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Contents
Acknowledgements xii
Introduction xiii
Interdisciplinarity xiii
Chapter Structure xiv
Literacy in International Studies xv
Chapter Ordering and Rationale xvi
Conclusion xviii
Notes xviii
3 Comparative Culture 67
Learning Objectives 67
Introduction 67
The Structure and Ideology of the State 68
Case Study: Iran’s Religious Regime 69
Case Study: Classical Liberalism in the United States 72
Case Study: Socialist Societies, both Moderate and Democratic, and Extreme
and Communist 73
Religion 76
Case Study: The Arab–Israeli Conflict 84
Case Study: Tibet and China 91
Conclusion 94
Review Questions 94
Websites for Further Research 95
Notes 95
12 Conclusion 333
Could World Government Be the Solution? 334
Kant’s Cosmopolitan Federation 341
Conclusion: Bottom-Up Pluralism, Revisited 343
Notes 344
Glossary 345
Index 353
Acknowledgements
I’d like to thank Oxford University Press for its commitment to this book. The idea for
such a volume came to me long ago. Oxford, happily, saw its promise immediately, and
proceeded to sign me up. Then they waited for me to deliver. They waited too long, and I
thank them, with great appreciation, for their patience.
Special thanks are due to Patti Sayle and Eric Sinkins, my talented and gracious edi-
tors. Thanks, too, to all the great production and design team, the permissions department,
and the anonymous reviewers who saw a really rough draft, and whose constructive criti-
cism improved the whole work substantially.
Above all, I am deeply grateful to my acquisitions editor, Katherine Skene, whose
original enthusiasm for the book never faltered, and without whom, there would simply be
no book at all. Thanks so much, Kate!
I wrote this book on a big black desk, bought for me as a gift by my grandmother,
Alvena Schuett. She died recently, and I’m grateful for her memory, and for her love and
support, together with that of my grandfather, Dr Leo Schuett.
Thanks, as always, to my family, for all their love and support: my mom, Mary Lou
Orend; my father-in-law, Barry Turk; and my sister, Krista Vines. Particular thanks must
go to my super-special son, Sam. It has been a total blast watching you grow into such an
incredible young man. Our shared times—and Superbowls—are a ton of fun (especially
when the G-men keep beating Brady!) Being your dad is the best.
More than anyone, Jennifer McWhirter deserves my deepest thanks and gratitude.
She’s my talented co-author on the global public health chapter—one of the book’s most
important—and has aided the whole book’s development in countless wonderful ways. I
can hardly express how amazing our journey together has been. Jenny, this book is dedi-
cated to you with abundant joy and abiding love.
Brian Orend
April 2012
Introduction
“Life is the continuous adjustment of internal relations to
external relations.” –Herbert Spencer (1820–1903), British biologist and political essayist
It is a joy to teach international studies. And I mean international studies, and not inter-
national relations. The latter is the standard way of approaching the subject, emphasizing
the foreign policies of nation-states, and how they each strive—on the global stage—to get
what they want. While that is very important, and while it certainly is a part of interna-
tional studies, the plural term “studies” implies something larger than a focused analysis of
foreign affairs.
Interdisciplinarity
It is often said that international studies, or global studies, is “interdisciplinary.” What does
this much-used—even trendy—term mean? The pursuit of knowledge, historically, has
involved the creation of different disciplines. A discipline is a unique way of approaching,
and achieving, the advance of human knowledge, and it comes with its own particular set
of theories and methods. Mathematicians, for example, use number theory; psychologists
use various experiments to study human behaviour; and lawyers read legal rules and past
cases—and learn how to follow court procedure—in an effort to construct the strongest case
for their client. Until recently, colleges and universities have been organized along disciplin-
ary lines: there are various “faculties”—of arts, science, engineering, law, medicine, and so
on. And within each of these faculties there are various “departments”: biology versus chem-
istry versus physics in any faculty of science; history versus English versus philosophy in
arts; psychology versus economics in social science; and civil versus electrical engineering.
There is much to be said in favour of the discipline of a discipline. The focused and
rigorous training that a discipline provides is good exercise for the mind, and offers many
valuable skills and tools. Potential problems arise, though, when—as is quite common—
people come over time to see every issue solely through the one lens of their own pet
discipline. Further problems arise when the subject matter itself proves so complex and
multifaceted that it cannot be fully captured or understood through the perspective of one
discipline. To counteract these problems, the idea of interdisciplinarity was devised.
