International Relations: System and Actors

• The text explains key concepts and moments in international relations, dated January 21, 2025.

International System and Its Actors

• The international system involves relationships among international actors, structured by formal and informal rules and interaction patterns.
• International actors are entities that engage in behaviors, practices, or actions in international politics.
• Two primary types of international actors include states and non-state actors.
• A state consists of a territory, population, and a sovereign government, and is often interchangeably called a nation-state, government, nation, or country, like the United States, Arizona, UK and China.
• States are primary actors, and can be divided into great powers, superpowers, and non-great powers.
• A great power has significant military and economic strength, exerting influence in its region, based on objective and subjective measurements with examples including the US, Russia and China

Super Power

• A superpower holds a disproportionately high position due to its ability to exert power and influence globally.
• All superpowers are, by definition, great powers.
• Superpowers included the US and Soviet Union during the Cold War and the US in the post-Cold War period.

Non Great Powers

• Non-great powers lack significant military or economic strength, limiting their influence regionally or beyond, such as El Salvador, Mongolia, and Lithuania.

Non State Actors

• These play a role in international relations within the international system but operate separately from the state, below the state level, or across state borders.
• Examples include Cartels, Terrorist groups, WHO, Individuals, CNN and Walmart
• Non-state actors are historically less common, but their presence, agency, and study have grown rapidly in the past 75 years.

The Field of International Relations (IR)

• This encompasses the social, economic, and cultural relationships among countries, governments, and other international actors, including geographic influences and historical legacies.
• Meanwhile, International Relations as an academic study analyzes these phenomena.
• The field includes the study of "subfields" and levels of analysis.
• IR is broadly interdisciplinary, including sociology and area studies. Within political science, IR equals international politics.
• IR has three primary, overlapping "subfields": International Relations Theory, International Security (peace, conflict, violence, war), and International Political Economy (trade, finance, development, aid).

Levels of Analysis

• This refers to the unit at which researchers examine a phenomenon.
• Three primary levels of analysis in IR include domestic, interstate/systemic, and transnational:
• Subnational actors with different interests interact through domestic institutions to influence state actions abroad.

Domestic subnational actors

• Examples include water issues in California, voters, individuals in office, leaders, bureaucracy, interest groups, and the public.
• This level involves conditions and features beyond or above states that structure how states interact, such as anarchy, international institutions, and balance of power.

Interstate/Systemic Level

• This analysis disregards the internal makeup of countries.

The Transnational Level

• This considers actors spanning state borders and their impact on domestic and interstate politics.
• Actors include Amnesty International and multinational corporations like Apple and Walmart that influence the interests of domestic actors in multiple countries.

Key Lessons from History

• The Peace of Westphalia set in motion the modern nation-state and state system.
• The purpose of the treaties signed in Westphalia:
  • Immediately to end the Thirty and Eighty Years Wars in Europe
  • Long term to end centuries of religious wars and interventions in Europe.
• Core outcomes included territorial inviolability of state borders and non-interference by states in the domestic affairs of other states.

Colonization and Decolonization

• This was brought by the European states to all corners of the globe, involving atrocities like slavery, exploitation, and repression.
• Colonization led to European-based colonial empires with firm borders of exclusive authority over indigenous people.
• Decolonization in the 19th and 20th centuries resulted in hundreds of new states with similar, colonial-era borders.
• The world has consistently undergone periods of cooperation and competition; pause for caution.
• Periods of conflict can predict future cooperation.

Explaining US Support for Ukraine

• Diplomatic support was provided following Russia's invasion in 2022 due to domestic factors
• Ukrainian diaspora in US, beliefs for former US president Biden, US pubic opinion for the issue as well as interstate factors, like Illegality under international law, because of power among US/Russia/Ukraine
• Additionally, International human rights organizations sharing information transnationally.

Theoretical Paradigms in IR

• This is a framework including agreement on the basic units, problems, and explanation for events in international relations - also known as "school of thought", "theory", or "ism".
• Purpose: Provide systematic way of thinking about assessing events in international relations by guiding questions about the key factors that matter

Theoretical Paradigms:

• Realism
• Liberalism
• Critical Theories
• Constructivism
  • Feminism
  • Marxism
  • Postcolonialism
• Realism hasClassical Realism, Neorealism with Offensive and Defensive Neorealism

Neorealism

• This gained traction among IR scholars in the mid-20th Century.
• This includes the rise of colonial empires through the 1800s.
• Aggressive rise of Japan and Germany in the early 1900s among crowded group of existing great powers, the causes for the two world wars
• Establishing alliances among "obvious" opponents, (Germany/USSR pre WWII and US during WWII)
• Post WWII: End of alliances, the collapse of British hegemony, the rise of the US and USSR.

Neorealism claims.

• Key features like competition and conflict are necessary and the primary feature of international politics, which greatly limits cooperation as it is only a response to competition and conflict, which the states face
• Six basic assumptions:

Anarchy

• Defining structure of international relations
• Lack of Central government to enforce rules.
• Limited global governance.
• Dictated by levels of government such as City of Tucson >U of A > College > SGPP > Classroom.
• "Self Help" instead of central government
• States are the primary and unitary actors in the international system.
• Undertake state behavior which are not state actors
• Secondary.
• impact if allow them to have agency. act as single unit. domestic features irrelevant, states act the same way.

