Questions and Answers
What are international institutions?
Cooperatives with more than one state.
What do treaties consist of?
A contract between two or more states.
Which of the following are types of international institutions? (Select all that apply)
Regimes are sets of guidelines and rules that govern state behavior.
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What is the purpose of international regimes?
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What may cause a state to withdraw from a treaty?
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What can international norms influence in state behavior? (Select all that apply)
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Treaties can dissolve implicitly from _____ treaties.
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What does the power of norms signify in international relations?
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Norms require constant application of punishment to be effective.
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Match the following terms with their definitions:
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What is constructivism?
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What does feminism aim to achieve?
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Which of the following describes the key focus of liberal feminism?
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Standpoint feminism suggests that women and men have different perspectives.
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What is post-modern feminism critical of?
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What do norms in international relations represent?
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What is the relationship between gender and security in feminism?
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According to Huntington, civilizations will clash due to common cultures such as ___.
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What is the critique of standpoint theory?
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What were the key features of post-modern feminism?
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Study Notes
International Institutions and Treaties
- International institutions consist of cooperatives with more than one state and can take many forms, including International Governmental Organizations, International Treaties, and International Declarations.
- International governmental organizations most often consist of cracies and have components such as buildings, personnel, mandates, budgets, and operating procedures.
Treaties and Regimes
- Treaties are contracts between two or more states that are seen as equal before the law, with no law above what states create for themselves.
- Treaties become binding after they meet a specified condition of acceptance or ratification.
- States can create their own rules and exceptions to those rules, known as reservations.
- Rotations are written into the treaty and allow all members to take exceptions under specific conditions.
- Leaving a treaty is not just a matter of opting out of a particular part, but rather withdrawing from the entire treaty, and states must not make it impossible for others to fulfill their obligations.
- Most treaties establish how states must leave treaties, with some notice.
Regime Theory
- Regime theory helps states cooperate more and move away from defect-defect and cooperate-cooperate scenarios.
- Assumptions in regime theory include the convergence of expectations and the support of state cooperation.
- Regimes facilitate the convergence of exceptions and assist in the cooperation of states.
International Regimes
- International regimes are sets of rules, norms, and treaties that govern the conduct of states in a particular issue area.
- Regimes have definitions and can be broken down into functional parts, including principles, norms, rules, decision-making procedures, and more.
Functionalism
- Functionalism posits that international institutions function like organisms, with each part contributing to the functioning of the whole.
- International regimes exist through functional parts, including principles, norms, rules, decision-making procedures, and more.
Neo-Liberal Institutionalist Theory
- Neo-liberal institutionalist theory explains why states create regimes, including reducing transaction costs, coordinating activity, and creating increased transparency and trust.
Decision Making
- Decision making in international relations involves making choices that reduce conflict and promote cooperation.
- Theories of decision making include rational choice, misperceptions and errors, and organizational and political decision making.
- Rationality is central to economic and game theory and involves making the best decision based on available information.
- Formal rationality involves examining all possible choices, determining the benefits of each, and choosing the highest utility option.
Are States Rational?
- States may not always act rationally, but they may act as if they are rational even when they are not.
- Rationality can be limited by individual hyper-rationality, bounded rationality, and cognitive limitations.
Constructivism
- Constructivism aims to understand and interpret the world around us, incorporating both objective and subjective elements.
- Constructivist theory posits that structures are created by human interaction and shared ideas, rather than material factors.
- Agency and structure are mutually constitutive, and material factors have meaning dependent on social structures.
- Constructivism emphasizes the importance of material factors, but also recognizes the role of social structures in shaping our understanding of the world.### Removing Power Structures and Individuals
- Scholars should work to remove power structures and individuals that dominate others through the discovery or development of knowledge.
- Freedom and knowledge are inherently connected.
Good and Just Society
- A good and just society should universalize some moral principles, reduce material inequality, and respect ethnic, cultural, and gender differences.
Constructivism
- Constructivist ideas provide no alternative to the current international system that is promised to be better.
- There is little empirical evidence to back up claims of better systems that can be designed.
- Constructivism relies on collective understandings rather than objective realities.
- International politics is determined by perceptions of reality that groups maintain differently.
Norms and Culture
- Norms are created through collective action and pushing those who don't conform.
- Later, the norm becomes common practice and is not necessary to punish violators.
- Punishment is costly for individuals and governments, and norms are more efficient.
- Meta-norms may also operate.
Culture
- Culture is determined by geography, religious beliefs, and level of development.