Being interdisciplinary means using the tools and insights of various disciplines, both
(a) to eliminate narrow-mindedness, and (b) to arrive at a more thorough appreciation
of the subject matter. For instance, in recent years, economists who study the spending
behaviour of consumers—like you and me—have benefitted from using the insights and
experiments of psychologists regarding why people make the choices they do; and moral
philosophers, wrestling with abstract questions of right and wrong, have benefitted from
studying detailed legal decisions about such tricky ethical dilemmas as abortion, online
privacy, and the rights of minority groups.
Since the subject matter of international, or global, studies is the world as a whole, the
complexity of it demands that we use the tools of various disciplines. The whole world sim-
ply cannot be reduced to the methods or conclusions of any one discipline. To borrow (with
xiv Introduction
reluctance) a much-used analogy, knowing the world is somewhat like trying to know
an elephant. And to know an elephant, you cannot merely examine its trunk, or just the
huge legs and floppy ears, or only the tiny tail, or simply the sharp tusks. You must, to the
contrary, try to examine all the parts, and how they come together to form a unique whole.
I cannot pretend—in this one, introductory-level, book—to have delivered the whole
world on a platter. But I can say that many different disciplines are here represented, and
strongly so, in a quest to arrive at a fuller and better basic understanding of our increasingly
complicated, multi-layered, fast-changing, and interconnected world. And the goal here is
not complete knowledge or mastery but merely a useful and clear introductory understand-
ing of major features of our world, from various valuable viewpoints. So, for example:
• in the chapter on population and resources, we shall use facts and theories from
demography and “environment and resource studies;”
• in the chapter on comparative culture, we will look at education, political theory, new
media, and religion;
• in the foreign policy chapter, we shall apply the tools of political science and interna-
tional relations theory;
• in the chapter on international law, we will discern both the law itself and how inter-
national lawyers think through various global problems;
• in the international trade and business chapter, we will use the tools of economics;
• in the chapters on armed conflict, we will witness what military science, just war
theory, international law, and “peace and conflict studies” have to offer;
• in the human rights chapter, we will rely not only on international law once more but
also on the emerging fields of human rights studies and women’s studies;
• in the global public health chapter, we will explore the tools of health science and
public health policy;
• in the chapter on foreign aid and international development, we shall become
acquainted with development economics;
• throughout, maps and photos will supplement our account, thus drawing on geogra-
phy and, I suppose, a bit of psychology as well. Finally, some tables and conceptual
figures will be presented, as visual aids to understanding.
I ought to confess that my own academic training is in history, philosophy, economics,
and the law; and so I suppose these ways of understanding may—perhaps inescapably—be
more prominently featured here than others. Happily, though, history is hugely relevant
for each of these subjects, and international law and economics are not too far behind.
Philosophy, presumably, helps with clarifying the concepts and theories, and for explaining
how they all might hang together.
Chapter Structure
All of the chapters, in spite of their different content and the different disciplines they draw
on, sport the same structure. That structure comprises the following parts, in order:
Introduction xv
• an opening, pithy quote that captures a crucial aspect of the chapter’s subject matter
• a bullet-form set of learning objectives outlining goals that the reader should attain by
the end of the chapter
• a brief introduction, setting out what will be covered in the chapter
• the body of the chapter
• a succinct conclusion
• a list of prominent websites that are useful for further research
• ten questions for both summary and review (and potential testing purposes)
• numbered endnotes, showing my own (and further recommended) sources of
research. (I should mention how my citation style is to keep noting to an uncluttered
minimum: at the end of each section or paragraph, as merited, unless a direct quote
is involved.)
Nested in the body of each chapter—set apart from the main content—are two highlighted
feature boxes. One deals with new technology and how it relates to the subject matter of
the chapter. For example, in the foreign policy chapter, this section examines the recent,
high-profile Wikileaks scandal. In the chapters on armed conflict, the technology boxes
deal with cyberwarfare. The box in Chapter 9, on human rights, deals with new proposals
to make access to the Internet a worldwide human right. And so on.
The other feature box examines Canada and how it relates to the rest of the world. This
is fitting not only to serve the interests of Canadian students but also to ensure that the con-
tribution of an active, productive, smaller country like Canada doesn’t get lost in the huge,
swirling tides of global affairs—tides that are often substantially determined by such great
powers as the United States, China, the European Union (EU), India, Japan, and Russia.
Above all, I want students to feel empowered about their knowledge of our compli-
cated world, and to feel comfortable moving on to more advanced studies in each of these
fields, should they wish to do so. I am also especially concerned, in each chapter, to stress
and explain how all of these subjects interconnect and impact each other. I often find this last
point is something students find interesting, unexpected, and useful: knowing, for instance,
how culture affects the economy, how population relates to health, how war impacts the
environment, how trade is related to aid, and how international law bears on human rights.
