GVPT 200 Chapter Notes - Chapter May 9: Sub-Saharan Africa, Geopolitics
9 May 2018
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International Relations: Readings for May 9th
• “The Top 5 Foreign Policy Lessons of the Past 20 Years” by Stephen M. Walt
o Great Power Politics Still Matters
▪ Bill Clinton said that the “cynical calculus of pure power politics simply
does not compute. It is ill-suited to a new era.”
▪ The U.S. has never abandoned power politics, and the Clinton, Bush, and
Obama administrations have emphasized the need to preserve American
power.
▪ Chinese and Russian foreign policy has become increasingly assertive in
their respective regions. India, Turkey, and Russia are also taking
traditional geopolitics more seriously.
o A Lot of Global Politics Is (Still) Local
▪ After the Cold War, many believed that the world was gradually being
united by globalization and societies with different value and histories
would all eventually embrace democracy and market capitalism.
▪ Local identities and issues continue to reassert themselves. Examples
include:
• The Israeli-Palestinian conflict
• Calls for Catalan, Kurdish, and Scottish independence
• Discrimination against minority groups in Burma, China, Russia,
India, and sub-Saharan Africa
• Ethnic, sectarian, and tribal divisions make attempts to create
effective governments in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya more
difficult
▪ The American “melting-pot” idea makes Americans see local identities as
pre-modern traits that will be discarded once modernized institutions are
introduced.
o The Only Thing Worse Than a Bad State Is No State
▪ American foreign policy elites often blame problems on supposedly evil or
illegitimate foreign governments. International politics is a simple game of
good vs. evil.
▪ “Good” states are America and its allies while “bad” states are anyone that
disagrees with America.
▪ During the Cold War, the U.S. blamed revolutionary communism and the
Soviet Union. Now, the U.S. tends to blame “rogue” states such as Iraq,
Iran, Libya, Syria, North Korea, or Serbia.
▪ Regime changes in autocratic countries are not an improvement if the
result is anarchy or a weak, corrupt, and divisive new regime.
o “Take it or Leave it” is Bad Diplomacy
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Document Summary
It is ill-suited to a new era. : the u. s. has never abandoned power politics, and the clinton, bush, and. Obama administrations have emphasized the need to preserve american power: chinese and russian foreign policy has become increasingly assertive in their respective regions. Examples include: the israeli-palestinian conflict, calls for catalan, kurdish, and scottish independence, discrimination against minority groups in burma, china, russia, International politics is a simple game of good vs. evil: good states are america and its allies while bad states are anyone that disagrees with america, during the cold war, the u. s. blamed revolutionary communism and the. Now, the u. s. tends to blame rogue states such as iraq, In ukraine, the western position is that russia should abandon all of its interests in that country, without conditions: china is also uninterested in real diplomacy with regard to south china. Nato, the failed attempts at a two-state solution in the middle east, the.
