North Korea attack South Korea

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Domino Theory

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The belief that the spread of communism to one country would expand to neighboring countries

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The Munich crisis/agreement (1938)

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An agreement in which France and England allowed Germany to take over the Sudetenland

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Second Front

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Used to relieve the burden of fighting on the Soviet Union

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Manhattan Project

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making of the Atomic Bomb

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George Kennan

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American diplomat that composed an analysis of Soviet policy

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Containment

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U.S. policy of resisting the expansion of communist influence during the Cold War

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Truman Doctrine

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Policy that commited the U.S. to assist foreign governments threatened by communist forces

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Cold War

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Conflict between the U.S. and the Soviet Union

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Marshall Plan

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The program of economic assistance to rebuild the nations fo Western Europe in the aftermath of WWII

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Korean War

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Communists in North Korea attack South Korea

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Domino Theory

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The belief that the spread of communism to one country would expand to neighboring countries

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Realism(Conservatism)

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A conservative perspective on international politics emphasizing the inevitability of conflict among nations, the centrality of power, and the everpresent threat of war

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Collective/Group egoism

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The tendency of social groups to view themselves as not only different from other groups but also better in some respect

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Hans Morgenthau

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One of the most influential exponents of a realist approach to international politics

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George Kennan

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American diplomat and Russian/Soviet expert. Shaped the U.S's cold was policy of containment

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Reinhold Niebuhr

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American theologian and social commentator who provided the most succinct definition of conservatism

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Liberalism

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Social, political, and economic philosophy based on a positive view of human nature, the inevitability of social progress, and the harmony of interests

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Idealism

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An approach to international politics based on liberal assumptions and princlples

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Liberal internationalism

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The application of liberal assumptions and principles to international relations

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Democratic liberalism

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A strain of international liberal thought that claims democracies are more peaceful than nondemocracies, especiall with each other

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Security dilemma

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The problem nations face when the actions taken to make one nation feel more secure inevitable make other nations feel less secure

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Anarchy

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The absence of a central governmental/political authority

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Thomas Hobbes

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Society and the absence of government

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Self-help

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Actors need to provide for their own security

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Right=might

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Conflicts tends to be resolved on basis of relative power

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Commercial liberalism

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A version of liberal international thought that stresses the importance of interdependence in trade and investment as a force for peace

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Liberal institutionalism

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A version of liberalism that stresses the positive role of international organizations in promoting cooperation and peace

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Normative liberalism

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Growth and spread of moral and ethical norms; changing view of war

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Nature/Nurture

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Debate over which human behaviors are biologically of instinctually determined as opposed to being socially or culturally conditioned

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Instinct/Learned

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Instinct-biological, Learned-Cultural

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Konrad Lorenz

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influential ethologist who said that like all animals, people have instinct

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Appeasement gesture

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A concept popularized by Lorenz involving displays or signals made by lethal animals while fighting with members of their own species in order to indicate defeat and avoid death

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Evolutionary lag

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Lorenz's idea that humans' intellectual evolution and ability to kill has not been matched by the development of inhibitions against using these abilities to kill members of our own species

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Instrumental violence

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Violence used in pursuit of some identifiable objective

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Peaceful societies

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Historical and contemporary human communities that do not engage in was or even have a concept for it

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Nonfires

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Soldiers who refuse to fire their weapons in battle

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B.F. Skinner

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Social learning theory, people among least instinctual creatures, almost all learned

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Stimulus response

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Used in social learning throry to indicate that human behavior is shaped by social stimuli

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Pseudo specification

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Viewing other humans as if they were not members of one's own species

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Immanuel Kant

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German political philosopher who first proposed that democratic would be unlikely to wage war against each other

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Democratic pacific union

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The separate peace that Immanuel Kant predicted would exist among democratic states

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Rational public thesis

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Hard to demonstate a general preference for peace

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Institutional thesis

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A variant of democratic peace theory that sees the dispersion of power in democracies as the most important reason they are less likely to wage war, especially against each other

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Delicate Balance of Terror

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Fear of suprise attack and first-strike advantage creates crisis instability

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TRIAD

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Weapons on land, in the air, and in the sea, three legs of nuclear arsenal

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Mutual Assured Destruction (M.A.D.)

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A strategic reality and doctrine in which any use of nuclear weapons would inevitably entailone's own destruction

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Nuclear abstainers

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Nationas with the economic and technological ability to build and maintain nuclear weapons who have chosen not to acquire them

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Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT)

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Agreement designed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons

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Proliferation optimistis (extreme)

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Those who believe that the spread of the nuclear weapons can contribute to international peace and stability

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Proliferation pessimists

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Those who believe that any spread of nuclear weapons is undesirable and should be prevented