Global Governance Exam 3 Review

Module 7-1, 16

civil war

Violent conflict for control of the state, fought between a government and one or more armed faction(s) within a state that exceeds 1,000 battle deaths in a year.

coercion

Using force or the threat of force to compel compliance or change someone’s behavior

coercive organization

Organized group with a leadership structure that coordinates the use of military coercion by its members.

conscription

Mandatory military service ordered by government officials on behalf of the state.

conventional wars

Wars fought between the military organizations officially sanctioned by the state. These contests target armed forces rather than civilians and use weapons rather than weapons of mass destruction like nuclear weapons.

diaspora

People living outside their original homeland.

ethnic cleansing

A systematic military and political effort to homogenize the ethnic composition of a population through mass killing of ethnic minorities or their forcible resettlement to another region.

interstate war

A war in which the primary participants are states.

irregular war

A modern form of warfare involving many types of coercive organizations beyond state militaries. Includes targeting civilians, weakening or collapsing state authority, and using force to change the population or control of a territory.

jus ad bellum

Latin for “the right to war.” It highlights the justness or appropriateness of any decision to begin a war and holds that states can legitimately wage defensive wars to protect themselves from military aggression that violates their territorial integrity or sovereignty.

jus in bello

Latin for “right conduct in war.” This tradition of Just War Theory governs the conduct of military operations in wartime. It includes the dictum not to target civilians or captured or wounded soldiers, and to use proportionality (meaning to avoid the excessive use of force).

jus post bellum

Latin for “justice after war.” This tradition of Just War Theory offers moral guidelines for the postwar order, focusing on reestablishing human rights for all of the war’s participants. The victorious government should restore basic civil order, which implies leaving a new government in place that is capable of protecting its own citizens.

just War Theory

A normative theory providing a set of legal and moral standards to evaluate decisions for war and conduct during a war.

limited war

Wars that end in a negotiated settlement, short of the total destruction of either side’s ability to fight.

mercenary

A paid soldier generally motivated by monetary gain rather than by the political goals held by the coercive organization that hires him or her.

preemptive war

A war initiated by the target of an imminent attack.

preventive war

A war fought to prevent a shift in the distribution of military power between opposing sides that would ultimately pressure the weakening side to make a series of political concessions in the future.

refugees

Migrants who leave their home country in order to escape war, repression, or natural disasters.

revolutionary war

War designed to overthrow some established political order, frequently a formal imperial system.

war

A military contest fought among competing coercive organizations to resolve political conflict that meets some threshold of battlefield casualties. In the study of international relations, a military conflict is generally classified as a war if at least 1,000 soldiers die from combat.

war of attrition

A prolonged, destructive war in which military victory often depends on being able to sustain greater military punishment and costs from war than an adversary.

audience costs

One of two types of signals, often threats, used to communicate and reveal private information among actors in a bargaining situation. These costs come from domestic or external audiences losing trust/support after a failed commitment

bargaining model of war

Theory arguing that war happens because bargaining between actors break down, even though there is always some peaceful agreement both sides would prefer to war. Explains war by focusing on why actors fail to reach that agreement.

beliefs

The judgments held by parties in a social, political, or economic interaction about the values of important strategic parameters that can shape their negotiations, like the interests held by all parties or the distribution of capabilities among them.

commitment problem

A situation where actors can’t credibly promise to uphold an agreement in the future. War can occur because one or both sides expect the other may break a deal later, especially when power/incentives are expected to change over time.

complete information

A hypothetical situation in which the all actors know the key strategic variables in a negotiation (e.g. capabilities, preferences, and cost of war), reducing uncertainty and making agreements easier to reach.

costly signals

Actions/statements that are expensive/risky to make, used to credibly communicate private information because only believable actors would be willing or able to pay the cost.

credibility

Degree to which a promise/threat is beleived by others. Based on whether the actor is expected to actually carry out what they say they will do.

distribution of military capabilities

Relative balance of military power between opposing sides.

outside option

The alternative payoff a party receives if negotiations fail, typically meaning what each side expects to gain (or lose) if it chooses war instead of agreement.

private information

information about important strategic variables—like interests and the distribution of capabilities—that is not known by all parties in a bargaining situation.

resolve

The costs that an actor can tolerate for undertaking some action.

sunk cost signals

One of two types of signals, often threats, used to communicate and reveal private information among actors in a bargaining situation. The costs from these signals are felt by an actor as part of the act of sending the signal. Examples include the movement of troops to another military theater, or the implementation of a new armaments program.

preventive war

A war triggered by a shift in the distribution of power or military capabilities between two adversaries. A declining side generally initiates these wars to disarm an opponent or prevent it from being able to demand larger political concessions in the future.

armistice

A formal agreement to stop fighting during a war, designed to create conditions that allow for a political peace settlement to be negotiated.

bargaining process

The ongoing process of negotiation between opposing sides during war, where actors exchange demands, signals, and concessions while fighting continues.

ceasefire

An agreement to stop hostilities, usually temporary and less formal than an armistice, often used to pause fighting without fully resolving the conflict.

codified

Made official, often through enactment in law or through a formal agreement between parties.

