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Summary of Analyzing International Relations
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Summary of Analyzing International Relations
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1. Comment26 October 2020 at 18:23:22
Refers to the Greek peninsula
2. Comment
26 October 2020 at 18:21:11
Democracy (at the time, but had
limited suffrage and slaves)
Powerful overseas (through trade
links)
3. Comment
26 October 2020 at 18:22:49
Against Persian expansion
Lecture 1 - Thucydides and the Peloponnesian War
Alliance quickly collapsed after
the end of the war due to growing
competition 1 The Peloponnesian War (431 - 404 BC):
2 • Sparta (dominant power) vs Athens (growing power)
4. Comment 3 • Former allies against Persian Empire
26 October 2020 at 18:25:18 • Sparta ultimately victorious
Athenian military general 4 5 • Thucydides explanation: growth of Athens → Spartan fear
- Blamed for defeat → exiled → 6 7 • Thucydides trap: rising power rivals dominant power → tendency toward war
travelled throughout Greek world • Overall:
• States are key actors
Considered one of the first • Difference in growth rate → redistribution of power → conflict
modern historians
- Human-focused (did not 8 9 Melian dialogue: recreation of dialogue between Athens and Melos
attribute events to gods) 10 • Context: Athens demands Melian alliance → Melians refuse → Melos is destroyed
- Explained (vs recorded) events • Arguments:
• Neutrality:
5. Comment • Melos: wish to continue 700-year independence
26 October 2020 at 18:24:38
• Athens: cannot afford to allow neutrality (sets precedent for other island states)
Athenian strength attained a peak 11 • Alliances:
→ encroached on Spartan allies
• Melos: trust that Spartans will defend them (due to historical ties)
(no longer tolerable)
• Athens: trust that Spartans will act in self-interest (i.e. do nothing)
12 • Justice:
6. Comment
• Melos: the gods will favor us because we are in the right
26 October 2020 at 18:26:54
13 • Athens: the gods are meaningless
Coined by Graham Allison (2017)
• Core message: “the strong do what they will, the weak suffer what they must”
• Similar cases (power trumps justice):
7. Comment
14 • US policy toward Mexico
26 October 2020 at 18:28:15
15 • US embargo in Cuba
Found 12/16 cases resulted in
16 • Russian actions in Chechnya
war
17 • Russian invasion of Ukraine
Avoiding war requires great
18 • Israel vs Palestine
political and psychological
Readings:
flexibility
• Thucydides, Peloponnesian War, 16-20
8. Comment
26 October 2020 at 18:32:49
By Thucydides
9. Comment
26 October 2020 at 18:31:58
Independent island, former
colony of Sparta
Officially neutral (but secretly
cooperating with Sparta)
10. Comment
26 October 2020 at 18:31:25
Athenians killed all men and
enslaved all women and children
11. Comment
26 October 2020 at 18:46:28
They were right; Sparta withstood
due to bad omens
12. Comment
26 October 2020 at 18:35:36
At the time framed in terms of
divine favor, now framed in terms
of legality, etc
,13. Comment
26 October 2020 at 18:36:41
“Will help those that help
themselves”
14. Comment
26 October 2020 at 18:37:50
1845: US annexes Texas (from
Mexico)
1948: end of 2-year war →
Mexico cedes massive territory
Mexican president: “Poor
Mexico. So far from God, so
close to the US”
15. Comment
26 October 2020 at 18:39:28
1959: Fidel Castro overthrows
dictator Batiste → declares
socialist revolution → US
implements embargo that
persists today
Cuban government claims that
US is denying their right to self-
determination, the US continues
16. Comment
26 October 2020 at 18:41:17
1991- 2000
Chechnya claims independence,
Russia intervenes with a brutal
crackdown (many killed, capital
city is destroyed)
17. Comment
26 October 2020 at 18:41:50
Ukraine becoming more
democratic, considering NATO
and EU alliances → upsets
Russia
Russia send ideological/military
support to ethnic Russians →
directly intervenes → annexes
island of Crimea
Justice (international law):
- UN charter prohibits aggression
- Charter of Paris requires
peaceful change of borders
- No countries recognize Crimea
as Russian territory
18. Comment
26 October 2020 at 18:44:07
Palestine demands self-
determination, independence, etc
