World Politics Final

Realism (core idea)

Conflict is inherent due to human nature or anarchy in the international system.

Realism (key actors)

Nation-states are the primary actors.

Realism (main goals)

Survival

Classical realism

Human nature causes war.

Structural realism

Anarchy forces states into self-help behavior.

Liberalism (core idea)

Cooperation is possible and can ensure peace.

Liberalism (key actors)

States plus transnational actors (NGOs

Liberalism (mechanisms for peace)

Free trade

Kant's Perpetual Peace

Inspired liberal institutionalism; democracies and interdependence reduce war.

Marxism (core idea)

Global capitalism creates core-periphery inequality.

Marxism (key unit of analysis)

Social class.

Marxist view of imperialism

Competition between capitalist states over resources causes conflict.

Constructivism (core claim)

International reality is socially constructed.

Wendt's key quote

"Anarchy is what states make of it."

Constructivism on self-help

Self-help is not inevitable; rivals vs friends emerge through interaction.

Co-constitution

Structure and actors shape each other.

Norms (constructivism)

Standards of appropriate behavior for actors with a given identity; can change over time.

Nuclear taboo example

US didn't use nukes after 1945 not just due to deterrence but due to a socially constructed taboo.

Feminism in IR (core focus)

Gender inequality as a structural feature of world politics.

Feminist critique of mainstream IR

Mainstream IR ignores gender and treats women as objects not subjects.

Tickner vs realists

Personal is international; gender is about power relations.

Liberal feminism

Equality of opportunity for women.

Radical feminism

Focus on patriarchy and the personal as political.

Post-colonialism (core argument)

IR is built on Western-centric assumptions and categories.

Orientalism (Said)

The West creates a distorted image of non-Western peoples.

Mission civilisatrice

Liberal imperialism as universalizing Western norms.

Intersectionality

Overlap of race

Post-colonial feminism

Combines gender

Liberal International Order (LIO)

Sustained by US unipolarity after the Cold War; based on IOs

Unipolarity

One superpower (US after Cold War).

Bipolarity

Two superpowers (US vs USSR during Cold War).

Multipolarity

Multiple great powers (emerging today with China

Thucydides's Trap

Rising power vs established power leads to war (Graham Allison).

Pax Americana

US-led liberal order after WWII.

End of History (Fukuyama)

Liberal democracy as endpoint of human governance (critiqued by realism).

Clash of Civilizations (Huntington)

Future conflict will be cultural/religious

US foreign policy after Cold War

"Continuity without consensus" – selective engagement

Soft power (Keohane & Nye)

Co-opt rather than coerce; US as "empire by invitation."

Trump's view of LIO

LIO was detrimental to US; America First; sovereignty over alliances.

Decline of LIO causes

9/11

Too much liberalism (Mearsheimer)

Democracy promotion

Too little liberalism

Hypocrisy in liberal policies; domestic illiberalism; selective implementation.

Russia after Cold War

Economic stagnation

China in world politics

Second-largest economy; Belt and Road; territorial claims (Taiwan

BRICS

Brazil

Spheres of influence return

Post-1997 NATO-Russia tensions; renewed great power competition.

Globalization (definition)

International forces increasingly driving local developments.

Free trade

Reducing barriers so countries specialize based on comparative advantage (Ricardo).

Comparative advantage

Countries produce what they make most efficiently; trade increases total production.

Mercantilism

16th-18th century; trade surplus

Protectionism

Tariffs

Economic nationalism

20th century; state controls economy (ISI

Winners of globalization

High-skilled

Losers of globalization

Low-skilled

Elephant curve (Milanovic)

Top 1% and global poor gained; middle class of rich countries stagnated.

Backlash to globalization forms

Protectionism

Politicization of globalization

New axis of political competition: demarcation vs integration.

Populism (Mudde)

Thin-centered ideology; people vs the elite.

Left-wing populism

Latin America (Chávez

Right-wing populism

Western Europe

Reasons for far-right vote

Economic anxiety + cultural backlash + unresponsive governments.

International Organizations (IOs)

Established by treaty; have autonomous will beyond members.

Intergovernmental vs supranational

Intergovernmental: states control decisions (UN GA). Supranational: centralized authority (EU Commission).

League of Nations

Failed due to no armed force

United Nations (founded)

1945

UN Security Council

5 permanent members (US

UN General Assembly

One vote per state; recommendations (not binding like SC).

UN peacekeeping

Classical (ceasefire monitoring) to peace enforcement.

International Court of Justice (ICJ)

Settles legal disputes between states.

International Criminal Court (ICC)

Prosecutes individuals for genocide

European Union (origins)

European Steel and Coal Community (1952) → Treaties of Rome (1958) → Maastricht (1992).

Neofunctionalism

Integration in one area spills over into others.

Intergovernmentalism

States control integration based on national interest.

EU challenges (21st century)

Euro crisis

Regional trade areas

NAFTA/USMCA

Transnational Corporations (TNCs)

Branches outside home country; blackmail power; tax challenges.

INGOs

Non-profit

Nationalism (Gellner)

Political ideology: nation should be congruent with the state.

Nation (Anderson)

Imagined community

Patriotism vs nationalism

Allegiance to state vs belief nation is superior to others.

State-building nationalism

State creates a single nation (education

Peripheral nationalism

Nation within a state seeks its own state.

Civic nationalism

Membership based on allegiance to political institutions (France example).

Ethnic nationalism

Membership based on ethnicity

Secession

Stateless nation becomes independent.

Unification

Two states of same nation join.

Irredentism

Stateless nation joins a state where same nation is dominant (often violent).

Origins of nationalism

French Revolution (popular sovereignty) or Latin American independence.

Modernism (nationalism)

Product of industrialization

Primordialism

Nations built on pre-existing ethnic/religious blocks.

Nationalism and war

Increased war effort (mass armies) but also limited conquest (borders aligned with nations).

Macedonian syndrome

Minority excluded in State A; State B with ethnic kin supports secession → internationalized civil war.

Intra-state conflict

Conflict within a country (civil war

Inter-state conflict

Conflict between two or more states.

Ethnic conflict

Party makes claims on behalf of an ethnic group.

One-sided violence

State uses armed force against civilians.

Communal violence

Violence between non-state groups (Hindu-Muslim riots).

Development (classical approaches)

Decolonizing countries catching up; linear progress.

Modernization theory

Underdevelopment due to traditional structures; fix with investment and new ideas.

Dependency theory

Underdevelopment due to unequal exchange between core and periphery; fix with state-led industrialization.