Lecture Notes-1

I. Attendance

II. The Importance of Studying World Politics – What is International Relations?

International relations is the study of the interactions among the various actors that
participate in international politics, including states, international organizations,
nongovernmental organizations, subnational entities like bureaucracies and local
governments, and individuals. It is the study of the behaviors of these actors as they
participate individually and collectively in international political processes.

There are numerous reasons to why we should study international relations. Let’s
discuss three of those reasons – your economic life, your living space, and your very
existence.

World Politics and Your Pocketbook

1. International economics impacts individuals because the world industrial and
financial structures are becoming more intertwined.
The ties between national and international affairs are now so close that a term
has been coined for it – intermestic – the merger of international and domestic
concerns.

World Politics and Your Living Space

1. Population increase and resource depletion
a. The growth of the world’s population and its pressure on resources threaten to
change the quality of life.
b. The world’s population now numbers 7 billion people. At the current rate, we
are adding one billion people every 12 years. The world simply cannot handle
this rapid growth. Not only is this limiting our space, but it is also rapidly
draining our natural resources.

2. Pollution and environmental destruction

The population strain is showing signs on the environment through pollution.
a. Global warming
(1) The sheer emissions of carbon dioxide, over 6 billions tons a year, are
causing global warming.
(2) The 1990s were the warmest decade in history.
(3) Global warming causes concern regarding violent weather, such as
hurricanes, and may lead to the melting of the polar ice caps which could
simply cause countries to disappear.

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World Politics and Your Life
Finally, let’s discuss how international politics can directly affect your life.

1. War
a. Rise in civilian casualties
(1) During the 20th Century, the vast majority of war deaths have been civilians.
Nearly as many civilians as soldiers were killed during WWII, now more
civilians are killed than soldiers.
(2) However, the contemporary wars are no longer professionalized – meaning
that civilians may be the primary victims, but they are also the principal
combatants.
(3) Many countries still have a draft to staff their military services and in some
countries a mandatory service period is required.
(4) The types of combat units in which women are allowed to serve are
expanding. Public attitudes are becoming more acceptable to women in
combat.

V. Theories and Methods

A. Three broad theoretical perspectives
1. Conservative – values maintaining the status quo and discounts the elements
of change in IR
a. Conservative theorists are concerned with power
b. States are the most important actors
c. Conservatives are more concerned with mercantilism
d. Conservative = Realism

2. Liberal – values reform of the status quo through incremental changes

a. Liberal theorists value interdependence
b. Liberal theorists are more concerning with gaining wealth rather than
power
c. Liberal theorists are dominant in international political economy, value
free trade
d. Liberal theorists = Idealism/liberalism
3. Revolutionary – values reform of the status quo through rapid and
revolutionary change
a. Concerned with the unequal relationship of the North-South gap
b. Revolutionary = Economic Structuralism/Radicalism

VI. Levels of Analysis – there are four levels of analysis, but we will only discuss three.
Also, we will discuss them with different names.
A. Four levels
1. Individual
2. Domestic - State
3. Interstate - Systemic
4. Global

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VII. Levels of Analysis
A. Level of Analysis – The basic notion of a level of analysis is that it determines
how political scientists analyze IR. Simply defined, a level of analysis is a three-
part framework that explains international affairs by focusing on the role of
decision-makers, the attributes of states, and the structures of the international
system.

B. Three basic levels of analysis – system, state, and individual.

1. Debate over “which one is best suited to explain events in world politics”

C. System Level Analysis – top down approach to studying world international

relations. It emphasizes the importance of the impact of world conditions on the
actions of states and other international actors. In short, those who support the
system level argue that states within the international system respond to events
that occur in the system. A simpler way to look at this is to say that states react
rather than act under this unit of analysis.

