Midterm Review

Question 1

Anarchy

Answer 1

Liberals and Realists believe anarchy is an absence of over arching authority and is the reason why the state must exist. Constructivists believe anarchy is what you make of it; anarchy is part of a continuum and a particular conception will become relevant or irrelevant depending on the consequences of that conception upon the actors involved. Postmodernists disregard the existence and significance of anarchy entirely, and view any conception of anarchy as socially constructed and used as a tool in one’s arsenal of rational ideas to dominate others.

Question 2

Realism

Answer 2

Key thinkers: Thucydides, Machiavelli, Hobbes, and Morgenthau. Believes that the international system is anarchic, and this anarchy causes states to be in constant antagonism with one another. Realism views the state as the principle unit of analysis. Rationality is seen as exogenous to the international system, and rationality is defined through self-interest. Each state is guided by self-interest which results in a zero-sum game over a fight for power. The international system can be stabilized by a balance of power.

Question 3

Thucydides

Answer 3

Athenian political philosopher who is considered the fathers of Realism. Wrote the Melian Dialogue, which recounts an exchange between the Athenians and Melians in the context of the Peloponnesian War. Established that the primary unit of analysis in international relations is the state (i.e. state envoys talk with other state envoys.) Power is defined over material resources. State fears being overthrown by its subjects, not by being conquered by a power which rules over others. Defines justice as “the strong do what they have the power to do and the weak accept what they have to accept.” Similarly, moral code is “to stand up yo one’s equals, to behave with deference towards one’s superiors, and to treat one’s inferiors with moderation.” Power is a zero-sum game. Realism does not talk in “what if’s” it talks in “what is.”

Question 4

Niccolo Machiavelli

Answer 4

Italian political philosopher during the Renaissance who wrote the Prince to advise the Medici family on how to rule. He states that the sole aim of the Prince is to seek and maintain political power. Machiavelli divorces morality of political action. For example, he presents three options of what to do with acquired states: ruin them, reside their in person, or to permit them to live under their own laws, drawing a tribute, and establishign within it an oligarchy which will kept it friendly to you. He notes the safest option is to destroy the conquered city and replace it with a colony, especially if the city was a republic. The Prince should not bind himself to acting under virtue or against vice; he should act in the context of the circumstances. Conquer or be conquered; power is a zero-sum game. Don’t make allies with those more powerful than you for the purpose of attacking others unless necessary because you will be at that ally’s discretion.

Question 5

Thomas Hobbes

Answer 5

17th century English political philosopher who wrote the Leviathan in which he lies out the conditions of mankind. Establishes human nature in the state of nature as poor, nasty, short, brutish, and solitary. Each man believes to have an equality in ability with other men, which is why men compete and become enemies. Every man thinks his companion should value him at the same rate he sets upon himself. There are three principle reasons for conflict: competition (gain), diffidence (defense), glory (reputation). The nature of war is the belief when there is a threat, not in the actual fighting. Scarcity, which increases as a ruler has more subjects, necessitates further conflict over material. There is no such thing as justice or morality in the international system because the international system is anarchic; thus, states are solitary and do not abide by conventions of virtue. States and men seek peace because of a fear of death; desire for better living conditions; and a hope by their industry to obtain said conditions.

Question 6

Hans J. Morgenthau

Answer 6

20th century intellectual who defined realism under six principles:

1. Politics is governed by objective laws that are rooted in human nature
2. States act in terms of interest, and interest is defined by power, i.e, anything that establishes and maintains the control of man over man.
3. Power is an objective category which is universally valid, but the conditions that define power aren’t fixed; power is determined by the political and cultural environment.
4. Universal moral principles cannot be applied to the actions of states. Prudence is moral because the ends justify the means.
5. Political Realism refuses to identify the moral aspirations of a particular nation with the moral laws that govern the universe.
6. Realism is separate from other social science spheres because it analyzes policy in relation to the state’s power per se.

Question 7

Balance of Power

Answer 7

The idea that international stability can be achieved when no one state is strong enough to dominate the other. If one state/group of states becomes too powerful, then other states will form a coalition and intervene to restore the balance of power. Power is measured as material power. This contrasts with the Constructivist idea of a balance of threat, which states that actors organize themselves according to threat. Threat is based upon identities; therefore, threat goes beyond the material.

Question 8

Liberalism

Answer 8

Liberalism is based upon the assurance of world-wide self-determinism. Like realism, Liberalism believes the world is anarchic (i.e. lack of an overarching authority) and must be managed through cooperation in order to establish peace. Cooperation can be obtained through establishment of international institutions which can set laws, rules, and regulations that Liberal state actors must follow. Liberalism claims to guarantee absolute gains for participants, i.e., an equal. Doyle argues that democracies (liberal states) do not fight because fighting would lead to economic and strategic ramifications. Because liberal states do not fight one another, liberals instead try to spread liberalism in order to ensure world cooperation and thus world peace.

Question 9

Immanuel Kant

Answer 9

18th century German philosophy who articulated the idea of liberalism in his work “Perpetual Peace.”

