POL208Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Democratic Peace Theory, Immanuel Kant, International Political Economy
Document Summary
Pol208 lecture #1 & 2: the emergence of the modern state system. Studying states and the international system of states. Role of science is to dissect reality in order to discover important casual links. Science is always a simplification, highlighting some things and putting others in the. What is a state? state occupy a defined territory. Foster creation of institutions essential for the facilitation of these transactions. End the scourge of wars through governing institutions. Conflict resolved through peaceful manners rather than a war. Big mac theory of international peace: no two countries with macdonalds have fought one another (logic fallacy > conflates the coincidence of fact and causation) Max weber these are ideal, not necessarily realistic. The nature of state is to gather as much information as possible on the planet > you never know when the situation changes, thus more information is better.
