Ch. 1: Thinking and Caring About World Politics
Ch. 3: Levels of Analysis
Ch. 5 Globalization and Transnationalism
Ch. 6 National States: The Traditional Structure
Ch. 9. International Law and Morality: An Alternative Approach
Book's Powerweb
It's possible to consider realism and idealism from 3 perspectives: descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive. The descriptive approach is concerned with "what is." The predictive approach tries to estimate "what will be." The prescriptive approach asks the normative question, "What ought to be?"
At root, realists are pessimists about human nature; idealists are optimists about human nature. Realists believe that political struggle among humans is probably inevitable because people have an inherent dark side. Thomas Hobbes (a realist) believed that humans possess an inherent urge to dominate.
Neorealists focus on the anarchic nature of a world system based on competition among sovereign states, rather that on human nature, as the factor that shapes world politics. The international system is based on sovereign actors which answer to no higher authority. Because there's no authoritative, impartial method of settling disputes, states often resort to force to achieve their security interests. Each state must rely on its own resources to survive and flourish. They doubt that there is any escape from the anarchistic world. They argue that the most powerful states in the system create and shape international institutions [for the purpose of promoting cooperation] so they can maintain their world power.
Idealists are prone to believe that humans and their countries are capable of achieving more cooperative, less conflictive relations. Contemporary idealists not only believe that in the past people joined together in civil societies to better their existence; they are confident that now and in the future people can join together to build a cooperative and peaceful global society.
Neoidealists (neoliberals) ascribe much of world conflict to the same cause as neorealists: the anarchic world system based on competition among sovereign states. They believe that the best path to cooperation is through building effective international organizations.
Realists believe that struggles between states to secure their frequently conflicting national interests are the main action on the world stage. Power determines which country prevails. Politics is aimed at increasing power, keeping power, or demonstrating power. The national interests is whatever enhances or preserves the state's security, its influence, and its military and economic power. They argue that the highest moral duty of the state is to do good for its citizens.
Idealists argue that foreign policy should be formulated according to cooperative and ethical standards. The wisest course, they say, is for Americans and others to redefine their interests to take into account the inextricable ties between the future of their country and the global pattern of human development.
Realists advocate a relatively pragmatic approach to world politics- realpolitik. One principle is to secure your own country's interests first and worry about the welfare of other countries second. Countries should practice balance-of-power politics. The best way to maintain the peace is to be powerful. A fourth realist tenet is that you should neither waste power on peripheral goals nor pursue goals that you do not have the power to achieve.
Idealists are divided in terms of how far cooperation can and should go. Classic idealists believe that states can learn to cooperate without surrendering their independence.
Neoidealists believe that countries will have to surrender some of their sovereignty to international organizations to promote greater cooperation and to enforce good behavior.
Suspicion, tension, and rivalry, rather than cooperation, have been the most common traits of what we call international peace. Realpolitik is still usually the order of the day.
International relations scholars have 3 subsidiary goals in mind: description (it should focus on patterns; the goal is to relate them to a pattern of other events); prediction, and prescription (beyond objective studies and come to normative conclusions and prescribe policy).
Political scientists gather evidence by 3 basic research methodologies: logic (pure logical analysis; employ deductive logic), traditional observation (historical analysis), and quantitative analysis (measurable phenomena; use mathematical techniques).
Political scientists divide the study into levels of analysis (the level of the factors that affect international politics). System-level analysis is a worldview. It theorized that the world's social-economic-political structure and pattern of interaction (the international system) strongly influence the politics of states and other actors. The state-level analysis is concerned with the characteristics of an individual country and the impact of those traits on the country's behavior. It theorized that countries are the key international actors. The individual-level analysis focuses on people. In the end people make policy, therefore understanding how people decide policy will leader to understanding how international politics operates.
Definitions:
The ties between national and international
affairs are so close; intermestic is a new term symbolizing the
merger of international and domestic concerns.
Gross domestic product is a measure of all goods and services produced within a country.
