Poli 381: Intro to International Relations - Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering core concepts, terminology, actors, systems, power dynamics, geopolitics, and theoretical paradigms from the Poli 381 International Relations lectures.

Subfields of Political Science

The major academic branches under Political Science, consisting of Political Theory (normative and theoretical questions), Comparative Politics (politics within states), and International Relations (politics between states).

Anarchic System

An international political system in which states are sovereign and there is no higher central authority above them to rule or enforce laws.

Security Dilemma

A condition arising from international anarchy where a lack of trust and pervasive fear force states to constantly guard and fight for resources, which prevents mutual cooperation for security.

Self-help System

An international environment where sovereign states must rely strictly on their own military, economic, and political power for survival because no global police force or world government exists.

Principle of Recognition

The requirement that an entity must be accepted and recognized by other states in the international community to officially attain statehood (e.g., Taiwan, Kosovo, Northern Cyprus, and Somaliland).

Structure (in IR)

The overall arrangement and distribution of power among interrelated units (states) within the international system.

Bipolar System

An international system where power is split evenly between two dominant rival states or power blocs, creating a rigid system of competition and mutual deterrence (e.g., the USA and USSR during the Cold War).

Unipolar System

An international system where a single state holds the vast majority of global economic, military, and cultural power, operating as a hegemon with no equal competitors.

Multipolar System

An international system where power is shared among three or more large, influential nation-states or regional coalitions that continuously compete and adjust alliances.

Crisis Stability

A strategic condition in a military or political conflict where opposing sides lack incentives to launch a pre-emptive attack or escalate tensions.

Planned Economy

An economic system where the government controls production, sets prices, and owns factories; the failure of this system in the Soviet Union contributed directly to the end of the Cold War.

Tangible Resources

Physical and material elements of power, such as military force, geography, and economic development.

Intangible Resources

Non-material elements of power, including popular support, diplomatic skills, values, and ideas.

Hard Power

The deployment of tangible resources—such as military force and economic coercion—to compel other nations to change behavior through threats or rewards.

Soft Power

The use of intangible resources—such as culture, values, foreign policy, and education—to attract and co-opt other states into desiring the same outcomes.

Smart Power

The strategic capacity to evaluate a political situation and effectively combine both hard and soft power tactics.

Hegemon

The dominant and most powerful state operating within a unipolar international system.

Bandwagoning

A behavior where weaker states choose to join or align themselves with a rising hegemon rather than balancing against it.

Geopolitics

A field of study examining how geographic factors—such as strategic location, physical borders, and natural resources—shape international politics and foreign policy decisions.

Frederick Ratzel

The foundational figure known as the father of geopolitics who advanced classical organic state theories, positing that a state is a "living organism" that must expand or die.

Thucydides

A foundational realist historian who wrote The Peloponnesian War and observed that fear, honor, and interest—not moral ideas—drive international relations.

Niccol" Machiavelli

A classical realist theorist who argued that a sovereign leader (prince) must master the art of war and adopt characteristics of both a lion (power) and a fox (deception) to secure state survival.

Thomas Hobbes

A philosopher whose concept of the "state of nature"—where life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short—informs the realist understanding of international anarchy.

Utopianism

An early interwar strand of liberal political thought criticized by E.H. Carr for relying excessively on moralism, legalism, treaties, and wishful thinking rather than political realities.

Animus Dominandi

A term used by classical realist H. Morgenthau to describe the human lust for power that drives competitive behavior in politics.

Neorealism (Structural Realism)

A realist theory formulated by Kenneth Waltz that attributes state behavior and power struggles to the systemic structure of international anarchy rather than human nature.

Complex Interdependence

A concept created by Keohane & Nye characterized by multiple channels connecting societies, multiple non-military issues on the agenda, and the minimal utility of military force.

Institutional Liberalism

A liberal perspective maintaining that rational states construct international organizations and sets of rules (regimes) to overcome collective action problems and sustain cooperation.

Collective Action Problem

A dilemma in which rational, self-interested actors fail to cooperate to provide a shared public good, leaving all parties worse off than if they had agreed to share costs.

Dyadic Peace Theory

An empirical finding within Republican Liberalism showing that while democratic states engage in wars with non-democracies, democratic states rarely if ever go to war with one another.