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Interntional Relations - Coggle Diagram
Interntional Relations
Lecture 1 - International Relations
Groupism
Realism relied on national interests rather than ideology
Morality is subordinated to the 'reason of state'
Anarchy
o central authority in the international realism, no higher above the state
'Security dilemma' (Jervis 1978, Hertz 1950)
'The Balance of Power'
Power Politics
Accumulation of power necessary for survival
'Defensive neorealism' states pursue power only to the degree that would guarantee their survival in a balanced international system of states or coalitions of equal power, not on principles of justice
A moral act is judged by its contribution to the state's survival
Conflict + war //power
Theories
Scientific theory of international relations
Positivism
Quantatative methods
Dominant and influential theory of IR's
Classical Realism
Security - International // National // State
Lecture 2 - Realism, & International Security
Lecture 3 - International Organisations
Background
Rise of constructivism during the 1990's due to 2 principal factors
Drawing from sociological and critical theories, during 1980's some IR scholars began to make visible and significant certain key elements, norms & ideas, identity & rules
Realists had predicted that the Cold War would end with a bang, not a whimper
First wave of constructism
Emphasis how international society could develop shared identities, norms & outlooks to create a stable order that even permitted some possibilities of progress
Thought of an international community and an international order integrated by egalitarian values often hid the continued existence of power and domination
Social Contracts
Concepts or objects that exist only by virtue of human meaning
Not exist in objective hid the continued existence of power and domination
Realism & liberalism
States are rational & self-interested actors
The interests of states are exogenous to social interaction = interests are formed prior to interaction
States interact in a strategic realm - NOT a social realm
Constructivism
Ideas as structural factors that influence how actors interpret the world
Dynamic relationship between ideas & material forces as a consequences of how actors interpret their material
Normative structure imprint how state & non state actors understand themselves and the world: their beliefs, their practices, their sense of right & wrong, and their notion of legitimacy
Social constructivism denaturalises and excavates what is taken for granted, and considers the alternative pathways that might have produced, and can produce alternative words
Power is not only the ability of one actor to do what they would not do otherwise, but also the production of identities, interests and meanings that shape the ability of actors to control their fate
Socially constructed nature of world politics
States are social actors
Rather, states' interests are influented by their identities
In turns, states' identities are constituted by the norms, values and ideas of their social environment
States are not actors with a set of pre-existing and pre-determined interests (e.g. survival & power)
Social structures of world politics
World politics is not simply made up of material forces (e.g. power or interest)
Rather, the structure of world politics also consists of nonmaterial/social forces - ideas, values, beliefs, meanings, practices, norms, expectations & shared understadning
Social structure & social actors >> social structure of world politics = mutual constitution of agents and structures
Lecture 4 - Nuclear Weapons
Info
Explosive device whose factors derives from nuclear reactions
Weapon of mass destruction
Proliferation of nuclear weapons
Key concern of international and diplomacy of international policy
Should more states be allowed to develop and obtain nuclear weaponry?
Yes:
Defensive equality
Equality of opportunity - All nations have the ability to innovate - nucealr research within a nation is any nations right - if the UN are aware that a trusted & stable nation is operating in nuclear research it should be far more acceptable
Nations that interpret nuclear weaponry for research purposes should obtain the right to, with the intention NOT to use them - simply to be involved in the world of politics surrounding the complex debate of nuclear weaponry, nuclear war & nuclear proliferation
Social constructs - examples
Money
Law
Gender
Race
Nation-states
Citizenship
Monarchy
What is nuclear taboo?
Normative de facto prohibition against the first use of nuclear weapons
Underpinned by the idea and belief that use of nuclear weapons is abhorrent + reprehensible
Nuclear non-proliferation Treaty (1968) the vast majority of state are, prohibited from acquiring or possessing nuclear weapons. However, the five 'declared' nuclear states are allowed by the treaty to posses nucealr weapons is temporarily pending on complete disbarment
Key effects of nuclear taboo:
Conventional weapons = acceptable
Nucelar weapons = unacceapble
identity of states: defined by weaponary
Civilised vs uncivilised states
Delegitimises nuclear weapons of war. Embedded deterrence practices in a set norm: both regulative and constitutive. Categories of weapons + their legitmacy
Constructivism & nuclear weapons
The role of norms in international relations = normative constraints of the nuclear taboo
The role of self-interest + morality in nuclear policy = nuclear taboo has become part of states' self-interests
New states and normative landscape
Nuclear Weaponry post 1945 (WW2)
Conventional explanation - Deterrence
Destructive power of nucealr weapons - fear of nuclear weapons
E.g. Cold War + nonuse of nuclear weapons by the superpowers against each other or their allies
Global politics - the interference of nucealr weapons in conflicts - why nations attack or refrain from attacking nuclear weaponised nation-states
USA in Guld War - Afghanistan
North Vietnam attacking USA
Argentina attacking UK in Falklands war
Iraq attacking US/Israeli forces (1991)
Lecture 5 - International Law & The English School
The English School
British Committee on the Theory of International Politics (1950's)
Grop of British scholars and ciivl servants who met periodically to discuss issues rallying to the theory and practice of international relations
Key individuals: Herbert Butterfield, Hedley Bull, Adam Watson, Martin Wight, John Vincent
The English School - underlying principles, ideas and rules with international society that contribute towards international order
The English School is critical and sceptical of the scientific methodology espoused by positivist realist and liberal IR scholars
'The English School' = a misnomer?