Question 10

League of Peace

Answer 10

An institution that would maintain the security and freedom of states within the league through cooperation. Kant believed the “practicability” of this idea of a federation would spread all over the world and lead to a perpetual peace.

Question 11

Forms of Government

Answer 11

How power is organized. There are two forms of gov’t: republic (exercise of power through representatives) or despotic (exercise of absolute power)

Question 12

Forms of Sovereignty

Answer 12

Where power lies. There are three forms of sovereignty: autocracy (rule by one), aristocracy (rule by elite), and democracy (rule by the people.)

Question 13

Perpetual Peace

Answer 13

Hypothetical situation where all states are at peace with one another in the world. Kant first lays out six conditions that should be undertaken immediately in order to achieve this peace:

1. “No secret treaty of peace shall be held valid in which there is tacitly reserved matter for a future war”
2. “No independent states, large or small, shall come under the dominion of another state by inheritance, exchange, purchase, or donation”
3. “Standing armies shall in time be totally abolished”
4. “National debts shall not be contracted with a view to the external friction of states”
5. “No state shall by force interfere with the constitution or government of another state”
6. “No state shall, during war, permit such acts of hostility which would make mutual confidence in the subsequent peace impossible: such are the employment of assassins, poisoners, breach of capitulation, and incitement to treason in the opposing state”

Kant then lays out three qualities that that each state must have in their foundation in order for this perpetual peace to be achieved.
1. “The civil constitution of every state should be republican”
“The law of nations shall be founded on a federation of free states”
“The law of world citizenship shall be limited to conditions of universal hospitality”

Question 14

Woodrow Wilson

Answer 14

19th President of the United States who wrote the 14 points, which derived many of its ideas from Kant’s work Perpetual Peace. Wilson’s 14 points is a practical demonstration of liberalism. Wilson translated the idea of a League of Peace into the League of Nations. Wilson also derived his ideas regarding self-determinism and eqaulity of all nations, the banning of secret treaties, and the greatest possible reduction of national armaments from Kant’s Perpetual Peace.

Question 15

Absolute Gains

Answer 15

Gains in power for everyone. Power is not a zero-sum game because when there is an equal distribution of gains, everyone benefits.

Question 16

Relative Gains

Answer 16

Gains for the individual; self-interest. Power is a zero-sum game.

Question 17

Karl Marx

Answer 17

Marx believes that the primary unit of analysis in international relations is class. Marx believes this because he believes that the means of production determine the relations of production Marx believes history progressed from feudalism to capitalism and is now in the process of evolving into a final communist stage. In order to reach the communist stage, the following process will occur: The bourgeoisie will provide the general/political education to the proletariat in order to fight the bourgeoisie of foreign countries. After being educated, the proletariat will begin to experience class consciousness, realize their oppression, and rise up against the bourgeoisie all over the world. The proletarian revolution results in the destruction of individual property. and thus the political power of the bourgeoisie. The dictatorship of the bourgeoisie will be replaced by the dictatorship of the proletariat. After worldwide class consciousness has been achieved, the dictatorship of the proletariat will begin to wither away and be replaced by a pure democracy, a classless society: communism has been realized. Everyone will know to act for the collective benefit of society. Marx never says how long this process will take; it is implied this process will take generations.

Question 18

Bourgeoisie/Proletariat.

Answer 18

Bourgeoisie: those who own the means of production. Proletariat: working class/laborers; the means of production.

Question 19

Accumulation by Dispossession

Answer 19

(neoliberalism as creative destructivism) Idea coined by David Harvey. Accumulation by dispossession is able to be maintained because of the state’s monopoly on violence and definitions of legality. Bourgeoisie perpetuate this accumulation by dispossession, and are able to because of internationa institutions (IMF, WTO, World Bank.) The definition of this term is: The continuation and proliferation of accretion practices that Marx had designated as “primative” or “original” during the rise of capitalism. These include

(1) the commodification and privatization of land and the forceful expulsion of peasant populations.
(2) conversion of various forms of property rights (common, collective, state, etc.) into exclusively private property rights
(3) suppression of rights ot the commons
(4) commodification of labor power and the suppression of alternative (indigenous) forms of production and consumption
(5) colonial, neocolonial, and imperial processes of appropriation of assets (including natural resources)
(6) monetization of exchange and taxation, particularly land
(7) the slave trade
(8) usury, the national debt, and the use of the credit system as radical means of primitive accumulation.

Question 20

Feminism

Answer 20

The idea women should achieve equality with men.

Question 21

Fukuyama

Answer 21

Fukuyama believes history ended with the advent of Liberalism. It is an idea–liberalism–that has moved people toward the end of history, not material things (e.g. the economic or military power.) He believes there is an inevitable world-wide spread of liberalism. These ideas echo the triumphalism of the end of the Cold War and the idea of the arrival of a new world order (through liberalism.) Because of the trend towards liberalism, large scale conflicts between large state actors has come to an end; however, small-scale conflicts involved small state actors would continue. Fukuyama says that the stability provided by liberalism will make the world dull, boring, and bleak.

