| Introduction to International Relations |
Key terms, first week
(1) Nationalism. A "we-feeling"; collective identity; a feeling among a group of people that they are similar to one another, and different from "others" who are outside. Nationalism is in some sense inherently exclusive and results in an inside-outside, us-them view of the world. Different forces may be important to the identity of different nations: a common ancestry and blood lines for German nationalism; the French language for France; the constitution for the US; The monarchy and Parliament for the UK; federalism for Canada and Switzerland etc.
(2) The state. States are political organizations. They may or may not follow national lines. A state can be defined as a political entity organized along territorial lines which has sovereignty. States are authority structures. They make rules and can enforce them. States have the following characteristics:
Definite territory An identifiable population Legal monopoly of violence Sovereignty
(3) Anarchy. Anarchy does not mean chaos or anything goes. Rather it means "absence of rule". Anarchy describes a political situation, much as monarchy, polyarchy, and oligarchy define types of government. Since each state making up the international system is sovereign (i.e. has ultimate authority to decide), it follows that the international system itself is an anarchy. One question that runs throughout the course is "how does life under anarchy differ from life within states?"
(4) National interest. The national interest refers to the goals of states and these are in turn determined by what is in their interest. This isn't easy to decide because there are many different individuals and groups within any given state and their goals may be different. Often the pursuit of power (especially relative power position) is taken to be in the national interest.
(5) Power. A very complex concept. One view is that power is the ability of one country to get another to do something it would not otherwise do. Power is the ability to change behavior of others. One can do this through persuasion, threat, positive incentives etc.. Since the international system is not as institutionally dense as domestic politics, conflicts tend not to get decided by legislatures and courts. Instead, the more powerful country tries to exercise its influence. Thucydides said that "when there is conflict among states, and diplomacy fails, strong states do what they can, and the weak suffer what they must".
(6) Distribution of Power. This term refers to "power capabilities" and
how they are distributed among states. Power distributions may be unipolar,
bipolar, and multipolar. |