Intro to International Relations

International system

The set of relationships among the world's nations, characterized by interactions, power dynamics, and the influence of international organizations and norms.

(International) Actors

Entities that engage in behaviors, practices, or actions in (international) politics

State

territory and population that is controlled by a sovereign (independent) government. used interchangeably with “Nation-state” “government” “nation” “country”. primary actor in the International system.

Great powers

States that have significant influence and military capability, often dominating international affairs and shaping global politics. (China, France, Japan, Germany, Russia, UK, US)

Super Powers

great power that holds a disproportionately high position, characterized by the ability toe exert or demonstrate power and influence across the globe. all superpowers are great powers.

cold-war period: US and Soviet Union

post cold-war period: US

Non great powers

all other countries that do not possess significant military or economic strength to exert influence and demonstrate power in their region or beyond.

Non-state actors

actors that plays a role in international relations (in the international system) but operates separate from the state, below the level of a state, and across state borders. Much less common historically, but rapid growth in presence, agency, and study in the past 75 years.

Examples: UN, Amnesty international, Hezbollah, Apple

international relations

The social, sconmic, and cultural relationships among countries’ governments and the connections of these relationships with other international actors, geographic influences, and historical legacies.

international relations theory

framework for explaining causes/consequences international politics

International security

the study of the measures taken by states and international organizations to ensure mutual survival and safety. peace, conflict, violence, war

International political economy

the study of the interplay between politics and economics on a global scale, focusing on how international trade, investment, and finance influence state behavior and global relations. trade, finance, development, aid

Domestic level of analysis

• Subnational actors with different interests that interact with one another through domestic institutions to influence state’ actions abroad 

• Subnational actors: leaders (president), bureaucracy (state department), interest groups (lobbyists), Citizens/public

interstate/systemic level of analysis

• Conditions and features present beyond or “above” states that structure and influence how states interact with one another in international relations 

• Ex conditions/features: anarchy, international institutions (UN< world trade org) and norms, balance of power among countries

Transnational level of analysis

The transnational level of analysis examines how non-state actors, such as multinational corporations and non-governmental organizations, operate across borders and shape political dynamics at both the domestic and international levels. These actors influence policies and interests of states by lobbying governments and engaging in advocacy on global issues.

Peace of Westphalia

The series of treaties that ended the Thirty Years' War in 1648, establishing the principles of state sovereignty and non-interference in the domestic affairs of other states.

theoretical paradigm

In IR, it is a framework that includes agreement on the basic units, problems and coherent explanation for explaining events in international relations.

theoretical paradigms:

• realism

• liberalism

• “critical theories”

  • constructivism and feminism

  • marxism

  • postcolonialism

• offshoots:

  • classical realism

  • neorealism (structural realism)

    • offensive neorealims

    • defensive neorealism

Neorealism primary claim

competition and conflict are necessary and the primary features of international politics. Cooperation is limited and a fleeting response to the competition and conflict states face.

basic claims behind neorealism

1. anarchy is the defining feature of international relations

2. states are the primary and unitary actors in the international system

3. states interests are to seek survival by promoting their security

4. states are “rational actors” that pursue appropriate outcomes in line with promoting their security

5. a states power and the distribution of power determining a states security

6. the security dilemma ensure that states always fear their survival

Neoliberalism

primary claim: Within an international system of anarchy, cooperation is not only possible but also rationally beneficial.

similarly to neorealism, states are unitary, rational actors, operating in an anarchic world, but:

1. long term, mutual (shared) gains from cooperation outweigh short-term, individual gains from not cooperating

2. international politics is a “game” of repeated interaction

3. international institutions can facilitate cooperation over time

Neoliberalism

states are rational —> states seek the best outcome —> long term best outcome: mutual gains (cooperate)

people to associate with classical realism

john locke, jean-jacques rousseau, Immanuel kant

3 components of Kantian peace

1. international institutions that facilitate cooperation among countries (neoliberalism)

2. republican government committed to rights, equality, and consent of the governed

3. open, free trade among countries

constructivism

Origins: peaceful end to the cold war, adoption of human rights norms

“everything is made up, nothing is real”

1. international relations is determined by the ways in which actors “construct” or conceive it. none of the “features” of international politics are “inherit,” “unchanging,” or “natural.”

