Realism in International Politics: Traditional International System and Foreign Policy - P, Study notes of World Politics

Download Realism in International Politics: Traditional International System and Foreign Policy - P and more Study notes World Politics in PDF only on Docsity! Political Science Part Two Traditional International System  Historically defined global relationships as realists  Realism perceives actors within the international system as not bound by external constraints. Understanding Realism in the Traditional System  How actors/states use perceptions to define their security, the use of force, types of conflict, and the role of the military. o Nuclear weapons in North Korea and Iran.  Forces political action other countries, US demanded North Korea to stop nuclear weapon development and US would give North Korea economic support so North Korea would win either way.  Beliefs formed through perceptions by actors shape the structure of the international system and how states use the system and other actors to act in their own self-interest. Realist Actors are driven by:  The elimination of insecurity and protection from other actors o Military protection as well as economic protection.  Self-Interest is the driving force behind all state behavior  Belief that the international system is amoral (state goals matter more than morality). o President of Sudan is only cared about the implementation of their policy instead the lives of his people in Darfur.  Understandings of a hierarchical and stratified structure in which actors are constantly engaged in conflict with one another. Traditional International System Foreign Policy  Patterns of interactions among actors shape the formation of policy objectives which further state interests and goals The Dynamics of Foreign Policy  Domestically determined needs  The perception of the behaviors displayed by other actors  Their perceptions of the motivations and intentions of other actors The reshuffling of foreign policy imperatives and the restructuring of international order is based on the actions of other states. The state is considered the main actor within the international system.  State to state interactions o Diplomacy  Collective Entities o IMF, UN, World Bank  Multinational Corporations o Coca-Cola, Wal-Mart and McDonalds There is no supranational actor international world government.  No entity enforces rules that dictate the actions of states o European Union  States in the system still retain their sovereignty o Supreme authority over a given territory  Enforcement mechanisms such as economic sanctions are considered compulsory o States agree to international sanctions to punish actor’s behavior International Anarchy  Is understood as the absence of formal institutions and the decentralization of power and authority. Restraints are placed on the actions of actors emerge from two primary sources  Domestic sources o Public Opinion o Natural and material resources o Geography o Culture  External Sources o The influence of actors in the international system o Seeks to prevent the rise of a hegemonic power The presence of international conflicts and security is also prevalent in an anarchic system.  Realists believe that conflict is an inevitable consequence of anarchy  The presence of constant violence and the threats of potential violence leaves no state safe within the system  The scarcity of resources, freedom of actors within the system, and their responsiveness to internal and external constraints can create or mitigate the prospects of conflict and security. o Hans Morganthau-“States are either recovering or preparing for war”.  Now during elections people will vote on how a leader handles the economy and expects that the economy needs to expand in order for the public to believe that the leader has done a good job.  Since we allowed Germany into NATO then it prevented them from recycling into a new fascist leader and attack Europe again and the same ideas were implemented with Japanese and Italians. o Enemies of WW2 are now allies and fight besides us in Afghanistan.  New international programs were created like the IMF, World Bank and the UN.  Conflict now doesn’t exist between Great Powers or that each are democracies and democracies won’t fight each other. o China wouldn’t go to war with another advanced country.  Three groups cause problems nowadays (Three examples): o Rogue State  Iran, North Korea, Zimbabwe and Myanmar  Not are big threats to world peace o Failed State  Government and economy is failing in this state.  Somalia, Lebanon and Afghanistan  Terrorists hide in failed states and won’t get found in failed states o International Terrorist Group Perception on the World and Russia Russia:  Three Geography Points o Size of Country o Isolation o Border and Frontier  Russia has more and better distribution of natural resources. o Reasons for the inability to get natural resources:  Hard for Russia to keep up with their communication and roads since the country is so big.  