Introduction to international politics terms

Chapters 1-7

International relations (IR)

The relationships among the worlds state governments and the connection of those relationships with other actors.

Collective goods problem

The challenge in international relations where benefits that are shared by a group are not effectively provided or maintained due to individual interests conflicting with collective needs.

Dominance

A principle for solving collective goods problems by imposing solution hierarchically

Reciprocity

A response in kind to another’s actions; a strategy of reciprocity uses positive forms of leverage to promise rewards and negative forms of leverage to threaten punishment.

Identity

A principle for solving collective goods problems by changing participants preferences based on their shared sense of belonging to a community

Issue areas

Distinct spheres of international activity within which policy makers of various states face conflicts and sometimes achieve cooperation 

conflict and cooperation

The mix of friendly and hostile behavior in relationships among states

international security

A sub field of international relations that focuses on questions of War and peace

international political economy (IEP)

The study of the politics of trade, monetary,and other economic relations among nations, and their connection to other transnational forces

State

AN inhabited territorial entity controlled by government/ that exercises sovereignty over its territory 

International system 

The set of relationships among the worlds states, structured by certain rules and patterns on interation

nation-states

States whose population share a sense of national identity, usually including a language and culture 

gross domestic product (GDP)

The total value of goods produced and services in a country during one year

Nonstate actors

Actors other than state governments that operate either below the level of the state or across state borders 

intergovernmental organization(IGO)

An organization whose members are state governments

nongovernmental organization (NGO)

A transnational group or entity that interacts with states, multinational corporation, other NGOs and intergovernmental organizations 

North-South gap

The disparity in resources between the industrialized, relatively rich countries of the west and the poorer countries of Africa,the Middle East, and much of Asia and Latin America

League of Nations

Established after WW1; achieved certain humanitarian and other successes but was weakened by the absence of U.S membership and by its own lack of effectiveness in ensuring collective security.

Munich Agreement

A symbol of the failed policy of appeasement, this agreement, signed in 1938, allowed Nazi Germany to occupy a part of Czechoslovakia. Rather than appease German aspirations, it was followed by further German expansions, which triggered World War II

Cold War

The hostile relations-punctuated by occasional periods of improvement, or detente-between the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, during the twentieth century. 

Containment 

A policy adopted in the late 1940s by which the United States sought to halt the global expansion of Soviet influence on several levels-military, political, ideological, and economic.

Sino-Soviet split 

A rift in the 1960s between the communist powers of the Soviet Union and China, fueled by china’s opposition to Soviet moves toward peaceful coexistence with the United States 

Summit Meeting

A meeting between heads of state, as in the Cold War superpower summits between the United States and the Soviet Union or today’s meetings of the Group of Twenty on economic coordination 

Cuban Missile Crisis

A superpower, sparked by the Soviet Unions installation of medium-range nuclear missiles in Cuba, that marks the moment when the United States and the Soviet Union came closest to nuclear war 

Proxy wars

Wars in which more powerful states compete with one another by supplying and advising opposing factions without direct intervention 

Realism

A board intellectual tradition that explains international relations mainly int erms of power.

Idealiam 

An approach that empha

Power

The ability or potential to get another actor to do what it would not otherwise have done.

Geopolitics

The use of geography as an element of power and the ideas about it held by political leaders and scholars

anarchy

In IR theory, a term that implies not complete chaos but the lack of a central government that can enforce rules 

norms

The shared expectations about what behavior is considered proper

Sovereignty 

A state’s at least in principle, to do whatever it wants within its own territory; traditionally, sovereignty is the most important international norm. 

security dilemma

A situation in which actions that states take to ensure their own security are perceived as threats to the security of other states.

Balance of Power

The general concept of the power of one or more states being used to balance that

of another state or group of states. The term can refer to (1) any ratio of power capabilities between states or alliances, (2) a relatively equal ratio, or (3) the process by which counterbalancing coalitions have repeatedly formed to prevent one state from conquering an entire region.

