Exam #1: Making of the Modern World and One World Many Actors

International Relations

Territorial Extension

The process of a state or empire increasing its lands and borders through methods like conquest, colonization, and diplomacy, surrounded by borders.

Nationalism

Liberal sentiment centered on the belief that the nation should take over the state and use their institutions to further the state’s goals.

Nation

Community of people joined by a shared identity and common social practices.

Sovereignty 

A state’s claim to the exclusive right to govern its respective territories in its own fashion, as they see fit.

Anarchy

Power is decentralized and there is no overarching authority to enforce common rules

Peace of Westphalia

Brough an end to the Thirty Years’ War. Established international politics would be based on the relations between states: sovereignty and formal equality.

Nationalists Revolutions

Eventually led to the European international system

Ex: Britain’s North American colonies and France

Scramble for colonies

European countries aggressively sought out and acquired colonial possessions, in Africa

• Symbol: “Great Power” status

International System

System of how states interact built upon the Westphalian system and anarchy

Empirical theory 

Based on measurable experiences, usually obtained through observation or experimentation, tries to explain the world as it is

Normative Theory

Built on principles and assumptions about how social interactions should occur. Seek to present a version of the world that ought to be. 

Levels of Analysis

Analytical tool that makes International relations more manageable

Individual Level of Analysis 

Actions of individuals responding to an issues according to their own position or responsibilities 

• Human Nature: Psychology and emotion behind people’s actions, fears, vision, and access to information

Group Level of Analysis

Actions of groups of individuals: collectively expressing how they feel by creating a movement (Ex: voting, lobbying groups)

State Level of Analysis

States are actors in their own right = treating them as defined entities that possess certain preferences

• How does the states interact with each other: Foreign policy  

System Level of Analysis

International system as a whole or the big picture: wider ranging dynamics that emerge from the global system and affect its components 

State Centric Theory

Enduring focus on the state as the dominant unit of analysis: state is the main point of reference for other type of actors 

• State is where power is primarily concentrated and located within the international sphere 

Foreign Policy

State’s approach to and practice of interacting with other states: Specifically any state activity that crosses national borders 

Arena

Focuses on the location of interactions, viewing different platform as the stage for international events and instances of international relations

Process

International relations should be though of as a complex web of processes that takes place between people: highlighting the meaning of interactions over physical structures and locations.

Non-state actors

Individuals who do not officially represent or act on behalf of states or their constituents parts (activists or individuals that build global terrorist networks)

Cross border issues

Issues related to actors and interactions that operate across state borders instead of being specifically confined by them