International Theory PDF

Global Politics: The study of the interaction between states, non-state actors, and social physical structures. Textbook Notes Chapter 1: From international politics to world politics - The phrase “world politics” is more inclusive as it considers a wide set of actors and...

Global Politics: The study of the interaction between states, non-state actors, and social physical structures. Textbook Notes Chapter 1: From international politics to world politics - The phrase “world politics” is more inclusive as it considers a wide set of actors and political relations. Liberal Internationalism - Developed after the first world war - Human beings and societies can be improved, capitalism is the best way of organizing the economy, representative democracy is necessary for liberal improvement, and ideas matter. - Individuals, multinational corporations, transnational actors, and international organizations as central actors. - Liberals tend to think of the state as made up of individuals and their collective societal preferences and interests, also that it is comprised of a set of bureaucracies, each with its own interests. - Order in world politics is viewed to be founded upon agreed norms, international regimes, and institutional rules to manage the global capitalist economy. Realism - The main actors on the world stage are the most powerful states, which are legally sovereign actors. o Thus, other non-powerful state actors have to work within the framework of inner- state relations set by the most powerful states. - Realists see human nature as what propels states to act as they do, and as centrally important. Thus, world politics represents a struggle for power and for the maximization of national interest. o Known as the balance of power: states act as to prevent any one state from dominating. ▪ Word politics is therefore about bargaining, alliances, diplomacy, and military force (to implement foreign policies). Social Constructivism - Approach arose out of the disintegration of the Soviet empire, which indicated that human agency had a greater potential role in world politics than implied by liberalism or realism. - Constructivism argues that we make and remake the social world. o Believe that self help is the only possible response to the anarchical structure of world politics.  - Not a theory or world politics, but rather an approach to the philosophy of social science. Marxist Theories - The most important feature of world politics is that it takes place in a highly unequal capitalist world economy, where the most important actors are the classes, and the behaviour of all other actors is ultimately explained by class forces. - Marxist theories conceive of world politics as the setting in which class conflicts are played out. - World systems theory: the key feature of the international economy is the division of the world into a wealthy capitalist core, a semi-periphery, and an exploited periphery integrated into the economy in its provision of natural resources and labour made cheap. Poststructuralism - Incredulity towards metanarratives - Concerned with distrusting and exposing any account of human life that claims to have direct access to “the truth”. - Poststructuralism takes apart the very concepts and methods of our thinking, examining the conditions under which we are able to theorize about world politics in the first place. Postcolonial and decolonial approaches - Postcolonial scholars question whether Eurocentric theories can really purport to explain world politics, its historical relation to empire and colonialism. - Decolonial scholarship thinks about how to decolonize the dominant theories and ways of knowing. Feminism - There is no one feminist theory. However, all untied by their focus on the construction of differences between ‘women’ and ‘men’ in the context of hierarchy and power. Meta-theoretical questions - Explanatory theory: sees the world as something external to our theories of it, while a constitutive theory is one that thinks our theories help construct the world. - Our theories define what we see as the external world. - The foundational/anti-foundational distinction refers to the issue of whether our beliefs about the world can be tested or evaluated against any neutral or objective procedures. o Foundationalist: one that thinks all truth claims can be judged true or false. o Anti-foundationalist: truth claims cannot be judged as true or gals, since there are never neural grounds for doing so. Theories and globalization Liberals → globalization is the product of a long running, progressive transformation of world politics Realists → globalization does not alter the most significant feature of world politics which is the territorial division of the world into nation- states. - Powerful states retain sovereignty, and globalization does not remove the struggle for political power among sovereign states. Constructivists → think that we can mould globalization in many ways. We cannot underestimate the ability of changing social norms and the identity of actors to challenge and shape globalization. Marxists → globalization is a sham. Post structuralists → does not exist, it is a discourse. Idk Postcolonial and decolonial scholarship highlights the important degree of continuity and persistence of colonial forms of power in the globalized world. Feminist scholarship → all types address and debate the effects that globalization has on gendered forms or power Chapter 2: Globalization and Global Politics Making Sense of Globalization - Before the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), economic globalization was at its peak, with global flows of capital, goods, and services estimated at 53% of world economic activity. o The period since the GDC has been one of economic slowbalization. o Digitalization, and global support against racism is an example of the positives of globalization. However, things such as transnational organized criminal and terrorist organization, as well as human trafficking and money laundering presents to us how globalization is a source of unprecedented risks, societal vulnerabilities, and conflict. - The scale of global connectivity has created a complex world of systemic interdependencies between countries, and between global systems. o Generates global systemic risks such as Covid 19. - Because of such risks, globalization is associated with a world risk-society in which national borders provide little protection from (formerly) distant dangers. - Today, over 292 permanent intergovernmental organizations constituting a system of global governance. o BRICS, World Trade Organizations, and many other trans governmental networks, o Capital freely circulates the globe. Analyzing Globalization:  - Globalization is characterized by: o the stretching of social, political, cultural, and rconomic activities across national frontiers such that events, decisions, and actions in one part of the world have the potential to impact directly and indirectly on individuals, communities, and countries in distant regions of the globe. o A developing awareness among people and organizations of being embedded in a global system. - Indicative of how human affars are no longer organized solely on a local or national territorial scale, but increasingly organized on transnational, regional, and global scales. o Globalization is therefore associated with the process of deterritorialization (as social, political, or economic activities are organized at the global or transnational levels, they are effectivelky detavhed from their place or locale o Globalization is differentially experienced within countries. - Globalization can be differentiated form internationalization or international independence. o