POLI 244 Lecture 1: Lecture 1 - What is International Relations
19 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
"The study of interaction between different international players, NGOs,
governments, etc"
Peace of Westphalia (1648) - Modern IR
-
The Roman Empire
Senatorial provinces
-
Imperial provinces
-
Client states
-
In the year 400, the Roman Empire began to desintegrate and political
authority became hundreds of small kingdoms with their own authority
Religious authority remained centralized with the Pope in Rome
-
During the 1500s, larger kingdoms began to consolidate - Italy, Spain,
England
This meant that there were larger political units
-
1618 - 30 years war
There was loss of life, loss of economic resources and was a
nightmare for monarchs
-
There was a fight between Catholics and protestants
-
Peace of Westphalia ended the 30 years war
Principle of state sovereignty
-
Little kingdoms became sovereign states
-
Clear territorial boundaries, no interference in other states business
meant that monarchs could do whatever they wanted in their own
country
-
Morally - prevented bloody war but gave monarchs absolute power
There were small numbers of relatively large political units (present
day)
-
What is a state?
Modern statehood, territorially + sovereignty = the exclusive right to
govern a territory (absolute right?)
-
Pariable - conditionality of sovereign states (limits ie. Genocide)
-
Dimensions of internal statehood
De facto control/capacity
○
Legitimacy
○
-
Dimensions of external statehood
Legitimacy
○
Convenience
Recognition from other states
§
○
-
Example: Cosovo easily achieved statehood; the Palestine state took
longer for recognition; the Kurds still do not have statehood
International anarchy - political units are soverign because system is
anarchy
International anarchy = state sovereignty
-
Decentralized political authority
-
No world government
-
Self-help and use of force
-
State-centrism - why focus on the state?
State - principal unit of analysis in IR (state-centric theories)
-
State-centrism is a pragmatic choice
Theorize: create simple model of reality
○
Trade off: simplicity vs. explanatory power (parsimony)
○
-
Optimal balance so that model is not too hard to understand but
also doesn’t leave stuff out
-
State-centric - ingore other actors, refer to state as simply a black.
Box, don’t take into account other actors within a state
-
The state is a unitary actor that has a collective goal
Controls what happens within its border unlike other actors
-
Collect resources and use those resources like money
-
Can impose violence on a massive scale (terrorist groups cannot
compare)
Has more power than anyone else
ISIS may have had de facto control, but they didn’t have
legitimacy or acceptable from other states
§
○
-
Levels of analysis
The three "images" of IR theorizing
-
Levels of analysis State-centrism Research Question
1st image (indivial)
Individual decision making
-
Behaves that way because of
leader
-
2nd image (state behaviour)
Domestic institutions
-
Characteristics of a state
(democracy)
-
3rd image (int'l system)
International
structures/interactions
-
Military capabilites
Unipolar system •
Bipolar system •
Multi polar system •
-
Alliances
Axis powers vs entente •
Contribute to why states
behave as they do
•
-
Unions (EV, NAFTA)
-
*Focus only on states, bus explanatory factors can come from different
levels
International anarchy - implicate each other
State sovereignty
Decentrilized political authority
○
Self-help and the use of force
○
-
Lecture 1 -What is International Relations?
Wednesday, September 6, 2017
2:56 PM
"The study of interaction between different international players, NGOs,
governments, etc"
Peace of Westphalia (1648) - Modern IR
-
The Roman Empire
Senatorial provinces
-
Imperial provinces
-
Client states
-
In the year 400, the Roman Empire began to desintegrate and political
authority became hundreds of small kingdoms with their own authority
Religious authority remained centralized with the Pope in Rome
-
During the 1500s, larger kingdoms began to consolidate - Italy, Spain,
England
This meant that there were larger political units
-
1618 - 30 years war
There was loss of life, loss of economic resources and was a
nightmare for monarchs
-
There was a fight between Catholics and protestants
-
Peace of Westphalia ended the 30 years war
Principle of state sovereignty
-
Little kingdoms became sovereign states
-
Clear territorial boundaries, no interference in other states business
meant that monarchs could do whatever they wanted in their own
country
-
Morally - prevented bloody war but gave monarchs absolute power
There were small numbers of relatively large political units (present
day)
-
What is a state?
Modern statehood, territorially + sovereignty = the exclusive right to
govern a territory (absolute right?)
-
Pariable - conditionality of sovereign states (limits ie. Genocide)
-
Dimensions of internal statehood
De facto control/capacity
○
Legitimacy
○
-
Dimensions of external statehood
Legitimacy
○
Convenience
Recognition from other states
§
○
-
Example: Cosovo easily achieved statehood; the Palestine state took
longer for recognition; the Kurds still do not have statehood
International anarchy - political units are soverign because system is
anarchy
International anarchy = state sovereignty
-
Decentralized political authority
-
No world government
-
Self-help and use of force
-
State-centrism - why focus on the state?
State - principal unit of analysis in IR (state-centric theories)
-
State-centrism is a pragmatic choice
Theorize: create simple model of reality
○
Trade off: simplicity vs. explanatory power (parsimony)
○
-
Optimal balance so that model is not too hard to understand but
also doesn’t leave stuff out
-
State-centric - ingore other actors, refer to state as simply a black.
Box, don’t take into account other actors within a state
-
The state is a unitary actor that has a collective goal
Controls what happens within its border unlike other actors
-
Collect resources and use those resources like money
-
Can impose violence on a massive scale (terrorist groups cannot
compare)
Has more power than anyone else
ISIS may have had de facto control, but they didn’t have
legitimacy or acceptable from other states
§
○
-
Levels of analysis
The three "images" of IR theorizing
-
Levels of analysis State-centrism Research Question
1st image (indivial)
Individual decision making
-
Behaves that way because of
leader
-
2nd image (state behaviour)
Domestic institutions
-
Characteristics of a state
(democracy)
-
3rd image (int'l system)
International
structures/interactions
-
Military capabilites
Unipolar system •
Bipolar system •
Multi polar system •
-
Alliances
Axis powers vs entente •
Contribute to why states
behave as they do
•
-
Unions (EV, NAFTA)
-
*Focus only on states, bus explanatory factors can come from different
levels
International anarchy - implicate each other
State sovereignty
Decentrilized political authority
○
Self-help and the use of force
○
-
Lecture 1 -What is International Relations?
Wednesday, September 6, 2017
2:56 PM
