IB GLOBAL POLITICS (All Topics)

Power (decision making)

"A has power over B to the extent that he can get B to do something that B would not otherwise do." (Dahl)

Power (agenda setting)

"Real power is about deciding or limiting what is discussed and, more importantly, what is not discussed" (Bachrach and Baratz)

Power (manipulating desires)

"The most effective and insidious use of power is to prevent such conflict from arising in the first place." (Lukes)

Hard power

Achieving aims through force or threat thereof e.g. military force against Gaddafi's Libya 2011

Soft power

Achieving aims through persuasion or influence e.g. Iran nuclear deal 2015

Smart power

Achieving aims through force, persuasion and influence e.g. Chinese investment in Africa

Power-knowledge (Foucault)

Power is everywhere' and 'comes from everywhere' so in this sense is neither an agency nor a structure. Instead it is a kind of 'regime of truth' that pervades society, and which is in constant flux and negotiation. Foucault uses this to signify that power is constituted through accepted forms of knowledge, scientific understanding and 'truth'. Power is based on knowledge and makes use of knowledge; on the other hand, power reproduces knowledge by shaping it in accordance with its intentions. Foucault, contrary to realist analyses of power, thinks this is not necessarily a bad thing. He highlights that power is both constrictive and productive since

power, for Foucault, is never temporally, spatially, or indeed materially, fixed, but

rather emerges both in, and out of social encounters.

Power-knowledge example

From this perspective,

the status of 'refugees' as 'stateless' poses an unresolvable categorical problem to

modern notions of politics: on the one hand, an international ethics purports that

'refugees' be protected; on the other hand, the institutional mechanism with which

this protection is administered and fulfilled (the state) is no longer—in the case of the

state of origin—or not yet—in the case of the host state—available. This, together

with the premise of social contract theory that individuals must be free (from external

constraints) when choosing to become a citizen of a state, means that the category of

the 'refugee' does not fit neatly within the structuring of modern state politics, and

indeed poses a 'threat' to the very basis of its logic; one that, as the increase in rightwing nationalist narratives and policies show, some believe must be resisted at all

costs.

Nation

Implies that there is a common ethnicity and cultural characteristics, such as language.

State

That institution that has a 'monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force' over a geographical area.

Nation-state

An independent country united under one government and linked by a common culture and language

Sovereignty

The ability of a state to rule itself. States are sovereign when they exercise supreme control over what happens inside their borders.

Internal Sovereignty

The notion of a supreme power/authority within the state, located in a body that makes decisions that are binding on all citizens, groups and institutions within the state's territorial borders.

External Sovereignty

The absolute and unlimited authority of the state as an actor on the world stage, implying the absence of any higher authority in external affairs.

Features of Sovereign Nation States

(1933 Montevideo Convention)

1. A permanent population

2. A defined territory and borders

3. Effective government

4. The capacity and legitimacy to enter into relations with other states.

Realist view of sovereignty

1. Sovereignty is an absolute, inviolable principle

2. Sovereignty of other states can be breached if their own national interest requires it

3. State sovereignty should be protected as it forms the basis of global order

4. Most significant actors are states with sovereign boundaries

Liberal view of sovereignty

1. Sovereignty is an important but not exclusive principle in global politics.

2. States can be punished if they commit crimes within their borders.

3. Working through international organizations may expand the capacities of the state, allowing them to continue to extend their influence within a globalized and interconnected world.

Marxist view of sovereignty

1. In capitalist society the state is an instrument of exploitation,

2. The instrument is used by the capitalist class and this class is economically dominant class. In the 3. Western concept of political theory political sovereignty is located in the state,

4. Since the capitalist class uses and controls the state, in real situation, the sovereign power is exercised by the capitalist class.

Constructivist view of sovereignty

1. Sovereignty is a social fact that is constructed and reproduced over time by the practices of the state themselves.

2. Sovereignty for is not a fixed element of international politics but rather one that changes owing to changing behaviour and expectations of the states.

3. The meaning of sovereignty has changed over time and how the states acted differently according to the varying prevailing conceptions of sovereignty that have existed.

Legitimacy

Refers to groups or actions that are considered to be acceptable, usually by conforming to agreed laws or democratic principles.