Internationalization: refers to growing connections between sovereign independent nation-states; international interdependence refers to mutual dependence between sovereign states. o Globalization: a historical process involving a fundamental shift or transformation in the spatial scale of human social organization that links distant communities and expands the reach of power relations across regions and continents. - Realist skeptics acknowledge growing international connectivity, but argue that this is neither historically novel. o Marxist sceptics are unconvinced by the idea of globalization, and argue that it has its origins in the inevitable expansionary logic of capitalism. o Sceptics conclude that globalization is epiphenomenal: a derivate of more primary forces, either geopolitics of capitalism, or both. The crisis of globalization and the liberal world order - The rise of nationalist Populism: Brexit and Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign as major vehicles against the wave of globalism. - Resurgence of great power rivalry: China v US v India v Russia - Global connectivity is becoming increasingly securitized, because of geo-economic competition, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the fallout from Western sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. o The covid-19 pandemic exposed the vulnerabilities of economies following the goobal supply chain disruption. o This is leading to the implementation of strategic autonomy, which is arguably creating the conditions for a new age of ‘autarky’. Globalization and the transformation of world politics  - Globalization is associated with structural transformations in wprld politics, from governance to power and world order. o It requires a conceptual shift in thinking about world politics, from a oprincipally state-centric and western-centric perspective to the perspective of global politics. - Globalization is a significant source of conflict, as well as cooperation, systemic risks, and power shifts. Chapter 3: The rise of modern international order All international orders are made up of multiple political units, which can be empires, city-states, or nation-states, but these political units are forced to coexist in the absence of an overarching authority. International orders: are made up by regularized practices of exchange between political units. - These have existed ever since political units began to interact with each other Contemporary International Order marked by the dominance of Western ideas and institutions - Some argue that this is because of the innate strengths of liberal ideas, democratic practices, and free markets. Others argue that domination is rooted in specific historical circumstances such as colonial exploitation and subjugation. - Arguments for and against the opinion that the rise of the West was the result of its own strengths can be found on page. 41. Important: - The rise of the West has only occurred relatively recently - Many aspects of its rise can be traced to international processes, such as imperialism and the global expansion of capitalism. o This generated a range of actors that helped to bind the globe together through institutions, new forms of transport, and technologies. Historical International Orders - Peace of Westphalia: which marked the end of religion in Europe, resulted in the resolution that Europe could no longer intervene in other states based on religious belief. o So, states assumed sovereignty over their own territory. Thus, this is important because it established the principle of sovereign territoriality (a claim to political authority over a particular geographical space). ▪ There are critiques. o Not the only starting point for thinking about modern international order, just depends on what we consider to be the most important component of international order. - Regularized exchanges between political units can generate forms of interdependence. o In recent years this has heightened: Pandemics How did modern international order emerge? - Some explanations o The capacity of liberal constitutions in the West to restrict levels of domestic conflict. o The frequency of European interstate wats led to technological and tactical advances. o Scientific advances associated with the European enlightenment. o Geographical and demographic advantages enjoyed by the West. o Capitalism. - None acknowledge how European success was predicated on imperialism. o The opium war o The Atlantic Slave trade - They also do not consider that European powers assumed control over the trade of commodities which led to unequal patterns of trade. - Also: Western advances arose from the emulation and fusion of non-Western ideas and technologies. - Thus, it can be linked to three main dynamics: industrialization, the emergence of ‘rational’ states, and imperialism. Industrialization - Took place in two main waves. 1) The (mainly) British wave was centered on cotton, coal, and iron a. It was crucia because of the capture of inanimate sources of energy. b. Also crucial because of the application of engineering to blockages in production (shortened production time for example). 2) The (mainly) German and American wave took place in the last quarter of the 19th century and was centered on advances in chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and electronics. a. Oil industry took off in Russia, Canada and the US. b. Electricity began to be generated and distributed from hydroelectric and steam powered stations. - These two waves helped to produce a dramatic expansion of the world market. By the early years of the twentieth century, world trade was increasing at a rate of 10% per year. o Rhis also brought new opportunities for accumulating power: Britain put tariffs on Indian textiles, but forcibly imported their products into India. Before this, India’s merchant class had clothed the world. Rational States - During the 19th century, states began to assume greater control over the use of force within their territory. o Armies and navies became more distinctly national, increasingly coming under the direct control of the state.  - Rational State: refers to the ways in which states became organized less through interpersonal relations and family ties, and more by abstract bureaucracies such as a civil service and a nationally organized military. Imperialism - The bulk of European Imperialism took place during the ‘scramble for Africa’ , which saw European powers assume direct control of large parts of the continent, - The US first became a continental empire (seizing territory from Native Americans, the Spanish, and Mexicans), and then built an overseas empire. - Imperialism took many forms: o Direct-rule colonies (India post 1856) o Settler Colonies (Australia, Algeria) o Protectorates (Brunei) o Bases ( Gibratar) o Treaty Ports (Shanghai) o Spheres of Influence (Argentina) - Imperialism was destructive: took the form of ecocide and/or genocide Consequences of the Global transformation - Efficiency Savings (reasons): steamships, railways, and the telegraph. o Railways prompted the emergence of timetables, and pressed states to regularize time. They also became pipelines linking with steamships to provide a global transportation system. \ o The telegraph resulted in communication links throughout the world, albeit unequally used. Intergovernmental organizations and International non-governmental organizations - IGOs were a result of technological changes and the demand for international coordination and standardization. o As they developed, they covered a wide range of issues The Global Colour Line: lighter skinned people inhabit the highest rung of the evolutionary ladder, while darker skinned people inhabit the lowest