Transcript Chapter 1 Thinking and Caring About World Politics

Intro to World Politics
Chapter 1
PS130 World Politics
Michael R. Baysdell
Previewing the Global Drama
• Global Actors: Meet the cast
– States: possess sovereignty, legally equal, different in power
United States, China, East Timor
– Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs)—made up of states
European Union, United Nations, Organization of American States
– Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs)
Doctors Without Borders, Red Cross, Save the Children International
– Multinational Corporations (MNCs)
General Electric, Ford, Merck
– Individuals
Osama Bin-Laden, Kim Jong-il, US Presidents
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Structure of Your Text
• Demonstrates choices between the competitive
traditional path of world politics or an alternative path
of greater cooperation
• Traditional methods of political organization include
Nationalism, States, National Power and diplomacy,
National Security, and National Economic Competition.
Anarchical international system.
• Alternative methods include Globalization,
International Law, International Security, and
International Economic Competition. System
continues to evolve.
The Importance of Studying
World Politics
• To Political Scientists: Description/Prediction/Prescription
• To YOU: Economic, Quality of Life
• Challenges in studying:
• Blurring of the line between the global and the local with
intermestic issues such as:
– Trade and capital flow
– Defense spending (EU defense force?)
– Terrorism and political violence (where to inspect shipping
containers?)
– Disease (bird flu)
– Global warming/climate change
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World Politics and Your Finances:
The Global Flow of Goods and Services
• Dependence of foreign sources for vital resources (i.e.,
crude oil prices)
• Jobs and trade–job gains and losses to cheap imports
(outsourcing and insourcing)
• Foreign investment and international financial markets
• Imports lower prices but hurt GDP
• Gross Domestic Product: Value of all final goods and
service produced within a country
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• Your
taxes spent on national security (next slide)
Domestic vs. Defense Spending
• Guns versus butter issue
• More guns=less butter
• U.S. currently spends about 15% of budget on defense ($400
Billion)—not including wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
• U.S. actually outspends the world on defense—outsourcing
security to those countries that prefer to pay us for security.
• Defense sector in the domestic economy–Homeland Security
expenses (“Osama Tax”)
• Could be used to fund other objectives (Health Care, Education,
tax cuts) BUT
• Defense spending economically important to communities (and
provides pork barrel projects that can be earmarked by
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incumbents)
World Politics and Your Living Space:
Sharing Air, Water and Land
• As population increases, resources deplete
• Pollution and environmental destruction
– Corporations create negative externalities
– Global warming could lead to flooding, droughts,
and other weather-related disasters
– Deforestation and soil erosion
– Desertification
– Public health and disease control
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World Politics and Your Life:
Threats From Disease and Political Violence
• CFCs were depleting ozone layer; skin cancer rates increasing-reversed after Montreal Protocol (1987)
• Increased human contact through advances in transportation
technology
– West Nile virus outbreak
– Worsening AIDS epidemic in Africa
– Influenza (H5N1/H1N1)
• War and international security threats
– Grave threats of weapons of mass destruction (WMD)
– Rise in civilian casualties
– Terrorism–unconventional forms of violence
– College students make up bulk of U.S. military
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– Role of women in warfare increasing
Can We Make a Difference?
• 1st Q: Do we want to? (Most would at least preserve US
dominance, but what are consequences?)
• Take direct action at all levels of society
• Vote (elections have results)
• Referenda: EU Constitution, Montenegro independence vote
• Get involved
– Participate in issue-oriented groups
– Protest and write Congress
– Donate money
– Demonstrations
– Support consumer boycotts, investment boycotts (South
Africa apartheid boycott successful)
– Work for IGO/NGO
Political Theory
• Def’n: A set of ideas about why things happen
and how events are related
• Advantages: Builds knowledge, better
evaluation of policy
• Cautions:
• No theory is comprehensive
• Each theory has numerous variations and
counter-examples
• Two such theories: REALISM and LIBERALISM
Realism vs. Liberalism
REALISM
• Traditional path that emphasizes •
the centrality of the state on the
world stage and the pursuit of
national self-interest above all.
•
• Hobbesian influence
• Largely pessimistic: Humans are
aggressive and self-serving, and
•
they are unlikely to change.
•
Conflict is inevitable!
•
• ‘Might makes right’
• Emphasizes POWER and survival of
•
the most powerful.
• Uses pragmatic, self-help policy
prescriptions
•
• Power is a zero-sum game.
• Seeks to maintain security for the •
states that practice it
• Neo-realism: Anarchical structure
LIBERALISM
Alternative path--emphasizes a more
cooperative, globalist approach & the
important role of global institutions/regional
organizations as actors on the world stage.
Rousseau influence: Humans basically good.
We join civil societies/cooperate to achieve
mutual benefits. Conflict NOT inevitable.
Right makes right’
Emphasizes PRINCIPLES
Based on cooperative & ethical standards.
Seeks to create policy norms of justice/peace.
Do not, however, surrender sovereignty:
States can learn to cooperate without fancy
organizations
Politics not always a zero-sum game.
Neoliberalism: Surrendering sovereignty OK.
