Defining States

• State: an entity with a territorial base, geographically defined borders, a stable population within those borders which owes allegiance to an effective government, and is recognized by other states in the international community

  • Include nation-states, but not individual nations

  • Nation-state: a state that consists of nation, meaning that a nation governs itself according to its shared interests formed because of the aforementioned shared characteristics

  • Nation: a group of individuals who have common characteristics to one another, such as a shared ethnicity, language, or religion

Defining Institutions

• Hold a good amount of influence over national and international politics

• Institution: a broad governing body of international affairs and global policy

• Can be organizations or policy initiatives, with possible examples of the United Nations for the former and the Law of the Sea Treaty for the latter

• Exist with the goal of influencing some aspect of international relations, generally working to create peace/settle conflict between two or more states

• Institutions can range from relatively simple, one-time solutions to more complex and ongoing solutions

• Note: neoliberal institutionalism

  • Centers around the ideal that states who interact with each other are generally willing to work with each other to solve problems, not solely focused on their individual national interests or security

Other Fundamentals of International Relations

• International relations: the study of interactions among the various actors that participate in international politics

  • Explains how different states and individuals work together (successfully or not) to coordinate international policy

• Major philosophers: Hobbes, Rousseau, and Kant

  • Hobbes: Believes that the greatest problem is anarchy, or disorganization without any kind of inherent hierarchy; proposes the solution of a single, centralized global government, or “leviathan”.

  • Rousseau: Believes that humans are inherently selfish and mainly motivated by their own interests; proposes the solution of individual, specialized communities that serve their own collective interests

  • Kant: Kind of mix between Hobbes and Rousseau; believes that smaller, individual states should form a centralized federation to prevent conflict, but operate individually to a certain extent

• The Westphalia Treaties

  • Established secularism in Europe, preventing religious leaders of states

  • Popularized sovereignty and led many countries to strengthen their militaries, specifically a more powerful group of European countries

• Soft Law: “laws” which may be implemented through actions which are optional but encouraged for people to undertake; not legally binding

  • eg. conferences, delegations, resolutions

  • holds the potential to become legally binding in the future

  • often mutually beneficial for parties involved

• Five Principles of Soft Law

  • no significant harm principle: a state cannot initiate policies that cause significant environmental damages to another state

  • good neighbor principle: states should take care to avoid acts or omissions that could reasonably be foreseen to cause harm to neighboring states

  • polluter pays principle: those causing the pollution should be responsible for cleaning and/or curtailing it

  • precautionary principle: action should be taken based on scientific warning before irreversible harm occurs (as opposed to trying to deal with effects of harm after it’s taken place)

  • preventative action principle: states should take action in their own jurisdictions to avoid harm to the environment

• Epistemic community: a transnational community of experts and technical specialists from international organizations, NGOs, and state and substrate agencies that share a set of beliefs

  • share knowledge, research, and opinions with one another with the centralized goal of resolving or making progress towards resolving a certain issue

  • individuals and NGOs also often pursue direct involvement in influencing states’ environmental policy through lobbying efforts