Sources of Legitimacy

1. Consent

2. Public reason

3. Democratic approval

4. Beneficial consequences

Consent

Natural law, while manifest in the state of nature, is not sufficiently specific to rule a society and cannot enforce itself when violated, however. The solution to this problem is a social contract, enacted through the consent of the governed, that transfers political authority to a civil state that can realize and secure the natural law.

Public reason

"political power is legitimate only when it is exercised in accordance with a constitution, the essentials of which all citizens, as reasonable and rational, can endorse in the light of their common human reason" (Rawls).

Democratic approval

Rousseau proposes that tacit consent is not sufficient for political legitimacy. Without citizens' active participation in the justification of a state's laws, Rousseau maintains, there is no legitimacy. According to Rousseau, one's will cannot be represented, as this would distort the general will, which alone is the source of legitimacy.

Beneficial consequences

Legitimate political authority should be grounded on the principle of utility, that is how beneficial legitimate authority is to a population. For example, Bentham proposes that legitimacy depends on whether a law contributes to the happiness of the citizen.

Sources of Contemporary Legitimacy

1. Democracy

2. Balance of power/Checks and balances

3. Constitutions

4. The Rule of Law

Democratic legitimacy

A key principle in modern democratic life - government may be considered legitimate if, first, it is elected and, second, it is accountable to the electorate. In this way, consent of the people is implied.

Checks and balances

Authority shared by three branches of government: executive, legislature, judiciary.

Constitution

The body of fundamental laws setting out the principles, structures, and processes of a government.

The Rule of Law

A concept that those who govern are bound by the laws; no one is above the law.

Sources of International Legitimacy

1. International Law

2. International Court of Justice

3. The UN

4. UN Security Council Resolutions

5. Right to self-defence (Article 51 of UN Charter)

International Law

The regulation of relations among sovereign states emerging from customary practices.

Types of State Actors

1. Democratic

2. Authoritarian

3. Monarchic

4. Theocratic

Democracy

A government controlled by its citizens, either directly (direct democracy) or through representatives (representative democracy).

Dictatorship

A form of government in which the leader has absolute power and authority.

Monarchy

A form of government in which the monarch (king, queen, emperor), who usually inherits the authority, has absolute power.

Theocracy

A government ruled by or subject to religious authority.

Civil society

Organizations outside of the state that help people define and advance their own interests

Intergovernmental Organisation (IGO)

An organization (such as the UN and its agencies) whose members are state governments

Non-governmental Organisation (NGO)

A a citizen-based association that (usually) operates independently of government, usually to deliver resources or serve some social or political purpose.

Transnational Corporation (TNC)

Corporations who enact strategies and processes that transcend national borders rather than merely crossing them.

What makes an issue political? ("traditional")

1. Involves the State

2. Deals with the distribution of power

3. The relationship of people to their communities

What makes an issue political? ("radical")

1. Has a universal character

2. Disrupts the existing order

3. Asserts equality

4. Necessitates conflict

Technocracy

The government or control of society or industry by an elite of technical experts.

Ideology

A framework of concepts and ideals for understanding our place and the place of others in the socio-political world.

Ideology (Marx)

Discourses that promote false ideas in us about the political regimes in which we live in order to reproduce the existing relations of production. "They don't know it, but they are doing it."

Ideology (Žižek)

Not an illusion masking the real state of things but that of an (unconscious) fantasy structuring our social reality itself. Cynical distance is just one way to blind ourselves to the structuring power of ideological fantasy: even if we keep an ironic distance, we are still doing them. "They know very well what they are doing, but they are doing it anyway."

False consciousness

Adoption of the ideas of the dominant class by the less powerful class.

Fetishist disavowal

"I know it, but I refuse to fully assume the consequences of this knowledge, so that I can continue acting as if I don't know it." For example, I know that money is a material object like others, but I still act as if it were made of a special substance over which time has no power.

Ideological disidentification

Any successful political ideology always allows subjects to have and to cherish a conscious distance towards its explicit ideals and prescriptions: ideological disidentification.

Late capitalism

Now a catchall phrase for the indignities and absurdities of our contemporary economy, with its huge inequality, massive corporations, shrinking middle class and excessive cynicism.

Capital

Money which is used to buy something only in order to sell it again.

Capitalism

A socio-economic system based on private ownership of the means of production (of capital) according to which the basis of resource allocation is the generation of profit (of capital).