Emphasize international organizations to build
effective cooperation (also
known as
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neoliberal institutionalism)
Prospects for Competition & Cooperation
Realism–realpolitik
approach
• Place national
interest first in
international politics
• Practice balance-ofpower politics
• Achieve peace through
strength
• Do not waste power on
peripheral issues
• Henry Kissinger’Playing the China Card’
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Liberalism–globalist
approach
• Power is not the essence
of international relations
• Power politics is futile and
destructive
• Peace is achieved through
cooperative relations
– Neoliberals: Willing to
surrender some sovereignty
to international structures
promoting cooperation
– Jimmy Carter’s treatment
of the Shah, an ally
Assessing Reality: Realism and Liberalism
• Comparing the ability of realism or liberalism to explain world history
(Congress of Vienna vs. Wilson’s 14 Points)
• Competition has dominated world history; Realpolitik is the order of the
day—but both realism and liberalism influence current policy
• Liberals not averse to use of force—can be authorized by UNSC.
• But John Kerry paid at the polls for his remark
• ‘What should be’ and ‘What will be’ remain far more important questions
than ‘What is’
• Recent US Presidents:
• Bill Clinton: criticized Bush 41, favored liberalism (Bosnia, Kosovo). Later
embraced realpolitik (China)
• George W. Bush: mix of realism (Reagan-like, « Peace through
strength » and liberalism (impose U.S. standards)
• Bush often described as neo-conservative
Conservatism v. Neoconservatism
• Conservatism generally favors non-intervention (“A Republic,
not an Empire”). Government that governs best governs least.
• Like conservatives, neocons are generally Republican party
supporters—but they break away on a key point:
• Neocons support using American economic and military power
to bring liberalism, democracy, and human rights to other
countries. They reject realism.
• David Horowitz: Neoconservatives used to be former Democrats
who embraced the welfare state but supported Ronald
Reagan's Cold War policies against the Soviet bloc. Today,
'neo-conservatism' identifies those who believe in an aggressive
policy against radical Islam and the global terrorists.
• But like realism and liberalism, both are consistent in that
STATES still matter. Others disagree.
Modernism and Postmodernism
(Broader than just politics)
• Modernism: affirms the power of human beings to create,
improve, and reshape their environment, with the aid of
practical experimentation, scientific knowledge or technology
• Modernism is slightly biased towards a state-centered view
• Postmodernism: Political reality is not determined by states
• It’s determined by how we consider, define, and communicate
concepts such as technological or scientific progress
• Political values are merely mental constructs.
• Postmodernists criticize liberals, neoliberals, realists, and
conservatives/neoconservatives for “narrow thinking”
• Postmodernists advocate an alternative path to peace that
emphasizes the creation and promotion of political identities
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other than nationalism
Feminist Theory
• Argues that women have been excluded by men from the
international politics process and from the conceptualization of
world politics
• More comprehensive concepts of peace and security represent
examples of how women perceive international politics issues
differently than men. Current view is biased.
• Negative peace not enough; positive peace needed to enforce
justice and equality
• Seeks to forge a distinct political identity and heightened
feminist consciousness for women living around the world
• Success rates vary by region (Nordic region most impressive;
some countries like Mexico mandate that a certain # of political
party candidates must be female.)
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• Many
prominent female leaders behave like men (Thatcher)
Women in National Parliaments
Economic Theories
• Economic nationalism—closely connected to realism
with its emphasis on using economic strength to
increase national power and vice versa.
• Economic internationalism—closely related to
liberalism with its belief that free economic interchange
without political interference can bring prosperity to all
nations
• Economic structuralism—holds that economics plays
a fundamental, dominant role in determining world
politics
• Marxism—holds that the primary determinant of
history is economic struggle between classes (the
18 proletariat and the bourgeoisie)
Constructivist Theory
• Affirms that the exchange of ideas among individuals , groups, and
social structures, including states, produces global “structures” such as
treaties, laws, and international organizations.
• These structures, in turn, shape the ideas of these individuals, groups,
and social structures, including states identified collectively as
“agents.”
• Rejects the view of realists and liberals that the agents and structures
such as states and the international system are stable and unchanging.
• National political identities, like all political identities, are more subject
to change and adaptation by citizens than generally assumed by
liberals and realists
• Nonmaterial goals such as ideology, morality, and other culture
outlooks and values motivate citizens, groups, and states in
international politics.
• Results may depend on your method of analysis
Political Methods of Analysis
• Clinical Method—Controlled settings, operate within
confinement (lab climate). Highly objective, very
analytical, devoid of personal, emotional interference.
Manipulate variables to shape experiment
• Statistical Method—Gather random data, look for
correlation, hopefully diagnose causation
• Case Study—1 element. Good that it relates to that
element only. (Study of French bureaucracy not
effective in trying to understand U.S. bureaucracy)
• Comparative Method—Contains “old” and “new”
methods, examines two case studies
• Scope has changed, broadened over time
3 Shifts in Scope of Analysis
(more in Chapter 3)
• Originally, political scientists tried to develop overarching
theories.
