International Relations: Realism vs. Neoliberalism Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, theories, historical cases, and concepts from the lecture on Realism, Great Power Transition Theory, and Neoliberalism.

Realism

An international relations approach asserting that power is the key variable in international affairs.

Great Power Transition Theory

A theory arguing that the greatest risk of war occurs when a rising challenger state approaches a dominant power in strength due to uneven economic growth.

Commitment Problem

A theoretical situation where a rising power cannot credibly promise that it will not make further demands in the future if accommodated today because its relative strength will increase.

Ordansky and Kubler

The original creators of great power transition theory who posited that the rising power initiates conflict to accelerate system changes.

Thucydides Trap

A concept popularized by Graham Allison describing the structural pressures that pull a rising power and a dominant power into conflict, named after the ancient historian who documented the war between Sparta and Athens.

Graham Allison

A modern IR scholar who reviewed 16 historical cases of great power transitions over the last 500 years and found that 12 resulted in war.

Parity

Equality of power between states, which statistical IR studies associate with a higher likelihood of conflict compared to power imbalances.

Logic of Appropriateness

A decision-making framework where states refrain from certain actions because they consider them inappropriate based on identity or morality, rather than cost-benefit calculations.

Lanther Stauder

The first individual to self-identify as a realist in international relations, whose version focused on conflict between races.

Neoliberalism

An approach to international relations emphasizing non-security issues, structural cooperation, non-state actors, and interdependence.

Reciprocity

The neoliberal mechanism for resolving public goods problems in international relations through mutual exchange and contingent commitments.

Hard Power

Military power and material capability used to force another actor to take a specific action.

Soft Power

Diffuse power derived from attraction, setting a good example, and credibility that persuades other actors to want the same outcomes.

Interdependence

A mutual dependent situation characterized by reciprocal effects among countries that impose costs if disrupted.

Leverage

An asymmetrical advantage in an interdependent relationship where disrupting the relationship is less costly for one state than for its partner.

Sensitivity

A dimension of interdependence measuring how quickly policy changes in one state impose costs on another state before the affected state can alter its policies.

Vulnerability

A dimension of interdependence measuring the long-term costs imposed on a state after it has had time to adapt its policies to a disruption.

Issue Leakage

A negotiation strategy of linking an unrelated issue area that a party cares about to a primary issue in order to achieve an agreement.

Agenda Setting

The process by which non-state actors or smaller entities influence international outcomes by introducing new topics, information, or considerations into debate.

International Regime

A set of implicit or explicit norms, rules, laws, and decision-making procedures around which state expectations converge in a specific issue area.

Economic Model of Regime Change

A framework stating that international regime changes are driven by technological developments and citizen demands for higher living standards.

Power Structure Model of Regime Change

A framework stating that international regimes are created, sustained, and changed based on shifts in power among dominant states within an issue area.

Bretton Woods Regime

A postwar monetary regime where global currencies were pegged to the US dollar and gold, which was later replaced by the managed floating exchange system.