Unit 5 Summary

Vocab

• Internationalism - Principle of cooperation among nations for the promotion of common good. Focuses on transcending loyalty to one’s nation, often occurs through international bodies

  • Hegemonic Internationalism - Belief that the world is being integrated on unequal terms because of superpower nations (eg. colonialism, dominance over other nations)

  • Revolutionary Internationalism - Belief that international factors/alliances determine conflicts within society

  • Liberal Internationalism - Belief that interactions/cooperation should occur on equal terms for mutual benefit

• Isolationism - Policy of remaining separated from affairs of other countries. Very unrealistic to be fully isolationist so most nations will choose to isolated one aspect (eg production)

• Foreign Policy

  • Unilateralism - A country acts alone without foreign input

  • Bilateralism - Two countries acting together

  • Multilateralism - Multiple countries acting together, typically of middle power

  • Supranationalism - Acting based on decisions of an international body

• Intergovernmental Organizations - Supranational organizations with multiple nations working together for goals of internationalism. Exist on global or regional scale

• International Non-Governmental Organizations - Groups (typically non-profit or volunteer based) that work to address global issues (Non-profit, non-religious, pacifist)

  • Operational - Design/implementation of developmental projects

  • Advocacy - Promoting/defending a cause with the goal of influencing public policy

• Trade Agreements - Agreements between nations for trade, often free trade

  • Free Trade: Allows specialization/competition to improve access to goods globally

• Trade Policy

  • Protectionist - Opposite of free trade, promotes domestic trade/production, imposes tariff subsidies, limited foreign goods and services. Can damage IR in order to promote jobs domestically and short-term economic development

  • Supranational - Dedicated to regional growth over national growth

• Absolute Poverty - Lacking resources for basic needs

• Odious Debt - Extreme debt that doesn’t benefit people of the indebted country (eg government embezzlement rather than funding meal programs takes on more debt without benefiting citizens)

• Structural Adjustment Plans - Conditions attached to loans from WTO/IMF. Often detrimental to country b/c QoL of citizens decreased in order to make country more competitive on global stage

• Humanitarianism - Promotion of global welfare for all.

• Foreign Aid - Financial/Developmental aid in order to make change/improve QoL in a nation

• Peacekeeping - Intervention between two conflicting countries in order to prevent further conflict. Intends to prevent resumption of violence, tends to be more short-term. Does not address causes of a conflict

• Peacemaking - Use of diplomacy, military force, or negotiation in order to establish peace during/after a conflict. Tends to be more long-term and attempts to solve underlying issues

Reasons for Things

• Internationalism

  • Tends to be lucrative and improve economic stability, secure self-determination, collective security/peace, humanitarianism/morality

• IGOs

  • Working together on global/regional scale for goals of internationalism

• INGOs

  • Addressing global issues

  • Pros:

    • Provides services governments can’t, promote values of education/healthcare/water, increases QoL

  • Cons:

    • No accountability, economic impacts, “catches” - limitations/pushed values, performative over actionable?

• Trade Agreements

  • Increase income to lead to economic interdependence

• Criticism of Structural Adjustment Plans

  • Devalues currency, increases foreign investments, privatizes industries, decreases social expenditures, and removes price controls

  • Causes social services/wages to be slashed to be competitive, over-opening of economy, increased poverty which leads to increased debt

International Bodies

• UN - Maintain international peace and security, protect human rights, deliver humanitarian aid, support sustainable development and climate action, uphold international law

  • Established 1945 to replace League of Nations

  • 3 bodies

    • General Assembly

      • Deliberative/policy making body. Each country has a representative, decisions require 2/3 or 51% majority depending on issue

    • International Court of Justice

      • Adjudicates general disputes between nations, only international court.

      • 15 judges, 1 max per country - 9 year terms

      • Doesn’t always make change

    • Security Council

      • Establish international peace - authorizes use of sanctions and force

      • Only 15 members, 5 perm 10 non-perm

        • Perm members : US, UK, China, Russia, France (founders) - have veto

        • Non-perm - 2 year terms

      • 9/15 votes to pass a motion

• OPEC - Coordinate and unify the petroleum policies of its member countries and ensure stabilization of oil markets in order to secure an efficient economic and regular supply of petroleum to consumers, a steady income to producers and a fair return on capital for those investing in the petroleum industry

• NATO - To guarantee the freedom/security of its members through political and military means

• EU - Peace, economic stability, integration throughout Europe

• WB - Financial aid to reconstruct war-ravaged nations, focus on reducing poverty and introducing sustainable development

  • Established at the Bretton Woods Conference 1944

• WTO - Promote freer trade, settle trade disputes, remove protectionist policies

  • Established at the Bretton Woods Conference 1944

• IMF - Maintaining stable exchange rates, lending money to those in debt, ensure stability of international finance system

  • Established at the Bretton Woods Conference 1944

  • Gives out loans to countries - manages SAPs

• G7 - Bringing together the world’s advanced economies to influence global trends and tackle pervasive and crosscutting issues as well as emergent global crises