Hard to exploit resources because they have a lower ability to get those resources.  Russia has made it inhospitable to foreign companies.  Trade o Two predominant trading systems.  Sea routes  Mediterranean o Russia hasn’t been able to participate in trade because they are isolated from the Mediterranean and the Turks who controlled Istanbul wouldn’t trade with them.  North Atlantic Ocean o Where not able to trade through here because countries whole controlled that area wouldn’t allow Russia to trade.  Russians began to be paranoid towards the rest of the world because of their isolation to the rest of the world. o Since they were isolated in trade they were not able to share new advances with the rest of the world. o Withdrew and decided not join many international groups. o GATT General Agreement on Tariffs & Trade, Russia did join this group.  This group would set up guidelines for international trade and all countries involved would accept and observe the guidelines. o Poor banking system, no checking or credit card system.  Frontiers and Borders: o Unlike the US, Russia does not have limited borders like the US does. o Natural types of borders:  Ocean  Mountain Range o Russia has doesn’t have a lot of natural borders and they have been invaded a lot.  Napoleon  Crimean War  Russo-Japanese War  Japanese sunk most of the Russian navy  World War 1  By Germany  Poland-Russia  Was over border disputes on how much land Poland has.  Russia-Japan (pre-World War 2)  World War 2  Hitler’s plan to invade Russia was codenamed Barbarossa.  Wanted to attack to Russia for oil and their other natural resources.  Hitler did not hold a high respect to the Russian army since Stalin purged high command of the Russian Army. o Also a Russian defeat in Finland also didn’t help Hitler’s opinion of the Russian army. Russian Foreign Policy  Molotov-Ribbentrop pact was negotiated by WW2. o This was pact tried to ensure peace between the two countries. o It also divided Poland and gave some land to Russia.  When Germany attacked Russia, Stalin at first didn’t believe the report and told his troops not to fire initially and possibly had a mental breakdown. He regained his composure and gave his troops orders.  After Germans initial attack they decided to go south to attack to try to get the Caspian Sea oil fields. Germany then decided to capture Stalingrad and Stalin wanted to defend the city to the death.  At Kursk, it was the Russian’s last great defensive. The Germans discovered a plan to attack the Russians, the Russians found out and after a brief delay in the attack the Germans attacked and Russia won the battle.  Besides giving arms to Britain, the US gave Russia arms. o Only two ways to ship arms  Through the Arctic Sea during the Summer  Though Persia/Iran, only smaller shipments  Atlantic Charter o Expression of three major goals  1st goal was to promote democracy  2nd goal was National Self-Determination  3rd goal that all involved will renounce territorial gains after the war o Atlantic Charter was not signed. o Russia did not go along with the Atlantic Charter  Russia wanted a two front war, and Russia constantly demanded that Britain and the US attack France. o Winston Churchill told Stalin that he had a two front war in beginning of the war, when France was still independent but they let Germany take it. o US tried to tell Stalin that it will take some time for the US to build up their military in order to invade France, but Stalin didn’t care and just wanted the US to attack. o June 6th, 1944 the Battle of Normandy occurs.  When Germany was retreating out of Russia, they killed citizens at random, and destroyed land and buildings.  Russian casualties= 25 million  Russia thought that the US and Britain were crazy because the two thought that Germany should be united as one and that Poland should be democratic. o West Germany was set up by Britain and the US. o Russia decided that to combat the growth of democracy of Germany, Russia cut off Berlin from the British and the US.  Russia believed that either the two would give up on forming a democracy in Germany or the US and Britain would attack Berlin, and the Russians believed they would win that battle.  By the early 1950s, the US got tired of Russian actions, and the US under Eisenhower believed that the US need to push the Russians back.  The Parliament workers barricaded themselves within Parliament and after a while Yeltsin sends in the troops and they shoot 100 people.  Yeltsin wins election but loses favor but then after crossing the country campaigning he wins re-election.  Steps down in 1999 and Putin becomes president.  Russia thinks of itself as a powerful ethos even though they are not as powerful as they used to be.  