I. Introduction
A. Every semester, I kick off Pols 4 by asking the following Questions:
1. What is International Relations?
2. Why do countries and ethnic groups go to war with one another & what contributes to peaceful relations?
3. How can we best understand the MAJOR EVENTS that confront the globes more than 6B people?
4. How can we anticipate their future significance?
and
5. How can we understand/anticipate the factors/forces that most influence world's future?
B. Robert Keohane essay on the "Big Questions in the Study of IR" (brilliant essay cataloguing what scholars of IR spend their time reading, thinking, and writing about...If you have time give it a spin...)
C. Today, we start by looking at some terms that will provide a basis for understanding world politics for the remainder of the term:
1. International Relations
2. States/Nation-States
3. IGOs
4. INGOs
5. MNCs
6. Levels of Analysis Approach to Understanding IR
II. Basic Concepts
A. Basic IR Concepts
1. International Relations/Global Politics:
a. Ray & Kaarbo (p. 2): “concerns the relations b/n different actors in the world, the characteristics of those relations, and their consequences”
b. K&W (p. 6): "the patterns of interaction among actors in the global arena"
c. Viotti & Kauppi: "interaction among actors on issues external to states or that cross the frontiers or boundaries of state jurisdiction"
d. Wikipedia Definition: "International relations(IR), a branch of political science, is the study of foreign affairs and global issues among states within the international system, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations (IGOs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and multinational corporations (MNCs)."
e. Funny take on Politics/International Relations with Ali G:
2.Great Resources for IR/IR Research
a. UNT Professor Paul Hensel's IR Page
b. Richard Kimber's IR Resources Page
c. Tuft's University IR Resources Page
B. Types of Actors
a. Ray & Kaarbo (p 4): “states are govts that exercise supreme, or sovereign, authority over a defined territory”
b. K&W (p.55): "a legal entity with a permanent population, a well-defined territory, and a government capable of exercising sovereignty"
c. Viotti & Kauppi: "A geographic entity governed by a central authority, whose leaders claim to represent all persons w/n its territory"
d. Matt Rosenberg (About.com): " A State (note the capital "S") is a self-governing political entity. The term State can be used interchangeably with country. A nation, however, is a tightly-knit group of people which share a common culture. A nation-state is a nation which has the same borders as a State." How many nation-states are there?
e. I don't think she understands what a state is...wow. Scary we produce adults like this from our public schools.
f. Not sure Sarah Palin understands what a country is either...at least in 2008.
2. International Governmental Organizations (IGOs): *Ray calls them “transnational actors” (I don’t care which term you use)
a. Ray and Kaarbo: IGOs "are multilateral institutions created by states in order to pursue common objectives that cannot be achieved unilaterally. Are termed multilateral b/c two or more states are members"
b. Wikipedia Definition: "An international organization is by definition any organization with international membership, scope or presence, however, in common usage, it is a term commonly reserved for intergovernmental organizations (IGO) such as the United Nations, the European Community or the World Trade Organization, with sovereign states or other IGOs as members."
c. Answers.com: "Institution drawing membership from at least three states, having activities in several states, and whose members are held together by a formal agreement."
3. International Nongovernmental Organizations (INGOs) *Ray calls them NGOs*
Funny Egyptian McDonalds ad... Funny iphone ap. ad....
a. "INGOs are composed of private, nonstate international actors that cut across national boundaries." Are 4 categories of NGOs:
(1) Private Sector Economic Organizations: Multi-National Corporations (MNCs) are the most noteworthy of this type of NGO...motivated by expanding market share and profits
(2) INGOs with Political, Economic, or Social Agendas: Examples of this type of NGO are orgs like Greenpeace, Amnesty Intl...act as pressure groups to influence state behavior or to increase global awareness of problems (human rights, global warming etc)
(3) Non-Political INGOs: humanitarian relief orgs such as Doctors w/o Borders which is an org that sends medical doctors into horrible situations all over the globe...Do NOT take sides in civil or intl conflicts...Now about 26,000 such non-political NGOs (up from 6000 in 1990)
(4) Terrorist Organizations and Criminal Networks: Have limited agendas and relatively small constituencies, but are centered on challenging the intl rule of law...represents the down side of the emrging global civil society. Examples include but are NOT limited to: al Qaeda; FARC; ETA; HAMAS (now the "legitimate" government of the PA), etc.
III. Levels of Analysis (Ray, pp164-166)
A. Levels of Analysis: K&W (p.13)--"the different aspects of and agents in international affairs that may be stressed in interpreting world politics and explaining global phenomena, depending on whether the analyst chooses to focus on 'wholes' or on 'parts'"
B. The different “levels” or ways of analyzing intl politics are:
1. Individual Level: John Rourke argues that the individual-level of analysis focuses on human actors on the world stage. This approach begins by identifying the characteristics of the complex process of human decision making which includes gathering information, analyzing that information, establishing goals, pondering options, and making policy choices. The human role in the world drama can be addressed from three different perspectives: human nature, organizational behavior, and idiosyncratic behavior. Human nature involves the way in which fundamental human characteristics affect decisions. Organizational behavior looks at how humans interact within organized settings, such as a decision-making group. Idiosyncratic behavior explores how the peculiarities of individual decision makers affect foreign policy.
2. State Level: John Rourke explains that State-level analysis, a second approach to understanding world politics, emphasizes the national states and their internal processes as the primary determinants of the course of world affairs. As such, this approach focuses on midrange factors that are less general than the macroanalysis of the international system but less individualistic than the microanalytical focus of human-level analysis.How well do you understand the roles of various actors in making foreign policy such as bureaucracies, legislatures, or interest groups? How do you feel about our government's foreign policy?
3. Global System: According to John Rourke, System-level analysis is a "top-down" approach to studying world politics. It begins with the view that countries and other international actors operate in a global social-economic-political-geographic environment and that the specific characteristics of the system help determine the pattern of interaction among the actors. Systems analysts believe that any system operates in somewhat predictable ways--that there are behavioral tendencies that the actor countries usually follow.
Concepts
1) IR questions
2) Concepts:
a. intl relations
b. states
c. IGOs
d. INGOs (Private Sector, Agenda based, Non-political, Terrorists)
