POLSCI 1G06 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Billiard Ball, Power Projection, Marshall Plan
Document Summary
Political science 1g06 2013 ii lecture 6b international relations. Given the differences between politics in conditions of hierarchy and politics in conditions of anarchy, the following realist tenets emerge. For realism, the state is the most important actor in the international system. Other actors are subordinate to the state consider the un and the. If you want to understand international outcomes, you should be looking at states, their political interests, and their relative power with respect to one another. Survival is the primary motive of every state. Any means to secure this end will be pursued. Military power is the best means to secure this end. Therefore states are constantly trying to accumulate it. Given the above, states must be more concerned with relative gains than absolute gains in any agreement. This makes international politics a zero-sum game. It might be easier to agree and loose a little than to disagree and suffer a lot.