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| -The traditional approach to the study of IR which emphasizes the practical understanding of how IR is done. Theories are seen as a set of lessons learned from, and a guide for the practical art of statecraft. Knowledge is gained from doing and the goal is to understand how/why statesmen made a particular decision based on the situation. |
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| -Ideals and principles based around a perfect society, however has been proved as an impractical social theory. |
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| Most famous 20th century realist, believed realism considers prudence or the weighing of the consequences of alternative political actions. Believes a rational and moral political order, derived from universally valid abstract principles, can be achieved here and now. The imperfect world is the result of forces inherent in human nature. |
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-Individuals, groups, and states inevitably combine to protect themselves from predators
-existence of several major powers (mulitpolarity) allows shifting combinations of alliances to counter balance threats and deter major war |
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| Florentine philosopher, politician and diplomat during the early modern period of Italian city-states. He wrote the Prince, which has been considered the most famous book on politics ever written, he was also considered one of the fathers of classical realism. Believed effective rule is based upon arms law (force and legitimacy), its better if rulers are feared than loved, and diplomacy can be useful but its better to defend itself militarily against others. Also believed a virtuous ruler makes his own luck by being prepared to use whatever means circumstances require. |
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| Greek historian who lives 400 years before Christ, traces of classical realism trace back to him. Most famous work was the history of the Peloponnesian wars about wars between Greek city-states of Athens and Sparta. |
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| The weighing of the consequences of alternative political actions. Was a value of Hans Morgenthau |
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| Structural realist, wrote The Tragedy of Great Power Politics. |
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is the political, economic, ideological or cultural power exerted by a dominant group over other groups. It requires the consent of the majority to keep the dominant group in power. While initially referring to the political dominance of certain ancient Greek city-states over their neighbors, the term has come to be used in a variety of other contexts
-Godzilla is predominant power, so superior, as to face few real threats to its security or survival
-Global Hegemony is impossible
-be the dominant power in your region or world an no one can threaten you (ex: US)
-part of US opposition to Iran becoming an illegal power
-China – sees zones of tensions – arising hegemony power in
Asia |
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| Political survival (virtue) |
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-the artful use of power in all its forms to secure political survival and maintain order
-The artful use of power in all its forms to secure political survival and maintain order. Survival refers to territorial integrity and political autonomy. Promoting prosperity and protecting human rights are secondary to the survival of the state. Refers to a “self-help” world. |
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| Claim that there is such thing as too much power. If one state gains too much power, others will come together to defeat the main power. Says it is best to aim at just enough power to deter potential aggressors, but not enough to provoke others into counter-balancing against you. |
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-letting someone else confront aggression
-the shifting of responsibility due to a threat, or in balance of power
-one country threatens several others, and the threatened countries form an alliance to counteract the threat, and buck passing interferes with the counterbalance because the threatened states say “you take the risk” |
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Credible threat used to prevent something from happening. Bush
believed deterrence has no place when dealing with terrorists because
they will die for their organization, they don't necessarily have a home state they can attack, it may be a large network of people all over so they only way to prevent them is eliminating them as a threat though preventative war, like waging war on a rogue nation that may provide Weapons of Mass Destructions to terrorists for use against the USA |
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| States satisfied with balance of power and have no interest in using force to change it. |
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| States determined to use force to alter balance of power. |
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we have a system of international anarchy, where there is no world government
-World of Possibilities
-always changing, never complete
-critical implication: current world will eventually change, opposing realism (realism is restrictive)
alternative future world:
-peaceful, equitable, just, democratic, free? (participate in process) |
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-supreme power or authority
-self governing or governing others |
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-world politics is a relentless struggle for power, each needs to build up their own protective barrier, this creates a cycle for states to respond to
-constantly on a treadmill, bring up responses
-nicest guy might stab you in the back, you can’t trust anyone
-no escape from logic if you want to survive
-there is such thing as TOO much power
-security dilemma
-each state fears every state in a power struggle
-every state will build up there own power and another state will build in fear
-ultimate security in unattainable
according to Mearsheimer there is no escape from logical politics and we need it to survive |
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| wrote Two Treatises of Government, individuals presumed to be naturally free and equal, they will come together to form governments in order to protect their lives, liberty, and prosperity (basic rights). Believed government is based on popular consent. |
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| Locke said for us to understand our political power we must consider what state men are naturally in which is a state of perfect freedom. Men are in a state of equality where not one person has more power or jurisdiction than another and everyone is born to the same equality where they can live together without subordination or subjection. |
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| It is in Americas best interest that tyrannical regimes clash so American ideals prove to be strong and diminish the power of authoritarian and totalitarian regimes. |