Neo realism

A version of realist theory that emphasizes the influence on state behavior of the system’s structure, especially the international distribution of power.

multi polar system

An international system with typically five or six centers of power that are not

grouped into alliances.

power transition theory

A theory that the largest wars result from challenges to the top position in the status in hierarchy, when a rising power is surpassing the most powerful state.

hegemony

The holding by one state of a preponderance of power in the international system so that it can single-handedly dominate the rules and arrangements by which international political and economic relations are conducted. 

hegemonic stability theory

The argument that regimes are most effective when power in the international system is most concentrated.

alliance cohesion

The ease with which the members hold together an alliance; it tends to be high when

national interests converge and when cooperation among allies becomes institutionalized.

burden sharing

The distribution of the costs of an alliance among members; the term also refers to the conflicts that may arise over such distribution.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization 

A U.S.-led military alliance, formed in 1949 with mainly Western European members, to oppose and deter Soviet power in Europe. It is currently expanding into the former Soviet bloc.

Warsaw Pact

A Soviet-led Eastern European military alliance founded in 1955 and disbanded in 1991. It opposed the NATO alliance.

U.S Japanese Security Treaty

A bilateral alliance between the United States and Japan, created in 1951 against the potential Soviet threat to Japan. The United States maintains troops in Japan and is committed to defend Japan if that nation is attacked, and Japan pays the United States to offset about half the cost of maintaining the troops.

nonaligned movement

A movement of developing countries, initially led by India and Yugoslavia, that attempted to stand apart from the U.S.-Soviet rivalry during the Cold War.

deterrence

The threat to punish another actor if it takes a certain negative action

Compellence 

he threat of force to make another actor take some action

arms race

A reciprocal process in which two or more states build up military capabilities in response to each other.

Rational actors

Actors conceived of as single entities that can “think” about their actions coherently, make choices, identify their interests, and rank the interests in terms of priority.

national interest

The interests of a state overall (as opposed to particular parties or factions within the state).

cost-benefit analysis

A calculation of the costs to be incurred by a possible action and the benefits it is likely to bring.

game theory 

A branch of mathematics concerned with predicting bargaining outcomes. Games such as Prisoner’s Dilemma and Chicken have been used to analyze various sorts of international interactions.

zero-sum games

Situations in which one actor’s gain is by definition equal to the other’s loss, as opposed to a non-zero-sum game, in which it is possible for both actors to gain (or lose).

Prisoner’s Dilemma

A situation modeled by game theory in which rational actors pursuing their individual interests all achieve worse outcomes than they could have by working together.

Interdependence 

A political and economic situation in which states are mutually dependent on each other for products. The degree of interdependence can be assessed based on “sensitivity” or “vulnerability.”

neo liberal

An approach that stresses the importance of international institutions in reducing the inherent conflict that realists assume in an international system; the reasoning is based on the core liberal idea that seeking long-term mutual gains is often more rational than maximizing individual short-term gains.

International regime

A set of rules, norms, and procedures around which the expectations of actors converge in a certain international issue area

collective security

The formation of a broad alliance of most major actors in an international system for the purpose of jointly opposing aggression by any actor; sometimes seen as presupposing the existence of a universal organization to which both the aggressor and its opponents belong. 

democratic peace

The proposition, strongly supported by empirical evidence, that democracies almost never fight wars against each other

constructivism  

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

postmodernism

An approach that denies the existence of a single fixed reality and pays special attention to texts and to discourses—that is, to how people talk and write about a subject.

subtext

Meanings that are implicit or hidden in a text rather than explicitly addressed

economic classes

A categorization of individuals based on economic status.