Interests

• Seek to survive by promoting their security
• Frames all decision making with ex: Trojan Horse.
• States are rational actors that pursue appropriate outcomes in line with promoting their security- by identifying interests.
• All behavior is a means to achieve security.
• Focuses on Power such as military force, GDP, population, territory and geography, technology.

Power and Balance

• System with 4-6 centers of relative equal strength.
• Most Unstable.
• Security dilemma ensures that states always fear for their survival

Neoliberalism on International Politics

• Asks why International actors act and what causes the events.
• Primary claim states that cooperation is not only possible, but rationally beneficial.

Claims

• International structure is anarchy but the states still cooperate in an anarchic world..
• Long term mutual gains outweigh short term individual gains.
• International politics is a game of repeated reaction.
• International institutions promote cooperation over time
• States seek the easy outcome with mutual gains over individual gains.
• "Nationality of defection, to get "rationality"

International Institutions

• A broad set of rules and practices that structure and influence actor
• Institutions structure and guide the behavior of actors in the international System, with the goal to verify, set standards and facilitate
• They also are designed to promote cooperation through many ways, including:
  • Verifying compliance involving true behavior of an agencies.
  • Setting standards of behavior, providing the standards that set guidelines.
  • And reduce the costs of collective decision making by providing agreed guidelines, opportunities to negotiate with one another.
  • How serve as "neutral" to increase expectations of a state’s role.

Classical Liberalism and Domestic Politics

• Three component of Kantian Peace include institutions, government, and the economy.
• Promote wealth and growth throughout countries.

Constructivism

• Argues international relations is determined by construction methods over external causes, and can be seen in a world stage through:
  • Action- Borders
• Origins include the end of the gold war is nothing is made.

Constructivism focuses on Interobjectivity, and also states that key concepts also include power and anarchy.

Actions In Interests

• There is power by the way actors conduct themselves with people of power with certain power with what seems likely the more better option.

Interactions in International Relations

• Seeks the best interests between action as interactions help produce (political) outcomes.

Actors

• Take actions aligned by security states adopt to what may have interests and have in war.

Cooperation

• May come as competing for International relation.

Bargaining

• Can come to two states or organizations.
• Often there is more than one outcome, as these actions of two more cause a gain or “loss” with what seems “complex, must act with people to achieve them”.
• Despite the benefits you may lose interactions when working relationships.

Coordination

• Form of cooperation when both factors making choices and incentive for them to comply and make interest.

Power

• The power or ability to get another factor/thing what is normal.

Security

• War may come as costly and a high alert with no safety

Interstate wars

• War: event involving a sure of military strength by two organized parties over to reach a minimum severity.
• Each Primary types of war.
• Is the state war between participants as states, in order territory, policy, and to follow a war. territorial conflict (Armenia and Pakistan (+china)).
• Another conflict is people policy.

War on National Policy

• Policy issue is wide.
• Policy and governing policy.
• Regime change is the system to be overthrown and be killed or to have a friendly region.

Other Notes

• War as a framework can be called "map too" and for what.
• Conflict is over time.
• War as barging may fail as an incentive and to identify out comes like it is costly and not work to potential "drivers" or just to avoid cost.

Misunderstandings

• They have secret strengths and true, willing is the true part also like what you may want to get over is to see for miscalculating, that your change for an armed conflict is up.
• People should know you will use any and everything on them just to stay safe.

Signal to others.

• Brinksman ship is needed by steps that take to make concessions.

War

• This can not get away it can come at and time is expected and will result to lunch other launch
• If this does not exist then you can call the red line, which will have a high cost, and you and lose all trust.
• Costly is taking something to decease the costs that have power.

The Issue of the Indivisibility

• It would take all of someone to beat them or you lose.
• It may get down to people religious preferences to start fights as that is what they always did.
• Something might not be able to be "owned"
• "Give me i what i want and attack " which will Deterrence the issue
• Power and to what the state is and what going to get power.
• It simplifies the reason to fight but it has disadvantages.

Domestic Politics and War

• As events shift you are more likely going need the right man to keep it down but some are puzzling, like if to do anything they must consider.

Actors

• Domestic can be paced into what they want. the public etc.

Individuals

• They are to act on something for people’s best interests where they can do it more better if they know you will be safe.

Assumptions

• If leaders have some issues then they can not always get through something as it will always leave a effect on both stage.

Bureaucracy

• Must have a lot of connections may can do it easier.

Conclusion

• The ability to connect with someone for it.

What if there is an Incentive for everything?

• Two side show or not to be involved for it.

Domestic politics

• Does no let them not do the job as something from the country.

International of War

International police

• Should monitor to prevent acts.
• They have a lot of members working together.

Alliances

Defensive

• May get better from what happens.
• A country that get multiple countries to gain safety will pay the cost.

Affinity

• What is needed too be stable.

Collective

• May say not but may have to go to war depending on it.

United Nation

• It is what helps keep states connected and has a structure for the people in it and the roles that help control it. The state must allow or not allow it
• But there is to way of it.
• But for this and on what had happened has cause a lot off changes.

Security Concil

• It has to say it will do and uphold on who not and has a power to say no.
• And if it does it will to what for.

Miltary

• Are they going to do it correctly.
• Why will supply to to it and what are and have we done.