International Studies Study Guide

Flashcards summarizing key concepts and vocabulary from the International Studies lecture notes.

Transnational

Issues that cross state boundaries, affecting multiple countries.

Relational

The concept that events in one part of the world can impact other regions.

Inclusive

Considering various perspectives from different countries and regions.

Interdisciplinary

Utilizing multiple academic disciplines to understand global issues.

Eurocentrism

A perspective that prioritizes Western Civilization in understanding global history.

Worldcentrism

A viewpoint that considers global historical influences beyond the West.

Contingencies

Historical events that depend on prior occurrences.

Accidents

Historical events caused by unpredictable natural forces.

Conjunctures

The interaction of accidents and contingencies that create significant historical events.

Capitalism

An economic system characterized by the continual expansion of capital through various stages.

Social Division of Labor

Assigning all tasks of producing a single commodity to one person.

Technical Division of Labor

Dividing labor into specialized tasks performed by different individuals.

Unequal Exchange

Exploiting wage differences by shifting labor from high-wage to low-wage countries.

Core Countries

Nations that are the most exploitative in the global economy.

GDP per capita

The monetary value of goods and services in a country divided by its population.

Global Militarization Index

Measures a country's military spending, personnel, and heavy weaponry.

Multinational Corporations

Companies that engage in foreign direct investments and can operate geographically flexibly.

Foreign Direct Investment

Investment in foreign assets by a corporation in another country.

Brownfield FDI

Acquisition of a majority stake in a foreign company through a merger.

Greenfield FDI

Building new facilities in a foreign country by a corporation.

Corporate Veil of Distance

Legal principle preventing CEO accountability for overseas operational wrongdoing.

Transfer Pricing

Accounting practice to declare profit differentials for tax advantages.

Creative Destruction

the destruction of a previous configuration of global capitalism in response to a crisis so that a new configuration of global capitalism can emerge

Neoliberalism

economic policies whose goal is to have wealth redistributed upward through privatization, deregulation, and low taxation.

Privatization

The shift of assets from public to private ownership.

Deregulation

Removal of government restrictions on how markets operate.

International Monetary Fund (IMF)

An organization that provides loans to countries in financial distress with conditions.

Balance of Payments

A financial statement detailing a country's credit and debt in global transactions.

Structural Adjustment

IMF loans with conditions aiming to implement neoliberal policies in borrowing countries.

Exports

Commodities produced in one country and sold to another.

Imports

Commodities that are purchased by one country from another.

Primary Sector

Economic activities based on extraction of raw materials.

Secondary Sector

Manufacturing activities converting raw materials into finished goods.

Tertiary Sector

Economic activities focused on providing services.

Core Model of Trade

Trade patterns defined by proximity and economic size.

Trade Liberalization

Reducing protection for domestic markets against foreign imports.

Subsidies

Government financial support to aid domestic exporters and limit imports.

Import Substitution Industrialization (ISI)

Trade policies aimed at replacing foreign imports with domestic production.

Most Favored Nation

A member country must grant the same trade concessions on a commodity granted to one member country to all member countries’ ‘like’ commodities → all foreign imports must be treated the same

National Treatment Policy

A member country must grant the same tax concessions on a domestic commodity to a ‘like’ foreign commodity from a member country → treat domestic goods the same as foreign goods

World Trade Organization (WTO)

An international body regulating global trade between nations.

Trade Dumping

Selling a commodity abroad at lower prices than in the domestic market.

Security Exceptions

WTO provision allowing trade restrictions for national security.

Labor Regulation

Rules governing the types of workers that can exist in a market.

General Conditions of Production

Infrastructure necessary for capital that is not provided by private enterprises.

Imperialism

A state's power extension to control other states for resource acquisition.

The Nation

A political community defined as limited, imagined, and sovereign.

Hot Nationalism

Political mobilization for the defense of a capitalist state.

Banal Nationalism

Everyday practices that reinforce national belonging and unity.

Negative Orientalism

Representations that portray the East as inferior to justify domination.

American Yoga

A form of yoga shaped by Western consumerism and Eastern positive orientalism.

Individual Capital

A single company's involvement in capital accumulation.

Sectoral Capital

A group of firms producing similar commodities.

National Capital

The overall sum of individual and sectoral capital in a capitalist state.

