Untitled Flashcards Set

*Horkheimer: eclipse of reason (Critical Theory): a critique of positivism and its consequences 

• Reason is a creative faculty that allows us to deliberate, engage in reflection and self-reflection, and generate values 

• With the development of the modern world, reason becomes instrumental, such that we can think of it as rationality 

• Instrumental reason is central to scientific inquiry and positivism which seeks to separate fact and value

• Leads to an emphasis on objectivity and neutral observation divorced from social context and discursive interaction 

• Seeks also to assert control over the natural world and over human beings and human interaction 

• Technology and science in support of power contributes to alienation and injustice 

Social totality: a metaphysical term that refers to the whole of society as an assemblage of concrete social and class relations

Ideal speech situation (Critical Theory): through discourse in the public sphere, citizens can achieve a rational consensus on the rules of the game. Through such uncoerced discourse, individuals can bridge the gap between fact and values and deliberate over the generation of normative structures 

• Applies by Critical IR theorists to the role that international institutions can play 

• Emphasis on the role of discourse ethics 

Struggle for recognition (Critical Theory): Examines inclusion/exclusion dynamics that exist between individuals, groups, and individuals and their institutions. Recognition is defined as the struggle for honor, dignity, and respect. 

• Conflict emerges as a result of non-recognition or misrecognition of groups, which perpetuates inequality and injustice

• Non-recognition is a moral injury committed against the group that is not recognized by groups in power or by institutions 

International society

International Society: international society comes into being when a ‘group of states, conscious of certain common interests and common values, forms a society in the sense that they conceive themselves to be bound by a common set of rules in their relations with one another, and share in the working of common institutions

Order (The English School): represents a minimal level of international society, where states interact with one another in a more or less realist manner, but not a Hobbisian ‘war of all against all’

• General agreement among states that peace if preferable to conflict

• Unlike political systems can agree to this basic set of restrains 

• In this form of international society, states have differing cultures, political systems, and traditions and are generally unable to speak the same language as one another 

• Hinders the development of shared norms between actors, other than the basic idea that peace and stability is better than conflict

Society of states (The English School): emerges through the interaction of states with more like political systems, such that they are able to agree on norms beyond the maintenance of order and stability 

• Mutual recognition of one another and the development of a set shared values imposes normative restraints on state behavior 

Inclusion/exclusion is part of the development of a society of states 

• At the outset, development of norms tends to occur at a regional level, where certain actors are excluded and denied membership in an emerging society of states 

• Overtime, the boundaries of international society are expanded, such that once excluded members are included in the society of states

• The early Westphalian systems and the development of sovereignty was Eurocentric, excluding actors like the Ottoman Empire, which, over time, was granted membership in the “civilized world”

Society of states can be described as a pluralist international society 

World society (The English School): an extension of the society of states 

• Enforcement of rules and norms by states and institutions, but also guardianship of individual human rights 

• The individual is the constituent member of world society, whose interests and values are represented through the state

• Expands forces to values and interests not covered in society of states, such as basic human rights, the rights of indigenous peoples, claims of justice for formerly colonized peoples 

• World society can be described as a solidarist international society 

Pluralism vs solidarism (The English School):

Pluralism (Pluralist International Society)

• Norms of international society are oriented toward protecting the liberty of states

• Concept of sovereignty and non-interference are key norms in such a society

• States will tend to adhere to rules b/c it is more or less cost-free to do so and the benefits tend to be good 

• Rules and norms are centered around the idea of states mutually recognizing one another as equal members of international society 

• Institutions will reflect this set of norms

• The UN, for instance, is founded on sovereign equality of states. States are equal members in institutions like the General Assembly. Powerful states are not viewed as more privileged based on power capabilities 

Solidarism (Solidarist International Society)

• Since individuals are constituent members of solidarist international society, individual are entitled to basic human rights such that norms of sovereignty must be modified 

• Implied in a solidarist international society is the responsibility to protect, the idea that states are obliged to intervene to prevent human rights abuses 

• Key debate within the English School is between pluralists and solidarists over the direction of International Society 

• Expansion of society of states to world society requires modification and erosion of ideas like sovereignty and non-interference 

• Development of international law governing human rights over the past several decades demonstrates both opportunities and challenges of such a expansion 

Universal jurisdiction (The English School): late 1990s, several European national courts asserted right to universal jurisdiction, arguing that domestic courts could try foreign nationals for certain crimes, regardless of where the crime occurred

• Focused on crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes 

First tested in 1998 by a Spanish judge named Baltasar Garzon, who indicted Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet for the murder of several Spanish citizens during the coup in 1973

• Later adopted by Belgian courts, but was dropped after individuals began seeking to put political leaders on trial 

• Recently invoked by Sweden to change an Iranian national who was allegedly involved in a massacre of political prisoners in Iran in 1988 with crimes against humanity  

