International Relations

1
International Relations
The patterns of political interaction among
actors in the global arena
2
Actors

• State an independent, territorially defines
  community administered by a single, sovereign
  government
• Sovereignty the states right to rule itself
  without outside interference
• Nation a group of people who identify themselves
  as linked because of ethnicity, culture,
  language, religion, traditions, etc.

3
Actors (continued)

• Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs)
  organization whose members are the governments of
  states
• Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs)
  transnational group whose members are not states,
  they are private groups or individuals
• Multinational Corporations (MNCs) major
  corporation based in one state with subsidiaries
  in other states

4
The global arena rests on

• 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

5
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)

6
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