Global Politics and International Relations

International system

How global politics is organized, as sovereign states in an anarchical world

Westphalian system

Sovereign, equal states with no authority above them, dating from 1648

State

Territory, permanent population, and a government with a monopoly on legitimate force

Monopoly on legitimate force

Only the state may legally use force

Non-state actors

Influential actors that aren't states, like terrorist groups and NGOs

NGO

A non-governmental organization, such as a human rights group

Sovereignty

A state's supreme authority to govern itself without outside interference

Rights of sovereignty

To exclude foreign rulers, make your own laws, choose your own government, and sign agreements

Non-interference clause

The UN can't intervene in a state's domestic affairs unless international peace is threatened

Treaty of Westphalia (1648)

Ended the Thirty Years' War and created the sovereign state system

Thirty Years' War

A costly European stalemate that led to Westphalia

Decolonization

Sovereignty spreading globally as colonies became independent

Anarchy

No central authority above states. It doesn't mean chaos

Hierarchical system

The opposite of anarchy, where a higher authority exists

Realism

Anarchy forces states to compete for power and distrust each other

Self-help

No global police, so each state must protect itself

Statecraft

Managing state affairs. Realists say balancing power through statecraft can reduce war

Defensive realism (Waltz)

States seek power for security, not domination

Offensive realism (Mearsheimer)

States maximize power and seek dominance, since they're only secure with no rivals

Security dilemma

One state's efforts to boost its security make others feel threatened, so everyone ends up less secure

Tragedy of great power politics

Great powers chase dominance they can't achieve, which causes conflict

Great power

A state whose only rivals are other great powers

Balance of power

How power is distributed in the system

Stable balance of power

No state thinks it can win a war

Balancing

Countering a rising power by building strength or forming alliances

Polarity

The number of major powers (unipolar, bipolar, or multipolar)

Constructivism

Anarchy is what states make of it. Ideas and identities shape behavior

Wendt

Anarchy alone doesn't predict whether states will be friends or foes

Social construction

Shared meaning built through repeated interaction. Example: money

Inter-state relationships

Friend/ally, partner, rival, or enemy, built through interaction

Social structures

Shared ideas about group identity and proper behavior

Collective identity

A shared sense of who we are, like democratic or developing

International norms

Shared ideas about acceptable behavior

Power of ideas

Power includes ideas, not just military strength

Liberalism

States can cooperate and achieve lasting peace despite anarchy

Political liberalism

Individual rights, free speech, and fair elections

Economic liberalism

Free markets with protected property rights

Democratic peace

Democracies rarely fight each other

Economic interdependence

Trade ties make war too costly

Complex interdependence

States' interests are tangled across many issues, which encourages cooperation

Weaponized interdependence (Foroohar)

Using economic ties as a weapon, such as sanctions

International institutions

Tools like treaties and organizations that help states cooperate

Treaty

A legal agreement between states

Multilateral treaty

An agreement among three or more states, like NAFTA

Bilateral treaty

An agreement between two states, like the US-Japan alliance

International organizations

Forums for negotiating and monitoring agreements, like the UN and NATO

Eurocentrism

Viewing world politics only from a Western perspective as if it were universal

Global IR (Acharya)

A more inclusive IR that includes non-Western histories and ideas

Global North/South

Wealthy industrialized countries vs. developing, formerly colonized ones

South-South cooperation

Cooperation among developing countries

Critical theory

Questions power structures and argues that hierarchy matters as much as anarchy

Hierarchy

Some groups having power over others, by race, gender, or class

Deconstruct

Break down the norms that create power hierarchies

Problematize

Question whose interests a theory or idea serves

Hegemonic discourse

The dominant group's accepted narrative, which sustains inequality

Counter-hegemonic discourse

An alternative narrative that challenges the dominant one

Feminist theory

Analyzes IR through a gender lens

Patriarchy

A system that privileges men

Enloe

The personal is international, and the international is personal

IPE

International Political Economy, how politics and economics interact

Postcolonialism

Undoing colonial legacies and Eurocentrism

Civilizing mission

The colonial claim of advancing supposedly inferior peoples

Social Darwinism

The false idea that some races or societies are more evolved

Essentialization

Reducing groups to fixed stereotypes

White Man's Burden

The racist idea that white people had a duty to develop others

Orientalism (Said)

The West portraying the East as an inferior Other

Cold War "myth"

The Cold War was stable for the West but violent for the Global South

Realism (Core idea)

Anarchy leads to competition

Constructivism (Core idea)

Anarchy is what states make of it

Liberalism (Core idea)

Cooperation is possible under anarchy

Critical approaches (Core idea)

Hierarchy matters

IR Theories Overview

Core frameworks include Realism, Constructivism, Liberalism, and Critical approaches