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What are the core realist assumptions?
- Statism
- Survival (offensive vs. defensive realism)
- Self-help
How do realists view the state?
insecure, selfish, power- or security-seeking
What is the balance of power?
States act to prevent one state from dominating
--> unipolar more stable than multipolar
What distribution matters to realists?
The distribution of power (states are the same, their amount of power is not)
Via what ways do states try to balance power according to realists?
- Internal balancing (independent)
- external balancing (allies)
According to realists, what do states do when they are unsuccessful in balancing power?
Bandwagoning = align with strong state so it doesn't turn against them
What is the security dilemma?
One state attempts to increase its own security by increasing power -> other states become insecure -> seek to develop and maximize own security -> first state feels threatened (mainly because it can't distinguish between offensive and defensive policies) -> furhter develops power -> spirals into arms race, possible conflict
Who defined the essence of realism?
Thucycides (Peloponnesian war, Melian Dialogue)
What is the "Melian dialogue" and why is it important to realists? From who?
Thucycides - Realism
- Defines essence of realism, shows importance of power
- Melians: Justice, neutrality, honour, alliance
- Athenians: self-help, power, survival
"The strong do what they wish and the weak suffer what they must"
What is the "Thucydides trap"? From who?
Allison 2017
- Growth in power of Athens led to fear in Sparta, spiraled into Peloponnesian war)
- Idea: Power transition leads to war
What core tenent of realism did Machiavelli define?
Survival
- States mainly concerned with its own security
- Only ONE national interest
"The state has no higher duty than that of maintaining itself"
Who is the statement "The state has no higher duty than that of maintaining itself" from?
- Machiavelli (core tenent: survival)
What core tenent of realism did Hobbes define?
Core tenent of self-help
-States operate in an insecure state of nature --> constant struggle for power
- State of anarchy (absence of hierarchy and authority) shapes individual behaviour (fear, egoism, suspicion, insecurity....)
What kind of realist is Morgenthau?
Classical realist (end of WW2, beginning of CW)
When was classical realism?
End of WW2, beginning of CW
What are Morgenthau's core beliefs?
- Human nature hard wired to pursue power
- State interests congruent with the power it posesses (states act rationally)
- Balance of power & shouldnt be changed to prevent conflict
- emphasis on formal alliances
Who wrote the famous book "Theory of International Politics?" When?
Waltz, 1979
What was the main base for neorealist theory?
Waltz's book "Theory in International Politics" in 1979
What are Waltz's core assumptions?
- Structure of the international system shapes state behaviour (so no focus on human nature as a cause for certain actions)
1. All units of the system behave similarly
2. Distribution of power/ capacities (polarity)
3. Relative power/ relative gains
4. Mainly security competition
Is Waltz a defensive or an offensive realist?
Defensive (security-maximizing)
Is Mearsheimer a defensive or an offensive realist?
Offensive (power-maximizing)
What are Mearsheimer's core assumptions? When?
Post CW
- States maximize power: Ideal position to be a hegemon
- States can never be sure of the intentions of others
What are the liberalist core assumptions?
- Domestic insitutions (promote rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality)
- Interdependence (reduces likelihood for war)
- IOs & rules based on the right of sovereignity
How do liberals view the state?
- depends on political institutions/ regime (autocratic vs. democratic states)
DEMOCRATIC PEACE THEORY
=> democracies do not go to war with democracies
How do liberals view the international system?
- Anarchy (same as realists) BUT progress possible towards liberal world oder
- Distribution of preferences (as states get to know each other through international cooperation)
What distribution matters to liberalists?
Distribution of preferences
Who came up with the Democratic Peace Theory?
Key concept by Immanuel Kant, later on Woodrow Wilson
What core element of the international system did Grotius come up with?
- International law
- States part of a larger society
What core element of the international system did Adam Smith come up with?
- International economics
- Core idea: Free trade benefits everyone
What elements are part of the Kantian Triangle? WHat theory?
Basis of liberalism
- Democracy (not all units in WP act similar, democracies are more peaceful than dictatorships)
- Economic interdependence (better knowledge of needs & preferences, liberal states tend to be wealthier --> more too lose/ less to gain)
- International institutions (promote peace and cooperation, solving disputes etc.)
Who is the main theorist of idealism?
Woodrow Wilson, advocated for the creation of the League of Nations
What are the idealist core assumptions?
- Peace not automatic but outcome of conscious efforts -> IO
- "Harmony of interests"
What kind of liberalist is Kohane?
Neoliberalist
With what realist assumptions do liberalists agree with?