D. The Organization of Authority

1. Vertical versus horizontal
a. Vertical authority structure – a system in which subordinate units
answer to higher levels of authority (the military is an example)
b. Horizontal authority structure – a system in which authority is
fragmented. The international system is characterized by a horizontal
authority structure.
(1) Based on the sovereignty of states
(2) The international system is anarchic – it has no one to settle disputes,
make rules, and provide protection

E. The Actors
1. National actors: States dominate the system and are not responsible to any
higher authority
a. State-centric system – at the systemic level of analysis, the states are the
dominant actor
b. States are tangible political entities also referred to as countries. It is a
political actor that has sovereignty and a number of other characteristics,
including territory, population, organization, and recognition.
c. Nations are cultural entities. They are a group of culturally and
historically similar people who feel a common bond and who feel they
should govern themselves at least to some degree.
(1) Kurds – span parts of Turkey and Iraq, they are not a nation per se, but
a group that has common traits such as history, race, religion, or
culture.
d. Government – two meanings
a. A type of political system, such as a democracy
b. It can also refer to a particular government in power, such as the
Obama government/administration

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2. International government actors: A centralizing force
a. Characteristics of supranational actors
(1) Composed of individual nations
(2) Some suppression of national sovereignty

b. Intergovernmental organization (IGOs) – international agencies

established by states and controlled by member states that deal with areas
of common interest
(1) central administrative structure
(2) gaining more influence in the international system
(3) dramatic increase in number

c. IGO membership
(1) Universal: UN
(2) Regional: EU, OAS, OAU, ASEAN
(3) Interest-based: OPEC
(4) Economic: World Bank and IMF

3. IGO Roles
a. General purpose: UN
(1) Specialized: WHO
(2) Alliances: NATO
(a) Originally designed as a military treaty, but has evolved

4. IGO Authority
a. Supranational organizations: An organization that is founded and operates
on the idea that international organizations should have authority higher
than individual states, and that those states should be subordinate to the
supranational organizations
(1) WTO – Authority to make certain all member states are complying
with trade regulations
(2) EU – 26 states with government and common currency

5. Transnational Actors: Organizations that operate internationally, but whose

membership, unlike IGOs, is private.
a. Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) – Private associations of
individuals or groups that engage in political activity usually across
national borders
(1) Composed of individuals as members
(2) The influence and range of activities, as well as the number of NGOs
are growing
(3) International Red Cross as example
(4) Transnational Advocacy Networks (TANs) – IGOs, NGOs, and
national organizations that are based on shared values or common
interest and exchange information and services

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 b. Multinational Corporations (MNCs) – private enterprises with
production facilities, sales, or activities in several states
(1) Ford, Shell Oil, and Microsoft as examples
(2) MNCs produce huge amounts of revenue

VIII. Understanding State-Level Analysis

A. The Differences between State-Level and System-Level Analysis
1. System-level of analysis – top down approach to studying international
relation. It emphasizes the importance of the impact of world conditions on
the actions of states and other international actors. Those who support the
system level argue that states within the international system respond to
events that occur in the system.

2. State-level analysis is concerned with the characteristics of an individual

country and the impacts of those traits on the country’s behavior. State-level
analysts believe that states are the key international actors. If we can
understand how states decide policy we can understand how international
politics operates. This is also known as “looking inside the black box.”

3. The systemic level says that states are constrained by the international system
through rules and norms, polarity, and balance of power. The state level says
that are not constrained, rather they are free to decide their own policies.

B. State-Level Analysis: The Study of What Countries Do

1. The study of what countries do revolves around interactions between
governments – these governments are trying to understand why another state
is acting the way it does and hopefully anticipate their next move.

Levels of Analysis – Individual Level Analysis

A. System-level – general, broad, macroscopic approach
B. State-level – mid-range approach
C. Individual-level – specific, microscopic approach
D. Fundamental task of individual-level analysis is to understand the processes of
decision making – the process by which humans choose which policy to pursue
and which actions to take in support of policy goals. The study of decision
making seeks to identify patterns in the way that humans make decisions. This
includes gathering information, analyzing information, and making choices.
Decision making is a complex process that relates to personality and other human
traits, to the sociopolitical setting in which decision makers function, and to the
organizational structures involved.