Global Politics and Various Related concepts

- There are three major schools of thought through which

international politics and international relations may be studied
or explained:
1. Idealism: which stresses on normative judgments, i.e.,
how should we behave. It emphasizes international law, moral
values, and legal norms.
2. Realism: emphasizes power and the role of power in
international politics. Among its earliest theorists or advocates
are: the Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu, in The Art of War , Thomas
Hobbes, in his book The Prince Machiavelli, and modern realist
theorists, such as Raymond Aron, and Kenneth Waltz, and
others..
- 3. Pluralism: emerged in the U.S. in the 1960s and 70s
- emphasizes the diffusion of power among different
competing bodies or groups – domestically and
internationally
- emphasizes that all actors, governmental and non-
governmental, operate within a framework of checks and
constraints that inhibit independent movement and
dominance by one group over all others.
• Imperialism: the policy of extending the power of a state
beyond its boundaries:
• A system of political domination or economic
exploitation
Cold War: A situation of protracted or extreme tension
between countries or rival alliances that stops short of all-
out war
: started in 1947 with the Truman Doctrine
- Bipolarity: an international power system dominated by
two poles of power
- Unipolarity: an international system dominated by one
power
- Multipolarity: A system which has a multiple centers of
power
• - Power: the ability to make others do what you want them
to do, and not do what you don’t want them to do
• - Hard power: refers to the ability of one international actor,
usually a state, to influence another through the use of
threats, such as military or economic sanctions
• - Soft power: is the ability to influence other actors by
persuading them to follow norms or policies that produce a
desired behavior. It relies on attraction rather than coercion.
Examples of pure soft power use:
• The Vatican
• Switzerland
• Sweden
• Findland