INR Final Study Guide Ch 1-14

Interests

These are the goals actors want to achieve, such as security, wealth, or ideological outcomes

Interactions

These are the choices made by two or more actors that produce an outcome

Bargaining

Dividing a limited resource where there are winners and losers

Cooperation

Working together for a common goal

Institutions

These are the “rules of the game” - sets of rules and organizations that structure interactions and help (or sometimes hinder) cooperation

Realism

Focuses on anarchy (the lack of a global police force), state survival, and power

Liberalism

Focuses on domestic interests and the potential for optimistic cooperation and wealth

Constructivism

Focuses on culture, identity, and international norms (shared standards of behavior)

Modern Synthesis

The course approach is to combine all three to get a complete picture

Prisoner’s Dilemma

Shows why actors might fail to cooperate even when it’s in their best interest to do so (like an arms race)

Chicken

A game of coercion where actors try to get the other to “swerve” first (such as a nuclear standoff)

Stag Hunt

A game of coordination where the main obstacle is a lack of trust rather than an incentive to cheat

Peace of Westphalia (1648)

Established the concepts of sovereignty (political supremacy within borders) and nonintervention

Pax Britannica (1815-1914)

An era of relative stability under Britain hegemony, characterized by the gold standard and the shift toward open trade

The Cold War (1946-1990)

A bipolar struggle between the US (capitalism) and USSR (communism) defined by Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) and rigid alliance structures like NATO

The Bargaining Model of War

Since war is costly, there should always be a bargaining range - a set of deals both sides prefer over the risks and costs of fighting

Incomplete Information

States may misrepresent their capabilities or resolve to get a better deal, leading to war

Commitment Problems

A state cannot trust its opponent to honor a deal in the future, especially if power is shifting (preventative war)

issue Indivisibility

The thing being fought over cannot be shared or spilt

Selectorate Theory

Leaders focus on maintaining their winning coalition - the group whose support is essential to staying in power

Democratic Peace Theory

The observation that mature democracies rarely, if ever, go to war with one another, often due to audience costs (accountability to voters)

Hawks and Doves

hawks support military action to achieve goals (narrowing the bargaining range), while Doves prefer cooperation

Civil War

Internal conflict often driven by greed (resources) or grievances (inequality)

Terrorism

The use of violence against noncombatants to achieve political goals through strategies like provocation, spoiling, or intimidation

Comparative Advantage

Countries should specialize in producing what they can make most efficiently compared to other goods they could produce, even if they aren’t the best in the world at it

Heckscher-Ohlin Theory

Countries export goods that use their abundant factors of production (land, labor, or capitol) and import goods that use their scarce factors

Protectionism

Using tariffs (taxes on imports) to protect domestic industries, which helps specific businesses but often raises prices for consumers

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)

When a company (multinational corporation) maintains direct control over a facility built or purchased in another country

The IMF

An institution that manages international monetary exchange and provides loans to countries in crisis to prevent global economic collapses

Exchange Rates

Currencies can be fixed (tied to another currency/good) or floating (market-driven)

Development

Wealth is measured through GDP per capita or the Human Development Index (HDI). Obstacles include geography, resource curses, and the legacy of colonialism

Hand Law

Obligatory and precise

Soft Law

Aspirational and easier for states to sign

Norms

Shared standards of behavior that follow a life cycle, emergence, cascade (spreading), and internalization

The Boomerang Model

When domestic NGO’s cannot pressure their own government, they reach out to international allies to pressure the government from the outside

Human Rights

Defined by the international Bill of Rights, these are difficult to enforce because they challenge a state’s sovereignty over its own citizens

Tragedy of the Commons

A collective action problem where individuals have an incentive to over-consume a shared resource (such as clean air), eventually destroying it

Cap-and-Trade

A system that sets a limit on emissions and allows companies to buy and sell credits, incentivizing them to reduce pollution