- Different cultures exist, such as Individualism vs. Statism.
- Examples of potential cultural influences include trade and conflict with other countries.
- Huntington's thesis suggests that civilizations will clash in the near future.
Feminism and International Relations
- Feminism is a social theory that explains and changes the way the world works.
- Feminism blurs the distinction between the public and private sphere, focusing on eliminating individual security problems.
- Security includes all forms of violence, including physical, structural, and ecological.
- There are different types of feminism, including liberal, standpoint, and post-modern feminism.
Liberal Feminism
- Liberal feminism aims to remove barriers for women and increase their representation in politics.
- Critics argue that liberal feminism ignores deeper roots of discrimination and gender differences.
Standpoint Feminism
- Standpoint feminism suggests that women and men have different standpoints and views.
- Power for feminists is the ability to make change and work together, not control.
- Critiques argue that standpoint feminism is not static and erodes as women take positions of power.
Post-Modern Feminism
- Post-modern feminism critiques gender in international relations and suggests that all interpretations of the world are influenced by gender.
- Critiques argue that post-modern feminism reduces the ability to emancipate women and denies knowledge and truth.
Women and War
- Women and children have become greater casualties during more recent wars.
- Women are often forced into prostitution around military bases.
- Women's roles in war and gendered notions of honor and strength are complex and multifaceted.
Women and Economics
- Women's subordination in economic development stems from gendered terms.
- Gender and work are also closely tied, with women often entering "caring" careers and shouldering the bulk of domestic work.### International Treaties and Regimes
- Treaties are agreements between states
- Regimes consist of a set of rules, guidelines, and exceptions to those rules, created to facilitate cooperation between states
Regime Theory
- Functionalism: states create regimes to maintain stability and contribute to the functioning of the whole
- Each part of the regime is interdependent, and the whole cannot function without each part
Why Do States Create Regimes?
- Reduce transaction costs
- Coordinate activities
- Increase transparency and trust
The Power of Norms
- Norms are weaker than laws but can reach further
- Once internationalized, norms become usual behavior
- There is no punishment for not following norms
Decision Making in IR
- States act in their self-interest
- Decision making involves:
- Exploring all choices
- Examining values
- Picking the best choice
- Rationality is an ideal, not a reality
- Individual hyper-rationality is not possible
- Cognitive consistency: we understand facts in a way that is consistent with our prior understanding
Cognitive Biases in Decision Making
- Simplification and stereotyping
- Negative and positive effects of stress on decision making
- Prospect theory: people take risks to avoid losses, not to achieve gains
Group Think
- Social dynamics that interfere with rationality
- Conformity and group identification
- Imitation and self-censorship
- Unanimity and pressure on oppositional statements
- Group think results in more extreme decisions and self-reinforcing decisions
Other Non-Rational Decision Making Models
- Bureaucratic politics model: competition among groups
- Organizational politics: routines based on history, not future possibilities
Decision Making Summary
- Few decisions are hyper-rational
- Groupthink and bureaucratic politics are common obstacles to rational decision making
- Newer models of decision making, such as poliheuristic decision making, are being developed
Positivism and Constructivism
- Positivism: the world is an objective, separate reality that can be observed and known
- Constructivism: the world is constructed through our beliefs, identities, and social interactions
Phenomenology and Hermeneutics
- Phenomenology: the study of how our ideas and beliefs affect our understanding of the world
- Hermeneutics: language gives meaning to objects
Intersubjective Agreement and Sovereignty
- Intersubjective agreement: shared norms and rules that define sovereignty
- Sovereignty is not an objective part of the system, but a convergence of shared expectations and ideas
Norms and Rules
- Norms: values that define appropriate behavior
- Norms can operate as either constitutive or regulative rules
- Constitutive rules define and create an activity or identity
- Regulative rules constrain an existing activity
Critical Theory and Post-Modernism
- Critical theory: promotes emancipation and freedom from oppression
- Post-modernism: everything is constructed by our minds, and knowledge is power
Constructivist Review
- Constructivism: collective understanding, not objective realities
- Partially determines behavior
Logic of Decision Making
- Logic of appropriateness: what is normal or appropriate
- Logic of consequences: evaluation of consequences
Culture and Conflict
- Geographical, religious, economic, and cultural factors that influence conflict
- Huntington's thesis: civilizations will clash, and the West will conflict with Islamic and Confucian civilizations
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Description
This quiz covers the basics of international institutions, including their forms and characteristics. Learn about International Governmental Organizations and more.