Commodity fetishism

The process of ascribing magic "phantom-like" qualities to an object. The labor required to make that object is lost once the object is associated with a monetary value for exchange. It is fetishized, meaning that consumers come to believe that the object has intrinsic value in and of itself. The object's value appears to come from the commodity, from impersonal relations between things, rather than the social relations that produced it.

Socialism

A socio-economic system based on social ownership and democratic control of the means of production. Seen by Marx as a transitional state between the overthrow of capitalism and the realization of communism. In this stage there would be a dictatorship of the proletariat (working class).

Communism

A socio-economic order structured upon the common ownership of the means of production, property and the absence of social classes, money and the state. According to Marx, in the higher phase of which, technology and social organization will have largely eliminated the need for physical labor in production such that "labor has become not only a means of life but life's prime want". In such a society, each person would be motivated to work for the good of society despite the absence of a social mechanism compelling them to work, because work would have become a pleasurable activity. People would act on the maxim: From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs!

Neoconservatism

1. A belief that the internal character of states (democratic, authoritarian etc.) defines their external behaviour

2. The spread of US-style democracy around the globe will create peace and be universally beneficial

3. The US is a moral nation that has the duty, and the ability, to act as the world's policeman

4. A distrust of international institutions and scepticism of their effectiveness, leading to a belief that international organisations (such as the UN) can be disregarded and that the US can, and should, act alone if necessary

Historical materialism

Marxist theory of history according to which the material conditions of a society's way of producing and reproducing the means of human existence (the means and relations of production) fundamentally determine its organization and development (superstructure).

Means of production

The raw materials and means of labour (tools, machines, etc) employed in the production process.

The State (Weber's definition)

A human community that (successfully) claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory

Features of the State

1. Population

2. Territory

3. Government

4. Sovereignty

The State (Marxist view)

1. The state emerges out of, and reflects the class system.

2. The state is nothing but an instrument of class oppression.

3. All states are class dictatorships.

4. The state is not neutral; it is twisted and biased in its very nature.

5. The role of the capitalist state is to serve the long-term interests of capitalism.

6. Once the class system has been abolished, the state loses its reason for existence.

The State (New Right view)

1. The state emerges to take control of individual liberty.

2. It is a self-serving monster intent on expansion.

3. It fundamentally threatens individual liberty and economic security.

4. It is independent from society and pursues its own interests.

The State (Pluralist view)

1. The state emerges out of the state of nature as a voluntary agreement made by individuals who recognize that only the state can protect them.

2. Without a state, individuals abuse, exploit and enslave each other.

3. The state is a neutral referee among a plurality of groups and individuals.

4. The state is the servant of society, not its master: it reflects public opinion.

What's the difference between the government and the state?

1. The government is the means through which the authority of the state is brought into operation; it is the brains of the state.

2. The state, in theory, represents the permanent interests of society: the common good.

3. Whereas government represents the partisan sympathies of those who are in power at a particularly time.

Realism

1. States operate in an anarchic global system

2. States are the primary actors

3. The primary goal of states is survival through power, the currency of global politics

4. States pursue their rational (national) self-interest, concerning themselves with how much power they have relative to other states in a zero-sum game.

5. Cooperation is always transient

Liberalism

1. Cooperation is still possible in a world of anarchy.

2. Global political actors are interdependent

3. Non-state actors are important

4. Non-zero sum game: Mutual cooperation on global issues e.g. global warming can produce global public goods on a massive scale

5. Incentive to realize benefits of long-term mutual cooperation and avoid costs of mutual defection.

Critical Theory

1) All theory is normative (it doesn't just describe the world is but also says how it ought to be)

2) Mainstream theory legitimizes the power imbalances of the global political system

3) Theory must challenge the status quo

4) State-centric theories do not capture the diverse social forces and political challenges of global politics and thereby prevent radical change

Marxism (in International Relations)

1. Global politics cannot be viewed as separate from (capitalist) society

2. Any attempt to understand global politics must be based on a broader understanding of the processes operating in global capitalism

3. Class struggle is part of global politics: the structures (and theories) of global politics ensure that the powerful and wealthy prosper at the expense of the powerless and poor

World Systems Theory

1. Underdeveloped states are locked into an unequal system of global trade, in which rich countries benefit at the cost of poorer countries

2. The world-system consists of interrelationships between the 'core', the 'periphery' and the 'semi-periphery'.

3. The core became rich by exploiting the periphery and has a vested interest in maintaining this unequal relationship in order to remain economically and ideologically dominant

Trump Doctrine ("principled realism")

1. "Guided by outcomes, not ideologies...rooted in shared goal, interests, and values."