Some founding members were not English
No particular interest in British foreign policy
Nothing 'English' about its core ideas
Nothing particularly 'Ebglihs' about its intellectual heritage
'Classical apparoch'
Drawing on phliospsohy, history and law
International society
Group of sovereign states + mutual recognition of sovereignty
Sense of consciousness = common interest and common values
Consider themselves bound by common set of rules
Share in working of common institutions
Realism & liberalism: system of states
States are self-interested actors within an international system
English School: society of states
States are social actors with social practices, who form an international society
What are the common gaols that unite the society of states?
Restraints on violence
Upholding of territorial rights
Preservation of trust = diplomatic agreements will be kept
What are the principle mechanisms by which the common goals of the society of states can be achieved?
War
The great powers
Diplomacy
balance of power
International law
Key implications:
Different understanding of the scope and boundaries of the discipline of international relations
To study IR - we need to turn history, philosophy and law
Importance attached to the role of ideas and practices that define interntional society
International Law:
'Law of Nations'
Boy of rules & principles that governs the relationships between states and other actors in world politics
Collectively shared understandings and expectations about acceptable & unacceptable behaviour in world politics - prescriptions & prohibitions
International Treaties:
Also known as - conventions, charters, pacts and concords
Written agreements between states
'Positive international Law' = written & codified
International Custom:
AKA, international customary law
Unwritten law that developed over time through practices of states
Analogy = 'unwritten rules' in social life
Codification of interntional customary rules over time - why?
International Courts:
International Court of JSUtice - legal disputes between states
European Court of Justice
African Court of Justice
East Asian Court of Justice
Caribbean Court of Justice
Court of justice of the Andean Community
Other enforcement mechanisms:
Self-compliance by states
Pressure from domestic political actors
Pressure from the international community
Interntonal public opinion
Supoerpowers/hegemonic powers
Hegemonic - ruling or dominant in a political or social context
Lecture 6 - Critical Analysis, International terroism, Theories of R
Waves of Terroism in modern history:
Anarchist Wave (1870s-1914)
Nationalist Wave (1920s-1960s)
Marxist wave (1970s-1980s)
Religious Wave (1970s-2020s)
Interntional terroism
Use of threat or violence
For political ends
By non-state actors
Against legitimate targets = non combatant or civilians
Role of the audience = fear, intimidation, shock
Munich Olympics (1972)
Tokyo subway sarin attack (1995)
9/11 attack (2001)
UK - counterterrorism & Security Act 2015
Who is empowered by the 'War on Terror'
Extremists
Businessmen
Military industrial
USA & its allies
Who has been silenced or marginalised by the 'War on Terror'
Migrants, refugees, fleeing persecution of association with terroists in terroist known locations
Some sections of societies are marginalised as a consequence of theoretical association through race and religion which is out of their control
Postrstructuralism research
The basis of postructuralism
Postructuralisma argues that 'knowledge' comes to be accepted as such due to the power and prominence of certain actors in society known as 'elites; who then impose it upon others. Elites take on a range of forms and occupy many different roles in contemporary society
Postructuralism builds on the insights of structuralism, it alters the meaning by indicating that the world is less unpredicatlbe
The movement began in France 1960/70s as political philosophers began to challenge the principles of structuralism by questioning fixed centres, binary opposites and essentialist identities
Jacques Derrida - "the theory of deconstruction indicates that the meaning of a work is unstable and could have multiple or alternative meanings."
Michael Foucault: Discourse Theory
Research into language, power and social control are some of the most influential of our time, Foucault's discourse theory encourages us to question what is 'true' and to ask who in society benefits
Central to Foucault's poststructuralism is the idea of 'power/knowledge'. As argued in his book Discipline and Punish, Foucault believes that power and knowledge are inextricably linked; they function to create a system of control.
Lecture 7 - Postructualism & Humanitarian Intervention
Post-Structuralism
Critical perspective to the study of wolrld politics
Through a specific focus like language
Foucault - Discourse
Three central ideas:
Deconstruction
Genealogy
Power-knowledge relations
Concepts & Ideas in IR are NOT neutral - questioning neutrality
Conceptual oppositions
Cepcets are constructed through opposition with otther concepts
Concepts & dichotomies
Why deconstruct?