rung of the evolutionary ladder. This led to the grouping of Native American’s into “Indians”, and the increased phenomenon of white settlers who saw themselves as inherently superior to Indigenous peoples in settler states such as Australia. - Settlers helped to racialize international politics, making the colout bar a globally recognized tool of discrimination. Chapter 4: International History of the Twentieth Century (13) Modern Total War  - Clear pattern of events: assassination of Archduke Ferdinand→ triggering of Austri- Hungary’s declaration of war against Serbia → triggering of alliances to turn the conflict into a Europe-wide conflict. o Though there are debates about whether the responsibility rests with Germany for the origins of the First World War - War was total in that whole societies and economies were mobilized (men and women included) - The Treaty of Versailles failed to tackle the central problem of a united and frustrated Germany. o The Great Depression weakened liberal democracy and strengthened the appeal of communist, fascist, and Nazi parties. o Did not address central problems of European security and only created new sources of grievances and instability. o Woodrow Wilson. - Failed attempts to provide collective security by the League of Nations o There are debates about the use of the atomic bomb in Japan till this day. End of Empire - The end contributed to the belief that national self-determination should be a guiding principle in international politics. o Became the founding principle for decolonization. - Post 1945 imperialism became a term of critique, and it was increasingly recognied as incompatible. - Different factors influenced decolonization: o Attitude of the colonial power o Ideology and strategy of anti-imperialist forces o Role of external forces - Political, economic, and military factors played several roles in shaping the transfer of power. - Britain: Between 1947 and 1980, 49 territories were granted independence o India, Africa. - France: only withdrew form Indochina after prolonged guerrilla war and military defeat. In Africa, they withdrew while attempting to preserve their influence. In Algerian, the French refused to leave which resulted in a war. - Things like political exploitation of tribal differences accompanied the age of decolonization o In Asia, the relationship between nationalism and revolutionary Marxism was a potent force o So, cases of decolinzation ranged from relatively peaceful proceedings, to violent, revolutionary wars in other cases. Cold War  - Reflected the failure to implement the principles agreed at the war-time conferences of Yalta and Potsdam. - First major confrontation took place over Berlin when it was left deep within the Soviet zone of occupation and Stalin wanted to resolve its status - North vs South Korea - Victory of Mao Zedong o Deterioration of relationship between Soviet Union and China led to rapprochement between Beijing and Washington - Founding of the state of Israel - Cuba: Fidel Castro Conclusion: - The transformation of warfare into industrialized total war reflected a combination of technological, political and social forces - Relationship between the cold war and nuclear history is close o Nuclear weapons have since then constituted a focus for political agreement Chapter 5: From the End of the cold war to a new world of dis-order? (13) - A unipolar system began, in which the United States took advantage of in order to shape international politics. - US under Clinton pushed for a progressive and connected world wherein economic barriers that existed for countries was eliminated. o This led to the growth of India and China into becoming relevant and important actors on the international level. - The breakup of the USSR led to problems which proved difficult to resolve, especially under Putin’s leadership. - It was Europe and Germany in particular that benefited from the end of the Cold War. o Europe united (European Union) o Brexit and the election of Trump posed a serious challenge to the integrity and future of the EU. - The third world was a political project that aimed to create real independence from the West by pursuing a different non-Western road to economic modernity. o Many of the less developed countries continue to be burdened by debt, poverty, and poor infrastructure. Chapter 6: Rising Powers and the emerging global order - In the 1990s, globalization was rendering obsolete the old system of traditional international relations. o The United States entrenched itself into the new institutions that were emerging out of what some theorize to be “rational self-interest”. - 9/11 challenged the picture of the US dominated global order  o There was a mismatch between US’s championing of human rights and its willingness to violate human rights and democracy in defence of its national security - At the 5 ministerial conference of the WTO in Cancun, developing countries came together th in several overlapping coalitions and decided to block the negotiations of the Doha Development Agenda until their demands were met. The BRICS: Brazil, Russia, India, China; in less than 40 years the BRICS economies together could be larger than the G7 - Brazil was a rapidly rising country but was a;so badly hit by the debt crisis in 1980. Under the leadership of Lula da Silva, the rhetoric that Brazil was relevant and a rising power increased o Face domestic policy issues, corruption, and still recovering form the 2008 financial crisi. Structurally vulnerable to shifts in the global economy If power is shifting, where is it shifting to? Its all about the rise of the rest. E.g.: China, Arab Spring What is power? Levels: 1) Relational power and the capacity of a political unit to impose its will on another and to resist the attempts of others to impose their will 2) Institutional power: power becomes the ability to control the agenda, to determine what gets decided, and to exclude those issues that threaten the interests of the most powerful 3) Structural power: has to do with the constitution of action and the material and discursive conditions for action. Power for what? We have to connect our analysis of rising powers to our theoretical understanding of world politics. Chapter 7 - Immanuel Kant and Jeremy Bentham were two of the leading liberal thinkers of the enlightenment. o They hated the “lawless state of savagery”- Immanuel Kant, and they created plans to establish governance over matters of peace and war. - Jeremy Bentham o Argued for international jurisprudence based on the equality of sovereigns - Kant o Argued that the imperative to achieve perpetual peace required the transformation of individual consciousness, republican constitutionalism, and a federal contract among states to abolish war. - Democratic peace thesis: whereby democracy causes peace. The end of History: By Francis Fukuyama and celebrate the triumph of loveralism over all other ideologies, argues that liberal states are more stable internally and more peaceful in their international relations. - The First World War shifted liberal thinking towards recognition that peace is not a natural condition but is one that must be constructed. o Woodrow Wilson being the most famous advocate for an international authority to manage international relations: League of Nations. ▪ The League of Nations failed and the UN took its place, with the framers of its charter aware of the need to form a consensus among great powers Ikenberry: Liberalism 1.0: corresponds with the idealist moment of the inter-war period and the failed attempt to replace the old balance of power order with the rule of law. Liberalism 2.0: America embedded certain fundamental liberal principles into the UN Charter while building other