2. "The "nation-state" is "the best vehicle for elevating the human condition"

3. National sovereignty is primary: America first.

4. "No longer use American military might to construct democracies in faraway lands or try to rebuild other countries in our own image...but rather to let it shine as an example for everyone to watch"

5. Basing decisions on "conditions on the ground" rather than "arbitrary timetables." e.g. Afghanistan

Poststructuralism

1. Reality is constituted by discourse.

2. Distrusts and exposes any account of human life that claims to have direct access to "the truth".

3. Opposed to the notion that knowledge is immune from the workings of power: all power requires knowledge and all knowledge relies on and reinforces existing power relations. Thus there is no such thing as "truth" existing outside of power (discourse).

3. Aims to repoliticize discourse through critique: pointing out on what kinds of assumptions, what kinds of familiar, unchallenged, unconsidered modes of thought the practices that we accept rest.

4. Features of global politics are not natural, fixed or timeless. They are such because of their reproduction.

Feminism

1. Gender is socially constructed.

2. Gender is subordinating. Historically this has been felt disproportionately by women.

3. The personal is political. Women have traditionally been relegated by "privatization" into the personal. Aims to repoliticize this "private" space.

4. Promotes equality and justice for women.

5. Inherently analyses power. Sees global politics as as fundamentally framed, studied and implemented in a (masculine) gendered manner to the detriment of justice.

Arguments for soft power

1. Technology e.g. Facebook, New media

2. Decline of interstate war

3. Required by economic interdependence

Technology

The other major change affecting soft power definitions and policies is technological innovation. It has created new communication channels and an unprecedented level of connectivity in a multitude of ways. New media has changed the direction of soft power message dissemination from its traditional diplomatic sources to "user-generated content" outlets where ordinary citizens, not government experts, start and dictate soft power conversations. In this fairly new context, media dynamics have become the focus of political discourse today. From the fake news phenomenon to cyber security to digital divide and its implications for social media political activism and engagement, the international relations conversation has honed in on our new connectivity through modern technology.

Decline of interstate war

Soft power is now the only meaningful form of power as hard power is largely obsolete because large interstate war is now very rare. Combined with presence of the UN and EU, there has been a change moral attitudes towards the use force - expansionist, wars of plunder are now utterly rejected. Nuclear weapons make impact of war so devastating that major powers do not engage in war. Many wars now appear unwinnable e.g. the USA in Iraq and Afghanistan. If the world's most powerful country cannot guarantee success then alternative non-military soft power means must be sought.

Required by economic interdependence

States no longer need to make economic gains by conquest; globalization offers cheaper and easier route for prosperity through trade. Soft power is the most effective way of achieving what you want in this context.

Arguments for hard power

1. Military expenditure

2. War is endless

3. Global insecurity

Military expenditure

States aspiring to be more powerful continue to spend on and expand military capabilities USA continues to push to maintain dominance in this area with more spending than other top 10 spenders combined. Increased this year by 5%.

War is endless

Realists argue that without a global government, the international system remains anarchic and therefore biased in favour of conflict. Military power is only sure way of securing survival. Even more so with move to multipolar world. We also see the expanding of the use of hard power in relation to international law now accepting humanitarian intervention as justifiable on the grounds of responsibility to protect. Moreover, 2018 was one of the most violent years since the end of the Cold War. While violence levels decreased slightly from the all-time high of 2017, non-state conflicts and internationalized intrastate conflicts continue to challenge the international community's ability to achieve global peace.

Global insecurity

Decline of inter-state war has not made world safer. New security challenges have emerged, which are more challenging. These are facilitated by globalization. Non-state actors e.g. terrorists; rebels have easier access to weapons; and can spread their message through social media. Moreover, many commentators see such threats to security a response to globalization A new class of wars that separate cosmopolitan citizens of the world from those left out by economic and social integration. People who are unable to exploit globalization's opportunities may harbor resentment, which manifests itself in violence, against those who can.

Polarity

The existence within a system of one or more powerful actors, or 'poles', which affect the behaviour of other actors and shape the contour of the system itself, determining its structural dynamics.