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| wrote The Wealth of Nations, believed individuals are naturally “self Interested,” and it is within the human nature to trade. Introduced the idea that rational individuals will specialize in what they do best and this will be most productive for them as they can exchange their goods or services with others for whatever it they need, which lead to the practice of division of labor and market exchange among specialized producers. |
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| Smiths solution to the puzzle of how we survive in a world where we must depend on others, while humans are self interested by nature. The invisible hand operates in competitive markets where individuals who produce goods at a fair price that are wanted will prosper, and those who do not will be driven out of business by competitors. The individuals who are after success will be driven by their self interest to be useful in society. Thus the invisible hand harmonizes individual self interest with social good. |
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| Philosopher who explained the democratic peace thesis showed that rational citizens would want to avoid the heavy costs of war (death, destruction, monetary cost, repairs, national debt), citizens in representative democracies hold politicians responsible for their policy decisions and to keep their jobs these politicians would avoid angering their constituents, and an international “pacific union” would emerge among democratic republics based on shared principles and mutual respect (bonds between democracies will ease the security dilemma between them, but non democratic enemy states heighten security between democracies and non democracies). |
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| The democratic peace thesis is that two democratic states are much less likely to engage in war with each other than all other pairs of states, and are more likely to engage in diplomatic relations. Democracies are not less likely to go to war with other states, they are just less likely to go to war with other democracies. In modern democratic peace, the theory states that there are 3 factors that contribute to peace: democracy, economic interdependence, and international organizations. Each of these factors contribute to the other so the system is self reinforcing. The democratic peace thesis is the closest thing we have to an empirical law in international relations, and US presidents from both parties have used the Democratic Peace thesis to justify their foreign policies. |
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According the “Modern Democratic Peace Theory..
“in the modern international system, democracies have almost never fought each other. Democracies rarely fight each other because they have other means of resolving conflicts between them...and they perceive that democracies should not fight each other”
-thus, the more democracies there are in the world, the safer zone you might live in if you are living in a democracy, equality would be preached all around |
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| International regimes can provide prerequisites for effective cooperation in International Relations. |
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| Zero-Sum games are those where one players winnings come at the expense of another (winning + losses= 0) This applies to IR because realist theory emphasizes relative power of states because when one state gains in relation to its rivals its rivals are losing in relation to that state. World view that comes out of NSC-68 this is a Zero Sum world view struggle-”defeat for free institutions anywhere is a loss everywhere” and this belief is what lead us to engage in war with Korea. |
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| In the absence of a “regime” which allows them to communicate and coordinate, their mutual distrust would encourage each to rat out the other, and they would both be worse off than they might have been (10 years each), they get out of prisoner’s dilemma by a regime, but its better for both sides to tell the complete truth and where they stood to avoid complete dilemma. |
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| This was a WWI ideal that the regime type is crucial to foreign policy, tyrannical regimes are likely to be aggressors. America will be a defender of rights and liberties against tyrannical aggressors. US foreign policy is a vehicle for promotion of democracy and peace and American security interests served by promotion of American values (democracy). |
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| An agreement between Britain and the US for post war world after WWII for no aggrandizement of territory, no territorial changes without consent of the people, all people can choose what government they wish to live under, encourage trade for economic prosperity, improved labor standards, safety for all nations, free travel through the oceans, and abandonment of the use of force. |
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| refers to slavery, growing imbalance of powers, evil symbols, forced civilians, propaganda, brainwashing, huge military that wanted to conquer, non democratic, and ruled by dictators. Every gain in a world of darkness is a loss for the world of light. |
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| Truman wanted to heighten sense of communist threat and rally support for anticommunist policies, he wanted conservatives to not think he was “soft on communism.” Built fear of communism in USA. Appealed to domestic constituencies. Republicans isolationism and fiscal conservatism invoked deep ideological commitments to anti communism, patriotic groups also were anti communist, as well as nativist groups who feared influence of un-american ideologies, Christians and Catholics opposed godless communist heathens. Liberals and labor unions also sought to distance themselves from communists to protect their public legitimacy. |
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North Korea invades South Korea & US decides to intervene militarily
-fear of “appeasement” in Asia
-US credibility seen as being at stake
-NSC 68 under influence cannot tolerate setbacks
McCarthyism + NSC 68 + Korean War = shift from Kennan’s original. |
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| US Strategy in cold war. Depicted zero-sum political struggle between free world and communist worlds where no setback was tolerable. Recommends a massive buildup of US economic and military power in all forms, and aims at developing a “serious overall power” for global military containment. |
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| Senator Joseph McCarthy (R-WI) built his political theory on communist hysteria. He claimed he knew hundreds of active communist spies in US Government. Tactic to help his own political career by appearing hard on communism. |
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is a sociopolitical movement that aims for a classless and stateless society structured upon common ownership of the means of production, free access to articles of consumption, and the end of wage labour and private property in the means of production and real estate.
