Polisci 160 Midterm Terms

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Observation

Phenomenon seen or recorded and described in some detail. can be repeated, reproduced, and or evaluated

Puzzles

Observations not predicted by existing theories or that contradict those theories. Observations generated from new or unexplored processes or new meas;urement tools.

Explanation

statement (or compound statement) that provides clarification about some process (usually one that was previously unclear)

Building blocks of a theoretical explanation

Actors – Actions – Outcomes, Interests – Interactions – Institutions

Institutions

the set of rules of the interactions (the rules are knowable by the participating actors).

Promote cooperation with enforcement of punishment, international level can’t punish states

State

is a central authority that has the ability to make and enforce laws, rules, and decisions within a specified territory.

2 Concepts of State

The actions taken by political decision makers within the country or in the name of the country. The “states-as-actors” approach views the state as a collection of actors with their own interests that act in the name of the state. The “states-as-actors” approach views the state as a collection of actors with their own interests that act in the name of the state. OR State as a single, collective entity with a single set of interests.

The actions taken by a single, collective entity with a single set of interests. This approach views the state as an independent entity with its own interests.

Nationalism

a particularly important interest that drives actors to prioritize the interest of one’s nation, which is defined by common origin, ethnicity, language, or cultural ties.

Actors

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

Purposive and strategic

Sovereignty

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

Ultimate authority over people and territory of the state.

Other states and religious bodies are excluded from exercising political authority over a sovereign state.

Sovereignty is indivisible.

All sovereign units are formally equal (for example, all states have a seat in the UN General Assembly).

Anarchy

The lack of a central, international authority

Dyads

unit-of-analysis that we use to measure the interactions between two actors

Interactions

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

Bargaining

an interaction in which two or more actors must decide how to distribute something of value. In bargaining, increasing one actor’s share of the good decreases the share available to others.

Both want greater share, but both sides must decide that a deal is better than the alternative

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.

Coordination

a type of cooperative interaction in which all actors benefit from making the same choices and subsequently have incentive to comply.

Collaboration

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

Prisoner’s dilemma

Collective action problems

obstacles to cooperation that occur when actors have incentives to collaborate but each acts with the expectation that others will pay the costs of cooperation.

Free Riding

the failure to contribute to a public good while benefiting from the contributions of other.

Reversion outcome

the outcome that occurs when no bargain is achieved

Coercion

a strategy of imposing or threatening to impose costs on other actors to induce a change in their behavior

War

the organized use of military force by actors (or groups of actors) that passes a minimum level of severity.

Interstate wars

wars between states.

Civil wars (intrastate wars)

wars that take place within a state.

Because of these commitment problems, civil wars rarely end in negotiated settlement

Onset

why some process starts or begins.

Duration

why a process persists or ends.

Bargaining Failures (3)

Incomplete-information (asymmetry)

Credible-commitment

Issue-indivisibility

status quo

current state of the allocation of a good

Crisis bargaining

interaction in which at least one party has threatened the use of force if demands are unmet

Coercive diplomacy

one state seeks to influence the bargaining outcome by threatening to use force

Compellence

State A tries to get State B to do something — to change the status quo — under threat of force.

Deterrence

State A tries to prevent State B from doing something — to maintain the status quo

Military

most important bureaucratic actor in decisions about war. The military also has the best information about capabilities and resolve.

Hawks

favor war.

Doves

oppose war.

Democratic Peace

lower probability of war between two democratic states

Autocracies tend to go to war to…

secure private goods for their relatively small winning coalitions.

Democracies tend to go to war to…

secure public goods for their relatively large winning coalitions.

Public goods

products that are nonexcludable and nonrival in consumption, such as national defense.

Nonexcludable - consumption of the good cannot be prevented.

Nonrival - consumption by one consumer does not prevent consumption by other consumers

often are undersupplied because of the free-rider problem

Private goods

products that are excludable and rivalrous in consumption.

Excludable - consumption of the good can be prevented.

Rivalrous - consumption by one consumer does prevent consumption by other consumers.

