Global Politics - Key Terms

Front 1

Asymmetric warfare

Back 1

Occurs when two combatants and their relative strategic capability is so different that success is defined by the ability of one side to force the other to fight on their own terms.

Hint 1

E.g. The US invasion of Iraq.
The Iraqis forced the Americans to fight on their terms to avoid a huge loss. They used IEDs, guerilla warfare and other non-traditional methods.

Front 2

Contested nature of security

Back 2

Security has traditionally related only to the state. There has been a push to broaden the concept of security. There are four alternative concepts.

Hint 2

Lack of security was always caused by a loss in a balance of power. States were unable to work together to create interdependence between themselves.

Front 3

Copenhagen school

Back 3

Form of constructivism. Suggests the concept of securitization where boundaries of security are defined by speech acts and therefore a social construct.

Hint 3

A continuation of the idea of national security, narrowed understanding that refers solely to the nation-state.

Front 4

Just war theory

Back 4

A normative theory defining rules and guidances how war can be just and moral. Encompasses laws regarding declaration and conduct in two categories.

Hint 4

Suggests the way we SHOULD act, so it provides normative rules.

Front 5

Revolution in military affairs

Back 5

A radical change in the nature of war, largely driven by technological change. The state that advances furthest should be able to overwhelm enemies in quick, efficient, painless war.

Hint 5

Results in asymmetrical warfare.

Front 6

Post-Westphalian war

Back 6

A recent shift in response to postmodernity and globalization. This represents the rise of non-state actors engaging in war.

Hint 6

Politics that transcend borders and territories, transforming concept of sovereignty, more interdependent means compromise for state autonomy

Front 7

The Copenhagen School

Back 7

Examines how a certain issue is transformed by an actor into a matter of security. (i.e. the process of securitization)

Hint 7

Two main components:
1. A speech act that presents an issue "as posing an existential threat to a designated referent object"
2. It enables the use of extraordinary powers, mobilization of state resources and the suspension of debate over an issue

Front 8

Cultural explanations of global terrorism

Back 8

Globalization has resulted in the spread of western values/interests and global consumerism that acts to eliminate or destabilize local values and identities. Violence is seen as the only method to preserve traditions and values.

Front 9

Deterrence

Back 9

Practice of discouraging another party from taking action by threatening punishment if that action is taken. Optimal outcome is to out-dare opponent. Worst is both attacking.

Hint 9

Nuclear deterrence seen as stabilizing factor during Cold War.

Front 10

Economic explanations of global terrorism

Back 10

Although globalization provides access to a world market of goods and services, the net result has been perceived as a form of Western economic imperialism. So, terrorist violence is motivated by inequalities in the global economic system.

Front 11

Four alternative concepts to building security

Back 11

1. Collective: threaten one, response from all
2. Common: security of one state relates to all others
3. Cooperative: ensure security through cooperation with other states, bind by organizations
4. Communities: people so interdependent that sense of community interests becomes present and strong enough that possibility of war is relatively unthinkable

Hint 11

1. UN, LoN, a principle (we WILL)
2. Common border with EU, entry point on outer but inner still affected (we ARE)
3. NATO
4. Nobel Peace Prize to EU (France & Germany)

Front 12

Laws of just war theory

Back 12

Jus ad bellum: declaration (by legit authority, just cause & intention, last resort, proportional, good chance of succeeding)
Jus in bella: conduct (civilians vs. soldiers)

Hint 12

E.g. 1: Rwanda, WWII
E.g. 2: Use of napalm in Vietnam

Front 13

Speech act theory

Back 13

How discourse impacts our understanding of policy and constructs reality? Performative statements describe and produce a new reality.

Hint 13

John Langshaw Austin. E.g. Promiseor wedding vows.

Front 14

Types of speech

Back 14

Locutionary: the semantic or literal significance of the utterance
Illocutionary: the intention of the speaker
Perlocutionary: how it was received by the listener

Hint 14

E.g. Drawing parallel between 9/11 acts and overspending and therefore creating fear

Front 15

Religious explanations

Back 15

Kill as many non-believers for happiness in the afterlife. Suggests a distinction between believers and non-believers. Reason for rise in global terrorism over past 40 years.