There are three levels of analysis:
1. the nature of the world (system-level analysis)I. SYSTEM-LEVEL ANALYSIS
2. How countries make foreign policy (state-level analysis) and
3. People as individuals (individual-level analysis)
-argues that countries are compelled to take certain actions by the realities of the world in whichStates/Countries, Intergovernmental Organizations (WTO), and transnational organizations (that include NGOs, multinational corporations, and terrorist groups)
1. The organization of authority (currently horizontal based on state sovereignty)--Power Relationships in a System:
2. Sovereign states are the “actors” on the international system, but intergovernmental
organizations (IGO) and transnationals are rising.
3. The frequency, scope, and level of interaction of a system. (currently the system is becoming
more interdependent
1. a country/empire,-the number of poles in a power system is significant, unipolar, bipolar, tripolar, multipolar
2. an alliance,
3. a global IGO (ex: UN),
4. regional IGO (ex: EU)
STATE-LEVEL ANALYSIS
-emphasizes the characteristics of states,
what states do, and how they make foreign policy
choices; the foreign policy process is important
because of the influences and activities within a
country to make it choose a particular foreign
policy
-Variables that Affect the Foreign Policy
Process: the type of government, situation, and policy.
1. Type of Government: authoritarian vs. democratic-A states internal factors influence their international actions: the political culture, and making
2. Type of Situation: crisis vs. non-crisis
3. Type of Policy: relating to issues
INDIVIDUAL-LEVEL ANALYSIS
-studies international politics by examining
the role of human as “actors on the world stage”
-Three Perspectives of Individual-Level Analysis:
1. To examine human nature (cognitive, psychological, emotional and biological factors that-Perceptions help understand how leaders react to the world based on a group/individuals belief
influence decision making)
2. To study how people act in organizations (organizational-behavior, groupthink) <>
3. To examine actions of specific people (based on perceptions, decisions, personality, physical and mental health, ego, ambitions, history, personal experiences all as factors)
Transnationalism both preceded and has been spurred by globalization. The two terms are closely linked, but while globalization is a process and a state of affairs, Transnationalism is attitudinal and includes a range of political identities and interactions that connect humans across nations and national boundaries.
The Impact of Globalized Communications:
1. One impact has been to facilitate the
formation and growth of a multitude of transnational groups espousing causes
of nearly every imaginable type. These groups are flourishing and having
an important impact on policy at the international level through the UN
and other international organizations and on the national level through
the pressure brought on governments by the groups’ national chapters.
2. Another impact of the communications revolution
is that it enables people to seek alternative information and opinions
from what is normally available to them.
3. A further effect of global communications
is that they undermine authoritarian governments. As such, the rapid mass
communications that are taken for granted in the industrialized democracies
are still greeted with suspicion by authoritarian governments.
Economic interchange across borders is bringing
the world together in many ways. Remember these two important points when
considering Economic Globalization:
1. First, the international economy affects
each of us through our jobs, what we pay for goods and services we consume,
and many other economic aspects of our lives.
2. Second, as the economically intertwined
as we are today, it is likely that the connections will grown even more
complex and comprehensive.
What is important to see here is that economic
interchange has a transnational impact that extends beyond dollars and
cents. Many analysts believe that economic interchange is bringing more
people together transnationally through familiarity with one another and
one another’s products.
To an important degree, the early development
of diverse languages, practices, and the other aspects of the world’s diverse
cultures was a product of the isolation of groups of other people from
one another. It is not surprising then that a degree of cultural amalgamation
had occurred as transportation and communication have improved, thereby
bringing people of various societies into ever more frequent contact.
Language is one of the most important aspects
of converging culture is English, which is becoming the common language
of business, diplomacy, communications, and even culture.
The interchange of popular consumer goods is another major factoring narrowing cultural gaps. American movies are popular throughout much of the world. Hollywood is pervasive, earning 50% of its revenue abroad—a 20% jump in 20 years….
Transnationalism springs from two sources. Globalization is one. Human thought is the second source of transnationalism.
Transnational thought in Western Europe culture can be traced to Stoicism, a philosophy that flourished in ancient Greece and Rome from 300 B.C. to A.D. 200. The Stoics saw themselves as part of humanity, not as members of one or another smaller political community.