To unsettle concepts that are taken for granted in IR
To demonstrate how our seemingly value-free concepts are NOT neutral - rather, they are underpinned by the privileging of some values over others
Genealogy
Method of historical analysis that seeks to uncover the multiple, contingent and often hidden power relations that shape the emergence and development of knowledge the discourse of world politics
To show how the meanings that currently prevail in world politics have come at the expense of closing down other possible meanings - processes of domination & exclusion
To expose power-knowledge relations
Power-knowledge
Radically different understanding of power
NOT material power as per realism - power in terms of military strength or economic strength
Rather, the relationship between power & knowledge
Humanitarian intervention:
Use of military force
By one state OR group of states
For humanitarian purposes - specifically, to protect civilians whose human rights are being violated
Maps and IR theories are, in themselves, power, they condition and discipline us to think and act in particular ways
NATO in intervention in Kosovo
The crisis stemmed from long-standing tensions between the ethnic Albania majority seeking independence and the Serbian government
During 1999:
In this context, NATO's military intervention in Kosovo during 1999 played a major role in shaping NATo's engagement in 'non-article 5' operations, namely peace support and crisis management operations which are launched outside the territories of NATO member states and conflicts that do not directly respond to armed attacks against one of its members
"Kosovo exposed a 'fundamental tension' in the relationship between international order, legality and human protection" - International Affairs, Volume 100, Issue 2, March 2024, Edward Newman
NATO's military opteatioms in Kosovo and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, undertaken without the direct authorisation of the UN Security Council (UNSC), were ostensibly aimed at ending and preventing egregious human rights abuses, but this narrative remains highly controversial
We argue NATO's broad mandate to maintain safety and acuity in Kosovo was essential to its successful security practices. This mandate allowed NATo-led Kosovo forces (KFOR) to change ts mission and strategy in Kosovo and transform itself into a multifaceted operation capable of preventing, mitigating and transforming colnflicts through diplomats, political and military means
Inclose proximity to Western Europe, possible endangerment of Western Security - similar situation to Russia invading Ukraine
Exposed geopolitical polarisation across Western & Eastern European nations, providing new strands of political tensions to evolve. Additionally, it sent shocks to nations which led to the implementation of stricter & higher national security
Lecture 9 - Feminism & Armed Conflict
Feminism
The discipline of IR neglects women
Dominated by a focus on issues that impact predominantly on men
Issues that disporortionally affect women
Greater focus on gender
'Masculine wualities' in discussions of war, statecraft and diplomacy
IR does not simply outline 'where are the women?' or 'where are women's issues/'
Deeper and more structural issue = gendered nature of IR
Challenging masculine bias in IR
Advancing feminist IR agenda
Common misconception = feminism is only interested in women
How gender structures and constructs world politics
Feminism's
Marxist feminism
Black feminism
Postclonial feminism
Ecofeminism
war & armed conflict
'War is organised violence between political enemies'
Types of War: International War, Civil War
Objective of war
ideology
Religion
Defence
Independence
Land grab
cyber
Limited War:
Objective: a lesser 'goal' than political existence e.g. falklands/Malvinas (1982) limited territory for both nations, and no plan to invade home territory
Total War:
Where at least one state is fighting for its existence e.g. allies nazi Germany Indochina war was a total war for Vietnam. Liberation for independence for Vietnam and not France
Maintaining and retaining national sovereignty
Clausewitz Trinities:
Clausewitz Trinities A:
Passion, Chance, Reason
Clausewitz Trinities B:
People, Armed forces, Leadership
Clausewitz Trinities C:
Passion & People, Chance & Armed Forces, Reason & Leadership
The Global West - The impact of War on Women
From 1941, Women were called upon to occupy factory jobs, jobs men would of 'traditionally' occupied, however, during a male deficit in WW2, women were the only alternative
Mechanics, engineers, munition workers, air raid wardens, bus & fire engine drivers
Development of women's rights - 1918, first acceptance of women legally voting. By 1928, all women over the age of 21 received the right to vote (suffrage)
Women's Land Army was crated to get women to work on the land to grow crops and help feed the nation, 23,000 women volunteered to be part of the WLA
Being gender blind and excluding women's involvement and experience of conflict. This feminist critique was articulated by Cynthia Ewloe, win her question "Where are the women?" in reference to the study of conflicts
originally published in 1990, Bananas, Beaches & Bases: Making Femist Sense of International Politics by Cynthia Enloe exposes how coverage of interntional politics renders women invisible and therefore fails to question the devastating impact of politics on their lives.
Lecture 8 - Postcoonalism
Lecture 10