Midterm Study Guide - Introduction to International Relations | INTL 3200, Study notes of International Business

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Answers Answers Focus Extraneous Week 1  What is theory? a way of making the world or some part of it more intelligible or better understood o What are dependent variable (What we try to explain) and independent variable (what we think is causally related to dv)?  What is the “Levels of analysis”? constitute a framework designed to organize and assist in systematic thinking about IR  How did your instructor define the “state”? the organized political unit which has a geographic territory, a stable population, and a government to which the population owes allegiance and which is legally recognized by other states  What is (state) sovereignty? the authority of the state, based on recognition by other states and by non-state actors, to govern matters within its own borders that affect its people, economy, security, and form of government  What are the first, second, and third images? Human behavior, internal structure of states, international anarchy o Can you tell what analytical focus of each image?  E.g. leaders, regime type, and international anarchy (Slide 2)  E.g. Waltz’s piece (“Explaining War: The Levels of Analysis”) for this week Week 2  Waltz (structural realism): “The Anarchical Structure of World Politics” o What is the difference between domestic political structure and international political structure, according to Kenneth Waltz (i.e. structural or neorealism)? Hierarchy and anarchy, respectively.  A domestic political structure is thus defined: first, according to the principle by which it is ordered second, by specification of the functions of formally differentiated units: and third, by the distribution of capabilities across those units. o Some slides you might want to focus to check your understanding:  1) Ordering principles  2) The character of the units  3) The distribution of capabilities (A&J p.38-45)  Morgenthau (classical realism) “Six Principles of Political Realism.” pp. 14-22. (A&J) o What are the basic assumptions of realism, according to your instructor? (Slide 2, Jan. 14) o What are Morgenthau’s 6 principles of political realism? 1. Political realism believes that politics, like society in general, is governed by objective laws that have their roots in human nature 2. The main signpost that helps political realism to find its way through the landscape of international politics is the concept of interest defined in terms of power.  This concept provides the link between reason trying to understand international politics and the facts to be understood, and sets politics as an autonomous sphere of action and understanding apart from other spheres such as economics, ethics, etc. 3. Realism assumes that its key concept of interest defined as power is an objective category which is universally valid.  It does not endow that concept with a meaning that is fixed once and for all. 4. Political realism is aware of the moral significance of political action. It is also aware of the ineluctable tension between the moral command and the requirements of successful political action  Universal moral principles cannot be applied to the actions of states in their abstract universal formulation, but must be filtered through the concrete circumstances of time and place  There can be no political morality without prudent consideration of the political consequences of seemingly moral action; thus, Realism values weighing the consequences of political actions as a supreme virtue 5. Political realism refuses to identify the moral aspirations of a particular nation with the moral laws that govern the universe.  State actions are never “divine providence” and always susceptible to fail. 6. Political realists view the world through the lens of interest defined as power as an economist perceives interest in terms of wealth.  Don’t try to memorize, but just logically understand them. o “… the strong do what they have the power to do and the weak accept what they have to accept” ( “The Melian Dialogue,” Thucydides, A&M, p. 9) o Just check the slide, “Classical Realism: Wrap-up.” Do they make sense to you?  John J. Mearsheimer . “Structural Realism.” o What are differences between offensive and defensive realists? (see Slides 6 and 7) o Can China rise peacefully? What are the different positions (between offensive and defensive realists) explained by Mearsheimer? Week 3 Stephen M. Walt. “Alliances: Balancing and Bandwagoning”  What is the difference between balancing and bandwagoning?  Capability-based argument vs Walt’s balance of threat theory  Balancing expected, but bandwagoning a possibility Week 7 Robert Jervis. “Leading Power Peace”  What does Jervis suggest when he claims that social constructivism “mistakes effect for cause”? (p. 381)  What is Jervis’s main argument about the relationship of the members of the security community?  What is Jervis’s explanation of the development and maintenance of the Community? o Do you understand his synthetic and interactive explanation?  What are the components of the explanation?  The Community & uncoerced peace? Robert Art. “Fungibility of Force”  Fungibility ≠ sufficiency  Low fungibility ≠ insufficiency  Q) What are the paths through which military power can influence events in other domains? o 1) Spill-Over Effects: Prerequisite (deliberate) or byproduct (incidental) o 2) Linkage Politics  Functional: causal effects (automatic)  Artificial: deliberate connection Joseph S. Nye Jr. “Soft Power.” (esp. 166-171)  What is soft power, according to Nye (“Soft Power”)? o Can you distinguish it from other “tangible” powers? Week 8 James D. Fearon (1995) Rationalist Explanations for War.  What is the puzzle for David Fearon (“Rationalist Explanation for War”)? o “…war is inefficient ex post” (p. 58). What does this mean? o The central question, then, is what prevents states in a dispute from reaching an ex ante agreement that avoids the costs they know will be paid ex post if they go to war?” (p. 58)  Focus o 1) War Due to Private Information & Incentives to Misrepresent (p. 58-61)  Q: ask what would prevent states (led by rational leaders) from sharing private information (p. 59)  Incentives to misrepresent in bargaining: why? o 2) War as a Consequence of Commitment Problems (p. 61-63)  Even if there is not private information, war sometimes happens. What is this second rationalist argument? Dina Badie. “Groupthink, Iraq, and the War on Terror: Explaining US Policy Shift toward Iraq.”  What are symptoms of groupthink? o Can you distinguish such symptoms from other decision-making mechanism (e.g. rationalist explanations)? o Badie (groupthink article) mentions that a groupthink framework is often criticized because some “scholars retroactively apply groupthink to any foreign policy fiasco” (p. 280). What does this retroactive application (of groupthink) mean? (p. 280)  What is her major argument? o In what ways is groupthink useful for her analysis? Stephen Walt. “International Relations: One World, Many Theories.”  I will give you one or two pop-quiz type questions concerning this article 