Concept terms

1) State 
A political entity with territorial borders and political authorities who enjoy sovereignty. 

2) Sovereignty 
A government which exercises de facto administrative control over a country and is not subordinate to any other government in that country is a sovereign state (The Arantzazu Mendi [1939] AC 256 referenced in Stroud’s Judicial Dictionary). The capacity to govern residents within a given territory to establish relationships with governments that control other states. 

3) Nation 
Collections of people who share a common culture, history or language. 

4) Imperialism 
A state strategy in which one country conquers foreign lands to turn them into colonies. 

5) Anarchy 
The fact that in international relations there is no government of the whole world to adjudicate disputes among states and protect weak from strong ones. 

6) Security dilemma 
A situation in international politics in which one state takes steps to become more secure yet ends up less secure due to the reactions it prompts in other states. 

7) Commercial liberalism 
The idea that market society and economic interdependence tend to have a pacifying impact on relations among states. As the economic relations between two states increase, the interests of these states in stable and continuous relations grow. 

8) Power transition 
When the relative power of two (or more) states changes, often due to technological innovations and uneven economic growth. 

9) War 
War has many definitions, "war is organised violence carried on by political units against each other" (Bull, 1977) 

10)Democratic peace 
the democratic peace model reflects liberal, and constructivist approaches to international relations. It focuses inside nation-states and the attributes of their domestic political systems as the key drivers of international behavior and outcomes. two key premises. The first is that the democratic form of government will continue to spread, the second critical premise, as discussed in Chapters 6 and 7, is that democracies do not fight wars with each other. 

11)Globalisation 
The ongoing process of international economic and technological integration, made possible by advances in transportation and communication. 

12)Levels of analysis 
 

13)Strategic culture 
Refers to assumptions about the nature of the global system – for example, which states are friends and enemies – and strategies of action that are shared by government elites. 

14)Norm 
Norm – ‘a standard of appropriate behaviour for actors with a given identity’, found in: Martha Finnemore and Kathryn Sikkink (1998), ‘International Norm Dynamics and Political Change’, International Organisation, 52(4), pp.887- 917, p891 

15)International institution 
Sets of rules, principles and expectations that govern interstate interaction. 

16)Deterrence 
The use of power resources to discourage a state from acting aggressively. 

17)Diplomacy 
The process by which representatives of two or more governments meet and discuss matters of common concern. 

18)Peacekeeping                                                                                                                                                           UN action before war breaks out designed to prevent two states or domestic parties from going to war.