2. actors interest and behavior are defines according to the “logic of appropriateness” — not the “logic of consequences”

3. international politics is “socially constructed” by international actors. Nothing is “set” in stone.

interactions in international relations

actors seek to achieve their interests through interactions with one another

War

event involving a use of military force by two or more organized parties that reaches a minimum threshold of severity

2 primary types of war

Interstate: war in which the main participants are states

Intrastate: War in which the main participants are within the same states

3 primary issues why states go to war

1. control of territory

2. policy differences

3. regime type

Framing

Each “issue” of interstate war is fundamentally about incompatibility in states’ interest

Bargaining Range

a set of potential deals that both sides in bargaining interaction prefer over the “reversion outcome”

different types of collective action problems

1. prisioners dillema

   1. act in their own self interest instead of working together

2. Chicken

   1. situation where two or more countries are caught in a stand off where neither backs down, outcome is disastrous for both, but if one “chickens” out first, they are seen as weak and potentially lose face, where cooperation to avoid the worst outcome is difficult

3. stag hunt

   1. multiple actors face a dilemma between choosing a smaller, guaranteed benefit (like unilateral action) or cooperating to achieve a larger, but more uncertain benefit (like joint action)

4. free-rider problem

   1. actors can benefit from other actors creating or providing a public good, without having to contribute to it themselves

5. tragedy of the commons

   1. actors have access to a public good that is available to all but limited in amount; actors seek to maximize their individual gains, which leads to over consumption or depletion

overcoming barriers to cooperation

1. engage in coercion

2. reducing the number of “relevant” actors involved in the decision-making

3. ensuring integration and issue linkage

   1. issue linkage: connecting cooperation on one issue with cooperation in another issue

4. engaging in reciprocity

5. reducing information asymmetries

Domestic actors an be put into the following primary groups

1. leaders (pres, prime ministers, queen/king)

2. Bureaucracy (collection of organizations that carry out most tasks associated with governance within a state)

3. interest groups (groups of individual actors with common interests that organize in order to push for policies that benefit their members)

4. general public

Mature Democracy

country with well-developed, robust democratic institutions and traditions (US, Sweden, canada, costa rica)

new/transitioning democracies

countries with newly developed democratic institutions, emerging democratic traditions

autocracy

political system in which an individual or small group exercised power with few constraints and no meaningful competition or participation by the general public

defensive alliances

protect states in alliance against any act of agression

offensive alliance

form an alliance as a basis for a common gain (join attack of another country)

affinity-based allaince

similarity if characteristic not defines soley by power consideration of potential ally

CSO (collective security organizations)

• broad institutions that promote peace ad security among their members.

• formal structure, institutional bodies —> distinct from alliances

• examples: UN, NATO, League of nations

United Nations

CSO created with states goal of promoting peace and security through enhancing harmony and cooperation among its member states

• founded 1945 in san fran by 51 states

  • failure of League of nations to prevent WWII

• near-universal member states (193 member states)

• prohibits threat or use of force against another member state, calls for peaceful resolution

• punishments: diplomatic, economic sanctions; military action

• mediation: providing actors and strats for finding peaceful solutions that are mutually beneficial

• prevention: intervening in conflicts before becoming violent

Civil War

an armed conflict that occurs within a state primarily between two or more organized actors within the same state

organized actors

state and non-state actors

minimum threshold

states regularly experience violence —> 1000+ battle-related deaths/years for conflict to qualify as a civil war

2 primary causes of civil war

1. Grievance-based: civil wars caused by government discrimination of particular groups (religious, ethnic, linguistic), preventing their access to political, economic, social resources (jobs, political offices, government services)

2. Greed-based: civil wars caused by groups desire to control a countries economic resources (oil, minerals, diamonds)

3 different goals that primarily drive civil wars

1. Territorial Separation: seeking territorial break-up of existing state

2. Policy Change: seeking change in the policy or practice of government in power

   1. primary drivers: inequality, gov repression

3. capture of government: seeking control of the central government (engaging in regime changing by capturing the state)

Separatists

civil war driven by actors seeking to create an independent state from a territory of an existing state

Irredentist

civil war driven by actors seeking to detach territory from one country and reattach it to another state

the emergence of organized, armed rebel groups + civil war are driven by

1. features and interest of the rebel group (domestic level of analysis): Aspects of the rebel group may facilitate its ability to organize