Unipolar

An international system in which there is one pre-eminent state, or 'pole'. In a unipolar system

there is but a single great power, implying an absence of constraints or potential rivals.

Bipolar

An international system which revolves around two poles (major power blocs). For a system to be genuinely bipolar a rough equality must occur between the two pre-eminent powers or power blocs, certainly in terms of their military capacity.

Multipolar

An international system in which there are three or more power centres.

Nonpolar

Characterized by numerous centers with meaningful power. If global power is dispersed amongst a growing collection of great powers, as well as an expanding range of international organizations and non-state actors, the very idea of polarity is brought into question, meaning that world order may be acquiring a nonpolar character (Haas).

Balance of Power

A condition in which no one actor predominates over others, tending to create general equilibrium and curb the hegemonic ambitions of all states.

Popular sovereignty

The democratic doctrine that sovereign power is vested in the people and that those chosen to govern, as trustees of such power, must exercise it in conformity with the general will.

Pooled sovereignty

The combined sovereignty of two or more states; 'pooling' sovereignty implies gaining access to greater power and influence than state/national sovereignty.

Responsible sovereignty

The idea that state sovereignty is conditional upon how a state treats its citizens, based on the belief that the state's authority arises ultimately from sovereign individuals (popular sovereignty). The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine relies on this notion.

Complex interdependence

Keohane and Nye (1977) advanced the idea of 'complex interdependence' as an alternative to the realist model of international politics. This highlighted the extent to which

1. states have ceased to be autonomous international actors

2. economic and other issues have become more prominent in world affairs; and

3. military force has become a less reliable and less important policy option.

Economic interdependence (definition)

States and other actors are intimately linked together through the global economic system. Trade with each other is essential for economic success and the failure of economies is linked. This can be horizontal trade in final goods and vertical trade in intermediate goods (within and between host countries). A recession in one state is likely to have an impact on that state's ability to trade with another, which in turn can lead to recession in that other states. Such was the case in the global financial crisis of 2008.

Political interdependence

One viewpoint on globalisation is that economic interdependence leads to political interdependence. In the 1990s, Thomas Friedman - a US political journalist - proposed his 'golden arches' theory of conflict prevention. The idea that two countries with McDonald's restaurants will never wage war because their economies are interlinked, according to Friedman (the 2014 conflict between Russia and Ukraine has weakened this argument, however).

Cultural interdependence

Social ties between two countries can be strengthened through migration. The arrival of a large Indian diaspora (collective migrant) population in the UK has deepened the country's interconnectedness with India, both economically and also socially. Extensive family networks now straddle the two countries.

Environmental interdependence

All states are environmentally interdependent to some extent due to their shared use of "global commons" such as the atmosphere and oceans. For our mutual survival, we must all trust that other states and their citizens will work towards the shared goals of climate change mitigation and biodiversity protection. Some forms of environmental interdependency are unsustainable, however. Many countries in southeast Asia are being stripped of Siamese Rosewood due to the ability of China's emerging middle class to purchase hardwood furniture that used to be out of their price range. Forest loss may become irreversible if it continues at its current rate.

Arguments for economic power

1. Funding of IGOs

2. Purchasing power

3. Realism

Funding of IGOs

Economically powerful states possess advantages such as the ability to finance and fund governance institutions, and more influence in setting the agenda than less powerful states. Such economic power could also translate into political power. e.g. P5 member countries tend to dominate the executive organ of the UN through their veto power and can use it to effectively snub majority decisions, to block possible action such as responses to a military or diplomatic crisis, and generally to bring down any resolution not favourable to their own interests or outlook e.g. Russia on Syria intervention.

Purchasing power

Economically powerful countries can possibly "buy off" co-operation from smaller states e.g. USA-UK so-called special relationship. Lending by international financial organizations is often said to benefit the interests of powerful states. They can dole out concessionary aid, investment and finances to smaller states.

Arguments against economic power

1. Pooled sovereignty

2. Protection agencies

3. Liberalism

Protection agencies

Institutions may shield weaker countries and regulate the arbitrary actions of more powerful members. Weaker states could possibly choose to come together in order to protect their own interests. The rules and mechanisms set out by international organizations/institutions impose constraints on the arbitrary behaviour of economically powerful states e.g. IMF, World Bank.