Marxism

A branch of socialism that emphasizes exploitation and class struggle and includes both communism and other approaches.

conflict resolution 

The development and implementation of peaceful strategies for settling conflicts 

mediation

The use of a third party (or parties) in conflict resolution.

militarism

The glorification of war, military force, and violence

positive peace

A peace that resolves the underlying reasons for war; not just a cease-fire but a transformation of relationships, including elimination or reduction of economic exploitation and political oppression.

world government

A centralized world governing body with strong enforcement powers.

peace movements 

Movements against specific wars or against war and militarism in general, usually

involving large numbers of people and forms of direct action such as street protests.

difference feminism

A strand of feminism that believes gender differences are not just socially constructed and that views women as inherently less warlike than men (on average).

liberal feminism

A strand of feminism that emphasizes gender equality and views the “essential” differences in men’s and women’s abilities or perspectives as trivial or nonexistent.

postmodern feminism

An effort to combine feminist and postmodernist perspectives with the aim of uncovering the hidden influences of gender in IR and showing how arbitrary the construction of gender roles is.

gender gap

Refers to polls showing

women lower than men on average

in their support for military actions,

as well as for various other issues

and candidates

Rational model 

A model in which

decision makers calculate the costs

and benefits of each possible course

of action, then choose the one with

the highest benefits and lowest

costs.

organizational process model

A decision-making model in which

policy makers or lower-level

officials rely largely on standardized

responses or standard operating

procedures.

government bargaining model

A model that sees foreign policy

decisions as flowing from a

bargaining process among various

government agencies that have

somewhat divergent interests in

the outcome

misconceptions and selective perceptions

he mistaken

processing of the available

information about a decision; one of

several ways—along with affective

and cognitive bias—in which

individual decision making diverges

from the rational model

information screens 

The

subconscious or unconscious filters

through which people put the

information coming in about the

world around them.

optimizing

Picking the very

best option or making the best or

most effective use of a resource,

opportunity, or situation.

satisficing

The act of finding a

satisfactory or “good enough”

solution to a problem.

prospect theory 

A decision-making

theory that holds that options

are assessed by comparison to a

reference point, which is often the

status quo but might be some past

or expected situation. The model

also holds that decision makers fear

losses more than they value gains.

groupthink

The practice of thinking

or making decisions as a group in a

way that discourages creativity or

individual responsibility.

interest groups

Coalitions of people

who share a common interest in the

outcome of some political issue and

who organize themselves to try to

influence the outcome.

military-industrial complex

A huge interlocking network of

governmental agencies, industrial

corporations, and research institutes,

all working together to promote and

benefit from military spending.

public opinion

In IR, the range of

views on foreign policy issues held

by the citizens of a state.

“rally” ‘round the flag’ syndrome 

The

public’s increased support for

government leaders during

wartime, at least in the short term.

diversionary foreign policy

Foreign policies adopted to

distract the public from domestic

political problems.

foreign policy process

The process

by which foreign policies are

determined and implemented.

Hegemonic war

War for control of

the entire world order—the rules of

the international system as a whole.

Also called world war, global war,

general war, or systemic war.

total war

arfare by one state

waged to conquer and occupy

another; modern total war

originated in the Napoleonic Wars,

which relied on conscription on a

mass scale.

limited war 

Military actions

that seek objectives short of the

surrender and occupation of the

enemy.

civil war

A war between factions

within a state trying to create, or

prevent, a new government for the

entire state or some territorial part

of it.

guerrilla war

Warfare without

front lines and with irregular forces

operating in the midst of, and often

hidden or protected by, civilian

populations.

truth commissions

truth commissions Governmental

bodies established in several

countries after internal wars to hear

honest testimony and bring to light

what really happened during these

wars, and in exchange to offer most

of the participants asylum from

punishment.

conflict

A difference in preferred

outcomes in a bargaining situation.

cycle theories 

An effort to explain

tendencies toward war in the

international system as cyclical,

for example, by linking wars with

long waves in the world economy

nationalism

dentification with

and devotion to the interests of

one’s nation. It usually involves a

large group of people who share

a national identity and often a

language, culture, or ancestry. The

concept implies a definition not just

of who is in that nation but who is

out, an inherent “othering” of those

outside the group.

ethnic groups

Large groups

of people who share ancestral,

language, cultural, or religious ties

and a common identity.

ethnocentrism

The tendency to

see one’s own group (in-group) in

favorable terms and an out-group in

unfavorable terms.