convergence principle

The process through which differing beliefs over capabilities or resolve converge as a result of information revealed on the battlefield.

screening

A process in which actors reveal how committed they are by their behavior in war. More resolute actors tend to continue fighting despite costs, while less resolute actors are more likely to accept settlements early.

self-enforcing

The degree to which actors have no incentive to deviate from an agreement. A peace agreement is self-enforcing when no one sees an advantage in the resumption of fighting.

settlement terms

The conditions governing the behavior of former combatants in the aftermath of a war. These may include provisions for the division of territory, monetary compensation, and restrictions on rearmament, among other terms.

spoiler

A faction opposed to peace settlement that may try to undermine negotiations by violating a ceasefire or otherwise preventing agreement.

abandonment

The violation of alliance obligations when at least one party withdraws from the agreement, often in the midst of a military crisis or war.

alliances

Formal or informal agreements between states to cooperate militarily under specific conditions, especially when one member is attacked or faces a security threat.

arms races

Military competition in which two or more states simultaneously increase military capabilities by buying more tanks, planes, and bombs or by enlisting more soldiers. Arms races can leave all their participants less secure if they provoke suspicions of aggressive intent.

collective security organization

An organization of states designed to prevent war by requiring members to respond collectively to aggression. It aims to deter any use of force against any member, rather than serving one specific alliance interest, as seen in the League of Nations or United Nations.

defensive strategies

Military strategies that protect a nation’s people, territory, and economic resources from an enemy’s military forces by physically blocking or denying access to them. Such strategies position a country’s military assets between the civilian population and an opponent’s military forces.

deterrence

The use of a threat to impose unacceptable costs on other states with waves of retaliatory strikes, rather than denying opposing militaries access to the civilian population with defensive operations. For example, governments use threats of nuclear strikes capable of killing millions of people to deter an adversary from launching an initial strike against its civilian population or allies.

human security

The protection of the rights and livelihoods of individuals and groups from a wide range of threats. Focused more on the survival of individuals than states, it incorporates access to food (food security), economic well-being (freedom from poverty), protection from environmental dangers like pollution, personal safety from criminal attacks and war, the protection of identity groups based on ethnicity or race, and the provision of political rights.

military power

The use of military instruments of coercion, such as armies or missiles, to alter the actions or interests of other actors in the international system.

military strategy

Plans on how to deploy military resources and fight wars. Includes offensive, defensive, and deterrence strategies.

national security

The capacity of states to protect their citizens from external threats that could kill them or destabilize their system of governance. Threats to national security are often conceptualized in military terms, focusing on the ability of foreign armies or terrorist organizations to attack people and destroy resources in a state’s territory.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

(NATO) A cooperative security agreement created by states in Western Europe and North America during the Cold War to counter the threat posed by the Soviet Union. Article 5 of the NATO treaty regulated the conditions under which NATO members used their military power, committing all of them to fighting a defensive war against the Soviet Union if it attacked any NATO member. Since the end of the Cold War, NATO’s membership and mission have evolved—it now includes states formerly part of the Soviet Union and works toward the goals of democracy promotion and collective security.

Offensive strategies

Military strategies that seek to alter the territorial and political status quo among states. They often involve initiating military strikes against an adversary on their home territories.

securitization theory

Theoretical approach emphasizing that the identification of security threats and their appropriate policy responses is an inherently contested political process that occurs through a public dialogue among political leaders and the larger public.

security dilemma

Occurs when political and military efforts of one government to enhance its national security simultaneously threaten other governments. Its presence can trigger an escalating military competition that leaves all states less secure.

Warsaw Pact

An alliance created during the Cold War that coordinated the military strategies of the Soviet Union with those of multiple governments in Eastern Europe. This alliance was created to counter NATO in Western Europe.

ethnic pogroms

Violent riots in which members of separate ethnic groups target violence at one another.

greed

The desire to acquire more resources or wealth for particular groups within a state.

grievances

Sources of collective dissatisfaction held by groups within a state.

industrialization

The process through which a society moves from an agrarian economy to an industrial, manufacturing economy.

inequality

The degree to which wealth within a society is unequally shared.

issue indivisibility

The inability to find acceptable compromises over disputed issues within a state. Issues may include territory, policies, distribution of resources, or control of the government.

Marxist-Leninist

Relating to ideologies promoted by Karl Marx or V. I. Lenin, commonly known as communism, that focused on class conflict between workers and capital owners. 

moral hazard

The tendency for individuals to accept more risk when they expect to be rescued, or “bailed out,” from bad outcomes.

organized violence

Violence between one or more factions within a state. The goal may or may not be control of the government, and there is no particular threshold of severity.

physical integrity rights

These include basic protections for one’s physical person, including freedom from torture, arbitrary imprisonment, rape, or killing.

Responsibility to Protect Doctrine

The notion that sovereign governments have a responsibility to provide basic protections and rights for citizens, and that they forfeit sovereignty when they are unwilling or unable to provide such protections.

rule of law

Respect for official decisions administered by the state or judiciary on the basis of established legal principles, rather than political bias or expediency.

urbanization

The process by which societies move from rural, agrarian life to economic and social life focused in cities.