IAFF 1005 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Democracy Promotion, Prospect Theory, Information Processing
26 Mar 2020
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Three main levels: individual, state, international system. Human nature: evil, greed, passion, self preservation, etc. Decisionmaking dynamics: information processing problems, persistence of belief systems, misuse of analogies like historical instances (cognitive psych) Risk taking tendencies: taking risks to avoid losses (prospect theory) Fundamental problems of ir: war and peace, instability and stability, disorder and order, conflict and cooperation. Key components and forces in ir: levels of analysis, actors and interest, power, ethics and morality. Multiple advocacy so everyone sees different angles, devil"s advocate to push everyone to think things through fully, checks and balances on power. Some types of states are more peaceful/belligerent. Kant - democracies are peaceful, lenin - capitalist systems expansionist and communist system peaceful. Democracies less likely to go to war with each other, democratizing systems are volatile. Greedy/aggressive/hegemony seeking states vs need/defensive/security seeking states. Constitutional provisions, governmental institutions, interest groups, factions, public opinion. Government policies shaped and implemented by large government agencies and organizations.