institutions to manage trade and other cross-border flows. ➔ Ikenberry argues that the US is in decline and therefore its ability to deal with global risks is also in decline. Liberalism 3.0: requires a movement away from sovereignty-based order towards one where global institution become the rulers of the world. Some observers argue that the internationalist principles that have been a feature of the liberal order since 1945 are in crisis. The following arguments support this view: - the relative power of the United States is diminishing and hence its capacity to deal with global risks is also reducing; rising powers want a greater share of authority; the hope that the European Union (EU) could emerge as a second superpower which could strengthen internationalist rules and values has proven to be false, and arguably the EU has been further weakened as a global force by Brexit; and there is widespread evidence of a return to a form of state sovereignty in which intervention on internationalist grounds will not find support in the UN Security Council or among the majority of member states in the UN. - If Ikenberry is right and liberal internationalism is in decline, it is not clear what will replace it. If the liberal order associated with the UN system collapses, then history will have repeated itself: in the first half of the twentieth century, great power rivalry led to major power wars which the League of Nations was powerless to prevent. Is a ‘1914’ scenario likely, or can liberal internationalism adapt to the challenge of new emerging powers without losing its distinctively liberal character? - Alongside those who lament the inability of the state and global institutions to deliver a liberal peace are more critical voices who point out how structural patterns of hierarchy persist. These patterns are actively reproduced by security and development doctrines and  policies. As a result, the liberal international order remains conveniently favourable to the most powerful states in the system. Chapter 8: Marxist Theories of International Relations (13) - In a world where capitalism has begun to wreak havoc on the quality of living, as well as our ecological system, Marx has come back as an “intellectual force to be reckoned with”. - Any attempt to understand world politics must be based on a broader understanding of the processes operating in global capitalism. o Argue that the effects of global capitalism are to ensure that the powerful and wealthy prosper at the expense of the powerless and the poor. o That the pattern of power and control in an economy follows with the capitalist system; thus a change in the economic base ultimately leads to change in the ‘legal and political superstructure’. - Marxists hold that society is systematically prone to class conflict. o Feminists Marxists: women play a central role in the maintenance of capitalist relations] Gramscian - Hegemony of the ruling class in society o This allows moral, political, and cultural values of the dominant group to be accepted by subordinate groups and classes as their own. - Civil society: the network of institutions and practices that enjoy some autonomy from the state. o Thus shifted the focus more towards superstructural phenomena - Robert Cox: argued that hegemony is as important for maintaining stability and continuity there as is at the domestic level. New Marxism - New Marxism is characterized by a direct re-engagement with, and reappropriation of the concepts and categories developed by Marx himself or other classic Marxist thinkers. - One example of New Marxist scholarship is Justin Rosenberg’s work on uneven and combined development, which draws on Trotsky’s examination of the development of Russia in the global political economy. - Uneven and combined development suggests that rather than all countries following a single path of economic and political development, each country’s path will be affected by the international context. - The uneven and combined development approach has been utilized to analyse Iran’s economic and political development in the twentieth century Chapter 9: Realism Chapter 10: Feminism Feminism: is fundamentally rooted in an analysis of the global subordination of women –which can occur economically, politically, physically, and socially. ➔ Promotes equality and justice for all women. ➔ Combahee River Collective Statement: actively committed to struggling against racial, sexual, heterosexual and class oppression. o Speaks about how if black women are freed then other levels of women would by extension be justified for. ➔ Tensions in the movement because branches of feminism did not consider the experiences of black women, did not accept lesbian women or bisexual women, and did not consider transwomen to count. ➔ Ester Boserup’s book Women’s Role in Economic Development: o Challenged conventional economic and social development programmes by proving that women were essential to productive and reproductive processes, and by extension, developing nation’s economic and social progress. ➔ United Nations Decade for Women was the first extended period when the United Nations and its member states were forced to grapple with the experiences of women globally, and to ultimately take responsibility. o WILPF is the oldest formal women’s international peace organization. ➔ Can be argued that women suffer global subordination International Feminist theory: Critiqued the other theories for only reflecting men’s experiences roles, and status; make invisible women’s roles and concerns in the international arena. ➔ Concepts of the state as it emerged excluded women from full participation. ➔ Both deconstructive and reconstructive in nature Liberal Feminist International Relations: advocate that the rights and representation conventionally granted to men be extended to women. Focus is on changing institutions to encourage more representation of women in positions of power and international governance. ➔ Gender inequality is a major barrier to human development and leads to greater incidences of war and violence. o The higher the index of inequality (on all levels) between men and women, the more likely it will be that force and violence will be used to settle disputes both within and among states. Critical feminist international relations: Question the neutrality of liberal feminists, and draw on Marxist/socialist ideas and pay attention to the unequal diffusion of global capital accumulation. ➔ The system of patriarchy, and the system of production and class relation that produces the class oppression and work alienation of women. o They identify gender and class oppressions as interdependent and intertwined.  