The International Criminal Court (The English School): the first permanent tribunal tasked with trying individuals for certain categories of crimes 

ICC differs from ICJ or World Court 

• ICJ is an arbitration body, where only states have standing to bring cases and where both states much consent to ICJ arbitration 

• A relatively weak institution that hears few cases and generally does not deal with major issues 

ICC asserts compulsory jurisdiction over individuals above the age of 18

Can prosecute:

• Genocide 

• Crimes against humanity

• War crimes 

• Also sought to prosecute “crimes of aggression”

• Vaguely defined with no precedent, so ICC cannot currently prosecute the crime, but it remains open as a possible future category

ICC does not have universal jurisdiction. It can only prosecute crimes:

• Occurring in states that are signatories to the ICC treaty 

• Committed by nationals of member states 

• Occurring after July 1, 2002

• The first 2 can be overridden in a state that is not a member of the ICC accepts the court’s jurisdiction of if a case is referred to the court by the UN Security Council 

ICC usually takes cases from failing states who lack functioning courts 

*Active underdevelopment (Marxism): Marxism emphasizes the problem of this. Core states in particular will act to preserve this international division of labor, and if that means interfering with peripheral states than it is necessary 

Gramscian hegemony (Marxism): Critiques the base-superstructure distinction as reductionist 

• Argues that culture is a key point of struggle for the proletariat

• Bourgeoisie rules with force plus consent 

• Exercises cultural hegemony within civil society in addition to control in political society (the state)

• Gramsci advocates the ‘war of position’ where working class culture is pitted against bourgeois culture before the ‘war of maneuver’ (the armed struggle)

Core/semi-periphery/periphery (Marxism): the hierarchical order system that is based on international division of labor

Core — the developed world

Periphery —- the developing world

Semi-periphery —- states that fall in between

Deontology: asserts that means and ends must be linked, a moral end cannot be pursued by immoral means

• Kant and the categorical imperative (?)

• (Normative IR Theory)

Consequentialism: examines the effect of an action, moral deliberation must be guided by an examination of effects 

• Utilitarianism and weighing the good vs harm caused by actions 

• (Normative IR Theory)

Just cause (Normative IR Theory):

• Traditional idea of Just cause: Just causes is asserted in cases of self defense or coming to the aid of the victim of aggression as codified in UN Charter (where Security Council is the body responsible for authorizing when states can aid other states)

• Debate over just causes as new issues have emerged:

• Humanitarian intervention

• Clearly violates the sovereignty of a state, but there is an argument to be made that coming to the aid of people suffering under an abusive regime constitutes a just cause

• Responsibility to protect as a new doctrine in IR

• Pre-Emptive attacks

• Does a state need to wait to be attacked in order to respond?

• How imminent must the threat be in order to assert just cause?

Proportionality (Normative IR Theory):  calls upon states to use sufficient force to win, but not to seek to completely annihilate the enemy or use such force that peace cannot be possible. Seeks to undermine the destructiveness of war 

• Both a jus ad bellum and jus in bello requirement 

• Begins with the assumption that the ultimate purpose of war is to secure peace and recognizes that the amount of force used can undermine this goal 

• Limits the kinds of demands that participants in the war make on one another. Again, linking means and ends with the goal of securing peace is the constraint 

Non-combatant immunity (Normative IR Theory): civilians are never to be targeted in war 

• Purpose of this limit is to ensure that actors act to minimize civilian casualties 

• Civilian casualties and the doctrine of double effect (?)

• Leadership and the problem of occasions of sin (?)

Discourse ethics (Critical Theory)

• Inclusionary 

• In the sense that any actor that will be affected by a norm or institution has a voice in the dialogue 

• Democratic 

• In the sense that discourse occurs in a public sphere of deliberative decision making and consent 

• A form of moral-practical reasoning, where emphasis is on procedural fairness rather than utilitarian expectancy or a grounded conception of the ‘good life’

Washington Consensus (Marxism): a package of free market reforms imposed through international financial institutions like the IMF

• In theory, these reforms are intended to ensure that states who receive loans do not face the same balance of payments crises in the future

• States who take loans must prove that they are deserving by restructuring their economies 

• Wash Consensus was presented as a one-size-fits-all approach. Logic here was that any developing state could successfully grow if it adopted this package of reforms 

• For Marxist IR theorists, represents an example of cultural hegemony in the Gramscian sense 

Reforms proposed by Wash Consensus 

• Represents free-market approach to dev and international trade 

• Reforms:

• Cutting wasteful spending and exercising fiscal responsibility 

• Maintaining strong currencies 

• Deregulation and selling off state owned industries 

• Liberalizing trade policy and financial markets

• Participating in world trade and liberalizing markets