Wp, Chapter 2

Front 1

Interests

Back 1

What actors want to achieve through political action; their preferences over the outcomes that might result from their political choices

Front 2

actors

Back 2

The basic unit for the analysis of international politics; can be individuals or groups of people with common interests

Front 3

state

Back 3

A central authority with the ability to make and enforce laws, rules, and decisions within a specified territory

Front 4

anarchy

Back 4

The absence of a central authority with the ability to make and enforce laws that bind all actors

Front 5

national interests

Back 5

Interests attributed to the state itself, usually security and power

Front 6

cooperation

Back 6

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

Front 7

bargaining

Back 7

An interaction in which actors must choose outcomes that make one better off at the expense of another. Bargaining is redistribution: it involves allocating a fixed sum of value between different actors

Front 8

coordination

Back 8

A type of cooperative interaction in which actors benefit from all making the same choices and subsequently have no incentive to not comply

Front 9

collaboration

Back 9

A type of cooperative interaction in which actors gain from working together but nonetheless have incentives to not comply with any agreement

Front 10

public goods

Back 10

Individually and socially desirable goods that are nonexcludable and nonrival in consumption, such as national defence

Front 11

Collective action problems

Back 11

Obstacles to cooperation that occur when actors have incentives to collaborate but each acts in anticipation that others will pay the costs of cooperation

Front 12

free ride

Back 12

To fail to contribute to a public good while benefiting from the contributions of others

Front 13

iteration

Back 13

repeated interations with the same partners

Front 14

linkage

Back 14

The linking of cooperation on one issue to interactions on a second issue

Front 15

Power

Back 15

The ability of actor A to get actor B to do something that B would otherwise not do

Front 16

coercion

Back 16

The threat or imposition of costs on other actors in order to change their behavior. Means of international coercion include military force and economic sanctions

Front 17

outside options

Back 17

The alternatives to bargaining with a specific actor

Front 18

agenda-setting power

Back 18

A "first move advantage that helps an actor to secure a more favorable bargain

Front 19

Institutions

Back 19

Sets of rules known and shared by the community, that structure political interactions in specific ways