Politics and Strategy

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Politics and Strategy
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Learning objectives

• At the end of this lecture you should understand
• what makes something political
• the characteristics of strategic situations
• why parties bargain with one another
• You should be able to define the following terms
  politics, strategy, and bargaining.

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What makes something political?

• Politics involves the authoritative allocation of
  that which is valued.
• Implications
• Collective endeavor
• Values are an irreducible element
• Involves power relations
• Distribution is critical

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Political Science

• Involves the study of authoritative allocation of
  value
• who gets what, when, where, and how.

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Conflict and cooperation

• Politics frequently involves both conflict and
  cooperation.
• Groups with opposing values struggle to get what
  they want while those with similar values try to
  cooperate to achieve goals.
• Because groups either work together or work
  against one another to achieve their goals,
  politics inevitably involves strategy and
  bargaining.

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Strategy

• Strategic situations are a subset of social
  situations that involve the interaction of
  individuals or groups.
• In strategic situations, outcomes are determined
  by the combined influence of interrelated
  decisions.
• Strategies are plans designed to help individuals
  or groups achieve their goals when others are
  able to influence the outcome of events.

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Strategy and bargaining

• Actors develop plans to achieve their goals in
  part because they cannot achieve the outcome they
  desire alone.
• Because actors may disagree about what
  constitutes the most desirable outcomes, parties
  bargain with one another in an attempt to resolve
  their differences.

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Bargaining

• Bargaining is a process by which actors attempt
  to resolve their differences.
• Bargaining can occur formally or informally
  (tacitly).
• Formal Egyptian-Israeli Peace
• Informal U.S.-Iraqi relations under Sadaam
  Hussein.

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Example The Israeli-Palestinian conflict

• The Israeli-Palestinian conflict involves
  politics.
• Involves struggle for control over disputed
  territory (West Bank and Gaza Strip).
• Palestinians want an independent state and an end
  to violence Israelis want peace and an end to
  violence.

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The Israeli-Palestinian conflict cont.

• Although both sides agree that peace and an end
  to violence is desirable, they disagree about the
  conditions under which they are willing to end
  their conflict.
• Palestinians will not end the conflict until they
  are guaranteed an independent state
• Israel will not agree to the creation of a
  Palestinian state until the Palestinians can
  assure Israel that Israel will remain secure.

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The Israeli-Palestinian conflict cont.

• The two sides must bargain with one another to
  achieve their goals because neither can achieve
  the things they want without the other.
• Formal bargaining negotiations between Israeli
  and Palestinian leaders to end the conflict.
• Tacit bargaining Israeli and Palestinian threats
  to continue using violence against one another
  until the conflict is resolved in their favor.

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Globalization

• Globalization refers to a shift in the scale of
  social organization, the emergence of the world
  as a shared social space, the relative
  de-territorialization of social, economic and
  political activity, and the relative
  de-nationalization of power.
• Many argue that globalization is fundamentally
  changing the rules by which international
  politics is conducted.