Aime Cesaire - Study Guide - International Relations Third World | GVPT 350, Study notes of Political Science

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GVPT 350 13/10/2008 02:23:00 ← Aime Cesaire  Born June, 1913 in Martinique  Family shared the cultural sensibilities of the petit- bourgeoisies, but lived close to the edge of rural poverty o In Paris:  Met like-minded intellectuals- most notable Leopold Senghor, who became president of Senegal  Wrote a lot of poetry and essays and combined it with his work as a politician  One of the architects of “NEGRITUDE”  “the simple recognition of the facts that one is black, the acceptance of this fact and out destiny as blacks, of our history and culture  the first DIASPORIC “Black Pride” doctrine/movement  the major voice of surrealism o returned to Martinique in 1948  joined communist party and became a mayor of Fort de France  succeeded in getting the French National assembly to change the status of the Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guiana from colonies to “departments” within the French Republic o he believed:  the assimilation of the old colonies into the republic would guarantee equal rights o but:  more French officials were sent to the colonies displacing some of the local black bureaucrats  tough lesson that influenced his first nonfiction book: Discourse on Colonialism o Discourse on Colonialism  A response to the assimilation that is perceived as a failure  Senghor had the view that they could assimilate math or the language BUT  The French could never strip off the black/colored skin OR root out the black/colored souls  Therefore, Cesaire’s main concern is:  NOT the Proletarian revolution, but  The COLONIAL QUESTION  DOUBLE meaning in his work:  The material/physical effect AND  The spiritual effect of colonialism  Reveals how:  The ideology of racial and cultural hierarchy  Is just as essential to the colonial rule  The police and military & use of forced labor  Western imperial culture is constructed on the oppression and humiliation of peoples of color in the third world  “COLONIZATION= THINGIFICATION”  colonizers treat colonies as objects colonies internalize this message that they are animals and the colonizers themselves become “the animal”  Cesaire draws the link btwn:  The logic of COLONIALISM AND  The rise of FASCISM/NAZISM  Asserts:  Europeans tolerated Nazism before it was inflicted on them  Relevance of IR theory for Third World o Concepts that do not fit  Anarchy  Dominant view  Anarchy due to the absence of central rule- gov/power  Contested View  Not anarchy but HEIRARCHY that constrains behavior The INTERNATIOL SYSTEM Assumption of the UNITARY nature of the international system in IR theory:  In reality,  Is there only one international system?  Do two or more worlds exist that follow different political norms and practices?  Question the view that weak states do not affect the security interests of the principal units  LDCs are excluded  One zone of peace, wealth, and democracy AND  The other turmoil, war, and development o RATIONAL CHOICE  Rational choice theory: problematic as an analytic tool in non-Western setting  Frame reference: assumes chosen behavior as optimizing material self-interest  Assumption that all human decisions/acts are means to self-interested material end has no empirical evidence in all cultures  Ignores cultural variety and differences  Ex. India not becoming a naval power- due to complex caste system  Relationship between cultural values and foreign policy o The STATE  Statehood usually identified with Western democratic, constitutional, political institutions; effective gov., geographical boundaries, and monopoly of the use of force  Features associated with the “state”  Are often absent in the third world  Meaningless in culture, tribal, geographic, economic terms- drawn by imperial powers o SOVEREIGNTY  Meaningless for smaller political entities  “it enmeshes the decolonized areas and peoples in a biased and constraining, western- derived international legal order” o BUT in reality: tension btwn THEORY & PRACTICE  Application of the Principle of NONINTERVENTION in the 17th century  To whom did it apply?  Assumption of sovereign EQUALITY  Yet, INCONSISTENCIES  Exam Format o Pt. 1- MC and true/false o Pt. 2- short answer o Pt.3 – essay o Alliances  Alliance theory  Less developed part of IR theory  Assumes that states change alliances in response to changing power configurations in the international system  Few alliances between states  Theory provides little relevance of why it is necessary for Third World  Ignores the internal threats- alignments is more internal than external  Most weak states rely on external sources to deal with threats – yet not lasting  Alliances (ex. Cold war) explained in terms of balance of power by major states- superpowers  Alignment declines with end of cold war o Power  Explains little in “Third World thinking”  Powerlessness is a constant and not a variable  “The west has most of the power, yet significant change has occurred in relations between the west and third world over the past half century so that changing power is not the reason for changing relations.”  Unequal distribution of the world’s wealth  Taken as a constant and not as a variable  Therefore:  War and peace are not useful descriptions of international relational modes  Ideas and ideologies are far more important for Third World thinkers. They drive world affairs  Struggle is the mode of IR