Int Pol Flashcards
(66 cards)
Provocation
a. a strategy intended to provoke the target
government into making a disproportionate response that alienates moderates in the terrorists’ home society or in other sympathetic
audiences
b. Given their strategy to hide among non-terrorists, often entails civilian casualties, can lead home populations to believe more to fear from target than terrorist organizations
c. The use of drones in pakistan led the local population to be more likely to support the extremists because the US was killing more civilians than the extremists themselves leading to the overall fear of the US being larger
d. reason why civil wars tend to be bloodier
e. -media “war” to gain positive coverage
Asymmetric Warfare-
a. Armed conflict between actors with highly unequal military capabilities, such as when terrorists or rebel groups fight strong states (US fighting Al-Qaeda because they have highly unequal military capabilities).
b. There are many civilian casualties due to guerilla warfare, thus contributing to rebel/terrorist groups provocation strategy to build sympathy in their favor
c. In these conflicts we lack information about the true capabilities of the weaker actor, thus are unable to detect if they are acquiring Nuclear weapons or manufacturing them.
How to establish credibility?
- random behavior
- resolve
- testing/showdowns
- ambiguity
- clear red lines
Extremists-
a. Actor whose interests are not widely shared by others; individuals or groups that are politically weak relative to the demands they make.
b. Extremist want their “extreme” goals to be met and because they are unwilling to compromise this leads to bargaining failure. (e.g. Iraq and Afghanistan)
c. Furthermore, political concessions with extremists are unlikely to work, thus it leads to intervention from other international actors.
c. Extremist are often recruited for terrorism
Terrorism-
a. The use of violence against against civilians/ government to bring about political change
b. The home country is not the target country, creating international tension between home countries and targeted countries
c. Terrorism can be used as an excuse for military intervention from international actors who might have a private agenda (e.g. Afghanistan)
Conditions for deterrence
- No Preventive War (defeats the purpose) because you need two countries amassing nuclear weapons.
- Second Strike survivability- if you are being attacked, you have to be able to strike back, so there is no incentive for a country to wage a war with you in the first place
- No Accidents- given the danger of nuclear accidents
Deterrence:
a. An effort to preserve the status quo through the threat of force.
b. Deterrence leads to an increase in proxy wars via conventional means (e.g. Vietnam, Korea)
c. This concept leads to an arms race to close the missile gap to guarantee second strike ability
d. States might go to great length to establish credibility (e.g. berlin blockade)
Horizontal Vs Vertical Proliferation
Vertical: an increase in a country’s stockpile of nuclear
weapons (USSR v US)
- Horizontal: an increase in the number of countries that posses nuclear weapons
Nuclear Proliferation:
a. The spread of Nuclear Weapons, which is a consequence of deterrence to promote peace
c. Nuclear proliferation increases tension around military standoff (e.g Cuban missile crisis was only severe because nuclear weapons were involved)
d. Nuclear proliferation is dangerous because of the possibility of human error (accidents) or ending up in the wrong hands (e.g terrorists)
Cap-and-trade:
a. Are permits to produce greenhouse gas emissions which can then be traded
b. This is costly to implement, therefore, there is a distribution conflict among countries because countries have to decide how to distribute these costs (e.g. China should pay higher
c. This creates a collective action problem because they need to be implemented on a global scale to have significant impact on the environment.
Externalities
a. Are the costs or benefits for stakeholders other than the actor making the decision.
b. In the context of the environment, there are measure to internalize externalities (e.g. carbon tax or cap-and-trade system.)
c. This is a collective actions problem because it is costly and many countries do not want to pay the cost of their internalized impact on the environment (they are free-riders), thus causing conflict between countries (e.g rhino horn and china).
Human Rights
a. the rights possessed by all individuals by virtue of being human, regardless of their status as citizens of particular states or members of a group or organization
b. States sign human rights agreements out of a “self interest” to prevent domestic political unrest and insurrection abroad that could spill into neighboring states and ripple through international community.
c. Cultural relativism creates a disagreement between states on what constitutes as a human right and thus what are human rights violations (E.g. Female Genital Mutilation in Kenya, abortion)
Boomerang Model
a. A Process through which NGOs in one state are able to activate transnational linkages to bring pressure from other states on their own governments
b. It is a “global accountability method” and through this model governments become accountable to not only their own country, but it also creates an international audience of actors. (E.g. Apartheid)
c. However, this model only works as a global accountability method, if TAN’s in other countries are informed on issues that are impacting the country at hand and thus able to publicize the issue internationally. (i.e. Human trafficking conventions)
Transnational Advocacy Network (TANs)
a. a set of individuals and non-governmental organizations acting in pursuit of a normative objective
b. TANs reflect the interests and international prominence of liberal, democratic states that have active domestic civil societies and project these onto the global system.
