Long Test 1 (Prof. Slides) - PolSc 130

for Monday, September 28, 2026

Three Levels of Analysis of IR

• individual

• state

• international system

Individual

• focuses on activities, choices, personalities, and perceptions of individual decision-makers

• personality characteristics (Hermann, 1980)

• covers the following examples:

  • nationalism

  • perception of control

  • need for power

  • need for affiliation

  • conceptual complexity

  • self-confidence

State

• 4 elements of the state

• national power

• power in statecraft

  • diplomacy - influencing through negotiations

  • economic - influence through economic means

  • military - may use threat of force

International System

• characterized by polarity (i.e. unipolar, bipolar, multipolar)

• stratification (i.e. developed, developing, less developed; North as the ‘haves’ and South as ‘have-nots’)

Theories on the “origin of the state”

• evolutionary theory; patriarchal/matriarchal theory

• force theory

• divine theory

• social contract theory

Key concepts of the modern state (Axtmann, 2004)

• territorial state and unitary sovereign will

• territorial state as homogenous nation-state

• democratization and popular sovereignty

• global spread of the idea of the nation-state

Other actors in the international system

• substate actors

• international organizations

Substate actors

• ethnic groups - share a state of identification based on experiences and cultural characteristics

International organizations

• international government organizations (UN; NATO; IMF)

• international non-government organizations (MNCs; terrorist organizations; humanitarian, peace, human rights organizations)

Power and state

• soft power

• hard power

• is situational, always in a state of change, and gets implicated in the relationship between states

• actual vs. potential power

Soft power

• the capacity to persuade another actor to do something through influence

Hard power

• the ability to force its will on others via military or economic means

Basic indicators on state power

• physical

• economic

• political

• socio-cultural

Physical indicator of state power

• geography, population, agriculture, oil, strategic minerals (e.g., coal, iron, gold, etc.)

Economic indicator of state power

• GNP, advanced technology

Political indicator of state power

• leadership, political capability to mobilize

Socio-cultural

• attributes of the population

Other indicators of national power

• population size, territory, natural resources, economic strength, military force, and social stability (Ahmad, 2012)

• natural (geography, resources, and population) and social (economic, political, military, psychosocial, informational, etc.) (Organski, 1958)

• relatively stable (geography and natural resources) and those which are subject to constant change (industrial capacity, military preparedness, population, national character, national morale, quality of diplomacy, quality of government) (Morganthau, 1973)

• tangible (population, territory, natural resources and industrial capacity, agricultural capacity, military strength and mobility) and intangible (leadership and personality, bureaucratic-organizational efficiency, type of government, societal cohesiveness, reputation, foreign support and diplomacy) (Coulounbus and Wolfe, 1982)

Theory

• set of ideas that explain something (explanatory tool)

• thinking about a fact, event or phenomenon with the intent to understand it

IR theory

• concepts and relationships in the international arena

• view about international affairs

• identifying what we study, how and why we study matters in international relations

International Relations

• academic discipline

• studies states and their relations with other states as well as other entities

Big IR

• study of international relations

Small IR

• interactions between states

Context of IR emergence as an academic discipline

• concepts as building blocks for understanding inter-state relations

  • balance of power (stability in Europe in 15th Century)

  • anarchy of international system (Hobbes)

  • league of peace (Kant)

• born out of the Paris Peace Conference in 1949

  • establishment by British and Americans of institutes to study international relations and inquiry into inter-state conflict and state rivalry “to systematically discover the causes of war and conditions for peace in inter-state relations” (war and peace as fundamental issues in IR)

    • no one wants World War III

Perspectives in the development of IR (Grenier, 2015)

• geo-epistemic perspective

• historiographical perspective

• sociological perspective

• political perspective

Geo-epistemic perspective

• based on conventional geographical and geopolitical limits (e.g. West)

• case-specific analytical framework — American dominance in IR with convergence of 3 factors (intellectual pre-disposition, political circumstances, institutional opportunities)

• world systemic analytic framework — inclusion of ‘third world’ sittings

Historiographical perspective

• analyzes the history of how IR was written

• narrated through ‘Great Debates’ (Idealist vs. Realist; Traditionalist vs. Behavioralist; Rationalism vs. Reflectionism)

Sociological perspective

• inclusion of locationality and embedded biases of authors/scholars themselves (i.e. as part of knowledge production itself) — ‘layeredness’ of intellectual, institutional, and political

• also studies the implication of broader political content to the production of IR works”

Political perspective

• power

Approaches in studying IR

• traditional - diplomatic history, philosophy

• behavioral - psychology, sociology, science, economics

• alternative - constructivism

The Uses of Theory in IR (Woods, n.d.)

