Glopo HL

2.9

Theoretical perspectives Realism

Realism – a theoretical perspective in which power is seen as
the currency of global politics.
States are concerned with how much power they have and how
much power they have relative to other states
Global Politics IS Power Politics
why do states want power?
classical realism:
human nature want power
States are led with by individuals with an innate need to
dominate their rivals
Structural realism:
sates pursue power because of nature of the international
system.
States are trapped in an iron cage where they have little option
but to complete with each other for power to ensure their own
survival.
Structural – It’s the system fault, it’s not the human nature that
wants power
Classical – It’s in human nature to want power
Classical: Power is the goal
Structural: Power is a means to a goal. The goal is the survival
of the state itself
 Structural realism
A state’s power come from 2 sources:

The material capabilities a state controls: military resources

such as armed soldiers and nuclear weapons.
Latent power: based on a state’s wealth and size of its overall
population.

5 keys assumptions of structural realism:

1. States operate in an anarchic global system – There is no
central authority that stands above the state, for example the
UN doesn’t really have power it’s can just influence or give an
advice.
2. all states possess some offensive military capability, each
state has the power to inflict harm upon its neighbors
3. states can NEVER know the intentions of other states (even If
you are friends you don’t know if they are lying or not)
4. The main goal of states is survival. If you don’t survive you
can’t achieve other goals.
5. States are rational actors, states come with rational plans in
order to survive, they might be wrong and do big mistakes
because they are not perfect, or they got wrong information.
but they do what they need to do in order to survive.

Revisionist states - states that want to change the balance of

power
Status quo states - states that have no interest in using force to
change the balance of power.
Offensive Structural Realism Defensive Structural Realism

dIt makes sense for states to Unwise for states to maximise

pursue as much as power as
possible
States should pursue
hegemony where possible
their share of power as the
global political system will
punish them if they attempt
to gain too much
Pursuit of hegemony is foolish

*Hegemony – One country has control in every aspect on other

countries, for example: political, economic and military
7.9

Liberalism
In international relations, liberalism refers to an emphasis on
interdependence between states.

Key principles:
Societies and states have become so interdependent by second
of 20th century that, according to liberalism, the way they
relate to each other changed in fundamental ways.

Interdependence: The idea that states and their fortunes are

connected to each other, What happens in one state can have
effects on another state, Relations between two states can
greatly affect the relations between other states,
Liberalism suggests a particular kind of interdependence which
is known as Complex Interdependence. Complex
interdependence Started after WWII and was in place by 1970s
Realism Liberalism
Realism sees states as only Liberalism does not deny
significant actors – so global importance of
politics is confined to state- state-to-state relations – but
to-state relations it proposes that states are not
the only important actors in
global politics
Liberals do not deny the
existence of conflict
but argue cooperation is the
norm.
Every country do some Some states have small/no
damage militaries
 Non-state actors in global politics
 Transnational corporations e.g McDonalds, Apple
 Nongovernmental organisations e.g. Catholic church,
 Red Cross, Amnesty International
 Intergovernmental organizations e.g. United Nations
 (UN), European Union (EU)
 According to Liberalism, these are all important
 international connections across state boundaries

Substate actors in global politics

 Non-multinational business that buys imported goods
from abroad
 Provincial government trade missions
 Individuals – who travel abroad or may have friendships
with individuals in other countries.

Multiple issues of interest to variety of global

d actors
 States are not only interested in military security
 Economic, ideological, religious, and cultural issues are
part of the global agenda
 9.9
Soft power and hard power
soft power come from the culture, from the love the country.

14.9
The Emergence of the Nation State

Throughout world history, people have belonged to many types

of political organization including. bands, tribes, chiefdoms and
states
Modern Nation State System born with Peace of Westphalia
(1648) Peace of Westphalia ended The Thirty Years War.
Nation – A group of people who feel a common identity due to
a shared language culture and history.

16.9
sovereignty:

24.10
Ngo assignment:
Record: information about the knight reward, annual reports
and record me reading everything.
Which level does it operates (national level)
Links:
https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%94%D7%9E
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%D7%93

11.1.2023
Inter war – war between different countries.
Intra – war inside on country (civil war).

24.2.2023
What are sanctions? Sanctions restrict trade in some way.
Sanctions are being used as a diplomatic tool.

Peace and conflict:

The theory of Balance of Power – national security strengthens
when military capability is distributed so that no single state is
strong enough to overpower all others.
There are 4 ways to counter an external threat:
Balancing - Balance the power of the threat, internally
(increase your power, economic, military…) or externally
(strengthening and enlarging one’s alliances and interstate
cooperation in order to prevent a hegemony of another state
for example NATO)
Bandwagon – Aligning with a stronger state that the positives
reward will disproportionately be given more to the stronger
state. You don’t need recourses for this, but you want to
progress much.