The Globalization of
International Relations
CHAPTER ONE
Dr. Clayton Thyne
PS 235-001: World Politics
Spring 2010
Goldstein & Pevehouse,
International Relations, 8/e
Student notes version
The Study of International Relations
• International relations concerns…
• Narrowly defined:
– Many other actors exist – …
– Relationships cannot be understood...
– Central trend in IR today:
IR and Daily Life
• IR profoundly affects your life as well as that of other
citizens.
• War is among the most pervasive international
influences in daily life, even in peacetime.
• World is shrinking year by year.
Core Principles
• IR revolves around one key problem:
• How can a group – such as two or more nations – serve its
________________ when doing so requires its members to forego
their ________________ interests?
• Example:
• 3 solutions…the next 3 slides (see Table 1.1 on p. 6)
CA solution #1: Dominance
•
Solves the collective goods problem by…
•
Advantage(s):
•
Disadvantage(s):
•
Nuke example:
CA solution #2: Reciprocity
•
Solves the collective goods problem by…
•
Advantage(s):
•
Disadvantage(s):
•
Nuke example:
CA solution #3: Identity
•
Solves the collective goods problem by…
•
Advantage(s):
•
Disadvantage(s):
•
Nuke example:
IR as a Field of Study
•
IR is about international politics, but the field is _________________
•
Practical discipline
•
IR is 1 of 4 subfields in political science. The others are…
– _______________________
– _______________________
– _______________________
•
General focus of IR:
State Actors
• Most important actors in IR are __________________.
• State:
– State government exercises ___________________over its territory.
– Recognized as ____________________ by other states
– Seat of government with a leader
• State definition versus:
- Nation:
- Country:
- Nation-state:
• Some “quasi-states”:
State Actors
• International system
– Def:
– Modern international system has existed for less than
_____________________ years.
– Great variation on a number of key variables,
including…[see next 6 slides].
The World Today:
Major Powers
State
FRN
UKG
GMY
JPN
RUS
CHN
USA
% of power
.022824
.024668
.029424
.051258
.052549
.128823
.149792
40
20
0
% of states
60
80
The World Today:
Concentration of Power
0
.05
.1
Capability
.15
The World Today:
Democracy
20
10
0
Frequency
30
40
Distribution of Democracy
-10
-5
0
Polity Scale
5
10
0
.2
.4
.6
Proportion of Democracies in the System
1800
1850
1900
Year
1950
2000
Figure 1.1
Economic Output
very low (87)
low (5)
moderate (46)
high (45)
GDP/capita
very poor (45)
poor (44)
medium (45)
wealthy (44)
No data (5)
population
very low (46)
low (46)
medium (46)
high (45)
Democracy
very repressive (41)
non-democracies (37)
moderate democracies (45)
strong democracies (32)
No data (28)
Military Expenditures
very low (46)
low (44)
moderate (45)
high (45)
No data (3)
A Closer Look at the US
0
5000
10000
15000
US vs World Mean Military Personnel
1920
1940
US Military Personnel
1960
Year
1980
2000
Military Personnel-Global Average
A Closer Look at the US
0
1.00e+08
2.00e+08
3.00e+08
US vs World Mean Military Expenditures
1920
1940
1960
Year
US Military Expenditures
1980
2000
Military Exp-Global Avg.
Nonstate Actors
•
Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs)
•
Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
•
Multinational corporations
•
Substate actors
•
Individuals
Levels of Analysis
• Many actors involved in IR
• Response:
Levels of Analysis
• Levels of analysis help…
• No correct level for a given “why” question
• Example: War in Iraq
– Individual:
– Domestic:
– Interstate:
– Global:
Globalization
•
Many trends:
•
Globalization: Three conceptions of this process compete.
1. Liberal economic principles/global marketplace:
2. Skepticism:
3. Middle ground:
•
Globalization is changing both international security and IPE, but
________________ more quickly and profoundly.
The Evolving International System
• The basic structures and principles of international
relations are deeply rooted in historical developments.
• WWI and WWII occupied only ten years of the 20th
century, but shaped the character of the century.
• We’ll briefly look at key events of the 20th century,
focusing on the post Cold War era (1990+), including…
– WWI (1914-18)
– WWII (1939-45)
– Cold War (1946-90)
WWI (1914-18)
• WWI (the war to end all wars):
• WWI was not short or decisive:
• 2 main outcomes:
1. Ended w/ __________________________
2. Led to the ____________________________________
WWII (1939-45)
• U.S. ___________________
between WWI and WWII,
declining _______________
power, and a
_________________ crippled
by its own revolution left a
power vacuum in the world.
• In the ____________, Germany
and Japan stepped into the
vacuum w/ aggressive
expansionism.
• Policies of _________________
allowed Hitler to occupy almost
all of Europe
WWI & WWII: contradictory lessons
• Lesson from WWI:
• Lesson from WWII:
• IR scholars have not discovered a simple
formula for choosing______________________.
The Cold War, 1945-1990
• U.S. and Soviet Union – two superpowers of the post-WWII era:
• Central concern of the West:
• Sino-Soviet alliance:
• Scholars do not agree on why the Cold War ended:
.4
.3
.2
0
.1
1900
1920
1940
US strength
1960
1980
USSR strength
2000
The Cold War, 1945-1990
• Key events:
– Korean War
– Vietnam War
– Afghanistan War
– Many other proxy wars…
•Greek Civil War, 1946-1949
•Malaysian Emergency, 1948-1960
•Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1948-Present
•Korean War, 1950-1953
•Cuban Revolution, 1953-1959
•Tibetan insurgency, 1954-1973
•Vietnam War, 1957-1975
•Guatemalan Civil War, 1960-1996
•Congo Crisis, 1960-1965
•Bay of Pigs Invasion, 1961
•Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962
•Angolan Civil War, 1974-2002
•Ogaden War,1977-1978
•Afghan-Soviet War, 1979-1989
•Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979
•Iran-Iraq war, 1980-1988
•Invasion of Grenada, 1983
The Post-Cold War Era, 1990-2007
• Many key events…
– Iraq invades Kuwait, 1990  Gulf War
– Collapse of Soviet Union 
• Declaration of republics as sovereign states
• Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
• Western relations with Russia mixed since the 1990s
– Little external aid for Russia during the harsh economic transition
–
–
–
–
–
–
Break-up of the former Yugoslavia
Rwanda genocide
US “go it alone” policies
9/11 attacks
War on Terrorism: Iraq and Afghanistan
Nuke problems w/ Iran and N. Korea