• setting the conceptual terrain

  • international system - strategic engagements between actors vs international society - states bound by common rules and common institutions

• drawing concepts together to create a ‘map’ or perspective of the international area

  • presence of core actors who formulate preferences; explanation on how actors interact; identification of capabilities that impact on outcome of preferences

Setting the conceptual terrain

• definition of terms — shape what we study and how

  • international system (strategic engagements between actors) vs international society (states bound by common rules and common institutions)

• purpose of studying IR

  • explaining (cause of a particular event or state affairs) vs understanding (narrative and meaning of a particular event or state affairs)

• categories in thinking about IR

  • theorizing is dynamic — concepts may be re-invented

  • levels of analysis

IR concepts

• economic interdependence

• world capitalism

• law and collective security

• power politics

Economic interdependence

• reduction of the likelihood of war; growing interdependence facilitating cooperation; dynamics of economic and political integration

World capitalism

• economic interests fuel conflict in the world capitalist system; WWI are division of the world (core-periphery; North-South/East-West; haves-have notes); world capitalists/dependency/structuralist theorists; focus on development and inequality

Law and collective security

• highlights peace among states; regime theory with the convergence of norms, rules, decision-making procedures; ‘ground-up’ world order (influence of public/world opinion); cooperation is possible because of shared norms co-constituted by various actors

Power politics

• struggle among states for power (seek, extend, and demonstrate); shifts in power in the international system; diplomacy as central in the dynamic

The Uses of Theory in IR (Woods, n.d.): Challenges to hegemonic thoughts

• post-modern — discourse analysis and textuality (i.e. Foucault, Derrida, Lacan, Lyotard); all social reality is constructed; “rebellion against hegemonic ways of thinking”

• critical theory - uncover social and historical origin of international relations; social theory linked to emancipation; power and interest behind knowledge

Constructivist

• rules and norms constitute the international game on who the players are and what they should do and why (not cause of action but reason); “theorizing is a product of history and our position in the world, and shapes (or excludes) future possibility for change

• believes in how we communally/collectively construct our own reality

St. Augustine

• “humans are flawed, egotistical, and selfish beings and thus, war exists”

Machiavelli

• individual and state security drives alliances as practical mitigation to protect the state

Hobbes

• it is the state’s responsibility to protect itself in the international system

Essential Assumptions (Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War)

• state as principal actor in war and politics

• state is a unitary actor

• political actors are rational

• state is concerned with security issues

• ‘zero sum game’ - one state’s gain is another’s loss

Realism Features (Donnelly, 2005)

• “tradition of analysis that stresses the imperatives states face to pursue a power politics of the national interest”

• AKA realpolitik

• there is no such thing as morality in international politics (Morganthau, 1970)

• Hobbesian classical realism

• Waltzian structural realism/neo-realism

• security dilemma

• relative gains

Realism features: Hobbesian classical realism

• human nature (egoism) will not change

Realism features: Waltzian structural realism/neo-realism

• international orders vary according to the number of great powers (polarities)

  • unipolar - hegemony

  • bipolar - two great powers

  • multipolar - many great powers

• ‘at minimum, seek their own preservation and, at maximum, drive for universal domination’ (Waltz, 1979)

Realism features: security dilemma

• increase in one state’s security leads other states to fear for their own security

Relative gains

• gains assessed in comparative terms (who will gain more)

Realist take on the three levels of analysis (Morgenthau)

• individual fights for self-preservation

• state as a unitary actor

• international system is anarchic

Key ideas of realism

• objective laws - quest for power and conflict endemic

• state as unit of analysis

• national interest as primary objective

Key concepts of realism

• state sovereignty

• state security

• national interests

• power politics

Core assumptions of liberal theory (Moravsik, n.d.; 1997)

• “fundamental actors in politics are members of domestic society, understood as individuals and privately-constituted groups seeking to promote their independent interest” (primacy of societal actors)

• “all governments represent some segment of domestic society, whose interests are reflected in state policy” (representation)

• “the behavior of states — hence, levels of international conflict and cooperation — reflect the nature and configuration of state preferences” (interdependence and the international system)

