Transcript Lecture 1: Introduction

Lecture 1: Introduction
• I will start by Robert Frost ‘Most of change we thing
we see in life is due to truths being in and out of
flavour’
• International relations (its overall-economic,
political, socio-cultural)
• International politics/world politics (deals with
specific field-POLITICS-POLITICAL ECONOMY)
• It is not a history course- it studies NOT what
happened but why things happened, or why do they
happen.It EXPLAINS rather than DESCRIBE
Lecture 1.1
• Two issues are clear in IR:
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• 1.
CHANGE in IR
• 1.
CONTINUITY IR
Lecture 1.2
• 1.
CHANGE in IR
•
• Politically –towards integration (EU, AU)
/towards disintegration (USSR, Yugoslavia)
• Militarily –end of cold war, new nuclear
powers, and small arms
• Environmentally- ozone depletion, Kyoto
treaty, deforestation, desertification, tsunami
Lecture 1.3
• Economically-globalization, regional blocks, MNCs
– nandos, chicken in, pizza in
• Human rights and social welfare-colonization
revisited, Tianamen square, taliban, riots WTO.
•
• Robert Frost 1911 “ most of the change we think we
see in life is due to truths being in and out of flavor”
Lectture 1.4
• 1.
CONTINUITY IR
•
• Militarily- war- Kosovo, Congo, Sudan, Afghanistan,
Iraq etc
• Politically – failure to have world government,
disintegration of some states
• Economically – exploitation continues, extraction of
resources
• Environmentally- degradation continues- land, air,
ocean
• s
Lecture 1.5
• Human rights- poverty and degradation of human
life continues
• Health- millions die of diseases, life expectances
much shorter.
• HENCE a quote from Keegley and Wittkompf 1997
“WORLD AFFAIRS TODAY CAN BE LIKENED TO A
DISASSEMBLED JIGSAW PUZZLE SCATTERED ON
THE TABLE BEFORE US”
• Some depicts resurgent nationalism, Other
spreading of democracy, Some picture genocide
Lecture 1.6
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Portray prosperity through trade and investment
Other picture nuclear proliferation
Other picture disarmament
Some indicate reinvigorated United Nations
Others see UN as enfeebled and ineffective
Some describe actual globalisation
Some depict clash of civilization
Lecture 1.7
•
• NB take a NEWSPAPER/ international news/ ask
WHY?
• Why did Sept 11 take place?
• Why is North Korea embarking on nuclear weapons
programme
• Why demonstration did took place-Davos, Seattle
• Why US refused to sign Kyoto treaty.
Lecture 1.8
• “so in our theoretical exploration of world
politics, we must critically assess the
accuracy our impressions, avoiding the
temptation to embrace one world view and
abandon another without any assurance that
their relative worth is permanently fixed”
Keegley and Witkompf.
Lecture 1.9
• The central question often to be asked is: What is
Politics?
• There are very few political structures in the
international system that exercise power over
states (supranational power);
• As a result, some scholars believe that the
international system is best described as an
anarchical society (anarchy);
• Does the absence of political structures mean that
the international system is not a political system?
Lecture 1.10
• What is Science? -- Comparing Science with NonScience."You will know the truth and the truth will
make you free." (John 8:32)
• There are both "scientific "and "non-scientific"
methods of truth-seeking.
• What is Science? -- Comparing Science with NonScience
• Science... ... is empirical. uses a methodology. . is
objective.
Lecture 1.11
• What is Science? -- Comparing Science with
Non-Science
• Non-Science...
o ... is normative.
o ... is not methodological.
o ... is subjective.
Lecture 1.12
• What is Science? -- Comparing Science with
Non-Science
• Two Questions:
1. Which of these two broad approaches is
better suited to discovering the truth?
2. Is political science a real science?
Lecture 1.13
• International Relations as a Field of Study.
International Relations (IR) is one of several
subfields of political science. IR itself is broken
down into at least two broad subfields:
1. International security: Focuses on questions of war
and peace.
2. International political economy: the study of the
politics of trade, monetary, and other economic
relations among nations, and their connection to
other transnational forces.
Lecture 1.14
• Theories and Methods in IR
•
Differences in scholarly ways of knowing what is known
• Description: Some IR scholars are interested in describing
events in the international system.
• Theory: Some IR scholars are interested in developing theories
that can be used by others to understand patterns of behavior in
the international system.
