International Relations Key Concepts: Power, Security, and Globalization

Balance of power

An equilibrium between states brought about either by diplomacy or by natural forces

Capacity building

The funds and technical training to allow developing nations to participate in global environmental governance

Capitalism

A system of production in which commodities are bought and sold in the marketplace

Civil Society

The totality of individuals not acting as participants in governments or in the interests of commercial companies

Collective security

An arrangement in which states recognize that the safety of one state is the concern of all states; and in which each state agrees to join in a group response to an act of aggression

Compliance

A state living in accord with its treaty obligations

Constructivism

An approach to IR which is interested in ways structures create actors identities and interests

Decolonization

Processes by which colonies become independent powers and sovereign states in their own right

Deterritorialization

Accelerated by technological innovation; the process in which social and economic activity becomes less constrained by geographical boundaries

Diffusion

The spreading of ideas, beliefs, values, habits and practices across a population

Localization

The process of focusing economic and cultural life upon a particular geographical region

Geopolitics

The idea that geographical position is a key determinant of the policies a state pursues, particularly in relation to security and strategy; both globally and locally

Globalization

A process by which a fundamental shift occurs in the spatial scale of human social organization; linking distant communities and expanding the reach of power relations across regions and continents

Hegemony

Political and/or economic dominance of a region; usually by a superpower

Human security

The wellbeing of people, including their physical safety, economic and social well being, as well as their dignity and protection of human rights

Humanitarian intervention

The principle that the international community has a right/duty to intervene in states which have suffered large-scale loss of life or genocide

Jihad

In Arabic it means struggle; a struggle to make society more closely aligned to the teachings of the Koran; also a call to arms to wage war in self-defense of an Islamic community under attack

Liberalism

An approach to IR which has faith in the good will of international institutions to help improve the global situation

Liberalization

Government policies which reduce the role of the state in the economy through the dismantling of trade tariffs and barriers

Millennium development goals

Time-limited, target based commitments to improve the eight areas of: poverty and hunger, primary education, gender equality, child mortality, maternal health, tackling diseases such as HIV/AIDS and Malaria; environmental sustainability, and partnership working.

Multilateralism

The tendency for functional aspects of IR to be arranged around large numbers of states

Non-State actors

Any actor (other than a government) who participates in the international system

NATO

Comprised of 30 nations including Western Europe and USA; including a commitment from the USA to defend Western Europe

Nuclear Taboo

The belief that the use of nuclear weapons has become unacceptable in warfare

Perestroika

Policy to restructure, and together with glasnost, modernize the Soviet Union; pursued by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev

Post-Westphalian

A world order in which national borders, and the principle of sovereignty, are no longer of paramount importance

Quasi-state

A state which has recognition from other states due to its independence, but does not have the resources or the will to satisfy the needs of its people

Rapprochement

Re-establishing more friendly relations between China and the USA in the early 1970s.

Realism

The approach to IR which sees all IR as the relation of states engaged in the pursuit of power. It does not accommodate non-state actors in its analysis

Reciprocity

A view that cooperation only occurs when there is clear mutual benefit

Responsibility to protect

While states have a duty to safeguard their own citizens, when this duty is abandoned, the duty passes to the international community

Revolution in military affairs

A radical change in the conduct of warfare; spurred on by technological innovation; or by doctrinal and other developments

Security regime

A group of nations cooperate to manage their disputes and avoid war by seeking to mute safety dilemmas by their own actions and their assumptions of the behaviors of others

Self-determination

The principle that people groups should enjoy self-government

Sovereignty

The principle that within its territorial boundary the state is the supreme political authority

Sustainable development

Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs

Terrorism

The illegitimate use of violence by sub-state groups to inspire fear, by attacking civilians and/or symbolic targets

Time/space compression

Technologically induced erosion of distance and time giving the appearance of a world which is shrinking

Asymmetric globalization

The way in which globalization is differentially experienced across the world and among different social groups, producing a distinctive geography of inclusion and exclusion from the global system

Warsaw Pact

The response to West Germany's rearmament and entry into NATO in 1945

Ecocide

The destruction of large areas of the natural environment by such activity as nuclear warfare, overexploitation of resources, or dumping of harmful chemical