POL208Y5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Lieutenant General (United States), 1970S Energy Crisis, Socalled
11 May 2016
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Main point: save yourselves, will to survive and quest for power and security. International politics, like all politics, is a struggle for power . Must be approached w/ prudence: this approach ignores aspects of moral or religious individual beliefs and tries to avoid ideological, moral, or religious crusades that can jeopardize the interest of the state. Classical realism: in order to survive, humans (selfish by nature) seek to dominate, which creates competition for power (same with states) Neo-classical: govs of states seek to maximize utility (their influence in the world) Their foreign policy is determined by their place in the international system and their capabilities and resources. The powerful do what they want, the weak do what they must - thucydities. Six basic tenets: statism, power, anarchy, anarchic structure of the international system, power calculations and the balance of power, security dilemma. States are rational, unitary actors most important ones in ir.