1. Traditionalists: Use individual insight and philosophy (normative).
• Behavioralists: Use mathematical models and statistics
(empirical).
Lecture 1.15
• Conservative, Liberal, and Revolutionary World Views
• Goldstein suggests that these different theories and
methods have produced three broad perspectives among
scholars and students of IR:
1. Conservative: Values maintenance of the status quo and
discounts the element of change in IR.
2. Liberal: Values reform of the status quo as an evolutionary
process.
3. Revolutionary: Values transformation of the status quo
through revolutionary and rapid change.
Lecture 1.16
• Conservative World View
• Emphasizes power politics (realpolitik) and international
security issues;
1. States are the most important actors in the international
system;
2. Values order (stability) as an international norm;
3. War and conflict are seen as part of the natural order of the
international system;
4. Economics is an extension of state power - mercantilism or
realeconomik.
Lecture 1.17
• Liberal World View
• Emphasizes the mutual benefits to be gained by
interdependence and reciprocity;
1. Some nonstate actors rival states as important actors in the
international system;
2. Values freedom as an international norm;
3. War is not a natural tendency that can be minimalized
through international agreements;
4. Economic interactions should benefit all nations and should
be based on the principle of free trade.
Lecture 1.18
• Revolutionary World View
• Emphasizes the unfair and exploitive aspects of the
international system;
1. States are not as important as class divisions in
international system;
2. Values justice as an international norm;
3. Focuses on the injustice of North-South relationships;
• War is a product of underlying exploitive economic
relationships.
Lecture 1.19
• Revolutionary World View
• Emphasizes the unfair and exploitive aspects of the
international system;
1. States are not as important as class divisions in
international system;
2. Values justice as an international norm;
3. Focuses on the injustice of North-South relationships;
4. War is a product of underlying exploitive economic
relationships.
Lecture 1.20
• The Connection Between World Views and
Paradigms
• The Conservative World View: Uses the realist and
neorealist paradigms
• The Liberal World View Uses the idealist and
neoliberal paradigms
• The Revolutionary World View: Uses neo-Marxist
world systems theory and dependency theory
Lecture 1.21
• Actors and Influences -- Who are the Actors in International Relations?
• The most important actors in IR are States
1. States are territorial units controlled by a government and inhabited by a
population;
2. Sovereignty - states recognize no authority higher than themselves;
3. Civil society - states are organized around some form of government;
4. Nationality - the population shares a group identity;
5. Democracy - the state's population practices self-determination (but not
necessarily pluralism).
Lecture 1.22
• Actors and Influences
• The international system has been organized around states
since the signing of the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.
• 193 are members of the UN;
• Goldstein estimates a total of 200 states or quasi-states in
the international system;
• In terms of population, area, and wealth (GDP) states range
in size and influence;
• All states have equality of sovereignty but inequality of
power.
Lecture 1.23
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1.
2.
Actors and Influences -- Nonstate Actors
NSAs rival the state for power and influence.
There are several types of NSAs:
Substate actors (domestic influences on foreign policy)
Transnational actors (interact with each other and states
across international boundaries)
• Multinational Corporations (MNCs)
• Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs)
• Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs)
Lecture 1.24
• Levels of Analysis
• A method of organizing both description and theory in IR.
• Individual Level: The impact of the perceptions, choices,
and actions of individual human beings.
• Domestic (State) Level: The impact of different forms of
government or economic policies on foreign policy.
• Interstate (System) Level: The impact of the features of
international system on outcomes.
• Global Level: The impact of influences that transcend the
interactions of states themselves.
Lecture 1.25
• Geography and World Regions
• In order to highlight the insights afforded by the
Global Level, Goldstein divides the world into nine
geographic regions;
• Later chapters will refer back to these regions:
o The South ("Third World") includes China, the
Middle East, Latin America, South Asia, and Africa.
o The North includes North America, Western Europe,
Japan/Pacific, and Russia/Eastern Europe.
Lecture 1.26
• Geography and World Regions
• The most important division between these regions
is the North-South gap;
• This is the division that exists between the rich,
economically developed, industrialized world and
the poor, economically underdeveloped, nonindustrialized world;
• It is the most important geographical element at the
Global Level of analysis;
Lecture 1.27
• North-South Gap
• The North contains less than 20% of the world's
population, but produces 60% of the world's GDP;
• Even in higher income areas in the South, income is
unevenly distributed;
• IR scholars have no single explanation for the
growing gap between the North and the South;