The International

System
System-level
Analysis
Understanding The
International System
The Essence of System-Level
Analysis:
- International Actors operate in a
global social- economic-political-
geographic environment.

- System Characteristics determine

the pattern of interaction among the
actors.
Understanding The
International System
The operation of any system
is based on 4 factors:
1. Structural Characteristics
2. Power Relationships
3. Economic Realities
4. Norms of Behavior
STRUCTURAL Characteristics

• The Organization of Authority

• Types of Actors
• Scope and Level of Interaction
STRUCTURAL Characteristics

• The Organization of
Authority:
- Vertical or Horizontal
Structure?
- Constant or Changing
Structure?
Ex. 1: The U.S. and the WTO (1996).

Ex. 2: The Policy of Apartheid in

South Africa.
Ex. 3: The UN condemnation of the
military overthrow of democracy in Haiti,
and authorization of the U.S. led military
intervention in 1994.
-The charismatic leader Jean-Bertrand
Aristide was elected president in 1991.

- The democratic government of

Aristide in Haiti was toppled by a
military junta, and a lot of Haitian
refugees were fleeing to the United
States coasts.
- The Clinton administration allowed the Haitian
refugees to enter the U.S. as political refugees and
reasoned that the only solution to the refugee
problem was the establishment of a stable
democratic government in Haiti under Aristide.
-Washington, thereupon, imposed a set of
economic sanctions in partnership with the U.N.
that eventually compelled the ruling junta in Haiti to
sign an agreement in July 1993 allowing Aristide to
regain power within 3 months.

-When officers in charge failed to meet the deadline

for the legally elected head of state, Clinton
dispatched a contingent of marines in the fall of
1994 to occupy the country and reinstate Aristide.

-The mission was accomplished and the U.S.

intervention force handed over authority to a U.N.
peacekeeping force in March 1995.

- The U.N. supervised a legislative and presidential

elections in Haiti to replace Aristide.
STRUCTURAL Characteristics

2. Types of Actors:

STATES NON-STATES

IGOs Transnational

Geographic Function NGOs MNCs

Scope
- The continuous evolving of informal
actors.
actors
STRUCTURAL Characteristics

3. Scope and Level of

Interaction
- Increasing Economical,
communicational and
environmental Interdependence
Ex. 1: The formation regional bodies
(ASEAN, NAFTA)
Ex. 2: Internet and the boom in
telecommunications.
Ex. 3: Environmental interdependence:
STRUCTURAL Characteristics

3. Scope and Level of

Interaction
- Theories indicate that large-
scale war is becoming impossible
between economically
interdependent countries.
Ex. 1: The Case of Europe.
Ex. 2: European countries and the
U.S.
STRUCTURAL Characteristics

3. Scope and Level of

Interaction
- However, if Conflict/War erupts in
an interdependent world, its
repercussions affect all:
Ex. 1: The September 11,
2001.
Ex. 2: The War on Iraq, 2003.