World Economic History and IPE Theories

international relations

study of political relations between states

state sovereignty

legitimacy recognized by other states; responsibility to make and enforce laws and taxes

levels of analysis (waltz)

the man, the state, international law

Thirty Years War (1618-1648)

war within Europe involving religious rebellion

Peace of Westphalia (1648)

treaty ending the Thirty Years' War, established religious respect and state sovereignty

divine right of kings

doctrine that states that the right of kings to govern comes from God

the Great Divergence

The increase in dispersion of incomes throughout the world associated with the fact that modern economic growth has taken hold in some countries but not in others.

Tilly's Theory

states make wars and wars make states

Realism and Human nature

- Naturally selfish and egotistical
- Human nature is fixed
- Motivated by desire to dominate others
- Motivated by need to survive

Thucydides' Melian dialogue

- Athenians motivated by power
- Melians motivated by morality

Machiavelli's "The Prince"

Niccolo Machiavelli outlined in his book how leaders should rule, with absolute power

said it is better for leaders to be feared than hated

Hobbes' "Leviathan"

A text by Thomas Hobbes that states that life without government would be "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."

anarchy

states respond to no higher power

statism

states are the center of international politics

power

influence, ultimate goal of a country according to realists

survival

international relations are a zero-sum game

someone's gain is another's loss

self-help

the principle that because in international anarchy all global actors are independent, they must rely on themselves to provide for their security and well-being

liberalism and human nature

humans are inherently tolerable and have pure reason

Locke's "Two Treatises"

human character = pure reason and tolerance

civil society must be established with a social contract to create peace and security

Rousseau's "Social Contract"

This thing states "good government is consented by the people but guided by the general will."

Immanuel Kant's "Perpetual Peace"

all people are born equal

federation among states prevents conflicts, creating "perpetual peace"

pluralism

state and non-state actors are essential for global governance

economic interdependence

reliance on others, makes wars costly

High and Low Politics

international relations depend on domestic issues (low politics) now more than war politics (high politics)

democratic peace theory

Idea that democracies tend not to fight wars against one another and that the spread of democratic government can be the antidote to war in the international system

inside-out approach

liberals look within states, examine domestic factors and how they influence actions

regime theory

A theory of international relations emphasizing the importance of "regimes," or sets of principles and values that transcend state boundaries and regulate in an informal way areas of policy such as trade, development of the polar regions, and so on.

Neo-neo debate

- both liberal and realist scholars in their efforts to compete for theoretical dominance came to a common realization that the most scientific theories would be the ones to grain the most respect.

neo-liberalism

interconnectedness and globalization lead to peace; new liberal economic order

classical liberalism

emphasis on human nature

neo realism

concern of all states = relative power and survival

classical realism

power is the end to a means

hegemony

dominance of 1 state over international system

marxism

the economic and political theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels that hold that human actions and institutions are economically determined and that class struggle is needed to create historical change and that capitalism will untimately be superseded

economic base

A community's collection of basic industries.

superstructure

non-material aspects of society according to Marx (culture, ideology, institutions)

class conflict

Marx's term for describing the history of the world

Bougeoisie

capitalists

proletariat

working class

dependency theory

the core (rich) countries exploit the periphery (developing) to use for production

World-Systems theory

addition of semi-periphery to dependency theory

Communist Manifesto

A socialist manifesto written by Marx and Engels (1848) describing the history of the working-class movement according to their views.

constructivism

A movement in IR theory that examines how changing international norms and actors' identities help shape the content of state interests.

social constructs

Ideas, concepts, or perceptions that have been created and accepted by people in a society or social group and are not created by nature

social facts

agreed upon by society

norms and rules

things done in past/patterns/how to act

regulative rules

regulate already existing activity

constitutive rules

create new standard

change system

diffusion of ideas

The way in which new beliefs or information spreads throughout a society or between societies

why do ideas diffuse?

adopting ideas that seem successful in times of uncertainty, signaling position to others

feminist theory

study of the global subordination of women

difference feminism

emphasizes the difference between men and women

focus of difference

women would change international politics

liberal feminism

emphasizes the equality between men and women

focus of liberal feminism

international politics wouldn't change but women should be incorporated into it