Other assumptions of liberal theory

• liberal internationalism (more positive about cooperation)

• liberal institutionalism/neoliberalism (cooperation through institutions; reduce conflict and competition; market-oriented)

• ‘positive sum game’ - all states benefit, even if not equally

Liberal System

• ‘systemic democratic peace’ — the more democracies are in the system, the more likely to have a peaceful world (Harisson, 2002; Mitchell 2002; Gleditsch and Hegre 1997)

• ‘system level norm diffusion and spill over effects’ (Harrison 2010)

• economic development have strong pacifying effects (Gartzke and Weisiger 2013)

• capitalist system and the global flow of goods and services

Types of Liberalism in IR (Moravsik, n.d.)

• republican liberalism

• pluralist liberalism

• commercial liberalism

• regulatory liberalism

Republican liberalism

• claims liberal democracies tend to be more pacific than other governments

Pluralist liberalism

• argues that maldistribution of social power or existence of deep social cleavages create incentives for international conflict

Commercial liberalism

• asserts economic interdependence creates incentives for peace and cooperation

Regulatory liberalism

• contends that international law and institutions promote international accomodation

Main contributions of liberalism

• ethical view (i.e. human rights)

• market view (i.e. capitalism)

Key concepts of liberalism

• obsolescence of war (trading state rather than military state)

• human rights

• democratic peace

• free markets

Full democracies

• countries in which not only basic political freedoms and civil liberties are respected, but which also tend to be underpinned by a political culture conducive to the flourishing of democracy

• the function of government is satisfactory

• media are independent and diverse

• there is an effective system of checks and balances

• the judiciary is independent and judicial decisions are enforced

• there are only limited problems in the functioning of democracies (Australia, Japan, New Zealand)

Flawed democracies

• these countries also have free and fair elections and, even if there are problems (such as infringements on media freedom), basic civil liberties are respected

• however, there are significant weaknesses in other aspects of democracy, including problems in governance, and underdeveloped political culture and low levels of political participation (India, South Korea)

Hybrid regimes

• elections have substantial irregularities that often prevent them from being both free and fair

• government pressure on opposition parties and candidates may be common

• serious weaknesses are more prevalent than in flawed democracies—in political cultural, functioning of government and political participation

• corruption tends to be widespread and the rule of law is weak

• civil society is weak

• typically, there is harassment of and pressure on journalists, and the judiciary is not independent (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal)

Authoritarian regimes

• in these states, state political pluralism is absent or heavily circumscribed

• many countries in this category are outright dictatorships

• some formal institutions of democracy may exist, but these have little substance

• elections, if they do occur, are not free and fair

• there is disregard for abuses and infringements of civil liberties

• media are typically state-owned or controlled by groups connected to the ruling regime

• there is repression of criticism of the government and pervasive censroship

• there is no independent judiciary (Afghanistan, North Korea)

Democracy in SEA

• Cambodia, authoritarian

• Indonesia, flawed democracy

• Malaysia, flawed democracy

• Myanmar, authoritarian

• Philippines, flawed democracy

• Singapore, flawed democracy

• Thailand, flawed democracy

• Viet Nam, authoritarian

Ethical view (i.e. human rights)

• we should protect human rights all the time

• what’s important for liberalism is the value of each human life; it’s very people-centric

Market view

• capitalism

• liberalism also values the development of the individuals of states and those that are members of the international system

• problem: instances where capitalism can oppress the people, therefore violation of human rights

  • dualism in liberalism

Key concepts in liberalism

• obsolescence of war (trading state rather than military state)

• democratic peace

• human rights

• free markets

Liberal institutionalism

• free trade and removal of commercial barriers central to interdependence theory

• ‘trading state’ better than ‘military state’

• regional economic integration and political cooperation (e.g. European Union)

• cooperation through institutions; anarchy mitigated by regimes

• ‘absolute gains’ — assessment of own welfare independent of others (what will gain me the most)

• emphasis should be placed on global governance and international organizations as a way of explaining international relations

• emphasis on the role that common goals play in the international system and the ability of international organizations to get states to cooperate

Characteristics of institutionalism

• multiple channels which allow for interaction among actors across national borders and which increases the interaction and links between actors and non-state actors

  • examples of channels: diplomacy, bilateral negotiation, multilateral engagement

• attention is given equally to all issues

• states seek to maximize absolute gains through cooperation

• use of multilateralism and cooperation as a means of gaining interests for states

