The global arena

1
The global arena

• Four primary types of actors states, IGOs, NGOs
  and MNCs
• Anarchy the absence of government
• Sovereignty the right to rule without outside
  interference
• Self-help system you want it, you go for it!
• The struggle for POWER

2
Levels of Analysis

• Individual level psychological and perceptive
  variables that motivate people (govt. leaders,
  CEOs, terrorists, etc.) to make certain decisions
• State level how the internal attributes of a
  state influence their decision-making (political
  ideology, economic strength, military power,
  geography, etc.)
• System level how do worldwide conditions impact
  decision-making (rich states of the North vs.
  poor states of the South)

3
The Study of International Relations
The challenge of world politics is to satisfy
and to attempt to reconcile common aspirations
for security, economic welfare, and identity.
World politics, therefore, involves goal-seeking
behavior and the processes of deciding who gets
what, when and how
4
Developing Theories of IR

• Worldview a particular way of looking at the
  world and making sense of what you see
• Theory a set of interrelated propositions that
  explains an observed regularity. Must have
• Clarity
• Parsimony (focus on reality)
• Explanatory power (empirical support)
• Prescriptive richness (policy recommendations)
• Falsifiability (knows it can be proven wrong and
  why)

5
Realism

• World politics is a struggle among
  self-interested, sovereign states for power
• Anarchy requires states to practice self-help
• Each state pursues its national interest
• Realpolitik-states should prepare for war in
  order to preserve peace

6
Realism is based on

• People are selfish and ethically flawed and
  compete for self-advantage they have an
  instinctive lust for power and eradicating this
  instinct is not possible
• International politics is simply a struggle for
  power
• The 1st obligation of the state is to promote
  national interest
• Anarchical system requires states to acquire
  military power
• Military power is more important than economic
  power
• States should resist international efforts to
  control state protection and institute global
  governance (world govt)
• States should seek flexible alliances to maintain
  a balance of power but do not trust allies!

7
Liberalism

• The unity of humankind is more important than
  national loyalties politics is not a zero-sum
  game the struggle isnt for individual power,
  its for mutual gain
• Reason and ethics can overcome international
  anarchy to create a more orderly and cooperative
  world (viewed as progress)
• Free trade will promote well-being for everyone
  in the world, which reduces the likelihood of
  conflict/war
• Stresses the importance of international
  institutions (UN, etc.) to promote world peace
  and cooperation

8
Liberalism is based on

• Values that President Woodrow Wilson and his
  Fourteen Points suggested at the end of WWI
• an end to secret diplomacy
• terminate bilateral alliances and work as one to
  prevent violence (collective security)
• self-determination of nationalities
• promotion of democracy throughout the world
• importance of the individual and promotion of
  human rights and civil liberties
• using education to promote world peace

9
Constructivism

• Examples include deconstruction, chaos theory,
  epistemology, social constructivism
• Focuses on social groups and their identities,
  their shared, socially constructed images of
  international conditions as the most important
  element in IR
• Social identities constitute actors interests,
  and therefore the shape their actions
• So we should broaden our understanding of the
  ways intl actors construct their images of world
  events in to order to understand their policy
  choices/actions.
• Shared understandings can alter/re-create the
  reality of world affairs.

10
Marxism

• Social class division is the defining feature of
  capitalist societies and social classes are
  defined by their relationship to the means of
  production
• Since social classes are unequal and exploitive,
  social conflict is inevitable within states
• And the state (govt.) is not neutral it
  protects and advances the interests of the
  dominant economic class
• So state behavior needs to be understood as an
  expression of social class divisions (not
  national interests).
• State relationships are therefore unequal and
  exploitive, creating international conflict.
• Led to other radical ideas like dependency
  theory and world-system theory.

11
Feminist Critique

• women mostly excluded from power
  (decision-making) in world politics
• male policymakers downplay importance of global
  injustices to women
• sexism is a pillar of war system
• realism is inattentive to human rights and
  rationalizes aggression
• need increased international cooperation to
  promote peace