2. features of the country (domestic level of analysis): characteristics of a country may lend itself to increased risks of civil war

3. features of the international system (international/systemic level of analysis): foreign governments ma provide rebels with material and immaterial resources to support war

features and interest of the rebel group (domestic level of analysis): Aspects of the rebel group may facilitate its ability to organize

1. shared affinity: group identification (ethnicity, language, religion) that allows individuals to build solidarity and trust one another

2. shared sense of injustice directed government —> provides “motivation” and purpose behind rebellion

3. shared access to resources allows rebel groups to provide members with material compensation for support/participation

features of the country (domestic level of analysis): characteristics of a country may lend itself to increased risks of civil war

1. regime type: democracies provide for peaceful means of addressing grievances —> civil war more likely in non-democratic regimes

2. poorer, less developed countries: individuals dissatisfaction, desperation + low state resources/capacity to exert authority/combat rebels

3. geography and population: mountainous/jungle terrain, larger populations makes rebel hiding easier

features of the international system (international/systemic level of analysis): foreign governments ma provide rebels with material and immaterial resources to support war

1. material resources: training, financing, weapons

2. immaterial resources: diplomatic support, lobbying

3. —> proxy war: conflict in which two opposing sides “fight” by supporting opposite side in a war

What do countries trade internationally

• Goods: electronics, natural resources, coal, earth metals, furniture, clothes, food, drinks

• Services: tourism, transportation, telecommunications, shows and experiences

2 primary theoretical and ideological approaches to international trade

1. (Neo-) Mercantilism: belief that national economic policy should encourage exports and discourage imports, therefore allowing or the country run a trade “surplus” (value of exports > imports)

2. Economic Liberalism: Belief that national economic policy should be defines by free trade (absence of policy barriers to international exchange) and the integration of countries economies

(Neo-) Mercantilism

• states should protect and promote domestic production at other countries expense

• based on the belief that:

  • wealth = power —> distribution of economic power determines security

  • international trade is “zero-sum:” one countries gain is another loss

  • international traded serves international political interest

  • —> emphasis on tariffs, subsidies, boycotts to “maximise” relative economic gains

• emergence: 1500s-1700s among European empires (great britian, france, netherlands, spain, italy, portugal)

• re-emergence (as “neo”) : 2010s-present

Economic Liberalism

• dominant approach to international trade today

• Adam smith, early proponent and theorists of economic liberalism

• based on the belief that

  • absolute gains (max wealth possible for all countries) > relative gains

  • free trade facilitates shared interests: “sell what you have; buy what you need”

  • international trade is not “zero-sum,” as comparative advantage > absolute advantage

Comparative advantage

ability of a country to produce a good or service more efficiently than it can produce other goods or services.

Heckscher-Ohlin theory

country will export goods that make use of the factors (resources) if production in which is well endowed

3 primary factors of production

1. Land (essential for agricultural, livestock production)

2. Labor (primarily, unkilled laborer)

3. Capital

also:

Investment (machinery, financing, equipment to produce goods)

Human Capital (skilled labor from investment in training, eduction)

Protectionism

The imposition of trade barriers to restrict foreign imports

Types of “trade barriers”

1. Tariffs: tax imposed on tariffs

2. Quotas: limit on amount of goods allowed in to sell in country

3. Subsidies: grant/payment to company, industry

4. target regulations: rules imposed on foreign goods for access to domestic market

Goal: increase the relative “costs” of imports, decrease the relative “costs” of domestic products for domestic consumers

Stopler-Samuelson Theorem

trade protections primarily benefit the scare factor(s) of production in a country.

Logic: free trade supports country abundant factor —> trade restrictions seek to protect countries scare factor

aligns with Heckscer-Ohlin theory (trade in abundant factor)

Ricardo-Viner Model

model of trade relations that emphasized the sector in which factors are employed — rather than nature of factor itself — in determining trade preferences \

Key insight: many factors of production are industry-specific

—> Factors (land, labor, capital) often “trapped” in industry

—> actors within industry (regardless of factor) aligned trade preferences

Firm-Based Trade Theory

model of trade that emphasizes firms’ abilities to determine a countries trade preferences.