o Critical of gender essentialism: the assumption of the sameness of all women’s experiences by virtue of being female. ➔ Stern: the violence of war affects the intimacies of self and family. Postcolonial feminist international relations: links everyday life and local gendered contexts and ideologies to the larger, transnational political and economic structures and ideologies of capitalism. ➔ Seeks to situate historical knowledge of colonialism and postcolonialism as intersecting with economic, social, and political oppression and change. ➔ Underscore that the effects of colonialism such as the cultural and psychic dismemberment, sexist practices, and racial and colonial characterizations are still a thing of the present. o E.g.: Freedom of Muslim and Arab men and women is subject to increased scrutiny through policing and surveillance. o Women from the global south are depicted and treated as an object of protection from her own kind: the existence of this depiction results in a rationale for violence. ➔ Suggest that the individualism and autonomy implicit in the definitions of rights and liberties are culturally ill-suited. ➔ Highlight the impact of differential impact in the Global south and specifically on women and girls within these areas ➔ RAWA (revolutionary association of the women of Afghanistan): opened underground schools, criticized US innovation of Afghanistan to be something that would eventually lead to the empowerment of fundamentalist forces in the region. (they were right). Post structural feminist international relations: Draws from Judith Butler’s scholarship, who argued that sex is in fact constructed by gender. Sex is not the foundation or origin of gender but is an effect. ➔ Gender is not what we are but what we do. o One becomes a woman by taking on the imperative to identify with the female/femininity. ➔ Calls on international relations to recognize the circulation and regulation of homo/heterosexuality as fundamental to world politics. Feminist foreign policy changes states’ foreign policy decision: For: ➔ Hillary Clinton’s pledge to consider women’s issues as central to foreign policy, not as adjunct. ➔ Sweden’s insistence that peace consultations with Yemen include women delegates and mandated gender parity. ➔ US integrated gender into its foreign policy goals and tracked the money spent on women- focused programming. Against: - Feminist foreign policy does not place gender equality at the crux of foreign policy for its own sake, but merely to legitimate conventional policy goals - Makes no difference in how states act: o Hillary Clinton never sanctioned other states for their treatment of women and girls. o President Obama and Biden did nothing to ensure the security of women and girls or heed their concerns during the withdrawal of US troops in Afghanistan in 2014 and 2021. Chapter 11: Postcolonial and decolonial approaches Postcolonial and decolonial approaches: reject the assumption that knowledge is ever objective or neutral. Simply a way of thinking about the world rather than a theory ➔ Emphasizes seeing and knowing the world from the perspectives and worldviews of those who are disempowered or dispossessed by imperial and racial hierarchies. o Postcolonial: emphasize the importance of sub-altern perspectives (power exercised not just through violence but also through culture and ideology in society). ▪ The continuities between ideas and practices during and after colonial rule. ▪ Argument for reparations to be sent to these countries because of the fact that the west was able to benefit economically from imperialism. o Decolonial: emphasis on retrieving Indigenous epistemologies and cosmologies ➔ Both approaches noted that the histories that they use and the cases that they pay attention to miss out the experiences of most of the world’s peoples and polities which are located outside of the west. o Thus, conventional IR cannot fully explain or understand world politics. ➔ Both have tended to understand the attitudes, practices, and structures supporting western supremacy in the world as unequal, racist, and dehumanizing. ➔ Aime Cesaire good person to refer to ig. Colonialism as a system of total violence operates at physical, economic, and political levels; putting colonizers and settlers above natives in the colony. Neocolonialism as an economic and political structure: wherein colonial forces remained in the different areas of an independent country and was a key driver of violence and economic impoverishment in newly independent countries. Chapter 12: Post structuralism Ontology : what is in the world. Epistemology: how we can know what is in the world. Ethnic wars:  - Asks what calling something an ethic war implies for our understanding of the war and the policies that could be used to stop it Poststructuralism: Foucault as a main inspiration for the thoughts. - Holds that language is essential to how we make sense of the world. It transmits meaning. o ‘Genocide’ vs ‘Tribal war’ o There’s is no objective meaning independent of how we constitute them in language. - Deconstruction: language is made up of dichotomies, between the developed and the underdeveloped, the modern and the premodern, the civilized and the barbaric. o Not neutral. - Actors are produced through discourse o Discourse is a form of power - Julia Kristeva argues that the social world is comprised of texts. - The role that materiality and power play in world politics o Material objects get their meaning through discourse: some countries are considered safe owners of nuclear weapons, and others are not. - General study of state sovereignty to understand foreign policy. Social Constructivism: a social theory that offers specific claims and hypothesis about patterns in world politics. ➔ The balance of power Is does not objectively exist out there, states debate the meaning of the balance of power and how they should respond. o We give meaning to different things, and constructivists are concerned about Instruction Video Notes The State** The State: a political and legal entity - States have a border, population, a central government, sovereign, recognized by each other, monopoly in use of power. o Nations are cultural identities, because people who live within a state might consider themselves to have different identities from the state. - State is an important actor in global politics Anarchy - Anarchy is a core concept in the theory of political realism o Realists argue that the way global politics functions is because the international system is anarchic - This claim is because: o There is no central authority (no world government) o No world police force Consequences: - States are insecure and are ultimately going to prioritize survival. - States are going to rely on self-help: through alliances or any thing that is in their interest - Trust is difficult because it is hard to establish long-term patterns. Security Dilemma: - When the different states build up systems to defend themselves (military power) to defend themselves. This triggers an arms race. - The nature of the global system affects the way that states behave. Balance of Power: States act to preserve a balance of power in the system - States act to preserve a balance of power to prevent states from dominating any of the others. o If a state is growing in a way that indicates that they are about to dominate the system, the other states will act to balance that power to prevent that. o To ensure that the system cannot be dominated by just one power. They do this by: - Increasing their own power - Alliances o Sometimes might need war to prevent an unequal distribution on power. Prisoner’s Dilemma-> a branch of game theory  - Explains how hard it is to maintain a partnership. o Real possibility that you could incur the full penalty and someone else will benefit. Interdependence: - A key component of political liberalism, a very big part of the globalizing world - Defined as: the mutual connectedness and dependency of states and non state actors. o The first main idea is that states are not the only actors: Multi-national corporations, NGO’s, and Institutions o Interconnected through: trade financial flows, travel, and communications. - This means that the international system is characterized by a web of interconnected actors and systems. o This means that state borders are easily permeable, and non-state actors are even more involved. o This does not mean that the non state actors hold the same importance to the international system. o This means that states and all other actors are benefitting from each other  - Realists argue that it is not an interdependent world; it is a world of sovereign states living in anarchy - Marxists argue that interdependence is about dominance and exploitation (by a few powerful states), not a mutually cooperative