Political Science 2231E Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: International Monetary Fund
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11 Dec 2014
School
Department
Course
Professor

States/Countries
Considered the main actor(s) in global politics (contested)
Usual elements (weight of each is dependent on content and other factors)
We're interested in how they go about understanding the world, how they then negotiate for
their country, how they compile intelligence and information about the country they are
stationed in
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Diplomats:
What do we consider of these armed forces?
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Agents of a political community who are taught to kill on command (act in violence on others and
within itself in terms of protecting its citizens)
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Responsible for external element -- they are organized, given command structures
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Are these valid?
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Cheaper to hire Ugandan special forces to protect bases in Afghanistan, etc..
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PMCs - private military corporations, para-military forces, private military are sometimes hired by
the state or by companies
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Armed Forces:
Fight the terrorists in the background - clandestine agents
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Beyond the military -- their role is combining diplomats & armed forces roles
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Defensive Intelligence - FBI, RCMP -- operations inside their state
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Offensive Intelligence - CIA -- operations outside of their state
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2 types:
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Secret Service:
Usually found in federal systems, ie. city of London is very unitary within the UK
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There can be cities that overshadow their states (ie. Toronto in Canada)
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Globalization of the economy
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Citizens' demands to respond to global issues -- 'act local, think global'
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Protect local interests -- ie. get people interested in investing in your city
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Why become global actors?
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Sub-national Governments
IGOs = inter-governmental
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NGOs = non-governmental
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2 subsets:
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International Organizations
Non-State Actors
Not set up by governments, they are private
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Have increased their importance in global politics
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Not liked by states
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Operate on a not-for-profit basis
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Non-Governmental Organizations
Modern corporation emerged in 1950s, 1960s, booms after 1970s
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After 1970s, government took control of the marketplace, not letting corporations do whatever
they want
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MNCs -- multi national corporations, mostly HQ in US, Japan, and European Union.
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Global Corporations
People
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Land
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Control over the people & land
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Recognition by other states
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Official agents
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Want to look up:
Starting up an NGO, Non-Profit,
How to
Movie online to watch
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The Corporation
Lecture 1 - Actors
September-19-12
11:14 AM
POLITICS 2231E Page 1