In Marxist theory, communism is a specific stage of historical development that inevitably emerges from the development of the productive forces that leads to a superabundance of material wealth, allowing for distribution based on need and social relations based on freely-associated individuals. |
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| Originally were democratic party hawks of the 60s and who combined social liberal belief in benefits of the welfare state and militant anti-communism. By the 70s they were skeptical of the welfare state and social liberalism, alienated from the counter culture of the 60’s new left. |
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| What is Machiavelli’s notion of “political virtue,” and how does it differ from other notions of moral or religious virtue? Why does he insist on that difference? |
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Machiavelli’s political virtue is that you must use what ever tools necessary to be a strong leader, and that is is better to be feared than loved.
-Political virtue is the artful use of power in all its forms to secure political survival and maintain order. In Politics, virtue cannot be compared with observance of abstract, universal moral principals. Effective rule is based upon arms and law, but arms are essential and the ruler must be prepared to use force against threats. Politics is not a moral power struggle. It is always some combination of persuasion and force, consent and coercion. He insists that it is a mistake to assume that realism always focuses on coercive force and military power, and ignores the ideas of justice or morality. |
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| E.H. Carr said that “it is an unreal kind of realism which ignores the element of morality in world order.” He meant that realism must include some notion of morality or justice if it is to reflect real world politics. Why? |
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| -Order cannot be solely based on power because in the long run mankind will revolt against naked power. Morality and justice need power to be effective in a particular political system of order. Morality is impotent without power. Power need morality and justice to give it purpose and legitimize its political system of order. Power is purposeless, arbitrary, and illegitimate without morality and justice. |
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| What is meant by an “anarchic” international system, and why does that matter? |
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States pursue power because they are driven to do so by the anarchic structure of the international system. The system is “anarchic” because there is no centralized authority to rule over sovereign states and settle disputes between them. Politics between states has no central authority, and therefore is said to be “anarchic.” In an anarchic system, each state must be able to protect its own security – by force if necessary, while some states have more military power than others. All states are compelled to emphasize their own military power relative to their competitors, regardless of regime type or leadership characteristics.
Anarchy is a system without authoritative rule or authoritative structure of roots.
-Across time and space similar kinds of international structures will generate repetitive patterns of outcomes (recurrent conflict and war), regardless of particular characteristics. Politics are driven by the fact that men are not always good. Some disputes are ultimately settled by war.
