chapter 2 terms - understanding interests, interactions, and institutions

interests

what actors want to achieve through political action; their preferences over the outcomes that might result from their political choices

actors

the basic unit for the analysis of international politics; can be individuals or groups of people with common interests

state

a central authority with the ability to make and enforce laws, rules, and decisions within a specified territory

sovereignty

the expectation that states have legal and political supremacy - or ultimate authority - within their territorial boundaries

anarchy

the absence of a central authority with the ability to make and enforce laws that bind all actors

national interests

interests attributed to the state itself, usually security and power

interactions

the ways in which the choices of two or more actors combine to produce political outcomes

cooperation

an interaction in which two or more actors adopt policies that make at least one actor better off relative to the status quo without making others worse off

bargaining

an interaction in which actors must choose outcomes that make one better off at the expense of another. bargaining is redistributive: it involves allocating a fixed sum of value between different actors.

coordination

a type of cooperative interaction in which actors benefit from all making the same choices and subsequently have no incentive to not comply

collaboration

a type of cooperative interaction in which actors gain from working together but nonetheless have incentives to not comply with any agreement

public goods

individually and socially desirable goods that are non-excludable and non-rival in consumption, such as national defense

collective action problems

obstacles to cooperation that occur when actors have incentives to collaborate but each acts in anticipation that others will pay the costs of cooperation

free ride

to fail to contribute to a public good while benefiting from the contributions of others

iteration

repeated interactions with the same partners

linkage

the linking of cooperation on one issue to interactions on a second issue

power

the ability of Actor A to get Actor B to do something that B would otherwise not do; the ability to get the other side to make concessions and to avoid having to make concessions oneself

coercion

the threat or imposition of costs on other actors in order to change their behavior. Means of international coercion include military force and economic sanctions.

outside options

the alternatives to bargaining with a specific actor

agenda-setting

a "first mover" advantage that helps an actor to secure a more favorable bargain

institutions

sets of rules, known and shared by the community, that structure political interactions in specific ways