Question 22

Constructivism (Hopf/Wendt)

Answer 22

The claim that significant aspects of international relations are historically and socially constructed, rather than inevitable consequecnes of human nture or orther essential characteristics of world politics. Constructivists believe actors and structure are mutually constituted: meaningful behavior (of an actor) only possible within an intersubjective social context (structure). Structure is defined as a set of relatively unchangeable constraints on the behavior of states, and the structure in this case is the intersubjective social context. Thus, anarchy is what states make of it. Identities cause countries to treat other countries differently, and identities are intersubjective. Constructivism believes “interests” are the products of social practices that mutually constitute actors and structures; agency is not constrained, choices are constrained. Core ideas of constructivism: security dilemma, balance of threat, neoliberal cooperation, the Democratic Peace. Constructivism draws its ideas from Foucolt: knowledge-power relationship used as a form of social control through institutions/social structures as well as Gramsci’s idea about cultural hegemony through cultural institutions (social structures).

Question 23

Conventional/Critical constructivism (Hopf)

Answer 23

Conventional constructivism believes in “minimal foundationalism,” which is a type of universalism. They believe practices, norms, institutions, and power relations of identities are fixed. Critical theory belvies constructivism can offer an understanding of social reality but cannot criticize the boundaries of its own understanding. Critical theorists believe the fixed nature of identities, norms, etc are an illusion. Critical theorists explode myths associated with identity formation; thus, critical theory is beyond the scope of constructivism. Critical theorists believe the actor and observer are the same, constructivists don’t. Critical theorists try to specify the origins of identity, and believes power relations lead to identities. Conventional constructivists not interested in examining power struggles because they are interested in the production of new knowledge based on novel understandings. Critical theory analyzes social constraints and cultural understanding for reasons of emancipation.

Question 24

Security Dilemma (Hopf)

Answer 24

Security dilemmas are believed by Liberals and Realists to be caused by uncertainty; however, certainty is a false binary. Constructivists believe that identities reduce insecurity by providing meaning (i.e. a context). For example, an ally owning nuclear weapons versus an enemy owning nuclear weapons allows for the security of a situation to be assessed more effectively.

Question 25

Neoliberal Cooperation (Hopf)

Answer 25

Constructivists investigate how states understand their interests within a particular area. Distribution of identities and interests of the relevant states would help account for feasibility of cooperation. Constructivists believe that institutions can persist past the point that powers have an interest in sustaining them because the identities at play understand one another and can use the institution for another enterprise. Compare to liberalism view on institutions (constr. expands upon liberalism’s view)

Question 26

Democratic Peace (hopf)

Answer 26

Identities do not fight eachother if they understand one another (e.g. democracies.) Compare to Doyle’s idea that liberal powers do not fight each other.

Question 27

Democracy de-Realized

Answer 27

Homi K. Bhabha’s idea that we should analyze the subalterns’ ideas regarding democracy because the subaltern are seeking justice and fairness. Bhahaba cites Gramsci to show that those living in current democracies are not actually living under true democracies because of issues regarding cultural hegemony. For example, the “global city” has a transnational authority over other democracies which creates a “social schizophrenia.” People in other countries lose their own ideas, which are replaced by the ideas of the global city. This cultural hegemony limits true democracy. The international regime cannot realize its own flaws, nor can it advocate how others should experience democracy because its influence doesn’t allow others to experience true democracy. Use of the subaltern as a reference i based on Brecht’s distantiation effect and surrealist derealization which takes away the normative reference and replaces it with a “translation,”… something familiar yet strange.

Question 28

Just War Theory (Walzer and Rengger)

Answer 28

Just war is only just under the rule of violence. The intention of initiating a just war must be to fight an evil for the sake of fighting an evil. Reason for fighting evil can be justified morally or legally. Legal reasoning has subsumed moral reasoning…there are universal rights (legal rights), upholding universal rights is moral; therefore, intervention is justified. A just war is preferred to peace if the conditions of peace infringe upon universal rights. Just War tradition initiated out of casuistry/particularlism…wasn’t actually used to fight evil…was used as an excuse for fighting for self-interest.

Question 29

Utilitarian Defense

Answer 29

The calculated decision to kill some innocents/non-combatants to save many innocents. The utilitarian defense may only be used in the face of the threat of victory of immeasurable evil; however, in using the utilitarian defense one must be willing to accept the burdens of criminality if one is wrong in assessing the threat of defeat by the immeasurable evil as imminent.

Question 30

Munich Principle

Answer 30

Justification of appeasement: “If a nation finds itself called upon to defend another nation which is unjustly attacked and to which it is bound by treaty, then it is bound to fulfill its obligations . . . It may, however, be its right and even its duty, to try to persuade the victim of aggression to avoid the ultimate evil of a general conflict by agreeing to terms less favorable than those which it can claim in justice . . . provide always that such a surrender of rights would not mean in fact a surrender once and for all to the the rule of violence.”

Question 31

Rule of Violence

Answer 31

the rule of men committed to the continual use of violence, to a policy of genocide, terrorism, or enslavement.

Question 32

Just Peace (Obama)

Answer 32

A peace that encompasses civil and political rights as well as economic security and opportunity; self-determinism.