Russian thinks they are acting defensively even though it seems to the outside world that they are acting aggressively.  The Russian people can’t decide whether they are a Revisionist or Status Quote country.  Three groups of people in Russia o Pro-Western Liberal Internationalists- Close to Europe, want Russia to be a part of the international community. o Neo-Imperialists o Slavophiles- Identifies as Russians as an ethnic group.  Three phases of Russian Foreign Policy o “Romantic” Phase (1992-1993)  Western ideals are adopted into Russia but caused an economic downturn.  Russians become sour towards Western Influences. o Reassertion Phase (1993-1999)  Russia’s leaders come to reality of international politics and realize that there is no one to help them to rebuild. o New Realism (2000-2008)  Under Putin, he is known for trying to rebuild Russia.  Assertion of state power to protect Russian companies.  60% of Russia’s exports are oil.  Putin’s foreign policy approach is more assertive than Yeltsin and more realistic.  He has more appreciation of Russia’s actually abilities then believing it’s a superpower.  His policy is geared to state sovereignty.  He also believes that US shouldn’t control world politics and that a rising coalition of developing countries/rising powers, should control politics and policies.  There was a close US-Russia partnership right after 9/11. o This changed when the US betrays Putin when the US went into Iraq, because they believed that Iraq was a sovereign state and didn’t need to be invaded.  The Color Revolutions in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, and Ukraine created new Western-influenced governments.  US left the anti-ballistic missile treaty.  US opened up discussions with Poland and other countries to have defensive missile silos in Eastern Europe. Russian Culture:  Four characteristics o Xenophobia  Fear of foreigners  Because they have been invaded so much  No frontiers to protect themselves o Desire to expand  Only way to defend themselves is to invade other countries so they are not invaded.  Believe that they need a sphere of influence over the countries that surround them. o Attachment to Authoritarian government  Figure that a centralized government is a certainty to stay defended against other countries.  Little to no democracy in Russia o Multinationalism  A lot of small countries were annexed by the Soviet Union.  Mixed into the Russian society  Many groups formed their own countries after the collapse of the Soviet Union.  US has a multi ethnic society  People in the US from other countries believe their American and have no claims to the land.  Marxists argue that in a Capitalist society  Two classes o Capitalist class or bourgeoisie that control the society and are the privileged class. o Proletariat class is the other and the class that isn’t as well off.  Proletariats are constantly taken advantage of by the bourgeoisie and that the bourgeoisie exploits the proletariat.  Constant tension between the two groups according to the Marxists.  Capitalism began to change  Democracy began to spread throughout the world and began to modernize.  The Marxists said that in the Democratic system was controlled by the bourgeoisie.  Labor Unions started to form. o Marxists believe that the labor union leaders will being to befriend the bourgeoisie and will begin to act and become members of the bourgeoisie. o Both give the proletariats more rights. o The Marxists failed to recognize these two changes and avoided the issue. o Imperialism  Lenin argues that Imperialism extends how long Capitalism lasts.  Lenin believes that wars will exhaust Capitalism o Once Capitalism is overthrown and Communism is emplaced.  Communism is the vanguard of the proletariat.  No more police and only an army until all other capitalist countries are gone or destroyed.  Can’t have a perfect Communist society only unless there are no more Capitalist countries left and everyone else is Communist. Affects and the Geography of the US:  Good Borders o Prevents any attacks and foreign invasion.  Only invasion to the mainland of the US in 1812 by the British.  International terrorism is only an annoyance to the US. o Great Powers that were in the US  Purchase of Lousiana end French influence in the US  Annexation of Florida ended Spanish influence.  Canada being independent of the British  Annexation of Alaska ended Russian influence. o Manifest Destiny  That the US was chosen by God to expand and the US has a certain political role in the world.  Most countries in the world have or have had this idea.  Commercial Activity o America is well-suited for commercial activity  America was created for success commercially  All the way back to Jamestown by the British o The river systems allowed the transportation of goods all the way to international harbors.