IR MIDTERM

TERMS THAT ARE GONNA MAKE ME KMS

State

Montevideo Convention: Defined territory, permanent population, capacity to enter international relations

Sovereingty

State’s have legal and political authority within their territory, and boundaries.

Conditions:

Non-interference

De Jure Equality of states

Peace of Westphalia

End of 30 years war (1648), stablishes the basis of sovereingty, end theocracy

Anarchy

Absence of central authority. Cannot enforce laws that bind, according to neorealism, It is the fundamental reason for the possibility of war, and weakens the effect of institutions. Each state should help itself and leads to a security dilemma

Interests

Motivations that make states/actors act

Power/Security

Economic

Ideological

Rational Actors

Perform cost benefit analysis, and seeks to maximize benefits (fundamental assumptions that all states are rational actors)

Interactions

The ways in which the choices of two or more actors combine to produce political action

Two Types:

Cooperation: positive sum; at least one actor improves, and the other either improves or remains the same

Bargaining: zero sum; one party benefits the most

Iteration

Repeated interactions between actors that facilitate cooperation

Linkage

Cooperating on one sphere can aid cooperation in other spheres

Collective Action Problems

Hoping to enjoy benefits without maintaining the costs: In south korea they want national security, but won’t join the military

Free Riding

A state enjoys public good without contributing to it

Bargaining

zero-sum interaction, one actor’s win is another’s loss. Ex: South China Sea Waters and the territorial claims over them

Zero-Sum Game

if one state wins the other loses

Institutions

set of rules, known and shared by the relevant community, that structure interactions in specific ways

Formal: written laws, international organizations

Ex. NATO, the UN
Informal: unwritten traditions, moral values, norms

Ex. Marriage norms

Individual level of analysis

An explanation of war that points the blame at man (leaders, elites, and the public). Mankind is evil and powerhungry.

Optimists: say human nature can change
Pessimists: we can’t change, must change structures to repress evil

self preservation

State’s desire to survive, ex. North Korea getting nukes

belief system

a set of intergrated images based on perceptions shaped by past experiences. Leads to independent and participatory leaders.
Risk factors: childhood, gender, age, family, military experience, rebel group experience

ex. Saddam Hussein and Gamel Abdel Nassar = risky leaders

cognitive consistency

individuals try to ensure that their beliefs are consistent and form a coherent whole (fitting new information into an existing belief system)

evoked set

perceiving the world based on information learnt from past experiences
ex. Prime Minister Eden comparing Suez Crisis with Munich pre-WWII

Mirror image

one considers their own actions good/moral/just, the enemy’s actions are automatically evil/immoral/unjust

groupthink

consensus seeking behavior among members of a small and tightly knit group