The Globalization of

International Relations

Dr. Clayton Thyne

PS 235-001: World Politics
Spring 2009

Goldstein & Pevehouse,

International Relations, 8/e

Student notes version

1
 The Study of International Relations
• International relations concerns…

• Narrowly defined:

– Many other actors exist – …

– Relationships cannot be understood...

– Central trend in IR today:

2
 IR and Daily Life
• IR profoundly affects your life as well as that of other
citizens.

• War is among the most pervasive international

influences in daily life, even in peacetime.

• World is shrinking year by year.

3
 Core Principles
• IR revolves around one key problem:

• How can a group – such as two or more nations – serve its

________________ when doing so requires its members to forego
their ________________ interests?

• Example:

• 3 solutions…the next 3 slides (see Table 1.1 on p. 6)

4
 CA solution #1: Dominance
• Solves the collective goods problem by…

• Advantage(s):

• Disadvantage(s):

• Nuke example:

5
 CA solution #2: Reciprocity
• Solves the collective goods problem by…

• Advantage(s):

• Disadvantage(s):

• Nuke example:

6
 CA solution #3: Identity
• Solves the collective goods problem by…

• Advantage(s):

• Disadvantage(s):

• Nuke example:

7
 IR as a Field of Study
• IR is about international politics, but the field is _________________

• Practical discipline

• IR is 1 of 4 subfields in political science. The others are…

– _______________________

– _______________________

– _______________________

• General focus of IR:

8
 State Actors
• Most important actors in IR are __________________.

• State:
– State government exercises ___________________over its territory.
– Recognized as ____________________ by other states
– Seat of government with a leader

• State definition versus:

- Nation:
- Country:
- Nation-state:

• Some “quasi-states”:

9
 State Actors
• International system
– Def:

– Modern international system has existed for less than

_____________________ years.

– Great variation on a number of key variables,

including…[see next 6 slides].

10
 The World Today:
Major Powers

State % of power
FRN .022824
UKG .024668
GMY .029424
JPN .051258
RUS .052549
CHN .128823
USA .149792
11
 The World Today:
80
60 Concentration of Power
% of states

40
20
0

0 .05 .1 .15 12
Capability
 The World Today:
Democracy
Distribution of Democracy
40
30
Frequency

20
10
0

-10 -5 0 5 10
Polity Scale 13
.6
.4
.2 Proportion of Democracies in the System
0

1800 1850 1900 1950 2000

Year
14
Figure 1.1

15
 Economic Output

very low (87)

low (5)
moderate (46)
high (45)

16
 GDP/capita

very poor (45)

poor (44)
medium (45)
wealthy (44)
No data (5)

17
 population

very low (46)

low (46)
medium (46)
high (45)

18
 Democracy

very repressive (41)

non-democracies (37)
moderate democracies (45)
strong democracies (32)
No data (28)

19
 Military Expenditures

very low (46)

low (44)
moderate (45)
high (45)
No data (3)

20
 A Closer Look at the US
US vs World Mean Military Personnel
15000
10000
5000

1920 1940 1960 1980 2000

Year
US Military Personnel Military Personnel-Global Average
21
 A Closer Look at the US
US vs World Mean Military Expenditures
3.00e+08
2.00e+08
1.00e+08

1920 1940 1960 1980 2000

Year
US Military Expenditures Military Exp-Global Avg.
22
 Nonstate Actors
• Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs)

• Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)

• Multinational corporations

• Substate actors

• Individuals
23
 Levels of Analysis
• Many actors involved in IR

• Response:

24
25
 Levels of Analysis
• Levels of analysis help…

• No correct level for a given “why” question

• Example: War in Iraq

– Individual:

– Domestic:

– Interstate:

– Global:
26
 Globalization
• Many trends:

• Globalization: Three conceptions of this process compete.

1. Liberal economic principles/global marketplace:

2. Skepticism:

3. Middle ground:

• Globalization is changing both international security and IPE, but 27

________________ more quickly and profoundly.
 The Evolving International System
• The basic structures and principles of international
relations are deeply rooted in historical developments.
• WWI and WWII occupied only ten years of the 20th
century, but shaped the character of the century.
• We’ll briefly look at key events of the 20th century,
focusing on the post Cold War era (1990+), including…
– WWI (1914-18)
– WWII (1939-45)
– Cold War (1946-90)

28
 WWI (1914-18)
• WWI (the war to end all wars):

• WWI was not short or decisive:

• 2 main outcomes:
1. Ended w/ __________________________

2. Led to the ____________________________________

29
 WWII (1939-45)
• U.S. ___________________
between WWI and WWII,
declining _______________
power, and a
_________________ crippled
by its own revolution left a
power vacuum in the world.

• In the ____________, Germany

and Japan stepped into the
vacuum w/ aggressive
expansionism.

• Policies of _________________
allowed Hitler to occupy almost
all of Europe

30
 WWI & WWII: contradictory lessons
• Lesson from WWI:

• Lesson from WWII:

• IR scholars have not discovered a simple

formula for choosing______________________.
31
 The Cold War, 1945-1990
• U.S. and Soviet Union – two superpowers of the post-WWII era:

• Central concern of the West:

• Sino-Soviet alliance:

• Scholars do not agree on why the Cold War ended:

32
.4
.3
.2
.1
0

1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000

US strength USSR strength

33
 The Cold War, 1945-1990
• Key events:
– Korean War
– Vietnam War
– Afghanistan War
– Many other proxy wars…
•Greek Civil War, 1946-1949
•Malaysian Emergency, 1948-1960
•Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1948-Present
•Korean War, 1950-1953
•Cuban Revolution, 1953-1959
•Tibetan insurgency, 1954-1973
•Vietnam War, 1957-1975
•Guatemalan Civil War, 1960-1996
•Congo Crisis, 1960-1965
•Bay of Pigs Invasion, 1961
•Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962
•Angolan Civil War, 1974-2002
•Ogaden War,1977-1978
•Afghan-Soviet War, 1979-1989
•Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979
•Iran-Iraq war, 1980-1988
•Invasion of Grenada, 1983 34
 The Post-Cold War Era, 1990-2007
• Many key events…
– Iraq invades Kuwait, 1990  Gulf War
– Collapse of Soviet Union 
• Declaration of republics as sovereign states
• Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
• Western relations with Russia mixed since the 1990s
– Little external aid for Russia during the harsh economic transition
– Break-up of the former Yugoslavia
– Rwanda genocide
– US “go it alone” policies
– 9/11 attacks
– War on Terrorism: Iraq and Afghanistan
– Nuke problems w/ Iran and N. Korea

35