• Shift #1: In many cases, general theory is not helpful; limit
research to a few cases and address middle range theory
• Shift #2: Methods
• Used to use Deductive Method: General to specific
• NOW: Inductive Method: Specifics to general conclusion. Best
method: case study
• Shift #3: Cross-temporal analysis (analyze different countries
over time; Why has India developed differently than South
Korea over the last 60 years?)
Comparative Approaches
(David Apter)
• Institutionalist: look at institutions. (What makes a strong
state? Military, economy, resources, legitimacy, adaptive power
of states. Is regime Totalitarian, Authoritarian, Transitional, or
Democratic?)
• Developmentalist: look at society, culture.
• 2 types: Modernization and Dependency school
• Must understand socioeconomic forces
• Ethnic Composition plays a role
• State aggression/frustration/identity
• Institutionalist couldn’t explain Fascist Italy, Weimar German
failure (really due to Versailles, economic collapse)
• Neo-institutionalist: state and society interact
Comparative Politics Approaches
• Traditional observations—look at cultures, study to
learn similarities. Focus: formal institutions only
• Logic
• Behaviorist Approach (Quantitative)—Feelings,
attitudes, functions as opposed to institutions. Shift to
infrastructure. Use mass media, foreign policy, public
opinions, ideology to analyze. Focus: cross-national,
cross-cultural. Take a prescriptive approach and
analyze data empirically.
• Post-Behaviorism--reaction to precision and
quantification
Political Culture—Building Civil Society
Civil Society: A buffer between state and individual
AKA “linkage institutions”
Political Parties, Media, Interest groups, elections
Ex: Democratic/Republican parties, CNN/FOX, NRA/Emily’s List
There are moral, legal, and economic concerns in building civil
society. Examine Russia’s challenges after 1991:
• Moral: Soviets had tradition of strong state crushing religion,
had no morals under communism. Soviet people saw free
market as “cheating.”
• Legal: Soviets had no experience with contracts, ownership,
bankruptcy, judges taught to rule the way the party wanted
them to. Need to re-educate.
• Economic: Soviets used command economy exclusively, no
entrepreneurial knowledge
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Evolution of the 1st World
• Modern industrial democracies
• Concepts of “Second World” and “Third World”
from Cold War era
• 1648: Treaty of Westphalia lays ground for the
modern state with the principles of territorial
integrity and government
• All new states faced questions about the role of
religion in politics, defense, etc.
• Industrial Revolution impacts countries, leads
to social unrest/problems/basis for sociology
Industrial Democracies: Similarities and Differences
Similarities:
• Wealth: $15K-30K •
GNP/person).
•
Charles Hauss ID’s
wealth as reason
for democracy
• Evolution similar
•
• Stability-- Dall
(Yale): Polyarchy
means different
groups share power
on different issues
• Post-industrial
(Service economy) •
• Post-materialist
Differences:
Political systems
Economic systems range from
USA market capitalism
protected capitalism in JPN 
socialism in SWE
Culture (GER, ITY, FRA, JPN have
penchant for strong “father
state”. Samuel Huntington
claims culture makes
democracy—but if this is true,
why are these countries
different?
Foreign Policy orientations
(sanctions on Iraq)
Post-Materialism:
(Ronald Inglehart, U-M)
In the world, there are 2 kinds of people:
• Materialist:
•
•
•
•
Poor
Uneducated
Extreme old and young
Concerned with living
from day to day
• Post-Materialist
• Wealthy, well educated
UC/MC
• Not in danger of starvation
• Concerned with
environment, feminism,
consumer protection, civil
liberties, support peace
movements.
• They think about selfactualization
The Concept of “Regime”
• Different from mere “government”
• Institutions and practices that typically
endure from government to government
• 1997 UK election removed John Major’s
Government
• 1979 Iranian Revolution removed a
regime—the Shah
• Iraqi “government” and “regime” both
removed 2003 by war of various causes
Political Ideology
• Def’n: A coherent and consistent set of beliefs about who
ought to rule, what principles rulers should obey, and what
policies rulers ought to pursue
• Result in the United States from differences in how to interpret
the Constitution—degree to which government should be
involved
• People regularly have “inconsistent” opinions (ex: wanting to
spend more on both national defense and welfare)
• Political Ideology activity and 2 major parties in the United
States
Chapter Objectives: Checklist
After reading this chapter, students should be able to:
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1. Identify the main actors in the international system and the effects that events taking place
in one country have on other countries.
2. Describe some of the ways world economy affects individuals.
3. Explain how global problems and challenges, such as population increases, pollution, and
resource depletion, affect individuals and their living space.
4. Recognize the avenues available to individuals to affect world politics.
5. Understand how theory can be used as a tool to organize and interpret world events,
including the limits of political theories.
6. Summarize Classical Realism and Neorealism and understand the implications of these
theories for world politics.
7. Summarize Classical Liberalism and Neoliberalism and understand the implications of these
theories for world politics.
8. Summarize Postmodernism and understand the concept of metanarratives.
9. Summarize feminism and understand the sources and implications of a masculine conception
of world politics.
10. Summarize the various economic theories and how they approach poverty and power.
11. Summarize constructivism and understand the relationship between agents and structure.
12. Describe the concepts of regime and political ideology.