All the lecture notes I took for core module International Relations course. It was 12 credits and my overall grade was a 7.8 with these notes. In total there are 83 pages of notes in this summary.
Outline
● Introductions
● IR as multilevel
● Course overview
Interests of the lecturers
● Elections and conflict
○ Ex: Capitol attack (2021)
● Nonstate actors in IR
○ Ex: Pirates
● Corporations, labour, the environment and human rights
○ Ex: Highlights transnational actors
● Transnational civil society under pressure?
○ Ex: Human rights issues and anti-NGOs
IR as multilevel
● Emphasis also on how they influence each other
● Interdependent kind of relationship
● Narrows in on international advocacy groups and their interaction with subnational politics
→ International advocacy and subnational politics
, ● Given this increasing attention, also from transnational actors, it serves as an example for how these actors can
result in subnational implications
→ 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 behaviour
● Different levels and forms of publicness, formality, hierarchy, and means of political influence
Course objectives
● Describe the most important changes in IR since 1945
● Using current and historical events, country illustrations, and statistics
● 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
Course content
● IR as multilevel
● IR theory debates
● Security and conflict
● Politics of development
● Transnational issues
The assignments
,Lecture 2: Globalization and the state in multilevel IR
Outline
● Globalization: What, when and where?
○ What is globaliazation?
○ Empirical patterns
● Globalization and consequences for the state
What is globalization?
● On the one hand, intuitive - more global connections
● On the other hand, there is debate over:
○ Aspects of life involved
■ Ex: Economic, political, social/cultural globalization
○ Territorial levels of connections
■ Traditionally: more internationalization focused but this is quite limited as there is also
globalization domestically (not only state to state but within too)
■ + Spaces that are not physical necessarily
○ Potential vs. actual connections
○ Manifestations of connections
■ Which manifestations of globalization do we focus on?
■ Frequency? Speed? The intensity of connections? Nature?
● Globalization as a contested concept (Scholte)
○ We need concepts because they:
■ (1) Highlight something about the general qualities of an event/phenomena
■ (2) Allows for systematic thinking → comparisons between events → draw generalizations
about certain phenomena
● 4 conceptual definitions of globalization: (Scholte)
○ (1) Globalization as internationalization
■ Focus on increasing interactions between states
■ These could manifest themselves in different aspects of life (economic, cultural, etc)
■ But: State would still be the primary unit of this conceptualization
■ In this view, we are not adding anything new; we could just call it ‘internationalization’
● Does not tell us anything regarding within countries (more local?)
○ (2) Globalization as liberalization
■ Usually informs opposition against globalization (it is then seen as a liberal trend)
● Normative connotations
■ Emphasizes liberalization of trade, FDI, finance, increase economic openness
■ Often associated with neoliberal economic ideology
■ More open to including non-state actors (NGOs, etc.) → insight on why we might see
multilevel strategizing → could have implications for the welfare state…
■ “Why do we need a new word if liberalization already captures it?”
○ (3) Globalization as universalization/Westernization
■ Diffusion of universalist/Western values
■ Goes back to modernization and the Enlightenment → specifically the spread of
democracy, rationalism, and more Western ideals
■ The view is that the world is becoming more homogenous
■ (+) More idealistic focus in comparison to the materialist focus of the previous two
■ (-) Is it necessary that globalization has these effects? What about increasing localization?
● Local-level is relatively ignored
● What makes this different from earlier periods of Westernization?
○ (4) Globalization as the spread of transplanetary connections between people → Scholte’s input
, ■ An ambitious and radical view of globalization but holds a lot of value
■ Transplanetary: ‘Transnational’ emphasizes what we do internationally and that does not
capture the trend that is really happening (in his opinion)
■ Individuals and non-state actors are highlighted
■ Geography/space/location is becoming less relevant
■ Qualitative and quantitative dimensions
■ Interactions don’t necessarily occur in physical spaces anymore
■ (-) Reliance on technology: Not everyone has access
■ (+) Gives more to work with? + More connection!
Empirical conceptualization
● Empirical literature relies on three dimensions
○ Economic globalization (flows of goods, openness)
○ Political globalization (expansion of NGOs..)
○ Social globalization (more communication amongst people..)
● KOF Index (for the three dimensions)
○ Economic - liberalization
○ Political - internationalization
○ Social - Westernization
Is there more globalization?
● Yes
○ Increase in openness and flow s of trade and FDI
○ North-South interactions beyond resource extraction
● No
○ More integration at a regional level
○ Benefits and costs unequally distributed → backlash
Globalization and the state
Globalization The state
● Economic ● Sovereignty
● Political ● Convergence
● Social-cultural ● Decentralization
→ → → → → → → → → → → → → → → ● Democracy
● Today: Focus on economic globalization and its effect on the welfare state
● Four perspectives:
→ (1) (Economic) Globalization weakens the (welfare) state
● Economic-interest reasoning
○ Global capital and multinational corporations are more mobile
○ More mobility → race to the bottom (downward convergence in economic policies)
○ So: Lack of policy protection
● Institutional reasoning
○ IMF, World Bank..: endorse principles and policies that contribute to this ‘race to the bottom’ and
have made it a precondition for loans, etc. which adds to that effect
● Ideological reasoning
○ Ex: Washington Consensus → liberal policies imposed on Latin America (and more)
→ (2) Globalization strengthens the state
● Compensation hypothesis
○ Compensation demanded by globalization losers (Walter)
○ Compensation supplied by governments
○ So: Expansion of welfare state
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