Violence and Securities - Exam preparation, Study notes of International Relations

Download Violence and Securities - Exam preparation and more Study notes International Relations in PDF only on Docsity! Exam preparation: Violence and securities Week 1: Violence and Securities, paradigms in explaining peace/ conflict and violence’s role in state-formation  What is political violence? Political violence is a type of violence that occurs during wartime (a clearly identifiable actor achieving political outcomes through war, a conflict with at least 1000+ deaths) or in times of “peace” (e.g. electoral violence; ethnic riots)  Extrastate conflict – conflict between state and non-state entity ; example: US-ISIS/ Al- Qaeda war in Iraq/ Afghanistan;  Interstate conflict- a conflict between 2 recognized states; example: Armenia-Azerbaijan – Nagorno-Karabakh war  Internationalized intrastate conflict – a conflict that occurs within a single state but involves external actors providing support to 1 or more parties in the conflict; example: Syrian Civil War -> Russia supports the Assad regime; US-> the rebbel forces  Intrastate conflict - a conflict occurring within a single country involving government and non-state groups ; examples can be civil wars between government and paramilitaries or internal insurgencies: Yemen civil war – Houthis and the Yemeni government; Libyan instability  What paradigms/approaches have been developed in order to understand and analyse political violence and conflict? - realism – focus on the state as the principal actor, which is rational and seeks to persue its national interest by unitarily maximizing its interests, national security is a first order preference in the anarchic world, power is a central concern; the likelihood of war is shaped by the distribution of power in the international system – bipolar or unipolar systems are effective? - liberalism – state and non-state actors are equally as important (IGOs, NGOs, MNCs, etc.); it depends on these interactions in shaping decision-making & interests; liberals see different and better decisions than to go to war -> by cooperating, spreading democracy; mitigating transparency and negotiating outcomes to avoid conflict; trade is core in maintaining peace as war disrupts economic relations; interests/ preferences of states are not necessarily opposing and national security isn’t the most important consideration - constructivism – entities, identities, state interests are socially constructed and shape behavior of states and can change; political action is shaped by identities and interests, it matters who is the actor and what they view as appropriate action (following norms or his rational choice) – conflict and peace are shaped by the content of identities and interests; - instrumentalism – paradigm whereby elites are the most important actors, whose interests and wills shape state behavior and determine presence or absence of conflict - violence is determined by their interests ; examples: electoral violence when politicians will use riots to help win votes – Lukashenko in Belarus ambushing, arresting and torturing opposition protesters Ethnic violence – when a country is ethnically divided voting for a party that allegedly protects and advocates in favor of your group – Jewish people in Israel-Palestine voting for Zionist parties (right-centre Likud party) - institutionalism – focal points are all institutions, not only IGOs; institutionalism seeks to understand how struggles are mediated by the institutional setting in which they take place; certain institutions shape state behavior – example: rules in place matter for conflict and can determine the capacity of actors to legislate – security legislation may lack leading to wars; they also concern distribution of power within government (some institutions may have more power than others) and shape incentives (economical interests of political actors – weak institutions: war in DRC – for foreign aid, mines and resources)  What is the state of violence in the world today? Conflict is increasing in general; - Interstate conflict is also increasing – wars in Gaza, Ethiopia, Ukraine etc. - Intrastate conflict is the most common type of conflict (rise in civil wars – following the end of the Cold war – 1990s wars in former Yugoslavia; ex-Soviet union – Chechen wars, Moldovan civil war; Rwandan genocide) - Internationalized intrastate conflict is also rapidly increasing since 2022 – Myanmar war – rebbel forces supported by China; external actors are getting involved in conflicts – Ukraine – Donbas region (Russia-backed forces in Donetsk and Lugansk since 2014) - State-based violence is concentrated in Africa; South-East Asia, Middle East – we also have regions particularly prone to violence – Eastern Europe, e.g.  Is violence and state formation linked? Yes they are.  Is war necessary for the building of strong states? In some cases yes – Cold War -> Asian tigers; civil wars lead to failed states – Libya;  Does the impact of internal vs. external war matter for state formation? Yes. Week 2 : Nuclear Weapons / Democracy and War  What constrains the use and proliferation of nuclear weapons? A combination of nuclear deterrence, non deterrence material factors and spread of norms (international agreements – nuclear taboo (N. Tannenwald) antinuclear public opinion shared by the leaders)  What do leaders and ordinary people think about the use of nuclear weapons? Leaders most likely then not have followed public opinion on non-use of nuclear weapons because they fear their government’s internal and global position. Public opinion matters for them – China and Chinese public opinion -> generally people express their concerns for NW usage in warfare, yet they also stress their importance for deterrence, having a greater voice internationally and national security. On the other hand, nuclear weapons are costly to maintain (liability is huge) ; Chinese government has excessively maintained a no-first use of nuclear weapons posture.