- State as main actor, rationality, self-interest (BUT cooperation possible)
What are Kohane's core beliefs? When?
Post WW2
- Context of neorealist challenge
- Institutions mitigate concerns & reduce transaction costs
- Mutual & absolute gains (vs. relative)
Who is the main founder of liberal internationalism?
Ikenberry
Who suggested the "End of History" and why?
Fukuyama, liberal international order, democracy, peace (no ideological alternative to liberalism emerged)
What are the core assumptions of social constructivism?
- IR are socially constructed --> meanings shape actions in world politics, those meanings are constructed through social interaction
- Ideas matter --> looking at ideas to understand WP (materialist structures do not tell us much)
- Power stands from ideas, norms, culture & language
- Co-constitution
- The world is what you believe it is --> power of perception, rules are not static
- Agents do not exist isolated from the structure they create
What is "holism"?
Context: Social Constructivism
- States/ civil society/ individuals have the capacity to strategically change social structure/ reality
How do constructivists view both the state and the international system?
Artifact, socially constructed
What are the two sub-schools of constructivism?
- Explanatory constructivists: what factor causes which aspect of a state's identity to change
- Critical constructivists: criticizing common theories, e.g. liberalism/ realism
What is the "Norm life cycle model" and from who?
Sikkin & Finnemore (1998)
norm emergence (norm entrepreneurs)
norm cascade (spread through the population by conformity, legitimation etc.)
norm internationalization (not a matter of debate anymore, embedded in domestic law/ institutions --> e.g. humanitarian aid)
What is the concept of Securitization?
Context: Social constructivism
--> naming a threat as a priority justifies a suspension of the normal rules of politics, allowing elites to take extraordinary measures (e.g. wars, torture)
From who is the statement "Anarchy is what states make of it" and what does it mean?
Wendt (social constructivism)
Anarchy is not structural but the outcome of pratice, ideas (we believe in anarchy? alright, then it's actually an anarchy..)
Who defined the concept of "soft power"?
Context: Social Constructivism
Nye
- soft power = co-opt rather than coerce
Who came up with the concept of the "Nuclear taboo"?
Tannenwald, "Nuclear Taboo" (social constructivism)
- Normative prohibition of using nuclear weapons for deterrence
What are the marxist core assumptions?
- Historical materialism (all institutions of human society are the outgroth of its economic activity, therefore shaped by elites)
- Social classes (states not primary unit of analysis => instead, classes) .. because states only exectuing agent of capitalist elites
- International Capitalist System (by-product of imperalism & expansion of economic system beyond Europe)
- Opportunities for some states, constraints for others
Who came up with the "idea" of the "Scramble of Africa"? What are its main ideas?
Rhodes
- Find new land, obtain raw materialsm, exploit the cheap slave labour, dumping
According to Hobson, what are the causes of imperial expansion?
Marxism
Western states felt the need to expand capitalism to non-capitalist states due to...
a) overproduction
b) underconsumption
c) oversavings
According to what theorist are overproduction, underconsumption and overasavings the causes for Imperalism?
Hobson
According to Lenin, what led to colonial expansion?
Processes of capitalist accumulation led to colonial expansion
What theorist defined the "World Systems theory"? What does it entail?
Wallerstein
- Core nations, semiperiphery nations, periphery nations
=> IR takes place within a world capitalist system where the core, periphery and semi-periphery are linked together in an exploitative relationship in which wealth is drained away from the periphery to the core
What is the difference between classic Marxism and Gramscianism?
- Builds on Marxian tradition but with greater emphasis on subjectivity, culture, and ideology (constructivism?)
Who came up with the "Concept of Hegemony"? What does it entail?
Gramsci
- power mixture of coercion and consent in developed countries system also maintained with consent
--> Consent created by the Hegemony of the ruling class
Who said "Theory is always for someone, and for some purpose"? What does it mean?
Cox
- Knowledge of social world can't be objective (e.g. realism serving those prospering under the prevailing order)
What are the main critical approaches to classic IR theories?
- Feminism
- Post-structuralism
- Postcolonialism
What common diagnostic do IR critical approaches have?
No universal truth, no universal theory
What common objectives do IR critical approaches have?
Criticism of the produciton and understanding of IR constitutive theory (vs. explanatory theory)
Are the IR critical approaches constitutive theories or explanatory theories?
Constitutive theories (critize rather than propose completely new concept => explanatory theory)
According to Cohn, why do states want to acquire Nuclear Weapons?
Context: IR theory of feminism
- Competitive male sexuality
According to who do states want to acquire nuclear weapons due to competitive male sexuality?
