International Relations Midterm Review

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the core concepts, theories, historical turning points, and international institutions from the Theories of International Relations midterm review notes.

Descriptive approach to IR

An approach to studying international relations that aims to tell how it is, also known as traditional IR or diplomatic history.

Prescriptive approach to IR

An approach to studying international relations that aims to prescribe how actors must behave through rules of behavior, representing the ethical dimension of the discipline.

Predictive approach to IR

An empirical approach to studying international relations aimed at constructing models that forecast future events.

System level of analysis

The highest level of IR analysis, focusing on macro world-level structures and how they operate.

State level of analysis

The level of IR analysis focused on individual countries' foreign policies, how those policies are formulated, and the factors affecting them.

Sub-state level of analysis

The level of IR analysis focusing on domestic groups, individuals, psychological factors, political leaders, societies, and organizational elements.

Paradigm

A coherent set of ideas, understandings, expectations, and research tools for studying IR, which shapes how reality is perceived and interpreted.

Holsti's three differentiating elements

The three criteria identified by K.J. Holsti in 1985 that define and differentiate paradigms: causes of war/conflict and motivation for cooperation, fundamental actors/units of analysis, and the image of the world system.

World system

The configuration of international relations at the macro level that characterizes interactions between actors and evolves over historical civilizations.

Ebla–Hamazi agreement

An agreement dating to circa 2500 BC that represents the earliest known document referencing formal accords between civilizations.

Melian Dialogue

A key debate in Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War capturing classical realist logic: 'the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must,' showing right only matters between equals in power.

Peace of Westphalia (1648)

The peace settlement that birthed the modern IR system based on sovereign statehood, the rule of cuius regio, eius religio, non-intervention, and the exclusion of religion as a casus belli.

Balance of power

A systemic mechanism in which alliances form to prevent any single state from achieving dominance, maintaining peace through power parity.

Concert of Europe

The post-Napoleonic security framework established at the Congress of Vienna (1815) among the great powers (UK, Austria, Prussia, Russia, and later France) to suppress revolution and preserve systemic order.

Self-defense

A security posture in which an individual state relies on its own capabilities to defend itself against aggression.

Collective defense

An alliance framework in which allied states formally commit to defending one another against external threats (such as NATO or the Warsaw Pact).

Collective security

An institutional system in which the entire international community agrees to act collectively against any state that commits aggression (e.g., the League of Nations, the UN).

Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD)

A strategic condition during the Cold War where opposing nuclear powers possessed sufficient second-strike capability to ensure complete mutual annihilation if war occurred.

Responsibility to Protect (R2P)

An international principle adopted in 2005 establishing that sovereign states have a responsibility to protect their populations from mass atrocities, and if they fail, the international community has a duty to intervene.

Anthropological pessimism

The foundational realist assumption that human nature is innately flawed, self-interested, and inclined toward evil and conflict, remaining constant across history.

Statocentrism

The principle that the sovereign state is the primary, central actor in international relations, relegating other non-state actors to subordinate roles.

Power (in classical realism)

The ability to influence or control the actions of other actors, compelling them to do what they otherwise would not do.

Anarchy (in IR)

The lack of an overarching, centralized sovereign authority above states in the international system, resulting in competition for survival and power.

Security dilemma

A structural condition where measures taken by one state to increase its own security lead other states to feel less secure, causing them to arm and leaving all states less secure.

Prisoner's dilemma

A game theory scenario illustrating how two rational actors unable to trust each other choose self-protective choices that lead to an outcome worse than mutual cooperation.

Hans Morgenthau's principles of political realism

The six realistic principles outlined in Politics Among Nations (1948), centered on the premise that politics is governed by objective laws rooted in human nature and that national interest is defined in terms of power.

First Debate

The 1920s–1940s clash between traditional conservative realism and liberal idealism regarding whether IR should be governed by power politics or international law and institutions.

Second Debate

The 1940s–1950s debate concerning the methodology of IR, contrasting scientific behavioral approaches with traditional historicist and descriptive analysis.

Third Debate

The 1960s–1970s debate between classic realism and emerging alternatives such as liberal institutionalism and Marxist structuralism.

Fourth Debate

The late 1980s–1990s epistemological debate contrasting rationalism/positivism with reflectivism/post-positivism, introducing constructivism.

Complex interdependence

A framework formulated by Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye (1971, 1977) characterizing global politics by multiple transnational channels, absence of issue hierarchy, and the diminished role of military force.

Transnational relations

Cross-border contacts, coalitions, and interactions that occur between actors and are not directed or controlled by the central foreign-policy organs of national governments.

Dependency theory

A Marxist structuralist approach arguing that the global South's poverty stems from continuous systemic economic exploitation by the industrial capitalist North.

Defensive realism

A neo-realist theory associated with Kenneth Waltz stating that the anarchic international structure drives states to maintain a balance of power and prioritize security rather than maximize power.

Offensive realism

A neo-realist theory articulated by John Mearsheimer positing that systemic uncertainty and anarchy compel rational great powers to maximize power and aggressively seek hegemony to guarantee survival.

Balancing

An IR strategy in which states align together against a threatening or predominant rising power to prevent it from establishing hegemony.

Bandwagoning

An IR strategy in which a state aligns itself with a stronger, threatening power to secure its own interests or survival.

Constructivism

A post-positivist IR paradigm arguing that international reality is a social construct shaped by shared ideas, identities, cultural norms, and collective meanings rather than material forces alone.

Anarchy is what states make of it

The foundational premise of Alexander Wendt (1992) asserting that systemic anarchy does not inherently mandate conflict; state behavior depends on how actors socially construct their identities and relationships.

Intergovernmental Organization (IGO)

An international organization established by a treaty or charter whose formal membership consists of three or more nation-states.

Intergovernmentalism

A mode of international cooperation where member states retain full national sovereignty and major decisions require unanimous consent or broad agreement.

Supranationalism

An institutional structure where member states transfer sovereignty to a higher authority empowered to make binding decisions through majority voting procedures without national vetoes.

UN Security Council

The 15-member executive body of the UN responsible for maintaining international peace and security, consisting of 5 veto-wielding permanent members and 10 elected non-permanent members.

UN General Assembly

The main deliberative organ of the United Nations comprising all 193 member states, operating on a one-country, one-vote basis to issue non-binding recommendations.

Peacekeeping

Operations colloquially known as 'Chapter six and a half' involving the deployment of neutral UN military observers or blue helmets between consenting parties, authorized to use force only in self-defense.

Peace enforcement

Coercive military operations authorized by the UN Security Council under Chapter VII to respond to acts of aggression and restore peace without requiring party consent.