International relations

Interests:

What actors want to achieve through political action, which are their preferences among the possible outcomes of their political choices. Interests involve actors and preferences.

Interactions

The way actors get what they want through political action.

Institutions

Rules that constrain and enable strategic interaction. They can facilitate cooperation by setting standards of behavior, verifying compliance, reducing decision-making costs, and resolving disputes.

Liberalism

A theory in international relations that emphasizes the role of international law and cooperation in maintaining peace and order.

Realism

A theory based on the core concepts of anarchy, self-interest, rationality, and security. It is the belief that states' actions are primarily driven by their pursuit of security and self-interest in an anarchic system.

Bargaining

An interaction in which actors must choose outcomes that make one better off at the expense of another.

Cooperation

An interaction where two or more actors adopt policies that make at least one actor better off without making others worse off.

Collaboration

An interaction where actors have an incentive to not cooperate, even though cooperation would be better for both. The Prisoner's Dilemma is a key example of this.

Anarchy

A state of disorder due to a lack of a central authority, a core concept in Realism.

Sovereignty

The expectation that states have the right to govern themselves without external interference. It was a key outcome of the Peace of Westphalia.

Empiricism

A concept based on observation, the scientific process, and falsifiability. It is concerned with factual or objective determinations, focusing on what "is," not what "ought to be".

30 Years Crisis

This period, from 1914-1945, encompasses World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II.

Peace of Westphalia

Signed in 1648, it is considered the foundational document for the modern international system. It established the principle of state sovereignty.

Mercantilism

An economic doctrine that used military power to enrich imperial governments. It was prominent from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries and favored the mother country over its colonies and competing empires.

Pax Britannica:

A period of relative peace that followed the Napoleonic Wars.

World War I and Interwar Instability:

This period is part of the Thirty Years' Crisis.

World War II and Effect:

This period is part of the Thirty Years' Crisis.

Gold Standard & Trade

The Gold Standard was a characteristic of the Pax Britannica period.

Bretton Woods System:

An institution established as part of the Post-WWII order.

NATO & Warsaw Pact:

These were alliances during the Cold War.

Prisoner's Dilemma:

A model used to illustrate coordination, a key concept for understanding international relations.

Collective Action Problems

These are the challenges associated with getting a group to cooperate.

Public Goods:

These are goods that are non-excludable and non-rivalrous. A collective action problem with public goods is that of "Free Riders".

Hegemon

A state that has dominant military and economic power over other states. The Post-WWII global order was U.S.-led.

Constructivism

A theory that says what's important in international relations—like ideas, beliefs, and identities—is not set in stone. Instead, they are created and changed through how countries and people interact with each other over time. It's about how shared ideas shape the world, not just military or economic power.

Theory

a logically consistent set of statements that explains a phenomenon of interest

Terms of Trade:

This is a measure that compares the prices of a country's exports to the prices of its imports. It essentially tells you how much a country can buy with what it sells. If your exports become more valuable, your "terms of trade" improve, and you can buy more imports.

States

In international relations, a state is a country. It's a political entity that has a permanent population, a defined territory, a government, and the ability to enter into relations with other states. It is the core actor in international politics.

Decolonization

This is the process where a colony becomes politically independent from a larger ruling power. It's the "undoing of colonialism," where a country that was controlled by another gains its own sovereignty and self-governance.

Bargaining Leverage:

This is the power or advantage one side has in a negotiation to influence the other side to agree to their terms. It's based on their ability to offer something the other side wants or to threaten something the other side fears.

Agenda Setting

The ability to influence which issues are considered and debated. The person who sets the agenda has a lot of power because they can decide what is (and isn't) on the table.

Reversion Outcome:

What happens if two parties fail to reach an agreement during a negotiation. It's the "default" outcome.

Outside Option:

An alternative choice that a negotiator can turn to if the bargaining process fails. Having a good outside option gives a person more bargaining leverage.

Coercion Strategies:

These are ways one country tries to force another to do something it doesn't want to do, without resorting to all-out war.

Deterrence

• Using threats to prevent another country from doing something

Compellence

Using threats or limited force to make another country do something.

Punishment

• Raising the costs for an adversary.

Denial

Preventing an adversary from achieving their goals.