PSC 116G Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Trench Warfare, Fungibility, Security Dilemma
All weeks Week 1 1/24/18
What is International Politics?
• Referred to International Relations (IR)
• Common Definition: the relations between different actors in the world, the characteristics of
those relations, and their consequences. [Often portrayed as a distant process carried out by
ethics] – HOWEVER, Int’l Politics affects every day life – people are often not aware of its
effects.
IR and Daily Life
• Every person makes their own unique contribution to the world of int’l relations, even if it is
minor.
• Furthermore, what we think is currently ‘know’ about the world is often distorted.
Science of International Politics
• Skepticism regarding the ‘science’ of politics but consider
o Are political outcomes random?
o Are there patterns in politics?
o Do we form generalizations about patterns?
• Task of Political Science:
o Offer explanations on patterns in behavior
o Evaluate explanations
Science of International Politics
• General Model of Political Science
o Starts w clearly defined question
o Identify possible answers (hypotheses)
▪ Probabilistic Answers
o Predict Observed patterns for each explanation
o Define and measure key factors
o Choose research method and collect evidence
o Evaluate findings
Lecture 1/26/18
Practice of Political Science
• Theory and Policy
o Often a degree of uncertainty in political science theories
• Problems often require action before perfect answer is found
o Evaluating different arguments
o Deciding on most compelling
o Understanding that answers are not perfect
▪ Ex: Gov’ts have different policies to combat terrorism.
• Causes of terrorism are still uncertain - but gov still must act
Course themes
• Overriding theme of the course is that the principal features of the international politics are
conflict and cooperation
• Expand our thinking about int’l politics to include domestic politics
• Int’l interactions are often driven purely by domestic factors
find more resources at oneclass.com
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o Is there any purely domestic issues?
▪ Ex: tax breaks in RI may be sufficient to relocate companies from Canada, Japan,
or South America
Actors and Influences
• State Actors
o State: A territorial entity controlled by a government and inhabited by a population
o Exercises sovereignty over its territory
Nation: Groups of people who share a sense of national identity (usually language, culture,
history)
[Palestine is an example of a country that considers themselves a nation but is not a state]
– mostly middle eastern countries have this belief
Nation-state: States that consist of one predominant nation
However, some states are comprised of multiple, competing nations
Ex: Iraq – Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds
Nonstate Actors - National governments are the most important actors, but they are influenced by a
variety of actors that are not states
Substate actors: Groups and interests within states that influence the state’s foreign policy
(interest groups)
• Transnational actors: Actors that operate below the state level and across state borders.
Multinational Corporations (MNCs)
Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) – Greenpeace, Churches, IOC
International Terrorist Networks
• International Governmental Organizations (IGOs)
World Bank, U.N., WTO, NATO
• Levels of Analysis
o IR scholars sort out the influences, actors, and processes and categorize them into
different levels of analysis. [Different perspectives which offer possible explanations to
‘why’ questions’.]
Consider the question: what causes war?
Four levels of analysis in IR offer different answers:
Global/Structural
Interstate (Dyadic)
State/Domestic
Individual
Questions: Which country attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941? _Japan
The Vietnam War primarily occurred during which decade? _1960’s
What does ‘Brexit’ refer to? _impeding departure of the UK from the EU
What percentage of US budget is devoted to foreign aid? _1%
Who is the president of France? _Emmanuel Macron
Who was the leader of the Soviet Union during WW2? _Joseph Stalin
The United Nations was founded after what war? _WW2
Who is the current leader of Syria? _Bashar al-Assad
Who was responsible for orchestrating the 9/11 attacks? _Osama bin Laden
PSC Week 2 1/29
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find more resources at oneclass.com
The Historical Evolution of International Politics
Why understanding history is critical to the study of IR
History provides the testing ground for interpretation and evaluation of the competing theories
Can only evaluate predictions or explanations from historical data
Fundamental problem of social sciences: can’t rerun history
Observational data in politics is history
IR in Anciet Times
Throughout much of history, global politics was not global at all but rather local.
-Lack of technology and communication made it hard for interactions beyond a small
radius
-As a result, political organization tended to be limited
-As technology increased, political organization changed
Empires emerged as the ability to cover large distances developed. Egyptian, Persian, Rome,
Arab, Chinese, Mayan, Aztec, Incan.
The political systems (city-states) of ancient Greece were an exception during this time period.
Birth of the study of Int’l Politics
Greek city-states are one of the earliest examples of Int. Politics
History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides
War between Athens and Sparta
1st attempt at general understanding of int. politics
Thucydides’ Theory
War and peace between states depend on distribution of power
Int. politics is beyond morality
“the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must”
war and peace largely dependent on power
From City-States to Nation-states
• Period between the Greek city-states and the nation-states of the 1600s:
o Roman Empire - Dominated int. politics until 500 A.D.
o Feudal Europe - Political authority was not territorial
▪ Different levels of rulers
▪ Feudalism: political, economic, and social system in which land is the source of
power
▪ Lords grant the use of land to vassals and it worked by the serfs or peasants: lords
swear to loyalty to the monarch
▪ Lords Provide minimal welfare to serfs: protection, food, shelter, etc.
o Catholic Church
▪ Served as an overarching authority [theocracy]
▪ Kings subordinate to Pope
▪ Pope settled disputes
▪ Pope sanctioned conflict
Transition from Feudalist Europe
• Technological Changes
o Cannon, printing press, etc
• Rise of Merchant Class
• Reformation (1517) - Most significant ‘political’ development of early modern European history
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find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
What is international politics: referred to international relations (ir, common definition: the relations between different actors in the world, the characteristics of those relations, and their consequences. [often portrayed as a distant process carried out by ethics] however, int"l politics affects every day life people are often not aware of its effects. Ir and daily life: every person makes their own unique contribution to the world of int"l relations, even if it is minor, furthermore, what we think is currently know" about the world is often distorted. Science of international politics: general model of political science, starts w clearly defined question. Identify possible answers (hypotheses: probabilistic answers, predict observed patterns for each explanation, define and measure key factors, choose research method and collect evidence, evaluate findings. Course themes: overriding theme of the course is that the principal features of the international politics are conflict and cooperation, expand our thinking about int"l politics to include domestic politics.
