Final Exam Review: Key Concepts in International Relations

Sovereignty

Expectation that states have legal and political supremacy within their boundaries.

Anarchy

There is no legal authority higher than or above the state to make and enforce laws that bind international actors.

Institutions

Set of rules (known and shared by community) that structure interactions in specific ways.

Cooperation

Mutual policy adjustments that move actors toward or onto the Pareto frontier, i.e., making at least 1 actor better off without making any other actor worse off.

Collective Action Problem

Smaller groups in which the benefits and costs are more concentrated than in bigger groups.

Coercion

Threat or imposition of costs on other actors to induce change in behavior (by reducing the value of reversion outcome).

Material capabilities

Resources such as guns and money required to exert coercion.

Outside option

Actors can get a better deal when they have attractive outside options.

Reversion outcome

The next-best alternative for the party with the outside option.

Agenda setting

Actions taken before or during bargaining that make the reversion outcome more favorable for one party.

Crisis bargaining

Bargaining that can fail due to incomplete information, commitment problems, or issue indivisibility.

Preventive war

A war fought with the intention of preventing an adversary from becoming stronger in the future.

Treaty of Westphalia

Ended the Thirty Years' War and enshrined the concept of sovereignty, laying the foundation of the modern state system.

Pareto frontier

A situation where at least one actor is better off without making any other actor worse off.

Negative externalities

Costs incurred by third party actors who are not involved in a cooperative action.

Status quo

The existing state of affairs before any changes are made.

Customary international law

Informal institutions that are based on established practices and norms.

UN

United Nations, an example of a formal institution.

WTO

World Trade Organization, an example of a formal institution.

Deregulation

Taking unilateral actions to alter the options available to others, as seen in the US airline industry.

Bargaining

The process of negotiation between parties to reach an agreement.

Shifting Power

A state whose power is increasing cannot commit not to exploit that power in future bargaining.

Rally Effect

People's tendency to become more supportive of their country's government in times of dramatic international events.

In-group/out-group explanation

Greater attachment and loyalty to in-group (fellow country men/women) when experiencing conflict with outsiders.

Democratic Peace

Pair of democratic states rarely, if ever, fight one another.

Democratic accountability

Elections are ways voters can punish leaders for their decisions, and expectations of backlash can tame leaders' warring tendencies.

Autocratic accountability

Leaders held accountable by 'selectorate' or groups of people whose support is necessary for a leader to retain office.

Bargaining Range

The range within which two parties can negotiate an agreement.

Collective Security Organization (CSO)

Member states to the UN can be called to act against an aggressor.

Peace Enforcement

Intervention during conflict to help end conflict and protect civilians.

Peace Keeping

After conflict, ensuring that war does not restart by helping enforce ceasefire/peace agreements.

Costs of War

Costs of war are paid by people who fight, suffer economic hardship of wars, and pay higher taxes to support the war effort.

Scapegoating

Allowing leaders to blame foreigners for the country's problems.

Credibility in Alliances

Deterrence only works if A and B believe that C would intervene in the event of war.

Bargaining Failure

Occurs when there is uncertainty about C's eventual behavior, leading B not to believe C's threat of intervention.

Intervention Response

Response ranges from economic sanctions to full-scale military intervention against an aggressor.

Economic Growth Rates

Different rates of economic growth can shift power dynamics between states.

New Weapons & Technologies

Advancements in weaponry and technology can alter the balance of power.

Government Dissent

Government cracking down on dissenting opinions during conflicts.

National Sentiment

The collective feelings of a nation, often magnified during times of conflict.

Military Intervention

The act of a state using military force to influence the course of events in another state.

Impartiality in Peace Keeping

Peacekeeping forces are impartial and do not take sides.

Heavily armed

Not armed, can't intervene (e.g., Rwanda)

Resource from P5

Resources from P5, as authorized by UNSC

Resource from non-P5

Resources from non-P5, forces with weak interests in the conflict

External imposed on warring parties

Host nation agreement: government must consent to host peacekeeping forces

Overcoming collective action problem (1/5)

Social Factors: Wood (2003): motivation by a sense of justice and desire to do something meaningful erases rational actors' incentive to free ride.

Overcoming collective action problem (2/5)

Selective Incentives/Compensations: Rebel leaders can distribute selective incentives (Popkin 1979, Lichback 1994).

Overcoming collective action problem (3/5)

Forced recruitment and kidnapping.

Overcoming collective action problem (4/5)

Survival: Participation as combatant helps increase chances of survival compared to non-participation (Kalyvas & Kocher 2007).

Overcoming collective action problem (5/5)

Extreme Ideologies: Walter (2017): resolve collective action problem by offering deferred compensation (reward of the eternal afterlife).

Country-level risk factors

Regime types: Democracies allow for peaceful ways to redress grievances through existing political channels.

Counter insurgency

Indiscriminate violence on civilian population that might be sympathetic to the rebel's cause.