Cohn
What is the "gender tax" from the theory of Feminism?
women have to pay "gender tax to be succesful", e.g. more effort
Why is 1648 a benchmark?
- Outcome of 30 years of war => Westphalian state system (not medieval or feudal system)
Why is the Westphalian system as a benchmark for sovereignity criticized?
- Longer, 400 year process
- Sovereign state not the only unit of IR analysis/ theory
Who made the statement "War made the states and the state made war"? What is it supposed to say?
Tilly
Threat of war, rulers forced to defend borders
Larger, more centralized states: increased tax collection & military recruitment
Expand representative rule & bureaucracy
=> Strong states survive, weak states perish
Where was the first IR chair? When?
After WW1: 1919, Aberstwyth
(structured realism - liberalism debate)
What is polarity in IR?
Description of the international system
What does Huntington say about Clash of Civilizations?
The Clash of Civilizations is a thesis that people's cultural and religious identities would be the primary source of conflict in the post-Cold War world
What is a diversionary foreign policy?
A diversionary foreign policy, or a diversionary war, is an international relations term that identifies a war instigated by a country's leader in order to distract its population from their own domestic strife
What is an example for a diversionary war?
Falkland war
What is the difference between logic of approriateness and the logic of consequences?
Action follows a logic of consequences when it is driven by subjective assessments of outcomes of alternative courses of action. Action follows a logic of appropriateness when it is shaped by rules relevant to the current situation
Who invented the inside-outside-dualism?
Walker
How can globalisation be defined?
Increasing interconnectedness, actions in one part of the world affects another one
According to what theory does globalization not change the central power of states?
Realism
According to what theory is globalization an external force that can be shaped by humans?
Social constructivism
What are postructuralism's core assumptions?
- All truth claims (about some feature of the world) can be judged true or false
- concerned with distrusting and exposing any account of human life that claims to have direct access to the "truth"
- Use meta-theoretical questions as a tool to doubt knowledge
- Globalization does not exist out here in the world, it is just a product of power
What do the different IR theories think about globalization/ what aspect do they focus on?
Constructivism: External force acting on states that can be shaped by humans
Marxism: Last stage of international capitalism
Realism: Globalization does not change the central power of states (although increasingly interconnectedness)
Liberal institutionalism: End-product of long-running positive transformation of world politics towards interconnectedness between societies, diminishing state power
Postcolonial/decolonial approaches: Glob. increases the vast inequality on a global scale
Feminism: Studies how globalization affects gendered forms of power
What are the core assumptions of Liberal Internationalism?
- Human beings and societies can be improved
- Representative democracy plays a huge role in societies improvement
- Rejects that war is the natural condition of WP
- Takes into consideration individuals, multinational cooperations, transnational actors, international organizations as central actors of world politics (so not just states)
- Sees the state as a structure made up of individuals and their collective interests
- Intedependence = important feature of WP, preferably when leads to cooperation
What are the core assumptions of post-colonial and decolonial approaches?
- Questions whether eurocentric theries can really purport to explain world politics as a whole
- Believes that major IR theories help to continue to jsutify the military and economic subordination of the Global South by powerful Western interests
- WP is explained by global hierarchies of subordination and control, past and present, that are made possible through the historical construction and combination of racial, gendered and class differences, hierarchies
- Globalization increases vast inequality on a global scale
What are the core assumptions of Feminism?
- Focus on the construction of differences between "women" and "men" in the context of hierarchy and power and the highly contingent understandings of masculinity and femininity that these power relations produce
- Analyses how gender both affects world politics and is an effect of world politics
- Studies how globalization affects gendered forms of power
Why was the emergence of the Westphalian system an important step towards sovereignity?
- Break with the medieval/feudal system
- Established the principle of "sovereign territoriality" (European states could no longer intervene in otger states on the basis of religious belief - "cuius regio, eius religio")
- Considered the basis for the modern international order
Why is the emergence of the Westphalian system sometimes seen as the "Westphalian Myth?"
- Similar changes in China (warring states)
- Establishment of multiple other regional international orders
- Other types of political units, and inter-unit organizations
- Settled limits to the principle of sovereignity established at the 1555 Peace of Augsburg, for example by retracting the rights of polities to choose their own religion
MAIN CRITICISM: SOVEREIGN "WESTPHALIA STATES" NOT ONLY UNIT OF ANALYSIS !
Why are the WW' important in IR theory?
Led to the emergence of the discipline of IR => to prevent future wars
- Strucured realism/liberalism debate
- Word wars completely changed, not only the nature of wars, but also the state system
What openend the door for both the US and SU to rise as a global power?
- WW2
- Decolonisation