POLI 205 Midterm: IR MidTerm Guide.docx
Document Summary
Week 1: realism and neorealism; anarchy and power. They are in a self help system, they have to take care of their own security. Need to show that they are powerful enough to defend their own borders. Realists assume that people are selfish and have an egotistical attitude. Think that humans try to seek power and security respectively. No, they feel even less secure afterwards, because the powers could break out into a war and exhaust each other. The state is the most important actor of international politics. At different times in history the state may be represented by the tribe, city-state, empire, kingdom or nation-state. International organizations, ngos, and individuals play a marginal role in world politics. Google, political parties, interest groups, etc. , are all relatively unimportant to the realist. The international system shows a structure of anarchy, with no global sovereign government. Anarchy is the ordering principle of the international system.
