POLI 12 Lecture 6: Lecture 6
Lecture 6
Alternate explanations for war:
1. Anarchy
2. Misperception
3. Domestic politics
The US gov placed mines in the harbors for Nicaraguan trade routes but once the Nicaraguans took it
to the UN, the UN could not stop the US. The Cherokee land was being plundered by Georgian
inhabitants. The Cherokee took it to the US Supreme Court to enforce the treaty, which they did not
do. Anarchy is the absence of a central authority, not necessarily chaos. And you can still have order
without anarchy so anarchy is not a good explanation. War often creates government, Syria was a
hierarchal government but this order broke down due to war.
Misperception is when you cannot perceive things for what they are, leaders often anecdotally make
errors. Domestic politics adds an additional layer of complexity, fundamentally you need two things
to use domestic politics to explain international politics: International politics is not simple enough to
explain war. An example of this is the split of China into China and Taiwan.
War as an outcome of a failed bargain:
People don’t agree about what the war will produce. This causes the parties to carry out the war to
see what will happen.
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Document Summary
Alternate explanations for war: anarchy, misperception, domestic politics. The us gov placed mines in the harbors for nicaraguan trade routes but once the nicaraguans took it to the un, the un could not stop the us. The cherokee land was being plundered by georgian inhabitants. The cherokee took it to the us supreme court to enforce the treaty, which they did not do. Anarchy is the absence of a central authority, not necessarily chaos. And you can still have order without anarchy so anarchy is not a good explanation. War often creates government, syria was a hierarchal government but this order broke down due to war. Misperception is when you cannot perceive things for what they are, leaders often anecdotally make errors. Domestic politics adds an additional layer of complexity, fundamentally you need two things to use domestic politics to explain international politics: international politics is not simple enough to explain war.