environment. Imperialism: - An extension by one country of its authority over another country/territory Qualities/Types of Control - Political control: - Economic control: the wealth of the colony was extracted from it and used to help the imperial power. The colonies were bound to trade only with the imperial power - Social control: language, education, the arts. The imperial power would attempt to suppress or even destroy these in the colony. - We call all these the “post-colonial” legacy for emerging countries: o How to build an effective government o How to develop their economy o Issues related to language, education, arts, religion. - Neo-Imperialism: o Imperialism continues to be a reality, just no longer overt (so no military) o All about structures of control (World Bank, I Monetary Fund), some have suggested the liberal free-market as an example of a neo-imperialist structure. Dependency Theory - Emerged in the 1960s and 1970s out of central and South America o Part of a movement that was asking questions like: why are so many countries not developing o Dependency theorists found that the countries were not developing because the international system was exploitive of these countries. - Theorists argue that there are different kinds of states which perform different functions in the world economy. o Argue that there is an international division of labor between all the countries, and the core countries dominate in terms of industry, technology. o Countries on the periphery are characterized by resource extraction, cheap labour, agriculture dependency. o Periphery countries serve the interest of the more wealthy countries - Class Distinction o Clear divide between the rich and the poor. o Argue that the rich people cooperate with one another to ensure that they stay in power and increase their wealth.  - The wider global system is characterized by global capitalism, where liberal economic theory dominates (trades, finance; which in turn serves the interests of the core countries. o Multinational cooperations and institutional, educational systems and the media are instruments of rich people in the core countries and serve the interests of the richest people in the richest countries, not the interest of the periphery countries, which promotes dominance and exploitation. ▪ This leads to a promotion of underdevelopment. - The international system prevents countries from developing. Lecture Notes September 10th “What is Global Politics?” The interdisciplinary (whereas International Relations is interdisciplinary in nature) study of power on a global scale. The Levels of Analysis Concept Four Levels: - Individual - Group (added) - State - System Used to Explain Agency: Arguments about the influence of these different levels on the things that happen in politics. E.g.: the things that happen in politics are driven by Individuals/groups/the state/ because the international system is structured in a way. ➔ We then ask ourselves why something happened: did ‘it’ happen because of the state, the system, the individual (e.g.: President Biden). Activity: Explain WWI Individual ➔ Gavrilo Princip, Archduke Ferdinand Group  ➔ Black Hand (Serbian nationalist movement). ➔ Royal Family of the Austro-Hungary Empire ➔ Ethnic conflicts between the people of both places State ➔ Austro-Hungary, Serbia. Nationalism System ➔ Empires all sought to be the hegemon. Led to pressure exerted on the different states to do what they can to gain power. ➔ Russia, Germany, the triggering of alliances. Multicausality in the global politics sphere. What are the Issues in Global Politics? 1) What theoretical framework best describes and explains the world? 2) What are the lessons of the past? 3) Is the international system integrating or fragmenting? a. Both, we can have the two at the same time. 4) What is the future of geopolitics? 5) Is the state in decline? 6) What does “security” mean? a. Borders, military might, walls (LMFAO), cooperative efforts, human security 7) How will the climate crises shape the future of global politics 8) What is the impact of technological innovation? a. AI, Robotics, Synthetic biology, neurotechnology. International relations theory; why is theory important? It helps to describe why things happened, have happened, and will continue to happen. Analytical tools to help us understand why things happened. Some of these theories: Realism->power politics Liberalism-> interdependence Marxism->dependence and exploitation Postmodernism/Constructivism/ Post-colonialism -> hegemonic beliefs and flawed constructions - Different arguments for what scholars need to focus on: war, climate change, the global economy, the decline of democracy, inequality September 12, 2024: Realism Why is theory important? - No single theory, model, or paradigm is agreed upon by scholars or students  - Different theories have different views on global politics. - Realism is a theoretical framework, not a political platform. o Yet they provide advice like trust no one, watch for relative gains in power, and view global politics is a zero-sum game. “Si vis Pacem, Para Bellum”: if you want peace, prepare for war. The Intellectual Origins of Realism - Sun Tzu (4th BCE) - Niccolo Machiavelli - Thomas Hobbes Principles: 1) The state is the most important actor in global politics. a. States are taken to be rational, unitary actors b. Non-state actors exist but are not deemed as important to global politics. 2) The Survival of the State is the dominant concern a. Pursuit of national security and national interests defined in terms of power 3) The principle of “Self-help” motivates action in an anarchic world a. States must rely on their own means to ensure their own security b. No world government, or world legal system to limit the actions of powerful states Anarchy: consequences 1) War is inevitable 2) Trust is difficult a. Videos like the Prisoner’s dilemma, the security dilemma, and the Stag Hunt by Jean- Jacques Rousseau help to illustrate this. b. The Stag Hunt: i. Wherein hunters agree to work together to hunt down a stag. A hunter decides to defect from the agreement and hunt down a rabbit that they see. ii. The hunter is acting in their own rational self-interest, because they need to take home the rabbit for themselves. iii. Credibility of the hunter takes a hit, but in a case where all the hunters have to work together, they have to decide between continuing to work together, and choosing to split up. iv. Effective communication could’ve made the situation better? How do realists explain international cooperation? : Self-help. - When it is no longer in the state’s interest to cooperate, then any international partnerships will dissolve. Realism, Power, and Policy - Hard power is the most important form of power o Wherein power is the ability to get someone to do something they would not otherwise do. ▪ Economic strength and military strength are two of the most important currencies of power. The power of the United States in decline| The power of China is rising - China: o Asian Solutions to Asian Problems ▪ Geopolitically circled; other Asian countries do not want China to be the decider of what the solutions are going to be. o Economic growth, to the point where they will be competing with the US o Geopolitical rivalry: between the united states and China ▪ Rise of the Renminbi: not yet a floating exchange rate, but is based on Chinese settings. Geopolitics and the “First Island Chain”: to keep China confined so that the US can control –if they have to – Chinese economic command. China responds with security agreements and relations with naval bases like Cambodia US responds Stationed military bases in the Pacific. China responds by created military agreements in with other countries