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Mudit Jain IR Keywords

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MUDIT JAIN AND 18 OTHER
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Mudit Jain

UPSC MAINS Ethics 2019 Paper Question Sources And

Answer Content:
https://muditjainblog.wordpress.com/2019/09/29
/ethics-2019-detailed-question-sources-and-
answer-content/

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Key concepts and keywords in International Relations:

1. Balance of power: A balance of power is a state of stability between

competing forces. In international relations, it refers to equilibrium among
countries or alliances to prevent any one entity from becoming too strong and,
thus, gaining the ability to enforce its will upon the rest. This is a common
aspect of political realism, where self-preservation is a primary guiding
principle. It often leads to nations forging alliances with others due to
expediency rather than shared ideologies. Example, during the Cold War,
NATO and the Warsaw Pact frequently operated with a balance of power in
mind.

2. Checkbook diplomacy: This expression is used to describe international

policy in which a country dangles money in the form of economic aid and
investment to win diplomatic favor from other country. Example, China’s
diplomacy in Africa and Pakistan.
3. Deterrence: it is defined as the power to dissuade. It is the strategic policy to
demonstrate the effect of an attack and the capability to strike the second. It
became prominent during the Cold war era with the end of nuclear monopoly
previously enjoyed by USA. For Deterrence to work, the actors involved
should be rationale, two or more powers should exist and adversary should be
convinced that the coercer has the capability to inflict damage.
4. Diplomacy: The practice of states trying to influence the behavior of other
states by bargaining, negotiating, taking specific non-coercive actions or
refraining from such actions, or appealing to the public for support of a
position.
5. Domino effect: It is a theory according to which loss of influence over one
state to an adversary will lead to a subsequent loss of control over neighboring
states. It was used by the United States in Vietnam, fearing that if that Vietnam
became communist, neighboring countries would also fall under communist
influence.

6. Full spectrum diplomacy: It is a integration of government-to-government

diplomacy with public diplomacy and other instruments of engagement like
cultural diplomacy to enhance contact with people at the grassroots level.

7. Geopolitics: Refers to the role of geographic factors in international politics.

This manifests in forms like climate change, trans-boundary river disputes,
international border issues etc.

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8. Global North: It refers nations that are economically developed such as USA,
UK, Canada, Western European nations and developed parts of Asia.
9. Global South: Refers nations that are economically less developed such as
nations in Africa and some parts of Asia.

10. Hard power: It is the use of military and economic means to influence the
behavior or interests of other political bodies. It is aggressive, coercive and is
most effective when imposed by one political body upon another of lesser
military and/or economic power.

11. Multipolarity: It is a distribution of power in which more than two nation-

states have nearly equal amounts of military, cultural and economic influence.

12. National interests: are a public declaration of a country’s needs and

intentions based on an assessment of the current situation while some
researchers insist that there are unchangeable interests expressed in terms of
power and prosperity. All the nations are always engaged in the process of
fulfilling or securing the goals of their national interests. The foreign policy
of each nation is formulated on the basis of its national interest. National
interests help in establishing a hierarchy of foreign policy priorities, provide
society with strict criteria for evaluating the foreign policy and their
declaration ensures predictability to the outside world.

Other Important IR Files:

• IR Previous Year Questions Analysis.

• WTO and India’s Trade Policy.
• PSIR Strategy By Tushar Gupta, IPS.
• IR Notes 2017.
• IR Static Bodies Notes.

13. Oil diplomacy: Diplomacy in affairs between oil importing and exporting
countries which has a global impact on world economics and politics. Oil
imperialism is a similar concept according to which direct or indirect control
over oil reserves is prime factor in current international politics.

14. Security and Power: Power is the central concept of political science. What
money is to economics, power is to politics. Though power is the core concept,
yet it remains a contested concept. While Hobbes vested power with the state,

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Marx called for power with the bourgeoisie class. Realism portrays the world
political system as an anarchic struggle for power and security among
competing states and according to it, power is the only effective means of
assuring security.

15. Soft power: It is the ability to shape the preferences of others through appeal
and attraction. It is non-coercive and driven by culture, political values and
foreign policies etc. Soft power can be wielded not just by states but also by
other actors in international politics, such as NGOs.

16. Smart power: It refers to the combination of power, hard power and soft
power. It underscores the necessity of a strong military along focus on
alliances and partnerships.
17. Peace through strength: It suggests that military power can help preserve
peace. It has been used by leaders like Roman Emperor Hadrian and former
U.S. President Ronald Reagan. The concept has been associated with
realpolitik.

18. People-to-people contact: It means interaction between citizens of two

countries at through professional bodies like traders' associations,
industrialists' groups, educational institutions and artists, musicians,
singers, film personalities, sportsmen etc.

19. Public diplomacy: Refers to use of diplomatic methods to create a favorable

image of the nation state or its people via goodwill tours, cultural and student
exchanges, and media presentations etc.

20. Realpolitik: It is a political system that's not based on beliefs, doctrines,

ethics or morals rather on realistic and practical ideas. It is politics decided
more by the urgent needs of the country, political party, etc., than by morals
or principles.

21. Security dilemma: It is a situation in which one state improves its military
capabilities and defenses and those improvements are seen by other states as
threats. To counter such threats, each state tries to increase its own level of
protection leading to insecurity in others, often leading to an arms race.

22. Shuttle diplomacy: These are negotiations especially between nations carried
on by an intermediary who shuttles back and forth between the disputants.

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23. Strategic dialogue: These are sensitive and high-level dialogues between two
or more governments/institutions on matters of national/international security.
24. Strategic partnership: It is a long-term interaction between two countries
based on political, economic, social and historical factors. Such a
partnership manifests itself in a variety of relationships like economics,
politics, defence, technology and people-to-people etc.

25. Surgical strike: These are precision attacks on targets in a way that destroys
them at little cost and causes limited damage. However, it tends to neglect the
fact that no matter how carefully conducted; an attack of any sort could lead
to retaliation.

26. Track-two diplomacy: Refers to unofficial overtures by non-governmental,

informal and private individuals or groups to try and resolve an ongoing
international crisis or civil war. These are also called as
backchannel diplomacy.
27. Transnational actors and collective security: role of transnational actors in
international relations is increasing. These include MNCs, NGOs, Terrorists
etc. They wield considerable influence on politics across borders. Collective
Security can be understood as a security arrangement where a group of
countries pledge co-operative joint action in the eyes of threat to their
economic or territorial sovereignty. This threat may be thwarted in the form
of sanctions or use of armed force. It formed the foundation of international
bodies such as the U.N. and the League of Nations. The emergence of non-
state actors such as terrorist or extremist organizations challenges collective
security. The relationships between domestic politics, transnational actors and
international affairs are complex, e.g., when states sponsor terrorism.

28. Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam: It is a philosophy that inculcates an

understanding that the whole world is one family. This manifests in forms like
international aid in times of natural calamities, welcoming refugees etc.

29. World capitalist economy and globalization: Capitalism is an economic

system which debuted in the 14th century and has today evolved into the
global capitalism where capitalism has transcended national borders. If
globalization means free movement of goods, services and people across
borders, then capitalism doesn't necessarily lead to globalization. But under a
capitalist system, globalization occurs because someone in some other
country makes stuff cheaper.

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30. World System: Refers to a set of interconnected societies, where in the state
of being of each depends on its relative position in the world system i.e. strong,
middling or weak.

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