PSC 1003 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Central Powers, Al-Qaeda, Deng Xiaoping
Document Summary
Balance of threat: one source of power is threatening; the other isn"t. We must unite against the scary one: in other words, self-help and fear drives smaller powers to ally against a more threatening power. Everyone"s out for themselves except the british and japanese. Overall in. system is fluid but stable. Entente bloc - france, russia (until 1917), japan, uk. Central powers: germany, ottoman, and austro-hungarian empires. China is no longer a power due to civil war. Entente bloc and central powers try to end the stalemate by recruiting outsiders (italy; u. s. ; even mexico) Result is lengthy conflict (first world war) that ends only after italy and u. s. join. States favoring global conditions as they are. System divides between states that favor status quo (existing conditions) and those favoring change. Axis alliance recruits other discontented states (iraq, thailand) Western allies or free world coalition: us with france, uk, and junior partners .
