Chapter I:  The Study of IR
Pg 3-5

I:  The Study of IR (pg 3-5)
            The study of the relationships of the world’s governments
New actors now important
IR and the average citizen
Big events (war, embargoes, treaties…)
Little events (trade, cultural movements, travel, tourism)
IR in world imagination
Us and our governments
Our governments and our neighbors

II: IR as a Field of Study
Technically, a sub-discipline of political science
In practice, very interdisciplinary
Useful distinctions
Conflict vs. Cooperation
High level relationships vs. low level relationships
Sub disciplines
Comparative studies
International Security studies (Midterm)
International Political Economy (Final)

III:  Theories and Methods
            Descriptive IR
                        Historical, explanative
                                    Inductive – facts lead to theories
            Theoretical IR
                        Predictive, Universal
                                    Deductive – theory finds facts to bolster it
            Realism as a theory
                        Most widely accepted, tends to be the basis of most of IR
            Conservative, Liberal, Revolutionary world views….

IV:  Actors
            State actors
                        The nation state, the country, empire, etc…
                                    Distinct from the head of state, or government
                                    Problems of non-nations, non-countries….
The International System
                                    The system they all work within, the environment they live in
                         About 500 years old, constantly evolving
                        190 – 200 states in the world today
                                    Range in size, from China to Tongo
                                    Normal state – Thailand
                                    Superpowers and Great Powers, U.S., China
                                    Sorta states, Taiwan, Scotland, Sudan
                                    23 large states of 50 plus million people….

                        Non-State Actors
                                    Substate Actors
                                    Corporations;  Exxon-Mobil, Toyota
                                                Transnational corporations
                                    NGO’s;  Greenpeace, amnesty international, Catholic Church
                                                Al Qaeda
                        Supra-State actors
                                    IGOs, U.N., NATO, IMF
                                                The special role of the E.U.

V:  Levels of Analysis
            Global Level
                        Philosophy
            Interstate Level
                        International Relations
            Domestic Level
                        Political Science
            Individual Level
                        Psychology…

VI:  Geographic Levels of Analysis
            Globalization…
            World Regions
                        Easily defined
North America (U.S./Canada, Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa
                        Hard to define;  Arab World, SE Asia, “western world”
                        The North-South Gap

MAPS AND COUNTRY LISTS      

Part II:  History

Hunter-Gatherers
The early civilizations
The Greeks
            The Peloponnesian Wars…..
            Sparta and Athens
            The Greek City-States as prototype nations
            The Dynamics of Greek warfare and diplomacy

The Romans
            The rise of empire
            The demands of empire

Other actors:  Arabs, Chinese, Indians

The Middle Ages “Feudalism”
            The nature of diplomacy and dynasty
            The local nature of war
            “limited war”
                        The primacy of defense

1500…. The age of gunpowder
            The Italian City-States
            Machiavelli..  “the Prince”
                        Executions vs. confiscations
                        Cruel when you come to power, or not?
                        Did not advocate blind cruelty  
European expansion and exploration

The Great Power System
            The beginning of the protestant reformation
            England and France, the Hapsburgs (Spain and Austria-Hungary) and Ottomans, the German and Italian states
            The Thirty Years War…..
            The peace of Westphalia (1648)
                        Established the principle of national sovereignty and independence
                        Established the principle of equality in the international system
                        (War of Exhaustion – International rules and etiquette)
            As a practical matter, also established the primacy of the nation-state

The Seven Years War and the Diplomatic Revolution
            France and Britain, Prussian and Austria-Hungary

The Age of Napoleon
            Towards total War
The French Revolution (the American Revolution)
            The Genius of Napoleon
                        The Napoleonic Wars
                        The coalition victory
                        The role of Britain

            “Britain has no friends in Europe, Britain has no enemies in Europe, Britain only has interests in Europe”
            The Concert of Nations

World War I
            The Guns of August
            The Nationality problem
            The German Problem
            The collapse of the Concert (alliances, British decline vis-à-vis Germany)

World War II
            The German Problem Part II
            The Rise of Revolutionary powers

The Cold War
            A bi-polar system

Imperialism
            The age of exploration
                        Disease in the New World
            The age of colonialism
                        The colonial system, Mercantilism
            The Imperial Age

Nationalism
            Began in the 1500s (breakdown in Latin)
            The French Revolution (breakdown of the church)
            World War I (Break-up of the empires, the failure of “workers”
            World War II (post war Decolonization)
            Collapse of the Soviet Union (break-up of USSR, other states)

The world Economy
            Skip for now…

World War I

World War II

The Cold War

            (see America and the Cold War)

Note:  Be sure to read up on the chapter for recent history; you need to know this and I am NOT going to cover it in class…..  but it WILL be on the first exam.

 

 

Last Modified; November 16, 2007