After Stoicism declined, the idea of transcending local political structure and power remained alive over the centuries. According to Thomas Paine, the transnational march would lead to free trade and to establishing an international congress to resolve differences among states. During the same era, the philosopher Immanuel Kant took the idea of international cooperation for peace even further. The thinking of nineteenth-century German communist philosophers such as Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx also contained a strong element of transnational thought.
After existing on the periphery of political
thought during the halcyon days of nationalism, transnational thought came
increasingly to the force in the 20th century. Realism and liberalism are
not the only theoretical approaches to international relations, and in
recent decades several other ways of politics have gained standing among
scholars and they include the following:
1. Postmodernism- this theory holds
that reality does not exist as such. Rather, reality is created by how
we think and our discourse (writing, talking). As applied to world politics,
postmodernism is the belief that we have become trapped by stale ways of
conceiving of how we organize and conduct ourselves. Postmodernists wish,
therefore, to “deconstruct” discourse.
2. Constructivism- an approach to
analysis based on the notion that our understanding of the world and our
relationship to it is based on our individual norms, experiences, and other
factors that shape our perceptions.
3. Feminism- the theory of, and the
struggle for equality for women.
Ideas only become powerful when those who
hold them begin to take action. This is what has increasingly taken place.
There is good evidence of this change in the phenomenal growth in the number
and activities of transnational organizations called nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs).
Definition- International organizations
with private memberships.
For all transnational change that has taken place, there is resistance to it. Nationalism remains a powerful, resilient force, and it still dominates people’s political identification.
Six Characteristics of most states: Sovereignty, Territory, Population, Diplomatic Recognition, Internal Organization, and Domestic Support.
Purposes of the State: State of nature as individual groups forming governments under social contracts for the purpose of individual betterment through collective effort.
Instrumental theory of Government: Governments are created as a means to advance society, existing for society, not the society for the government.
Theories of Governance:
Authoritarian Government: allows little
or no participation in decision making by individuals and
groups outside the upper reaches of the government.
-General Authoritarian Theory, The Republic, Rule by a Few
-Theocracy: Rule by spiritual leaders
-Monarchism: Rule by King
-Communism: Economic theory, inequality of authority, Totalitarianism
-Fascism: Totalitarianism, Relies on emotions, believes in inferior people,
believes in a dictator, individual expression is through the people, subjugating
inferior countries, economic activity to support the corporatist state,
state as a living thing.
Democratic Government: allows much broader and more meaningful participation.
Democracy and World Politics
Standards of Democracy
Individualism: Individual rights and liberties are paramountDemocracy and Security
Communitarianism: the welfare of the collective must be valued over any individual's benefit.
Process-Outcome
-Procedural Democracy: Stresses process
-Substantive Democracy: association with democracy as a substantive product with equality.Exclusiveness-Inclusiveness
-Range of participation from equal opportunity to participation distributed by factors such as race, ethnicity, and gender irrelevant to democratic processes and outcomes.Promoting Global Democracy
-Democracy and Economic Development
-Attitudes about Democracy
National and Other Interests
National Interest as a Standard of Conduct
-There is no such thing as an objective national interest
-Using national interest as a basis of policy incorrectly assumes that
there is a common interest.
-National interest is inherently selfish and inevitably leads to conflict
and inequity.
-The way that national interest is applied frequently involves double standards.
-National interest is often shortsighted
Alternatives to National Interest
-Global interest-global citizens, counter-productiveness of national interest
-Individual interests-personal welfare, your nation's interests, countries'
interest,
Your world's interest.a
The State: The Indictment
States are Obsolete
-Providing physical safety
-Providing economic prosperity
-Providing for the general welfare
States are destructive
The State: The Defense
-Nationalism has proven resilient, and its political vehicle, the state,
still has many resources at its disposal
-States may be able to adjust to the new realities by learning to cooperate
and live in peace with other countries
-States are arguably being strengthened as increasingly complex domestic
and international systems create new demands for services.