Stolper-Samuelson

Protection benefits the scarce factor of production.

Ricardo-Viner (specific factors)

Assumes that factors of production are tied to their industry, AKA industry-specific.

Representation of Interests Through Political Institutions

Constituency Size: Even in democracies, size of constituency matters for how a politician designs trade policies.

Small constituencies

Much more responsive to local industrial interests, parochialistic.

US Congress trade policy authority

US Congress has constitutional authority to make trade policy, which is very protectionist.

Smoot-Hawley Trade Act

A 1930 act where every Congressmember sought to impose higher tariffs to benefit their domestic industries.

National constituency

Less need to cater to specific local interests, more universalistic, focusing on aggregate welfare improvement of reducing trade barriers.

1934 US Congress delegation

US Congress delegated trade policy making authority to the President, allowing him to pursue reciprocal trade policies.

Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA)

A compensation program in the US that includes training, income support, and relocation allowances.

TAA petition process

Petitions must be filed and certified by the Department of Labor after a statutory 40-day investigation period.

Bureaucratic certification bias

Bureaucrats are less likely to certify TAA petitions and more likely to delay investigations during Republican presidencies relative to Democratic presidencies.

Voter trust and certification

Lengthy certification periods can reduce voters' trust in the government's ability to protect them from adverse consequences of international trade.

GATT/WTO

International institutions that promote cooperation on trade and help enforce international trade law.

World Bank

Provides concessional aid to countries.

IMF

Used to monitor and manage exchange rates, but became the lender of last resort to bail countries out of defaulting on their debt.

Reciprocity

The principle of exchanging concessions in lowering tariff barriers that are important to each other's producers.

Most favoured nation status

In GATT/WTO, a rate negotiated by a couple of countries with their biggest trade partners that applies to all members.

Bound vs Applied vs Preferential Rates

Different types of tariff rates applied in international trade agreements.

Ad Valorem Rates

Tariff rates expressed as a percentage of the value of the goods.

Investing abroad

Investors move money from capital-rich to capital-poor countries for higher profit rates/interest rates.

Heckscher-Ohlin theory

A theory stating that in countries with a scarcity of capital, capital is more expensive, leading to higher interest rates.

Debt repayment importance

Repaying one's debt is crucial for credibility and future investment opportunities.

Government austerity measures

Actions required by a debtor government to repay debt, such as raising taxes and reducing government services.

Concessional finance

Lending from government agencies and IGOs at below market interest rates to developing countries.

Concessional loans

Loans provided to borrowers who cannot borrow from private creditors, often reflecting economic and political motivations.

IGO lenders

International governmental organizations like the World Bank that provide loans with less direct political influence.

Role of Multinational Corporations

Invest abroad and establish overseas affiliates to gain access to local market, take advantage of local resources, reduce transport costs, avoid trade barriers, and better access to market information.

Affiliates in low-income countries

Make intensive use of labor-abundant factors and higher skilled portions of the production network because they think it is profitable.

Appreciated currency

More expensive for foreigners to buy the country's goods and services, leading to reduced exports.

Depreciated currency

Cheaper for foreigners to buy the country's goods and services, leading to increased exports.

Fixed exchange rate

Offers stability and predictability in currency value.

Floating exchange rate

Provides flexibility and autonomy in currency value.

Resource Curse

Abundance in natural resources can lead to a focus on exporting commodities, creating institutions that bias against popular participation, and lower investment in people, resulting in poverty.

Example of Resource Curse

Zambia's copper wealth leads to low incentive to invest in the productive capacity of the populace.

Property Rights

Protection of property rights leads to investment in economic activities, such as innovation in machinery, which drives economic growth.

Secure property rights

Ensure that a property owner can be confident that their material goods will not be seized arbitrarily.

Import-substituting Industrialization (ISI)

Pursued by most developing countries from 1930s-1980s to reduce imports and encourage domestic manufacturing.

Trade barriers in ISI

Protect domestic manufacturers from foreign competition.

Weaknesses of ISI

Inefficient industries and difficulty selling products abroad make them vulnerable to crises.

Export-Oriented Industrialization (EOI)

An alternative to ISI, where countries like South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong encourage manufacturers to produce for foreign consumers.

EOI Policies

Include low-cost loans, tax breaks for exporters, and maintaining a weak currency to make products artificially cheap.

International Law

A body of rules that binds states and other agents in world politics and is considered to have the status of law.

Primary rules

Negative and positive rules regulating behavior, such as prohibitions and obligations.

Secondary rules

Rules that structure the making of primary rules, akin to a constitution.

Rule of Law

To be governed by the 'rule of law' is to set and enforce primary rules in ways that are consistent with secondary rules.

Obligation

Degree to which states are legally bound by an international rule.

High Obligation

Obligated to comply in good faith; if breached, require reparations to the injured party.