Core Module - International Relations (73220031LY)
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Universiteit Van Amsterdam (UvA)
This document provides a complete summary of the first 7 lecture of the core module International relations. It includes all readings and lecture content for the first IR quiz
Core Module - International Relations (73220031LY)
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Notes for lecture 1 - 7 (Quiz 1: 4th March)
International relations
Lecture 1: Introduction
IR as a multilevel:
● Traditional components:
○ International and national politics
● Modern components:
○ International, National, Supra/transnational, Regional politics, Subnational
○ So this is why we need to study IR as multilevel as here we see new actors
○ However, the relationship between transnational actors impacting subnational politics is often
overlooked → Zwarte piet (international and transnational actors became involved e.g UN) This
affected the larger cities with more international communities
● So why have we seen these changes?
○ New power balances → After the cold war decline of America and rise of China
○ New actors → China and India e.g.
○ More institutions → UN, World Bank, IMF etc.
○ New conflicts → increase in civil wars (more conflict within than between states)
○ New cleavages → clashes due to globalisation (global south vs north) and populism
○ New threats blur the lines of international and domestic politics → climate change, global
diseases (COVID)
○ So viewing IR as multilevel: trend of globalisation of IR and we see backlash towards it therefore
by studying IR we gain deeper understanding
● Summing up:
○ Multilevel IR as truly global political interaction
○ Decision-making at different levels of collectivity
○ Actions at one level influence outcomes at other levels
○ Incentives for strategic behavior
○ Different levels and forms of publicness, formality, hierarchy, and means of political influence.
Course overview
● Describe changes since 1945 → Historical events, country illustrations and stats
● Understand and explain these more global politics
○ What do these changes mean for the role of the state and the provision of core values?
○ Use theory to simplify and complicate
○ Use theory to clarify agency
● Position yourself in the IR space
○ International order or the Primacy of state power?
, ○ Materialist (are you concerned with the geographic position) Positivist/Rationalist? Ideational
(perception of the state, ideology, and meaning) /Reflectivist/ Post-positivist?
Allison 2021: Grave new world
● U.S. policy making process required to implement investments has broken down and will be incredibly
difficult to fix
● Supreme Court cases that opened the door to massive corporate spending on political
campaigns—plus the gerrymandering of congressional districts have set up a system in which all the
political incentives point away from reform
● The international state of America is more optimistic than the domestic scene
○ Since 1992,the Republican Party’s presidential candidate has only won a majority of the vote a
single time. That has produced a furious determination among Republicans to maintain power
using the most aggressive means, which are often both ethically and legally dubious
○ The electoral college and senate try to aid this but it has produced a deadlocked system and
real political paralysis
○ This raises the question of if the US can still function as a democratic global hegemon
○ Due to their deadlocked position and multiple issues concerned with immigration,
infrastructure, health care and education it becomes more difficult for the US to play a
constructive role in the international community
● Firstly political polarization in the US is a paramount challenge
○ This could potentially have the greatest impact on the world outside their borders than any
other
○ Unless they can unite their people, the foundation of the US in the international arena will
crumble
● Secondly, the reason BIden and his successors have such a difficult job is partially due to the economy
○ The United States produced nearly half the world’s GDP at the start of the Cold War in 1950,
one quarter at the end of the Cold War in 1991, and only one-seventh today
○ The economy is the substructure of power in international relations → Economic strength
funds military and intelligence capabilities and reach and creates global impact through trade
and investment.
○ The United States’ relative economic power has declined, so the amount of feasible policy
options has shrunk.
○ Washington can no longer afford to provide free security to other nations or fund beloved
weapons systems that are no longer essential
○ The cannot match China in providing loans to poorer nations for transportation and digital
infrastructure will be as difficult to accommodate as it is necessary.
● Thirdly, the conceptual arsenal on which a generation of U.S.foreign-policy makers has relied is no
longer fit for service.
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