World Pol
Terms
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- State
- An inhabited territorial entity controlled by a government that exercises sovereignty on its territory.
- Non-state actors
- Actors other than state governments that operate either below the level of the state (that is, within states) or across state borders.
- Transnational actors
- Private actors with operations in more than 1 state that do not depend on the government for their relationships.
- Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs)
- Organizations (such as the United Nations and its agencies) whose members are state governments.
- Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
- Transnational groups or entities (such as the Catholic Church, Greenpeace, and the International Olympic committee) that interact with states, multinational corporations (MNCs), other NGOs and intergovernmental organizations (IGOs).
- Sub-state actors
- Domestic interest groups, domestic companies, workers, subnational governments (local). (non state actor)
- Power
- The ability or potential to influence other’ behavior, as measured by the possession of certain tangible and intangible characteristics.
- Great Powers
- Generally, the half dozen or so most powerful states; the great-power club was exclusively European until the twentieth century.
- Cold War
- The hostile relations-punctuated by occasional periods of improvement, or détente--between the two superpowers, the United States and the U.S.S.R., from 1945 to 1990.
- Proxy wars
- Wars in the third world--often civil wars—in which the United States and the Soviet Union jockeyed for position by supplying and advising opposing factions.
- Anarchy
- In IR theory, the term implies not complete chaos but the lack of a central government that can enforce rules.
- Security Dilemma
- A situation in which states’ actions taken to assure their own security (such as deploying more military forces) are perceived as threats to the security of other states.
- Rationality
- ra
- Stateless nation
- st
- Peace of Westphalia
- we
- Neorealism
- A version of realist theory that emphasizes the influence on state behavior of the system’s structure, especially the international distribution of power.
- Polarity (Uni-polar, bi-polar, multi-polar)
-
1.)Uni-Polar- Short lived and unstable.
2) Bi-Polar- clear enemy.
3.) Multi-Polar- shifting alliances mean can easily rebalance as the situation changes. - Hegemon
- The holding by one state of a preponderance of power in the international system, so that it can single-handedly dominate the rules and arrangements by which international political and economic relations are conducted.
- Balance of Power
- The general concept of one or more states’ power being used to balance that of another state or group of states. The term can refer to (1) any ratio of power capabilities between states or alliances, (2) a relatively equal ratio, or (3) the process by which counterbalancing coalitions have repeatedly formed to prevent one state from conquering an entire region
- Alliances
- Al
- Balancing
- Bal
- Bandwagoning
- Band
- Idealism
- An approach that emphasizes international law, morality, and international organization, rather than power alone, as key influences on international relations.
- Prisoner’s Dilemma
- Pris
- Cooperation
- Coop
- Neoliberal institutionalism
- An approach that stresses the importance of international institutions in reducing inherent conflict that realists assume in an international system; the reasoning is based on the core liberal idea that seeking long-term mutual gains is often more rational that maximizing individual short-term gains.
- Collective goods
- A tangible or intangible good, created by members of a group, that is available to all group members regardless of their individual contributions; participants can gain by lowering their own contribution to the collective good, yet if too many participants do so, the good cannot be provided.
- Collective security
- The formation of a broad alliance of most major actors in an international system for the purpose of jointly opposing aggression by any actor; sometimes seen as presupposing the existence of a universal organization (such as the United Nations) to which both the aggressor and its opponents belong.
- Regimes
- Set of rules, norms, and procedures around which the expectations of actors converge in a certain issue area. Each actor expects to polay by the same rules.
- Interdependence
- A political and economic situation in which two states are simultaneously dependent on each other for their well-being. The degree of interdependence s sometimes designated in terms of “sensitivity†or “vulnerabilityâ€.
- Leverage
- Lev
- Mutual Gain
- Mut
- Bargaining space
- Barg
- Deterrence
- The threat to punish another actor if it takes a certain negative action (especially attacking one’s own state or one’s allies). The term has a somewhat more specific meaning in the context of the nuclear balance between the superpowers during the Cold War.
- Compellence
- The use of force to make another actor take some action (rather than, as in deterrence, refrain from taking an action).
- Arms Races
- A reciprocal process in which two or more state build up military capabilities in response to each other.
- Zero-sum game
- A situation in which one actor’s gain is by definition equal to the other’s loss, as opposed to a non-zero sum game, in which it is possible for both actors to gain or lose.
- Tit-for-tat
- A strategy of strict reciprocity (matching the other player’s response) after an initial cooperative move; it can bring about mutual cooperation in a repeated Prisoner’s Dilemma game, since it ensures that defection will not pay.
- Constructivism
- A movement in IR theory that examines how changing international norms and actor’s identities help shape the content of state’s interests.
- Identity
- ID
- Norms
- The shared expectations about what behavior is considered proper.
- Logic of appropriateness
- Log
- Reputational Costs
- Rep
- Difference Feminism
- A strand of feminism that believes gender differences are not just socially constructed and that views women as inherently less warlike than men (on average).
- Liberal Feminism
- A strand of feminism that emphasizes gender equality and views the “essential†differences in men’s and women’s abilities or perspectives as trivial or nonexistent.
- Postmodern Feminism
- An effort to combine feminist and postmodernist perspectives with the aim of uncovering the hidden influences of gender in IR and showing how arbitrary the construction of gender roles is.
- International Institutions
- Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) such as the UN, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
- International law
- I
- Treaties
- T
- International Court of Justice
- The judicial arm of the UN; located in The Hague, it hears only cases between states.
- International Criminal Court
- Permanent tribunal for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
- Foreign Policy
- F
- Rational Model
- A model in which decision makers calculate the costs and benefits of each possible course of action, then choose the one with the highest benefits and lowest costs.
- Organizational Process Model
- A decision-making model in which policy makers of lower-level officials rely largely on standardized responses or standard operating procedures.
- Bureaucratic Politics Model
- Involvement of individuals and groups can make decisions that are less than rational. "Where you stand depends on where you sit".
- Cognitive bias
- limitations on the human brain in making choices. (Cognitive dissonance, justification of effort, wishful thinking, hardened image of the enemy, historical analogies).
- Satisficing
- The act of finding a satisfactory or “good enough†solution to a problem.
- Groupthink
- The tendency of groups to validate wrong decisions by becoming overconfident and underestimating risks.
- Military-Industrial Complex
- A huge interlocking network of governmental agencies, industrial corporations, and research institutes, all working together to promote and benefit from military spending.
- Democratic Peace
- The proposition, strongly supported by empirical evidence, that democracies almost never fight wars against each other (although they do fight against authoritarian states).
- Hegemonic war
- Military actions that seek objectives short of the surrender and occupation of the enemy.
- Total war
- Warfare by one state waged to conquer and occupy another; modern total war originated in the Napoleonic Wars, which relied upon conscription on a mass scale.
- Limited war
- War for control of the entire world order—the rules of the international system as a whole. Also known as world war, global war, general war, or systemic war.