IR Exam 1-9/22 Flashcards
What is true about the World under an Imperial System?
- a single empire dominated international politics
- Roman Empire; Spain (16th C), France (late 17th C), British Empire (19th–early 20th C), the U.S.
- Asian Empires (China, India, Mongolia, etc.)
- these empires brought peace–collected taxes enforced laws
What is true about the World under a feudal system?
- power became decentralized
- loyalties, and political obligations were not fixed primarily by territorial boundaries—but to a local lord
- Prevalent in Europe, and Japan
What is the term for the current World system?
- a system of nation-states
- The treaty of West-Phalia (1648)–a collection of treaties
- characteristics of international politics
What is true about the Thirty Years War?
- took place from 1618-16484- started as religious war between Catholics and Protestants
- evolved into political power struggle among powers
- power shifted from feudal lords to centralized monarchies
- wealth brought in from overseas colonies
- territorial boundaries were redrawn
What were major provisions of the Treaty of Westphalia?
- recognition of sovereign states
- control of their own boundaries & functioning–need no international support
- territorial arrangements
- religious toleration–religious differences–rulers choose own religion/policies
What’s the significance of the Treaty of Westphalia for IR?
- Concept of diplomatic immunity–a diplomat cannot be tried under a host nation’s laws
- foundation of the modern international law
- conflict resolution through negotiation and agreement
- emergence of balance of power politics-power balanced amongst a group of nations
- multipolar politics
- the UN is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its members
- all members settle ‘intl disputes through peaceful means
Who makes laws/rules in international politics?
- international organizations (IGO)
- states through agreements & treaties
Who enforces the laws/rules in International Politics?
- the UN security council
Who punishes rule breakers in International Politics?
- UN (through sanctions & resolutions)
- ICJ, WTO, etc.
- Countries (through sanctions)
What is true about countries and compliance?
- The UN really only passes resolutions, that are statements but there is no legal backing to their words
What is the current situation in International Politics?
- we have an anarchial international system of sovereign nation-states
What does anarchy mean?
- a lack of central authority
What does sovereignty mean?
- the right and authority of a state to govern within its own territory without external interference
What is true about nation-states, amongst each other?
- they are all equal to each other
What are some major trends and developments in IR?
- technological innovations
- colonization by European & Western countries
- Industrial Revolution
- Political Revolutions (American, French, Russian)
- Western/European Imperial expansionism
- Rise of Nationalism and Decolonization
- Democratization and Capitalism
- Globalization and Regionalization
What is Imperialism?
- Annexing distant territory and its inhabitants to an empire
What is colonialism?
- settling of people from a home country among indigenous peoples of a distant territory
Why has Europe been so dominant?
- The Industrial Revolution provided military and economic capacity and technological advantage
- Constant warfare in Europe strengthened European States
- Industrialization and capitalism–means and incentives for expansion
- motivated by desire to convert non-Christians to Christians
What is true about Japanese Imperialism?
- Took place from 1895-1945
- First Sino-Japanese war (1894-1895)
- Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905)
- first major war won by a non-european power
- Second Sino-Japanese war (1937-1945)
- 21st century is the century of Asia
What are some Milestone events in the World?
- World War I (1914-1918)
- Russian revolution (1917-1922)
- Woodrow Wilsons 14 points (1918) & Treaty of Versailles
- League of Nations (1920)
- Interwar period & Great Depression
- American Isolationism
What does self-determination mean?
- People have a right to choose their sovereignty without external pressure
What is the definition of nationalism?
- A devotion and allegiance to the nation based on shared characteristics of the people such as culture, tradition, and language
What is true about decolonization?
- It was prominent after WWII ended, until the late 20th century
What is true about the Japanese invasion of Manchuria?
- It happened in 1931
- Japan withdrew from the league of nations (1933)
- Since the U.S. wasn’t a part of the league of nations either, Germany was not as well
What is most important about World War II and the results?
- the creation of nuclear weapons
- the emergence of the U.S. as the main superpower
- America occupied Japan (1945-1952)
What is true about the World after WWII ended?
- The creation of the United Nations (UN) in 1945, and the liberal world order
- The PRC vs. ROC (China vs. Taiwan) (1949)
- PRC’s entry into the UN (1971)
- The Cold War (1945-1991)
- the Korean War (1950-1953)
- the Vietnam War (1955-1975)
What does hegemony mean in IR?
- means one’ has the most powerful status in the world
What is true about Post-Cold war American Hegemony?
- The European Union (1993)
- 9/11 and China’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO)
- Bill Clinton and others believed genuinely China would
pursue political changes
- Bill Clinton and others believed genuinely China would
- Arab Spring democratization movement (2011)
- COVID pandemic (2020)
- Russian invasion of Ukraine (2022)
What is true about International Relations?
- Western thinkers, ideas, history is dominant and influential in IR theories and practice
- History as the story of the victor
- Relatively short history as an academic discipline
- unbiblical understanding of history
What are types of actors in the world?
- states: nations
- non-state actors: IGO’s/NGO’s, MNC’s, Individuals
What is the definition of a nation?
- A group of people who share a set of characteristics
- history, language, ethnicity, tradition, and customs
ex: Jews, Koreans
- history, language, ethnicity, tradition, and customs
What is the definition of a “State”?
- A legally organized political society
What are the 4 qualifications of a “state”, according to the Montevideo Convention on the rights and duties of the states (1993)?
- a defined territory
- a permanent population
- (legitimately coercive) government
- diplomatic recognition (by other states, and the UN)
In reality, what is true about a “state”?
- territory is not always well defined and fluid
- people are not always obedient to gov’t
- unclear how many other states need to recognize
ex: China’s one china policy with Taiwan; Kosovo, Palestine
What is true about a nation within one or several states?
- The Kurds (30 million) scattered in Turkey, Syria, Iran
- The Kashmiri (5.6 million) scattered in India and Pakistan
- Tibetans (6 million) scattered in China, and India
- Israel (prior to 1948)
- China has 54 different ethnic groups
What is the definition of “nation-state”?
- A sovereign state providing a homeland for one dominant national group and containing no significant presence of another national group
- ex: Korea, Japan, France, Egypt, Italy, Germany
What is true about UN membership?
- there 193 member states
- 2 nonvoting members; Palestine, Vatican City
- Kosovo, and Taiwan are not UN members
Who are the members of the UN security council?
- U.S., China, France, U.K., Russia