POLS 250 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Kony 2012, Bruce Russett, The Reflex

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Political Studies
• Course: POLS 250
• Professor: Colin Farrelly

Document Summary

Ir theory realist thinking, cycles of conflict. Failure to establish order after 1919, league of nations failed, wilson"s 14 points temporarily impactful. American isolationalism not an option can"t trust europe to stay functional. Us now more willing to play a more interventionist role. Not much conflict b/w us and britain about values. Stalin not as much . but didn"t show it at the conference, agreed with democracy and free/fair elections in the newly liberated states. If outcome didn"t suit su though, moscow intervened. Russia values buffer zone with eastern european states, (iron wall) So stalin doesn"t withdraw his troops from the ee region, didn"t demobilize (unlike us and britain maybe) Stalin now depicted in less favourable terms (ee is his pawns) Communism viewed as an encroaching threat against western freedom. Things so dire in europe and everyone so poor that everyone is at risk of communism ideological struggle.