All together, it adds up—I hope—to a substantial, empowering tool for achieving basic
literacy in international studies. Students can then, if they wish, embark on more intensive,
advanced studies to further add to their fluency and expertise.
Recently, the “hard power” paradigm has been challenged, both by experts and by
ordinary people. Even Nye has said that—while, in the short term, “bullets and bucks”
may be the most potent—over the long term it is culture (beliefs and values especially)
that comes to determine things. After all, there is no more thorough way to influence oth-
ers than to have them agree with you, in other words, to think the way you do, share the
same set of values as you, behave the way you do. And the various aspects of culture are
known as soft power. (Some have said that while hard power is the use of “coercion and/
or payment” to get what one wants, soft power is the use of “attraction and/or co-option”
to do the same.) A nice historical illustration of soft power would be the way the British
have spread their language, literature, pop music, culture, and values throughout the world:
first directly, through the iron fist of their Empire, and now indirectly, through the amaz-
ing spread of the English language and such typically British values as the rule of law, free
trade, individual liberty, intellectual invention and creativity, and democratic governance.2
There’s another, emerging sense of “soft power,” and this has to do with the well-being
of one’s people. Increasingly, ordinary people, social activists, and political thinkers (such
as Mary Kaldor) have stressed—instead of the national security of a country—the human
security of individual persons.3 Human security stresses that, above and beyond money
and protection from violence, ordinary people also require education, healthcare, and
basic regard from social institutions for their continued growth and development. This
rising concern for human security goes hand in hand with another, clear, post–World
War II trend in world affairs: the growth in human rights awareness and the insistence on
minimally decent standards of conduct that governments must observe, both regarding
their own people and internationally.4
Putting these trends all together, one discovers the final set of subjects in this book: the
“soft power” focus on improving not just the wealth and strength of countries but, more-
over, the well-being of individual persons worldwide. We shall thus close out this book
with chapters on human rights, global public health, and poverty alleviation via foreign aid
and international development programs.
Conclusion
And now, to end the beginning: Pierre Trudeau was a brilliant student, and a dashing
figure, who went on to become one of Canada’s longest-serving and most successful prime
ministers. When he was a Master’s student at Harvard University, he taped the following
sign to the door of his dorm room: “Pierre Trudeau, Citizen of the World.”5 That was,
perhaps, a bit ambitious for his time and place. But, nowadays, we are all—truly—world
citizens. I wish you good reading, and good luck, on your journey across the globe.
Notes
1. J. Nye, Bound to Lead (New York: Basic Books, 1991).
2. J. Nye, Soft Power (New York: Public Affairs, 2004).
3. M. Kaldor, Human Security (London: Polity, 2007).
4. B. Orend, Human Rights: Concept and Context (Peterborough, ON: Broadview, 2002).
5. J. English, Citizen of the World: The Life of Pierre Trudeau, 1919–1967 (Toronto: Knopf, 2008).
I Setting the World Stage
Core Concepts and Historical
1 Contexts
Learning Objectives
After studying this chapter, you will be able to:
Introduction
I love the opening, dramatic quote from Heidegger: of all of us being “thrown into the
world.”1 And it’s true: no one asked whether we wanted to be born, or to which parents, or
into which race, ethnicity, gender, epoch, or society. We just find ourselves here—thrown,
as it were, or catapulted into the world at this time and place—and eventually we wind up
asking questions about what kind of world this is, and what we should do with our lives.
Hence, we need some basic historical and conceptual orientation, in this subject and others.
Countries
International studies, by definition, involves studying things between nations, specifically
by looking at how different countries relate to, and deal with, each other, in all kinds of
important ways: economically, politically, culturally, militarily, and so on. This raises an
obvious, yet fundamental, question: what is a country? There are over 200 countries in the
world today, and every single part of planet Earth has been claimed by some country, or
group of countries. There are three general exceptions to this observation: (1) Antarctica;
1 Core Concepts and Historical Contexts 3
(2) atmospheric near-space, on the edge between the atmosphere and outer space; and (3)
the high seas, in the middle of the oceans. These have been deemed international public
spaces, like parks (as it were, unowned by any one person or nation), thereby allowing for
any country to use them, theoretically for the general benefit of humanity.
• timber
• useful rocks and minerals, such as silver and gold, coal and oil.