like with Cambodia and the Solomon islands. The politics of China vs US presents a geopolitical rivalry, which is what realists have predicted. ➔ Preparing if necessary for a war. GDP growth champion: China BRICS: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Argentina… ➔ A partnership of unequal states (China and India on top)? o Cant agree on anything. Same thing with Shanghai Cooperation Organization. o For realists this is all evidence that we live in an anarchic world system. China and Russia: are we witnessing a balance of power resistance to American positioning? This is often referred to as the Axis of Upheaval ➔ Composed of Russia, China, and Iran. September 17, 2024: Liberalism The Intellectual Origins of Liberalism 1. Political and Economic liberty of individuals 2. Constraints on state power (usually by the Rule of Law) 3. Rule of Law 4. Democracy (rulers and leaders should be responsible to the people, and governments can change) Intellectual Origins 1. Immanuel Kant (1724-1804): Idea of a world wide federation of states for peace 2. John Locke (1632-1704): Free individuals form the basis of a free society 3. JS Mill (1806-1873): Texts on free markets and individual liberty 4. Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832): argued that the future could be a world of the rule of law “The political problem of mankind is to combine three things: Economic Efficiency, Social Justice and Individual Liberty” - John Maynard Keynes, fundamental concept of Liberalisms Principles of Liberalism 1. Principle over the pursuit of power a. Values, morality and law are important in global politics b. There is an international society out there, the vast majority of State and non-state actors will follow the norms and principles of that society the vast majority of the time. When they don’t, it's considered news. 2. Progress over continuity a. Human society can learn, can avoid past mistakes, cooperation can be learned (For liberals this is extremely important, we’re capable of change, we’re not the same as we were before, we have progressed) 3. Peace means prosperity and prosperity means peace a. Peace and prosperity are mutually reinforcing (people believe peace can sustain their prosperity) Liberal Challenge to Realism 1) States are not the only actors in Global politics, there exist other actors (non state): a) Multinational Corporations b) Non-Governmental Organizations c) Intergovernmental Organizations d) Groups 2) States are not the only actors in global politics, and are not unitary actors a) States might make decisions based on a small group (might not be rationally cost-benefit driven, but could be to benefit that small group) b) Liberals claim that the state is in decline, states are increasingly permeable, are also increasingly unable to exclude information from external sources, cross-border travel is increasingly harder to stop c) International Institutions matter, because as actors they can create principles and norms that most states will follow (they are transformative)  d) Cooperation is the norm, and it is increasing. The world is more cooperative than it has ever been (point to a set of cooperation agreements they call regimes) → For liberals Regime means a set of rules, norms and procedures around which the expectations of actors converge. E.g.: Commission for Labor Cooperation, International on the Maintenance of Certain Lights in the Red Sea, International Mobile Satellite Organization etc. e) The World is interdependent Interdependence - Driven by the increased free flow of Goods, Capital, Services and People o These four things are fundamental to current international organizations as a cornerstone of the European Union Liberalism, Power and Policy Liberals agree hard power exists, but prefer to think about Soft Power which they say is more influential 1. Soft Power: The power to attract, persuade and lead rather than coerce (creates legitimacy and loyalty to causes or policy positions) 2. War is not inevitable: War originates with bad leaders, autocratic governments, mistakes and misperceptions and faulty international structures (bad things happened because of greedy, ambitious and power hungry behavior by irresponsible governments (without checks and balances on their decision making), a better world can be built with laws and principle and democracy which fosters shared responsible governance based on accountability to people) 3. The Liberal Peace Economic interdependence - Democracy (Democratic Peace Theory): supposition of DPT is that democracies don’t fight one another - International Law - Multilateral Institutions - Arms Control and Disarmament Liberalism and Global Politics Today 1. Support interdependence and globalization 2. Encourage trade and trade agreements 3. Develop international Regimes and institutions 4. Strengthen international Law 5. Build global civil societies (NGOS) 6. Encourage the spread of democracy 7. Global issues (climate change, pandemic) require effective cooperation Question about Balance of Power and NATO → Banding to prevent domination (contributes to bigger domination cuz of US) September 19, 2024 Marxism: Critic of both liberalism and realism - Intellectual Origins or Marxism o Karl Marx (duh), Lenin, Trotsky, Engels Principles: - Economic forces are dominant (materialism) o Economics drives history and society o Historical events and social change are driven by economic developments  - Human society is evolving towards communism o Communism is the highest stage of human social development o Agreement between liberals and communists about human development; just not what system it can shift towards. o We are in the capitalist stage of human development, and the next stage is communism. - The key actors are classes o Classes are defined by their relationship to the means of production in society. o Bourgeoisie (own the land) and the Proletariat (do not own anything, only way to subsist is to sell their labour to the bourgeoisie. ▪ Only when we have a classless society that poverty, inequality, oppression, and violence will end o “the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle”- Karl Marx ▪ Contributions of Lenin Theory of imperialism (video) o Capitalist systems inevitably become monopolistic. o Advanced capitalist states must look abroad for new markets, labour, and resources. o Advanced capitalist states become imperialistic. o Imperial states come into conflict over dwindling markets, labour and resources. o Advances to War… and leads to a proletariat revolution. ▪ Classical traditional Marxists: proletariats would spontaneously receive a consciousness to overthrow a capitalist state. Lenin: proletariat has to be led into the revolution (Vanguard Party; though this party ends up becoming just like the bourgeoisie that they led the proletariat against). Marxism does not vibe with religion since it is believed to be a social control owned by the bourgeoisie. - The Monolith of Marxism o Gramscian o Critical Theory (Frankfurt) o “New Marxists”. Marxists, Power, and the World System - Power is held by dominant economic elites - Global politics is characterized by dependence and exploitation, not interdependence - War (like the state) is an instrument of the ruling classes. o The state has no interests outside of those of the Bourgeoisie. - Solution: overthrow the capitalist system. o For the global arena: the global capitalist system. World System Theory: Andre Gunder Frank Dependency Theory: Henrique Fernando Cardoso Gramscianism and Hegemony: Antonio Gramsci. Robert Cox - Viewed Marxism from the material part: o Wanting education in a capitalist society, would mean joining the bourgeoisie, wanting to become a lawyer would mean being a part of the system, wanting