Slides IR Class 1 - Intro to IR PDF

2024/2025 CLASS 1 – INTRO to I/international R/relations Lecturer : Dr. Valentina Brogna (replacing Prof. Amandine Orsini)  Dr.Valentina Brogna Office 5016 (119, rue du Marais) [email protected] Dr. Juan Felipe Duque Office 5013 (119, rue du Marais) juan.duque@uclouvain....

2024/2025 CLASS 1 – INTRO to I/international R/relations Lecturer : Dr. Valentina Brogna (replacing Prof. Amandine Orsini)  Dr.Valentina Brogna Office 5016 (119, rue du Marais) [email protected] Dr. Juan Felipe Duque Office 5013 (119, rue du Marais) [email protected] Juliette Biesmans Office 5001 (119, rue du Marais) [email protected]  U S: N BO nting/ e Pres ssing u disc ings read T H E U N H AT E C A M PA I G N Angela Merkel Nicolas Sarkozy Barack Obama Ugo Chavez Kim Jong-il Lee Myung-bak Mahmoud Abbas Benyamin Netanyahu Hu Jintao Barack Obama Benedict XVI Ahmed el-Tayyeb  CONFLICTS? Kim Jong-il Lee Myung-bak  PEACE? Angela Merkel Nicolas Sarkozy  ECONOMY? Hu Jintao Barack Obama  VALUES? Benedict XVI Ahmed el-Tayyeb  OVERVIEW AND DEFINITION OF IR  Several topics: - war & peace - transnational security - collective action (ex: environment, trade, health, migration, development, etc.) - international institutions and organisations - transnational social movements Contemporary definition of international relations: ‘the set of relations that unfold beyond the space controlled by individual states whatever the actor – state or non-state actor – concerned by these relations is, and whatever the nature – political or other – of these relations’ (Battistella 2009: 25) = ir is about the interactions between the units of the international system. BUT: what are the units? what is the international system? what drivers of international interactions? I. THE CONSTITUTIVE ELEMENTS OF THE STATE To exist, the State needs: A territory A population A government  No state without territory Protection of its territory 1. T E R R I TO RY Most international conflicts motivated by territorial issues Spatial location of the State as an important element in strategic decisions (access to sea, natural resources, trade route, etc.) The notion of territory was central to colonisation à ‘terra nullius’  Today States territory considered as inviolable, delimited T E R R I TO RY by fixed borders Outcome of the development of a corpus of legal norms (from the Westphalia Treaties to the UN Charter) However Territories are still objects of conflicts Conflicts over the delimitation of borders (Often contestation of borders that are the outcome of colonisation) Group of people living in a particular territory and under the authority of the State Some have the nationality of the State Some are immigrants or refugees 2. P O P U L AT I O N The case of diaspora Population as an element of power for the State Various perceptions instrumentalised in problematic political discourses  The government is the object of intense political struggles Political legitimacy of the government Examples 3. - Holy Alliance (19th Century): only divine right G OV E R N M E N T monarchies as legitimate governments è non- intervention in internal affairs - In the US during the Cold War: recommendation to not recognise States or governments that support USSR’s revolutionary ideas ↓ Today (UN Charter) no political legitimacy criteria, in principle (However, some criteria are debated in the academic and political spheres: genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity) II. THE STATE AS AN ACTOR The State as a political actor Necessary elements Authority Autonomy Equality The power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience Capacities 1. AU T H O R I T Y Formal Material the state ‘is a human community that (successfully) claims the monopoly of the Political authority legitimate use of physical force within a given territory.’ (Weber In different areas of social life 1919) Different modalities (production of legal rule; monopoly of legitimate violence)  Capacity to function autonomously from other political entities The international system based on the existence of sovereign political entities 2. AU TO N O M Y (States) only emerged after UN Charter (1945) and decolonisation waves Before, only European states were recognised as autonomous entities  Legal equality between states comes from the acknowledgement of sovereignty as the structuring 3. E Q UA L I T Y principle of international relations  THE CLAIMS THAT CHARACTERISE THE STATE Exclusive interface between internal and international arenas. Integrity of the territory Collective interests of a given population Monopoly of legitimate violence on its territory …IN PRACTICE Authority: not all states (e.g. failed and collapsed states) Autonomy: various degrees (USA vs Somalia) Equality: strongly hierarchized international system (e.g. UNSC veto power, voting rights in the IFIs) Representing collective interests vs authoritarian regimes  SOVEREIGNTY Paradoxical concept: Essentially contested (no universal definition) and essentially uncontested (taken for granted) Sovereignty “express[es] the idea Indivisible and unitary, but also shared that there is a final and absolute and fragmented authority in the political community Formal status… but under constant [and] that no final and absolute attack authority exists elsewhere than in the It has an appearance of permanency… but community” (Hinsley 1986: 26) also claimed to be obsolete ↓ ↓ Supreme authority Globalisation, increasing competences of IOs, Independence expanding role of MNCs and NGOs, etc. Indivisible quality (it does not Contested because it has been used as a shield for abuse of power by state exist in degrees) governments  DIMENSIONS OF SOVEREIGNTY Internal Sovereignty External sovereignty - Supreme authority over the community - No overarching authority in the - Decides over the competences that it international arena: anarchy, exercises on its territory, on the laws independence, equality among States - Decides on the structuration of - Competences and laws do not depend on intermediary levels (sub-states, regions, etc.) the approval by other States - Monopoly of legitimate violence - Competences and laws can be influenced by international institutions but the State can withdraw from these institutions ▼ These two dimensions have made sovereignty a defining principle in IR = the sovereign State is the default unit of analysis in IR, the interface between the domestic and the international SOVEREIGNTY IN POLITICAL PRACTICE Popular idea: State sovereignty is in decline à Globalisation, regional integration processes VS. States still are key actors of international relations Sovereignty is a key concept used in diplomatic and political discourse  Sovereignty not just as a property of the State : Sovereignty increasingly presented as “pooled”, “shared”, or “delegated”: to IOs or sub-states S OV EREI GN T Y units (multi-level governance) TODAY = different “sites” of sovereignty both below and above the state (individuals, regions, supranational organisations, etc.)  Different types of sovereign statehood today: The modern Westphalian state: fully exercises its sovereignty in the traditional sense The postcolonial or quasi-state contested sovereignty because it does not exercise it efficiently enough (ex: does not have good control of territory) S OV EREI GN T Y The postmodern States of the EU: have accepted to pool their sovereignty in certain policy TODAY areas ↓ How much sovereignty can be compromised before a State ceases to be sovereign? « INTERNATIONAL » ANARCHY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVCDnUZqLzU HOMEWORK SESSION 2 - S T U DY S E S S I O N 1 ( S L I D E S , S U M M A RY O N M O O D L E , YO U R N OT E S ) - READINGS: HEMMINGS, Alan D. 2021. “Antarctic Treaty System”. In J-F. Morin and A. Orsini. Essential Concepts of Global Environmental Governance. Routledge, pp. 9-11 SHACKELFORD S. J. 2021. “Common heritage of Humanity”. In J-F. Morin and A. Orsini. Essential Concepts of Global Environmental Governance. Routledge, pp. 44-47.