International Relations:

Introduction to International Relations

Levels of Analysis of International Relations

I. Introduction: significance of different levels of analysis

(a) problem of war

(b) too many explanations

(c) need to organize information to aid explanation

II. The Three Levels: individual, the societal, and the systemic

(a) brief overview of three levels

III. The First Level: the individual

(a)biological theories

(1) instinct theories

(2) William James; Konrad Lorenz

(3) Limitations

(4) E.O.Wilson and aggression as multifaceted concept

(b) psychology, biology, and culture: Freud

(c)cognitive theory (stereotypes, misperception)

(1) environmental factors insufficient

(2) need to ask how decision-makers react

IV. Examples: Hitler's Germany, Vietnam
(a) Germany: disagreement on nature of threat: appeasement or making concessions to a frustrated power?

(b) Vietnam: dominoes or checkers?

V. An Extended Example: Hussein, Iraq, Bush, and the United States
(a)dominant image of Hussein in the

US:madman, power-grabber, or Arab leader in search of dignity

(b) Gulf War (90-91) as three-part morality tale