POLI 2F20 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Multilateralism, Functional Integration, Collective Security
6 Nov 2013
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Document Summary
Neo-realism v. neo-liberalism: dominant ir debate for last 20 years. Neo-conservatism: persistent ideological strain in u. s. foreign policy. Usually defined as waltz"s structural realism (1979: states are the main actor, they want to survive, have to rely on self help. Key points: struggle for power driven by anarchy, not human nature. Three elements of international system: organizing principle: anarchy (international); hierarchy (domestic, units: sovereign states (what you"re going to focus on, distribution of capabilities across units (stronger/weaker) Tells you what the order is in international relations. Strong do what they can weaker suffer. Only people they can count on is themselves. Assumptions: force is important and effective: balance of power is central mechanism for maintaining international order, determines who gets what, during the cold war, unipolar, bi-polar, multi polar. Two main types of neo- (structural) realism: offensive realism (seek to maximize relative power; drive to dominate)