Alliances

Institutions that help group members cooperate militarily in the event of a conflict. (NATO)

Increase power of group of states

Club good

Can be offensive or defensive (most are defensive)

Form with compatible interests

Collective Security (institutions)

Broad-based institutions that promote peace and security among members. Doctrine that an attack on any state is the concern of all states ("one for all, all for one"). (United Nations)

Increase completeness of information between states

Public good

Membership is universal or regional

Bilateral Security

Commitment between two states that doesn’t extend beyond

Multilateral Security

Bounded alliance club; members of club defend one another

Balancing

Aligning with the weaker side or forming a coalition with other states to oppose the principal source of danger or hegemony.

Bandwagoning

Aligning with the stronger, dominant, or threatening power rather than opposing it.

Positive sum interaction

win-win interaction

Theory

set of assumptions --- also referred to as premises or postulates --- and a set of propositions linking two concepts --- a cause X and an effect Y.

A scientific explanation

identifies the effect (Y) of a cause (X), in the form of a hypothesis that X ⇒ Y (X caused Y) and ¬X ⇒ ¬Y (not X caused not Y, or the absence of X caused the absence of Y), all else equal.

Concepts

the hypothetical components of an explanation

Constructs

the empirical components of an analysis, which defines how the observed data is created.

Data

Unit-of-Analysis; case; subject; country-year; dyad-year; institution-month

Hypothesis

A testable, falsifiable statement that predicts the relationship between an independent variable and a dependent variable Derived from a concept-level explanation but stated in construct terms so it can actually be checked against empirical data

Dependent variable

The outcome being explained or predicted (y-variable, outcome variable, target variable)

Independent variable

The explanatory or causal variable thought to produce variation in the dependent variable (x-variable, treatment variable, program intervention)

Compatible Interests Hypothesis

As the number of compatible interests between states increases in the international system, the number of wars that result from bargaining failures will decrease.

Peace enforcement

Coercion against an aggressor, imposes peace on warring parties by intervening with military force in an ongoing conflict (Chapter VII).

Peacekeeping

Sends peacekeepers to act as a buffer between belligerents. Requires consent of combatants. Seeks to resolve commitment problems by providing impartial monitors.

Terrorism

violence or threatened violence against noncombatants by a nonstate group, for political ends. Extremists without widely shared interests. Bargaining failure

Coercion, Provocation, Spoiling, Outbidding

Grievance

government mistreatment of a specific population (Iraq’s Kurds, Sudan’s Christians, Egypt’s Copts).

Greed

competition over lucrative resources (diamonds, gold, and oil). All involve territorial control.

Group-level

shared ethnic, religious, or linguistic ties; access to resources; shared grievance (observe).

Country-level

more likely when a country is poor, undemocratic, or hard to monitor (difficult terrain, large population).

International

foreign states may arm or fund rebels, or sanction a government they oppose (proxy wars).

Reasons for rebellions

Separatism, irridentism

Separatism

a group seeks to break away and form its own state.

Irredentism

a group seeks to join a neighboring state that shares its identity.

Insurgency

asymmetric warfare waged by rebels or terrorists against a stronger state.

Counterinsurgency

Conventional militaries often struggle against insurgents, who embed themselves among civilians or in remote terrain; heavy firepower risks killing noncombatants and backfiring

Strategies of terrorism:

Coercion, Provacation, spoliing, Outbidding

Coercion

impose costs on the target to induce policy change, using fear to pressure the target government; attacks make future threats of violence credible

Provocation

attack to provoke a disproportionate government response, which can radicalize sympathetic audiences and grow the terrorists’ base over time — this works best when the home population is uncertain about the target’s true interests.

Spoiling

sabotage a potential peace deal between the target and moderates to hold out for better terms; violence undercuts trust in whether the opponent can be relied on, so spoiling tends to happen during or just after peace talks.

Outbidding

compete against rival groups for the home population’s support when that population is unsure which organization best serves its interests, by demonstrating superior leadership and devotion.

Reasons for civil war:

Group-level, country-level, international-level