c. In many cases, TAN’s are needed in order to publicize issues and mobilize a response internationally for domestic abuses. (i.e. Apartheid)
Crimes Against Humanity
a. Particularly odious offenses that violate the human rights granted to all human beings
b Crimes against humanity is an international law, resting on a common humanity that is superior to that of any state, thus this law clearly constraints and limits the rights of states within the international community.
c. Crimes against humanity creates a disparity between national law and international law because what is legal on a state level may be considered illegal internationally (e.g. Nuremberg Trials)
International Law
a. a body of rules that binds states and other agents in world politics and is considered to have the status of the law: foundational principle of sovereignty—logically coherent, more formal and consistent than norms
b. Unfortunately, international laws are much harder to enforce than domestic law, which are more precise but still hard to enforce,
c. Unlike international norms, which are not always voluntary, states must agree to become part of a treaty; therefore, individual states have more leverage and control over their sovereignty (E.g. US has not signed Kyoto protocol)
Poverty Trap (CB)
a. The Poverty trap is a spiraling mechanism which forces people to remain poor, unable to escape poverty, thus making foreign aid the key to moving people out of “the trap”
b. There is debate within the international community on whether foreign aid can create a solution to the trap or creates further dependency thus making the best solution self-guided (IS THIS A IMPLICATION)
c. (e.g. WHAT IS AN EXAMPLE foreign countries giving money to push the population through the threshold)
Export-Oriented Industrialization
a. set of policies to spur manufacturing for export: usually involves subsidies and incentives for export production (low-tax loans and tax breaks, very weak currency), pursued in 1960s by several East Asian countries
b. A strategy of export-oriented industrialization led some developing countries to produce high- quality goods to be sold overseas. (e.g. highly successful with textile factories in South Korea) (IS THIS OK)
c. This is an uneven model that devaluates the currency, which works in asia but it creates tension internationally because other countries are unable to compete. (e.g. US v china)
Resource Curse
a. Theory prompted by the strong correlation between resource wealth and underdevelopment, in which initial wealth gives rise to subsequent poverty and there is concentrated wealth in a small elite
b. Foreign aid is much more impactful when the problem is not political, giving money for roads and schools in these resource rich countries does little when there is a small political elite
c. The poor local population is vastly overworked and underpaid so that a few people reap the benefits of the demand, thus creating a poverty trap that needs the intervention of foreign aid but won’t necessarily receive it.
Import Substituting Industrialization
a. set of policies to reduce imports and encourage domestic manufacturing: usually involves trade barriers, subsidies to manufacturing, and state ownership of basic industries, industries it encouraged weren’t efficient, not competitive on world market.
b. Import substitution policies meant that many LDCs attempted to produce most manufactured goods domestically, but these industries were not as efficient or competitive on world market (E.g. Brazil and Mexico started automobile industries from scratch in 1950’s)
c. These policies reflected the view that engagement with the world economy could be an impediment to national economic development, but the insularity of protected markets actually left many manufacturers technically backwards, making low quality products
Currency Depreciation (CB)
a. currency’s value goes down against some other currency: more expensive for holders of the currency to buy foreign goods, cheaper for foreigners to buy the country’s goods
b. It creates a win lose situation in international monetary relations, where one actors currency does better than the other.
c. Some actors within a country will win(exporters,) and some will lose(consumers)
Exchange Rate
a. The price of a national currency relative to other national currencies
b. When there is a high foreign demand for investing in US, there is a high demand for US currency and thus a high price of US currency (i.e. appreciation)
c. Countries with lots of economic activity across borders face pressure to stabilize or fix currency’s value
d. Economic problems can lead to pressure to devalue a currency; however, millions of debtors go bankrupt, banks fail, and banking crisis and recession follows.
International Monetary Fund
a. Established in 1944 to manage international monetary relations and gradually reoriented to focus on international financial system: manage the international monetary system.
b. When the IMF gives a country inexpensive loans there are strings attached that are harsh but necessary for successful development
c. Unfortunately these attached strings are only nominally “optional”(??) and violate the sovereignty of a state.
d. Tries to stabilize financial relations between countries.
Foreign Direct Investment
a. Private actors investing in foreign countries.
b. When you invest in foreign countries and the country expropriates, you are at risk based on the internal issues of the country
c. There is a greater ability to exploit workers in foreign countries and reduce jobs in the home country