Firm: organization/actor that produces and sells gods and/or services

insight: 1% of firms account for over 80% of all american exports

firms are politically and economically powerful

firms lobby government measures protecting their market interests

World Trade Organizations (WTO)

largest, near-global intergovernmental organization tasked with regulating and facilitating international trade through reporting, monitoring and adjudicating disputes.

164 members, includes territories not part of the UN: Hong Kong, Taiwan, W. Sahara

formed in 1995

subsumed the General Agreement on tariffs and trade (1947-1995)

WTO trade rules are set through semi-regular rounds of negotiations among member states

WTO operates on the principle of reciprocity

Institutionalization

provide formal platform for trade negotiation and dispute resolution

Globalization

broader scope of issue-areas: new markets (end of cold war), trade services, intellectual property rights

Reciprocity (context of trade)

implicit or explicit arrangement of one government exchange trade-policy concessions with one another

Transparency

publishing of trade regulations, review and report on countries trade practices

Dispute resolution

willingness and obligation to address trade disputes through case-specific panels

dispute resolution body: primary WTO body tasked with resolving trade disputes among member state

composition: representatives/ambassadors of all member states

function: oversee the dispute resolution process from start to finish

robust enforcement capabilities: rulings are legally binding on WTO member states. Establish binding deadlines for implementing dispute decisions. establishing mechanisms for monitoring compliance with dispute decision.

Non-discrimination

Treatment of all members equally, preventing preferential treatment of one over the other.

embodied through the most-favored nation (MFN): status provided to a country that grants it the same trade preferences as other with MFN status.

—> any advantage given to one country must be extended to all WTD members.

Goal: increase cooperation and efficiency of trade by institutionalizing norms of reciprocity and non-discrimination

status revoking allowed under WTO: security, health, morality, threats; sanctioned retaliation

Regional Trade Agreements

agreements among 3 or more countries in a region to reduce barriers to trade among themselves.

trends: consistent growth over time — especially after end of cold war

Bilateral Trade Agreements

agreements between two countries that delineates their trade relationship with one another.

Total today: about 400 world wide

USA has bilateral free trade agreements with 12 individual countries

1. australia, Bahrain, chile, Columbia, israel, jordan, Korea, morocco, oman panama, peru, singapore

International Finance

the cross-border movement of capital (money), including investments, loans and other financial transactions.

Capital across borders through 2 primary forms of investment

1. Foreign direct investment (FDI): investment in a foreign country via the acquisition or establishment of local facilities

2. portfolio investments: investment in a foreign country via the issuance of loans

distinction: portfolio investment does include providers direct control over monetary operations abroad; FDI does include providers direct control over monetary operations abroad.

2 primary sets of actors engage in international investments

1. multinational corporations (primarily FDI)

2. international financial institutions

Multinational corporations (FDI)

enterprise that operates inn a number of countries, with production or service facilities outside its country of origin

how do MNC “invest” abroad?

• employment, build buildings, political engagement (donate)

• funding/establish exploration and production facilities

• funding/establishing manufacturing centers

• funding/establishing stores for selling productions

Global Supply Chain

network of suppliers, producers and customers involved in the production and distribution of a product transnationally.

MNCs are incentivized to invest abroad for many reasons

1. access key resources unavailable or expensive in their home country

   1. raw material, cheaper labor markets

2. increase domestic and foreign public support

   1. cheaper products at home; employment opportunities abroad

3. increase profits by:

   1. bypassing trade barriers

   2. reducing transportation costs

International financial institutions (primarily portfolio investment)

international organizations created with the goal of providing financial support and advising for economic cooperation, stability, and development.

financial support provided through sovereign lending: loans from financial institutions to sovereign governments

regional IFIs

Near global IFIs: world banks, international monetary fund

Investment by the World Bank operates through two primary processes

1. Membership obligations

2. Enforcement mechanisms

Membership obligations

Financial Contributions: provide financial reserves to world bank to support loans

• central to countries vote shares when voting on world banks policies, leadership, loan provisions

Compliance: agreement to implement project-specific plans or policies required in the loans/grants

Insight: concessional may introduce a “moral hazard”: given favorable terms of concessional, recipient states are shielded from full consequences of actions and thus may engage in riskier behavior that is born out by lender

Bilateral Surveillance: Participation in annual IMF assessments of economic and financial practices.

• may serve as early warning sign of economic or financial issues in country and financial practices.

Enforcement Mechanisms

IMF relies on 3 primary processes to enforce