Summary Robert J. Jackson, ‘Global Politics in the 21st Century
Chapter 1; Introduction to global politics
Global politics: the basic patterns of international beliefs and behaviour that help define and
condition states and other actors. The global system refers to the broad network of
relations among states and the activities of their citizens and nonstate institutions in the
world - old security issues: state security and how
states maintain their vitality in the
world;
- new security issues: how states and
societies
are affected and afflicted by nonstate
actors
(networks or terrorists and others who
would
harm people around the world).
Globalization has deep historical roots, but today’s globalization is connecting more people
and connecting them more closely than ever before: - development of a single global market
for most widely used
products and financial services
- huge-scale migrations and diasporas
- globally organized media
- state interests are increasingly global
Causes: - reduced barriers to cross-border trade and investment
- similarity in state regulations and laws
- technological changes in telecommunications, microprocessors, the Internet,
transportations,
microprocessors, the Internet, transportation
- emergence of global institutions
Criticisms: - uneven distribution of trade benefits – countries representing a small
proportion of the
world’s population account for most world trade and income prosperity
- increasing environmental degradation, demographic and health issues
- human rights concerns
Security dilemma: each state faces the dilemma of whether to increase its military strength
and provoke the others or not to arm and leave itself vulnerable to attack. But; the definition
of security has changed and got much wider new security dilemma (climate change,
energy security, disease and poverty, population and demographic distortions, food and
water safety, failing states, organized crime and cyber security etc.). An increase in a
country’s military strength may not provide a corresponding increase in security).
State: the political unit of an entire territory. States rely on the concept of sovereignty to
defend their legitimacy and role n the international system.
Nations: culturally linked groupings of people
Chapter 2; Global History the making of the 21st century
From prehistory to five regional powers (10,000 BCE – 476 CE)
Around 10,000 BCE: end of the Ice Ages, civilizations began to develop based on agriculture.
Trade laid the foundation for the exchange of ideas, and commerce and finance interacted
with politics and strategy. The first written records were found in Mesopotamia and Egypt.
The greatest early civilizations:
Middle East Arabic World Imayyad and Sunnis and shias,
Ottoman empire Abbasid caliphates development in
Suleyman science
Europe Byzantine
Middle Empire
Persia Constantinopel
Achaemenid, Geographical
Later overtaken
partsbycalled
East
Holy Roman Feudalism Sassanid satrapies
Ottoman
A period
Empire
Europe Greek City Hellenic Essentially
Balance central
of states of
Spain, France, States
GB Empire Europe
Free trade zones
India Indian The Roman
Mughal Empire
Caesar,
(Akbar) Muslim
Subcontinent Empire Augustus
China Dynasties
India Indian Tang, Sung, Ming,
Mauryan
Qing Industrial Miracle,
Subcontinent Empire advanced in terms of
Mongol
ChinaEmpires The big KhanQin, Han culture and trade
Confucianism
dynasties Ruled between Sung and
Ming in China
transition: The Middle Ages to Westphalia (476 – 1648)
, Authoritarian leadership, war, religion and economic domination, backward, fragmented
fiefdoms, Christianity (protestant reformation) and Islam, transition to modern states and
institutions stalled.
Also important: Japan, the Ancient Kingdom of Ghana, the Kingdom of Zimbabwe, the
Kingdom of Mali, the great trading city of Timbuktu, the Mayans, the Aztecs and the Incas.
Origin, development, and expansion of the modern state (1648 -1800)
1648: Treaty of Westfphalia – Ended the Thirty Years’ War, brought final break between
church an secular authorities and ended thus the Holy Roman Empire. Modern State System:
states no longer subject to higher authority but sovereign entities with defined rights. Rulers
have complete political authority, no external states can interfere. Upcoming idea of the
nation-state. Concept of legalism: law developed a paramount sanctity, individuals are no
longer subjects but citizens.
If a state became too powerful or aggressive, the others forged temporary antihegemonic
alliances to create a classic balance of power among themselves wars and territorial
exchanges were limited.