• focus on rules, norms, and principles

  • right to life = paramount human right

International institutions

• traditional - as formal organizations

• sociological - as practices

• rationalist - as rules

• constructivist - as norms

Constructivist turn in IR (Das, 2009)

• debates between the reflectivists and the post-positivists

  • centering on who can provide a more conceptually and sustained empirical analysis of international relations

• end of the Cold War

  • that undermined the explanatory hegemony of the dominant theories

• emergence of new forms of post-Cold War politics in the Third World

  • namely the emergence of new forms of nationalist, communalist, and ethnic conflicts)

Constructivist IR (Hopf, 1998)

• actors and structures are mutually constituted

• anarchy is an imagined community

• identities and interests

• power of practice

• change

• therefore, constructivist IR:

  • emergent

  • constructed

  • contested

  • interactive

  • process-like

• example of constructivism: jejemon

Conventional and critical constructivism (Hopf, 1998)

• similar strands

  • social world as a product of human agency or social construction

  • intersubjective reality and meanings critical to understanding the social world

  • contextualization of data

  • link between power and knowledge

  • individuals as agentic beings

  • reflexivity of self and society

• divergence on identity

  • methodology

  • epistemology

Critical constructivist (Das, 2009)

• “what is understood is socially constructed”

• “construction of reality reflect, enact, and reify relations of power. In turn, certain groups and agents play a privileged role in the production and reproduction of realities”

• “a critical constructivist approach denaturalizes (through cultural lenses) dominant constructions…and facilitates the imagining of alternative life-worlds”

Reiterating constructivist assumptions

• world as social

• ideational structure > material structure

• logic of appropriateness (do the right thing and not ends and means)

• mutual constitution of agency and structure (agency influences structure and vice versa)

• beliefs as central to reality-making

Norms (Finnemore and Sikkink, 1998)

• multiple actors and realities

• international norms

  • regulative

  • constitutive

  • prescriptive

3 Stages of Norms (according to Finnemore and Sikkink, 1998)

• stage 1 - norm emergence

• tipping point

• stage 2 - “norm cascade”

• stage 3 - internalization

Reality as socially constructed

• social facts

• material facts

• epistemic communities

Social facts

• meanings people attach to objects are products of collectively held beliefs

Material facts

• physical properties of objects are products of collectively held beliefs

Epistemic communities

• network of professionals with recognized expertise and competence; knowledge-based experts (e.g. environmentalists; economists)

Key concepts of constructivism

• norms

• ideas

• interests

• identities

• intersubjectivity

Unit of analysis of feminism

• gender

Feminism

• examines unequal gender hierarchies that exist in all societies and their effects on the subordination of women and other marginalized groups with the goal of changing them

• gender as a constructivist concept — a structural feature of social life that shape how we think, identify, communicate

Key assumptions of feminism

• women’s oppression rooted in patriarchy

• violence against women (VAW) both structural and direct violence

Branches of feminism

• liberal feminism

• Marxist feminism

• socialist feminism

• radical feminism

• constructivist feminism

Feminist inquiry

• what is the relevance of gender? (gender as analytical concept)

• where are the women? (inclusion)

Berenice Caroll’s “Peace Research: The Cult of Power”, 1972 Journal of Conflict Resolution

• shifting the gaze of IR from powerful to powerless

• contribution of women in re-constructing international society

• inclusion regardless of culture, race, class, and gender

Themes of Feminist IR Scholarship (Murphy, 1998; Prugl, 2012)

• 1970s-80s

  • gender and war: women and peace movements

  • women and development

• 1990s

  • notions of security

  • dichotomization: men as protectors and women as protectors

  • women and international division of labor

  • gender and global governance

• 2000s

  • post-colonial feminism

  • intersectionalities

Main contribution of feminism

• challenged patriarchy and preponderant male power

• making women visible (vulnerabilities and agency)

• deconstructing socially constructed gender norms and impact on people’s daily lives

• intersectionality

Key concepts of feminism

• gender equality

• agency and empowerment

• VAW; sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV)

• gendered language

• “personal is political”

Realism

• state-centric

• military state is better than a trading state

• power politics

• issues:

  • West Philippine Sea - inevitable structural competition for power, regional dominance, and security in an anarchic international system

  • Russia-Ukraine War - product of structural power politics and NATO expansion

  • Thailand-Cambodia border dispute (Preah Vihear Temple) - power calculation, territorial sovereignty, anarchic self-help system