WORLD POLITICS Lecture 1

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WORLD POLITICS Lecture 1
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• INTRODUCTION (1)
• The Nature of Foreign Policy

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World Politics

• Historically, the study of diplomacy
• - Idealist, promotion of international law
  after World War I
• - Realist analysis of
• Global interdependence, WWII
• International Political Economy
• State behavior (Rationality)
• National security

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Three contemporary approaches to World Politics

• (1) Neorealism conservative approach to World
  Politics
• (2) Marxist-informed world system
• (3) Liberal institutionalism

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Neorealism

• Focus on the distribution of power in the world
  system
• How that distribution influences political
  outcomes
• Powerful states maximize their national
  interests.
• The drive by the most powerful state to
  establish, maintain, and defend its political
  dominance over the entire international system
• A form of primacy referred to as hegemony

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Marxism

• The focus was on world economy affecting
  fluctuations in world politics (dependence
  theory).

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Liberal Institutionalism

• The need for states to coordinate their policies
• Interdependence requires coordination to maximize
  political outcomes, the greater good
• International regimes, UN, World Bank
• Norms, rules, principles, and decision-maximizing
  procedures for collective action
• Interdependence rather than the unitary state

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Recently

• World Reduction of world violence World
• Orderism Protecting the
  ecology Stability
• Poverty reduction

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The nature of politics

• Put into practice convictions about social values
• Achieving public good, conception of how society
  should be organized
• Politics is a process, a process leading to
  outcomes

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Outcomes

• Zero-sum game (clashing convictions)
• Consensus for harmony

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Range of Political Actions
Agreement and cooperation
Partial agreement
Opposition and conflict
Initial conditions
Strategy 1
Strategy 2
A
B
If A gt B, then Strategy 1 Strategy 2 if
environment changes
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Social values and foreign policy

• Social values shapes goals of national policy
• America land of opportunity
• France distinctive culture
• Former Soviet Union - revolution

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Foreign Policy

• Exclusive of governments prerogative
• Acting on behalf of all citizens, it should
  reflect the value preference of people
• Predominance of kings in the past

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Value content of Foreign Policy

• Public good The good of individual citizens
• Anarchy protect from external threats
• Provide prosperity via economic growth
• The good of special interest groups
• Greenpeace, Amnesty International
• The greater good of society
• Protecting minority rights
• - religious rights
• - secular rights
• The good of the administration
• Dem Ind Rep
• Eco War
• election time
• The good of the state
• Sovereignty
• Self preservation
• Independence

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Prediction of foreign policy

• Clashing nationalist interests
• World Politics potentially explosive
• competing
• Interests Goals Objectives

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From social values to national interest

• National interests states values in World
  Politics
• To give policy a general orientation toward
  international politics
• Choosing among alternative actions

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Ends and means in foreign policy

• Ends, in theory, determine means.
• Ends justify the means.

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The nature of an objective

• Objective
• Status quo Intermediate Change
• (goals)

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Policy and decision

• Decisions are costly
• Money
• Future of political system
• Lives and property of millions of people

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Policy and Decision
action 1
action 2
action 3
action 4
Preferences
action 1 gt action 2 gt action 3 gt action 4

• formulation of the objective with precision
• nature of actions to be taken
• the amount of national resources

cost / risk / benefit analysis
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The need for priorities

• Security
• Peace
• Growth

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Political game

• Policy in the status quo
• Defensive in orientation
• Stability
• Preservation
• Neutralization

• The policy of Revisionism
• Offensive orientation
• Stability is the problem

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Political Game in World Politics
Actor 1
action 1 or strategy 1
action 2 or strategy 2
Actor 2
Actor 2
action 1 or strategy 1
action 2 or strategy 2
action 1 or strategy 1
action 2 or strategy 2
outcome 1
outcome 4
outcome 3
outcome 2