to be a businessman would be contributing to the system that serves the rich. - Global politics is not characterized by anarchy or independence, but rather by dependency - The global politics of dependence is a world of inequality and exploitation. “Inequality hardens society into a class system...Inequality divides us from one another in schools, in neighborhoods, at work, on airplanes, in hospitals, in what we eat, in the condition of our bodies, in what we think, in our children's futures, in how we die. Inequality makes it harder to imagine the lives of others.” George Packer -> HI (high income), MHI (Middle High Income), LI (Low income),MLI (Middle Low Income). -> liberalism with different actors, not just states Critiques of world economy: - International Financial Institutions o These institutions serve the global rich. - Policies of rich countries dominate world trade - Impact of rich colonization - MNC(Multi-national corporations) o Instruments of the rich, predatory organizations - Labour exploitation - Resource exploitation - Climate Crisis is a capitalist crisis o Degradation of the environment because of the exploitation of the bourgeoisie. September 24, 2024: Postmodernism/Poststructuralism Postmodern thought - Thinkers are critics of positivism o Positivism: The idea that one can build knowledge about a neutral world that is outside our own perceptual lenses as human beings ▪ Test hypotheses, scientific critic and processes which are used to develop neutral facts about the world. o Thinkers argue that we cannot do this because we cannot observe the world in an objective lens; rather, we see it through the lenses of who we are, what our lived experiences are, our socialization, our education, and our theoretical training. ▪ These things are all part of who we are, so how can we identify neutral observations outside of who we are. Origins: - Comes from the Frankfurt school: o Michael Foucault, Jaques Derrida, Max Horkheimer Principles : - Subject matter is social, not material: all action, all structure, is embedded in socially constructed belief systems o Global politics is socially constructed, it is intersubjective (subjective depending on the relationship between the observer and the thing being observed). - There are no “truths”: different experiences cause us to see the world differently, we cannot build “objective” knowledge about a “real” world. o “How can history have truth, if truth has history?” - Existence of a “dominant discourse” o Hegemonic belief systems dominate social dialogues and serve to exclude other ideas. o As a result, power produces “knowledge”. - Deconstruction o Expose the identity biases and belief systems in our “truths” about global politics.  ▪ Only after this can we attempt to construct \ Postmodernism and Global Politics - Postmodern though and the role of “race” in the Rwandan genocide. o The problem is that those who could’ve helped make a difference saw it as another internal conflict in Africa. o Was a result of embedded belief systems and false narratives ▪ No distinction between the Tutsis and the Hutus. The Belgian occupation: brought the scientific racist policies that measured skulls and decided who was smarter/better based on their skin colour, width of nose, skull… Conclude that the Tutsis are more racially advanced. o Against the thought that an internal conflict in Africa, rather than the colonial -racial history was responsible. ▪ Did not consider the fact that there could have been another truth. - Constructivism o Global politics is historically and socially constructed, and not the inevitable consequences of “structure”. o The causal powers attributed to structure by other theories (anarchy, interdependence, classes) are not “givens” in the natural world, but instead are constructed by social practice. ▪ Self help, anarchy, interdependence are institutions. Instead, it is what we make of it. o Ideas, norms, and perceptions are why things happen in global politics. Intellectual Origins of Constructivism - Alex Wendt Principles - Global politics is driven by the identities, idea, norms, and values of various actors o Embedded belief systems, in combination with the material world (material condition), are the determinant of action o E.g.: threats ▪ Using positivist information too. - Actors (including states) become “socialized”. o Identities can change and evolve (e.g., “sovereignty”; “the west”; “Europe” ) - Global politics can be changed through new ideas (but it is hard!) o E.g.: “Anarchy” Constructivists and Policy - Status and reputation matter - Importance of norms: define how actors should act  oWhat should be permissible in the arms that countries possess? oIf you change practices and ideas surrounding things like international law, then you can change how people behave around the world. - Norm building through norm entrepreneurs, social movements, and international organizations - Can change socialization of actors through new ideas and new norms. Postcolonialism The theory: ➔ Focuses on the impact of colonialism, colonial forms of power, and racism in world politics. o Race matters! ➔ Challenges Eurocentrism (sometimes Anglocentric lens) in IR theory. Intellectual Origins - Roots in reaction, resistance and rebellion against colonial rule o Researchers include: Edward Said, and W.E.B. Dubois Principles  Societies, governments and peoples in formerly colonised regions of the world experience global politics as a hierarchy. o The hierarchy is racialized and cultural. o “3rd world”. “developing/underdeveloped”  Colonialism still shapes thinking and discourse about the world.  Historical narratives are colonial narratives.  Racism shapes history and the present. o Post-colonialism challenges the Marxist view that class struggle is the reason for the structure. They argue that super structures of chauvinism are the driving forces of economic marginalization in the world. o Marxists and Post colonialists agree up until the point where they have to explain the reasons for inequality. ▪ Believe that one part of the problem cannot be treated without the other: have to target the systemic. Explains why climate change can also be connected to race.  Economic and political structures and ideas are grounded in imperial exploitation of people and resources and imperial-ideas about free trade and democracy.  Imperial expansion and occupation are synonymous with the violence of dispossession, displacement, and genocide. o Fundamentally violent   Power is manifested not just in military and economic terms, but also in terms of social impacts narratives, and discourses  Western conceptions of the non-west are based on narratives of empire that serve power hierarchies of the past and the present.  Concepts like sovereignty and the state were imposed on the world by European powers.  Power is manifested in cultural destruction and domination. The response: Decolonize everything (through a process of decolonization in every system Learning Objectives Liberalism Learning objectives: Understand how Liberals describe global politics Identify the Liberal view of power Compare and contrast Liberalism with Realism Explain the “Liberal Peace” formula Marxism Learning Objectives: - Understand how Marxists describe global politics - Identify Marxist views of power and the state - Describe the world capitalist system concept and dependency theory - Explain the relevance of Marxist concepts in global politics Postmodernism, Constructivism, and Postcolonialism. - Understand postmodern, constructivist, and postcolonial thought - Identify postmodern, constructivist, and postcolonial views of global politics - Explain the relevance of postmodern, constructivist and postcolonial concepts in contemporary global politics