POL101Y1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: World Politics, International Political Economy, World Economy
Document Summary
World politics (more broad): political relations that characterize the contemporary world. Theory: simplifying device that allows you to decide which facts matter and which facts don"t. Normative position: the task of academic study being one to make the world a better place; opponents of this called it idealism. Idealism: view of how the world should be and tried to make it that way. Realism: (opponent to idealism) seeing world how it really is rather than how we"d like it to be; dominant way of explaining world politics for the last century. Main actors: states; sovereignty: no actor above the state that can compel it to act in. Human nature compels states to act as they do (human nature is fixed and selfish) World politics is a struggle for power between states trying to maximize their national. Balance of power: states act accordingly in order to prevent any one state from specific ways interest dominating.