States can never know the intensions of other states – never know when states are peaceful and we can’t afford to trust other people in the states. States are motivated by the desire to control its own survivor. The ultimate priority being political survival. States are rational actors by trying to pick the course that maximizes benefit or maintains power and security in a dangerous world. |
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| How does the “security dilemma” work? According to this conception, why is it impossible to achieve ultimate security? |
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-because of the anarchic structure of the international system, world politics is a relentless struggle for power
-security dilemma, each states attempt to make itself more secure by increasing its power also making other states less secure, since its power is a potential threat to others
-others are likely to respond to this potential threat by increasing their own power
-the cycle of mutual threat and insecurity repeats itself endlessly
-no matter how hard states try ultimate security is unattainable in such a world due to different run governments and governmental powers are always growing and changing |
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| What did Machiavelli mean when he talked about power as part man, part beast? In what way does that metaphor convey an important insight about politics? |
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| Machiavelli’s metaphors illustrate complexity of politics. Power is always some combination of persuasion, force, consent, and coercion. The part man, part beast metaphor refers to powers as “centaur.” |
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| What is the major criticism, which democratic peace theories pose to the structural realist theory of IR? |
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| Democratic peace theories are based on the evidence that democracies are not more peaceful then others, they just go to war with non-democracies and not each other. They are special kinds of states because they are driven by the peaceful settlement of disputes. Democracies establish patterns of relationships with each other and see each other as less threatening and more peaceful and form relationships. Rational citizens would want to avoid heavy costs of war because there are many downsides: death, destruction, and debt. Joseph Schumpeter said the development of capitalism and democracy undermines imperialism and lead to a more liberal and peaceful world. People become democratized, individualized, and rationalized; which leads to a focus on self-interest. In order to establish a self-enforcing system that together support/create a more peaceful, liberal world include: democracy, economic interdependence (certain amount of risk), and international organizations. Democracies are not out to destroy each other, just resolve problems. |
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| Explain what the neoconservative writers Kristol and Kagan meant by “Benevolent global hegemony” and why they believe that kind of policy would be good for the US and good for the world. |
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| China was in awe of the American military’s prowess, the US was at the center of the international political and economic system, newly liberated Eastern and Central Europe wanted membership in the North Atlantic alliance lead by the US, and the defeat of Saddam’s armies and the liberation of Kuwait with the waning of the USSR all opened a new era of American influence. A “unipolar era” would be good for US and the world and everything depends on what the US does now. During the cold war the US acted heroically. Benevolent global hegemony is good for the US and the world because the US should not simply be a normal nation or an isolationist nation, but they should uphold their dominance. The US has been the dominant military power and they have been riding on this in recent years but should keep up military spending on readiness and weapons technologies to uphold this power. American preeminence cannot be maintained at a distance and threats to our allies must be considered as threats to us, acting otherwise would make the US unreliable. The US is a global superpower with global responsibilities. Being capable of projecting force quickly and devastatingly will decrease the chances that other states will try to alter the status quo in their favor. As a global hegemony the US needs to send the message “don’t even think about it” to potential foes. United States must also be able to do business with any type of regimes, and make alliances with even the most brutal regimes when necessary (like soviet union against nazi germany to Mao’s China against Soviet Union) but must be viewed as tactical deviation in strategy to promote liberal democratic governance. In short, it is wise that America keeps up its benevolent global hegemony because American foreign policy is essentially infused with more morality than that of other nations, other nations do not generally fear the daunting power of the United States. |
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| At the beginning of the Cold War, President Harry Truman used anticommunist rhetoric to create domestic political support for major American international initiatives. How did the creation of an anticommunist consensus help him secure the political support he needed? Whose support? |
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| -President Truman was able to secure the political support he needed because he was able to gain support from a broad spectrum of constituents with different political ideologies through anti-communist rhetoric. He gained support from the right by proving he was not soft on communism by presenting the Truman doctrine which promised US help to free people being coerced by totalitarian communist regimes. He gained support from liberals and labor unions because they did not want to be associated with communists to preserve their public identity and legitimacy so they favored anticommunist rhetoric. The Christians and Catholics opposed the communists because they believed they were godless heathens so they too supported Truman, also nativists who feared outside powers tainting America with un-American ideologies also supported Truman. Truman used the fear of communism to his advantage to garner support from the left to the right by evoking different fears related to communism from both sides, thus he was able to pursue his international initiatives without opposition. |
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| Complete this sentence: “Stalin was an …” [just kidding]. |
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| Stalin was a communist leader of Soviet Union, and we bonded with them to take out Nazi Germany. |
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| The Bush Doctrine has been described as an expression of longstanding tendencies in US foreign policy, and as an unprecedented statement of US global ambitions. In what ways was the Bush doctrine a continuation of traditional US approaches to foreign policy? What elements of the Bush Doctrine were new and different? (ESSAY) |
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| The Bush Doctrine states that the US must do everything within its powers to prevent the proliferation of WMD’s via rouge states and disrupt the operation of terrorist groups trying to obtain them even if that requires pre-emptive military action. It reaffirmed the American governments belief in universal righteousness of values such as democracy and economic liberalism. The US traditionally supported upholding their position and acting in the interest of freedom, democracy, and free enterprise There was also the belief that with the pursuit of these interests the great powers could be united and great power cooperation could be the basis for working on problems with multilateral solutions such as terrorism. National Interests of America were that America would serve as a guardian. |
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