-Sovereignty has always been a relative, not an absolute, principle, and
a dynamic, rather than static, concept
-It is yet to be proven that international governmental organizations (IGOs)
provide an effective alternative to the state.
The State: The Verdict
While the nature of the state is changing in its characteristics, those characteristics still remain important in the ever more open state of society where people move freely in groups of nations such as the European Union. Loyalties to nations tend to mean more than the specific records of countries in this current age.
Legal systems are one thing that restrains the power-based pursuit of self-interest in a domestic system. Morality is a second thing that restrains the role of power in domestic system. Here, we discuss what is "right" not just what is legal. Surely, there is no domestic system in which everyone acts morally. Yet the sense of morality and justice that citizens in stable domestic systems have does influence their behavior. Then, it’s theoretically possible to use the same standards to control the unrestrained pursuit of interests in the international system.Fundamentals of International Law and Morality
1. As a primitive law system, the international system does not have a formal rule-making (legislative) process. Instead, codes of behavior are derived from custom or from explicit agreements among actors.The Practice of International Law
2. There is little or no established authority to judge or punish violations of law. Instead they rely on negotiation or mediation to resolve disputes and on self-help.
As one scholar notes, "the reality as demonstrated through their behavior is that states do accept international law as law, even more significant, is the vast majority of instances they obey it" (Joyner, 2000: 243).The Fundamentals of International Morality
International law is most effective in governing the rapidly expanding range of transnational functional relations such as trade, diplomatic rules, and communications.
International law is least effective when applied to "high-politics" issues such as national security relations between sovereign states.
One scholar describes the balance between what is ideal and real, "contrary to what the skeptics assert, norms do indeed matter. But norms do not necessarily matter in the ways or often to the extent that their proponents have argued." (Legro, 1997:31)International Legal System
National leaders regularly discuss and sometimes even make decisions based on human rights.
a. Ideological/ theological school of law- this school of thought holds that law is derived from an overarching ideology or theology. Ex) Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas on the law of war.Internal roots: those from within the society
b. Naturalist school of law- this view holds that humans, by nature, have certain rights and obligations. Ex) John Locke, "all mankind, who will but consult it, that all being equal and independent [ in the state of nature], no one ought to harm another in his life, liberty, or possessions."
a. positivist school of law- advocates that law reflects society and the way people want that society to operate. Law is and ought to be the product of the codification or formalization of a society’s standards.How International Law Is Made
1. International treaties- a primary advantage of treaties is that they codify the law. Agreements between states are binding according to the doctrine of pacta sunt servanda (treaties are to be served/ carried out)Adherence to the Law
2. International custom- the old, and now supplanted, rule that territorial waters extend three miles from the shore grew from the distance a cannon could fire.
3. General principle of law- the ancient Roman concept of jus gentium is the foundation of the general principles of law. By this standard, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) applies "the general principles of law recognized by civilized nations."
4. Judicial decisions and scholarly writing- the rulings of the ICJ, other international tribunals, and even domestic courts when they apply international law, help shape the body of law that exists.
5. International representative assemblies- UN members are bound by treaty to abide by some of the decisions of the General Assembly and Security Council, which makes these bodies quasi-legislative.
1. Voluntary compliance- it occurs when the subjects obey the law because they accept its legitimacy.Adjudication of the Law
2. Coercion- it is the process of gaining compliance through threats of violence, imprisonment, economic sanction, or other punishment. Voluntary compliance is usually more important, but the mixture of that and coercion varies widely among societies.
The overall degree of compliance to the law is lower in the international system than in most domestic systems. It has been based more on voluntary compliance than on coercion. Legitimacy is the key to international voluntary compliance.
a. Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ)- was created in 1922 as part of the League of Nations.
b. International Court of Justice (ICJ)- was created in 1946, which is associated with the UN, evolved from the PCIJ. World Court sits in The Hague, the Netherlands, and consists of 15 judges, who are elected to nine- year terms through a complex voting system in the UN.
c. European Court of Justice (ECJ)- is notable for its authority to make decisions and to have those rulings followed in areas that were once clearly within the sovereign realm of states.