Flagging

Subtle everyday reminders of national identity.

Founding Myths

Narratives explaining the emergence of a nation and its values.

Trade Protectionism

the protection of a domestic market from the competition of a foreign country’s imports

Tariffs

Taxes on foreign imports that make them more expensive to domestic consumers

Quotas

Limits imposed on the number of imports into a domestic market during a govern period of time

Technical Regulations

rules imposed on the features of a product, such as size, shape, performance, or labeling

Nondiscrimination

WTO trade policy stipulations that members must treat other members equally in international trade.

Trade Related Aspects of International Property Rights (TRIPS)

An international agreement that establishes minimum standards for the legal protection of copyrights (works of authorship) and patents (technological inventions) among WTO members)

Agreement on Agriculture (AoA)

 establishes the reduction of WTO member countries’ domestic subsidies for specific agricultural products, agriculture infrastructure, and agricultural research

Ongoing Disputes

trade conflicts between core member countries that continue for decades without immediate resolution

The Capitalist State

a political entity made up of state managers (politicians and bureaucrats) whose responsibility is to ensure the reproduction of national capital as whole

Labor Discipline

the use of legal or police force towards labor to ensure capital has the upper hand

Competition Cost Reduction

The distribution of government support and money to private companies to reduce the costs and risk of market competition

Ultimate Guarantor

The guaranteed support of the capitalist state in the event of a crisis of national capital

Remembering and Forgetting

A form of flagging that involves forgetting a nation’s history of hot nationalism that is remembered only as patriotism throughout national history

Symbols of Statehood

items that bear national emblems or icons such as flags, coins, banknotes, license plates.

Patriotic War

 conflicts that test and solidify the nation

Inside and Outside

A form of flagging that involves the naturalization of national borders and peoples as patriotic that were historically constructed by hot nationalism.

Orientalism

A colonial system of representation that establishes a binary opposition between the West and the East

Postive Orientalism

representations that define the “rational” West as “inferior” and the “irrational East as “superior to justify appropriation of the East.

Common Stereotypes

The East as all of these traits with their various connotations based on whether positive or negative orientalism is in use: Irrational (violent/spiritual); Ahistorical (static/authentic); feminine (profane/sacred), inscrutable (dangerous/mystical). 

Body postures

Improving the body is the primary end that reflects a person’s self-development

Physical Health

medical explanations of the benefits of body postures are emphasized (BMI, flexibility, blood pressure, heart rate, body fat, etc.)

Universal

Available to anyone in the market regardless of one’s ethical, philosophical, national, ethnic, or religious identity.

Individualistic

Consumers can choose from a variety of individual regiments according to their personal lifestyle and schedules.

Spirituality

 representations that emphasize the East as a place of spiritual rejuvenation.

Femininity

representations that emphasize the East as divinely feminine

Inscrutability

Representations emphasize the East as ultimately unknowable and mysterious

Unequal Exchange Principle

trade flow between core and periphery are unequal due to respective differences in goods traded with each other (cheap labor, raw materials from periphery, and high profit consumption goods from the core)

Distance Principle

Countries that are close together often trade with each other. The larger the distance, the more expensive the trade becomes

Size Principle

Countries that have similar sized economies are more likely to trade with each other 

Capital goods

goods that being bought and sold between companies

Consumer goods

• a finished good that is sold in the consumer market 

Quota system

A subscription amount that is based on the size of member country’s economy that also determines a member country’s voting power in the IMF

Loans with Conditionalities

A loan that has policy conditions attached to it that a borrowing country must agree to in order to receive the money

Macro-Conditionalities

A loan with conditions that stipulate what a borrowing country must do

Micro-Conditionalities

 A loan with conditions that stipulate what a borrowing country must do AND how they are going to do it

Balance of payments crisis

 when a country is paying out a lot more to other countries than what they’re getting from them in trade and they can’t afford to pay the difference with their national assets.

Low Taxation

Reduction of personal and corporate tax rates for the wealthy

Subscription Amount

countries that have a larger economy have to pay more money to be a member of the IMF

Voting Power

the amount of voters is determined by the amount of money you pay (in the size of your economy)

Global Diplomacy Index

measures the total amount of embassies, consulates, and permanent missions of a country in a year