Front 16

Types of Terrorism

Back 16

1. Left-wing extremism (violent extremist behaviour related to ideological projects)
2. Right-wing extremism
3. Anti-colonial/ethno-nationalist (smaller entity within nation-state, e.g. FLQ or KKK)
4. Religious or sacred (e.g. al-Qaeda)

Front 17

The Label of "Terrorist"

Back 17

Members of one social group distance themselves from or assert themselves over another by construing the latter as being fundamentally different

Hint 17

Dehumanizing the other.
Terrorist vs. Freedom fighter
Hostage vs. Political prisoner
Nationalist fanatics vs. Patriotic citizens

Front 18

Horizontal/vertical proliferation

Back 18

Horizontal: The spread of nuclear weapons to non-nuclear states or their ability to make them
Vertical: The increase in the number of nuclear weapons by those states already in possession of such weapons

Front 19

Nuclear Taboo

Back 19

A gradual development of an international norm that suggests the use of nuclear weapons has no place in modern warfare.

Front 20

Waltz thesis

Back 20

Argues for proliferation for safety and security.
1. Gradual spread is better than no spread (hoarding) or rapid spread.
2. New nuclear states will feel the constraint of the responsibility and usage of nuclear weapons, making them more cautious.
3. When nuclear weapons are used responsibly, they make wars harder to start. Act as a deterrence - actual use is a defensive capability.

Front 21

Sagan thesis

Back 21

Argues against proliferation because we cannot assume all actors will be constrained.
1. Military organizations, by the nature of their structure, biases and predispositions, are likely to lead to deterrence failures and the possibility of accidental or deliberate war.
2. Because future nuclear countries are more likely to have military governments or weak civilian control, they will lack the positive constraining mechanisms of civil control over the military and instead, be more open to control by the military bias.

Front 22

Freedom from fear

Back 22

A world-wide reduction of armaments to the point that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor. Narrow

Hint 22

Dealt with Western governments
Main stimulus: Rise of complex emergencies, ethnic strife, state failure
Threats addressed: Tries to continue along same concentration of physical security, armed conflict, violence against individuals
Main policy goals: protect people in conflict zones

Front 23

Freedom from want

Back 23

Economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants. Broad.

Hint 23

Dealt with development economists
Main stimulus: shift focus from orthodox economic growth models
Threats addressed: Non-military and non-traditional security concerns
Main policy goals: Promote human development

Front 24

Human security

Back 24

An attempt to shift the perspective of security away from solely states to individuals. Most important actors are not states but individuals. Attempt to change the referent object of security.

Hint 24

First conceived by developmental economists. 7 focuses on security: economic, food, health, environmental, personal, community, political

Front 25

Just cause threshold

Back 25

To justify military intervention, there must be serious harm to humans.
A. Large scale loss of life because of the state
B. Large scale ethnic cleansing

Front 26

Ottawa treaty

Back 26

Aims at eliminating anti-personnel landmines (AP-mines) around the world. 1997.

Front 27

Pluralist international society theory

Back 27

da

Hint 27

fuq is dis

Front 28

Responsibility to protect

Back 28

Because IR is founded on state sovereignty, states have a responsibility to protect their own citizens. When they are unwilling or unable to do so, responsibility transfers to the society of states.

Front 29

Cosmopolitanism

Back 29

The ideology that all human ethnic groups belong to a single community based on a shared morality. Denotes identification with a community, culture or idea that transcends borders or particular societies, and implies freedom from local or national conventions.

Hint 29

Cosmopolitanism of globalizing capitalism fostered a degree of multiculturalism, but sought to reconcile particular cultures to a common ground of universal political and economic principles.

Front 30

Global civil society

Back 30

Refers to the vast assemblage of groups operating across borders and beyond the reach of governments.

Front 31

Multilateralism

Back 31

Refers to multiple countries working in concert on a given issue. The tendency for functional aspects of international relations to be organized around large numbers of states or universally rather than by unilateral state action.

Front 32

Neo-medievalism

Back 32

A condition in which political power is dispersed between local, national and supranational institutions none of which commands supreme loyalty.

Front 33

The reconstructed state

Back 33

1. States served a broader group of constituents, not just those within their borders.
2. States are less able to promote social warfare. They compete with other states to attract the investments of non-state actors by reducing taxes. This reduces their revenues.
3. Traditional warfare is less of an issue. New warfare has increased (e.g. chemical).
4. Unilateral (one-sided) control is impossible. States must cooperate.

Hint 33

As the state has been hollowed out, it must be altered in order to function.

Front 34

Transborder substate governance

Back 34

Many states have shifted power down to sub-state governance mechanisms. This means that authority has passed to these lower-level governance bodies. This trend has been encouraged by globalization and is part of the hollowing out of states.

Front 35

Responsibility to Protect

Back 35

States have a responsibility to protect their own citizens. When they are unwilling or unable to do so that responsibility transfers to the society of states.
1. Just Cause Threshold
2. Precautionary principles
3. Right authority
4. Operational principles
Problem: applicability

Hint 35

IR founded on state sovereignty.