Israel only grants autonomy on its
own accord (e.g. withdrawing
from Gaza Strip only due to self-
interest)
,19. Comment
11 December 2020 at 09:55:33
Between actors, institutions, and
material conditions
20. Comment
11 December 2020 at 10:21:55
Focus on different explanatory
factors (different advantages)
- E.g. WW”: rise of Germany,
naziism, Hitler
Levels impact one another
21. Comment
11 December 2020 at 10:26:09
Lecture 2 - Classical Approaches
Best known for “An Introduction”
- History of the world
- Written end of Islamic Golden Theory: analytical tool to make sense of complex world
Age • Tradeoff between simplicity and breadth
• Elements:
- 1377 • Assumptions (explicit and plausible)
- From (currently) Tunisia • Relationships
- Advised leaders, but grew tired • Logic (explains relationship)
due to need to change loyalties • Functions:
- First sociologist, one of first • Enable understanding/explanation
economists 19 • General relationships, general phenomena, specific events
- Wide range of topics • Support prediction
- Secular approach (like • Evaluating theories:
Thucydides) • Evaluate assumptions (weak; says little about theory)
• Coherence/persuasiveness of logic
22. Comment • Consistent with empirical observation (best)
11 December 2020 at 10:28:53
Weakens over time as leaders 20 Levels of analysis:
become more self-interested • International system (power distribution, alliances, norms)
• States (government, electoral system, culture)
23. Comment • Individuals (personalities, perceptions, choices)
11 December 2020 at 10:29:34
Depends on protection of private
Early theorists:
property, limited taxation, limited
21 • Ibn Khaldun:
government spending, floating
22 23 • Emerging states: social solidarity + economic surplus
currencies, specialized
• Cyclical process: peripheral states take advantage of dominant power, and overtake as it loses
production, access to large
social solidarity and economic surplus
market, free/safe trade
24 • Hugo Grotius:
25 • Goal: use law to reduce severity/frequency of interstate wars → enable more trade
24. Comment
11 December 2020 at 10:32:01 • War cannot be eliminated due to anarchic system
Best known for “On the Law of • Just war: self-defense, compensation for loss, end mass-slaughter/persecution of own citizens
War and Peace” 26 • Only between legitimate sovereigns
- Written 1625 (during 30-year • Without cruelty
war and Dutch wars of 27 • Thomas Hobbes:
independence) • Vulnerability → insecurity → self-help → cooperation is difficult
28 • Anarchy →:
- Dutch 29 • Jealousies → state of war
• No law → no justice
25. Comment 30 • Immanuel Kant:
11 December 2020 at 10:36:10 31 • War is the natural state (constant threat/insecurity)
Created due to social (vs 32 • Treaties/institutions can escape particular wars, but not the state of war
egotistical) nature of humans • International law has no legal force
• Kantian triangle (for establishing perpetual peace):
26. Comment 33 • Democracy
11 December 2020 at 10:35:22 34 • International organizations
E.g. not pirates • Economic interdependence
35 • Vladimir Lenin:
27. Comment
11 December 2020 at 10:42:13
Best known for “The Leviathan”
- Written 1651 (end of English
civil war)
28. Comment
11 December 2020 at 10:43:37
Absence of superior authority
29. Comment
11 December 2020 at 10:45:13
Consists of: actual fighting + fear
of attack
, Condition of rule by violence
Peace requires a superior power
30. Comment
11 December 2020 at 10:46:48
Best known for “Toward
Perpetual Peace”
- Written 1795 (after French
Revolution, during wars of first
coalition)
31. Comment
11 December 2020 at 10:54:17
Similar to Hobbes
32. Comment
11 December 2020 at 10:49:04
I.e. war as a natural tendency
33. Comment
11 December 2020 at 10:52:06
Prevents war since citizens (who
bear costs) exercise caution
against entering war
- Keeps government in check
I.e. Republicanism (freedom,
dependence, equality)
- Separation of powers
34. Comment
11 December 2020 at 10:55:30
I.e. federation (justice + contract)
35. Comment
11 December 2020 at 10:56:45
Best known for “Imperialism -
The Highest Stage of Capitalism”
- Written 1917 (before Bolshian
Revolution)
- Builds on Karl Marx
- Later became the leader of the
Soviet Union
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