Countries are considered to be the owners of their territories, and all the natural resources
therein. The top 10 countries, by territorial size, are (in order from top to bottom, as of 2010):
1. Russia
2. Canada
3. United States
Territory Population
(Natural Resources) (People)
COUNTRY
Culture State
(High & Low) (Government)
4. China
5. Brazil
6. Australia
7. India
8. Argentina
9. Kazakhstan
10. Sudan (before the partition, in 2011, into North and South Sudan).2
Nationalism has inspired people, created deep senses of belonging and identity, but also
caused numerous wars and armed conflicts, and has completely overhauled the political
map of the world through time.3
Populations don’t just have ideals and identities: they also have practical needs and
attributes. For example, a population is highly valuable to its country as a source of labour
and talent; yet it also requires a vast infrastructure to feed it, water it, house it, transport it,
clothe it, educate it, tend to its health, and so on. And so every country must concern itself
with such core infrastructure needs, and some are better at this than others, and some face
steeper obstacles to this than others. We shall see this in future chapters, such as those on
aid and development and on global public health. For now, we note that the top 10 largest
countries, by population, are (in order from top to bottom as of 2010):
1. China 6. Pakistan
2. India 7. Bangladesh
3. United States 8. Nigeria
4. Indonesia 9. Russia
5. Brazil 10. Japan.
(i.e. food and drink) practices, popular music and books, sports, TV and radio content,
Internet and new media content, popular recreation and leisure activities, common ways
of speaking and dressing, and so on. Religious practices would probably count here, on
grounds of their widespread nature. The world’s top 10 religions, by number of believers,
are (in order from top to bottom, as of 2010):
1. Christianity (Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox counted together)
2. Islam
3. Hinduism
4. Chinese folk religion (or Confucianism)
5. Buddhism
6. Indigenous folk religions (such as Shintoism)
7. Judaism
8. Sikhism
9. Baha’i
10. Jainism.
“It’s a wildcat!”
“No, it’s a mountain lion, and it’s going to attack Randy!”
“Shoot the beast!”
“Look out or you’ll shoot Randy!”
“There they go—through the bushes!”
“What shall we do?”
Such were the startled exclamations from the other three boys.
The yell from Andy had brought Fred and Jack hurrying forward, and
they were just in time to see the wild animal land on the flank of the
horse. Then the steed, evidently terror stricken, dashed into the
brushwood alongside the trail, carrying Randy with him.
“Was it really a mountain lion?”
“Where did they go?”
“Randy! Randy! Can’t you shoot the beast?” screamed Andy.
The words had scarcely left Andy’s lips when there came a
scream from his twin and another wild snort from the horse. Then
there was added to the tumult the snarl of the mountain lion and an
instant later the beast dropped from the horse and shot through the
brushwood directly in front of where Jack and Fred had brought their
mounts to a halt.
The boys had brought their guns with them, but not having noticed
any game worth shooting at had placed the weapons behind them.
Both Jack and Fred made frantic efforts to get their weapons into
action, but before they could aim at the mountain lion it had whirled
around and disappeared up a rocky trail and then behind a clump of
brushwood. An instant later they saw it streaking up the
mountainside. Jack took aim and so did Fred, but before either could
pull a trigger the beast disappeared.
“Randy! Randy! Are you all right?” called out his twin anxiously, for
they could hear the horse Randy was riding thrashing viciously
around in the brushwood some distance away.
“Whoa! Whoa!” Randy called out. “Whoa, I tell you! You’re all right
now, old boy! Keep quiet! Whoa!” The boy continued to talk to the
horse and do his best to subdue the animal. But the nails of the
mountain lion had been dug deep into his flank and he evidently felt
as if he had been scourged with a whip. He continued to prance here
and there and then, of a sudden, streaked off across a clearing that
led upward.
“There they go!” shouted Jack. “The horse is running away!”
“Hold tight, Randy!” shouted Fred. “Don’t let him throw you!” For a
dash upon those sharp rocks that lay strewn all over the open space
might mean death.
Fortunately, Randy had slung his fishing rod beside his gun and
had tied his share of the fish in a cloth behind his saddle.
Consequently, his hands were free to hold the reins, and this he did
grimly as the horse pranced over the field very much like an
untamed broncho.
“Whoa! Whoa!” went on Randy, doing his best to subdue his
mount. “Whoa, I tell you! That wildcat—or whatever it was—is gone.”
As the horse shot across the field and among some short
brushwood, the three boys left behind headed in that direction. Each
had his gun ready for use, thinking that possibly the mountain lion or
some other wild beast might show itself.
Never had Randy had a rougher experience than the present.
Several times he was all but flung from the horse as the animal
swung around to avoid hitting one rock or another. Once he dropped
the reins and held on to the horse’s mane. Then the animal stumbled
and the lad went up in the air and it looked for a moment as if he