Europe Portugal, Spain, Protestant Reformation Imperialism, Triangular
France, De Dutch undermined the authority of trade with slaves
United Provinces, the Roman Catholic Church,
Britain, Prussia, French revolution,
Russia, Austria mercantilism, Industrial
Revolution
Middle Ottoman Empire Long, slow decline Later overtaken by
East Ottoman
Essentially central
Europe
India East India British colony Muslim
Company
Asia China Manchu Rule
Japan Developed into a significant
power
USA United States Independence
French Revolution: new ideas about freedom, justice and equality into political debates. Also: the
principle of nationalism: recognizing an emotional bond between the masses and the state, and
advanced the doctrine of popular sovereignty.
The 19th Century: Enhancement of the global system
1789: Napoleon broke the balance of power after Westphalia. 1815: Battle of Waterloo, peace
by the Congress of Vienna the Concert of Europe: Austria, Britain, France, Prussia, en
Russia with rules for their collective hegemony most peaceful century in Europe’s history.
1871: unification of German-speaking areas, changed the balance of power, struggle for
global economic powers. 1877: Russia invaded Turkey; the Concert of Europe began to fray
Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria and Italy), Dual Alliance (France and Russia) and the
Triple Entente (Russia, France and GB).
China was pulled into the European sphere of Influence Opium Wars, China was humiliated.
The 20th century: Two bloody world wars and two great powers
Europe World Wars: Allies defeat Germany; Russian Revolution; rise of communism, USSR
emerges as superpower; European Union formed; USSR disbanded
Middle Ottoman Empire disbanded (after WWI); new states formed
East
Asia China: Revolution; communist state by Mao Zedong
Japan: imperialist; defeated and occupied in WWII
India: partitioned; gains independence
USA Key to allied victories in Both World Wars; shares superpower with Soviet Union; The failure
becomes world’s only superpower after WWI
, instigated a drive for collective security based on the idea that organizations of states
had a legal right to enforce international law by taking collective action to stop a country if it
committed
aggression against another stat League of Nations: no alliances but one grand
association of peace-loving
states, collective security creates an organization of states with the right, obligation, and
power to monitor the
behaviour of individual states within the organization and to impose order and prevent war by
punishing
aggressors. Failed because USA didn’t join (isolationist)
1919: Peace of Paris – meeting of the Allied victors, following the end of WWI to set the
peace terms for the
defeated Central Power, confirmed many of Japan’s territorial gains and gave it mandates to
German colonies
in the Pacific.
After WWII: the NATO was established to bind democratic states together, later the Warsaw
Pact (1955).
Breton Woods Sytem (1944): cooperative economic arrangements dedicated to lowering
barriers to
international trade and investment. 1945: United Nations.
- Long-cycle theory of history: political power is fluid en ever changing and inevitably leads
to war
- Power cycle theory of history: structural change and the cycles of war in terms of the
cyclical pattern of a
state’s rise, maturation, and decline in relative power: it’s power cycle.
Chapter 3; Competing theories, methods and intellectual debates about global
politics
Three levels of analysis for understanding global politics
1. The individual (personalities, perceptions and choices);
2. The state (government, economy, interest groups and military institutions);
3. The international system (international organizations, multinational corporations,
alliances and
international rules/norms).
Theories
1. Realism: - Anarchy in the international system
- States and their relationships
- Global politics is about the shifting distribution of power among
states
- Amoral calculations about national interests
- Constant security dilemma
Neorealism and structural realism shift the focus from the domestic level to the
anarchical
international system with it’s unequal distribution of power.
* Offensive realism: considers that states are entirely driven by power
maximization,
making cooperation limited and tenuous
* Defensive realists: because states achieve security by maintaining their
position in the
international system they constantly will try to maintain an appropriate or
adequate
degree of power in relation to other states
2. Liberalism: - The global system is not a simple anarchy but rather an ‘ordered’
one
- A consensus on ethics and values in global politics
- A struggle for consensus
- Cooperative rather than conflictual behaviour or pure power
relations
explains how states act together
- The goal of liberal thought is to obtain collaborative security and
institutionalize peace by the actions of supranational
organizations and the
development of international law
* Classical Liberalism: views human nature as basically good and holds
that people are
capable of improving their moral and material conditions, thereby making
societal
progress possible
* Neo-liberals: states’ behaviour is primarily shaped by changes in the
global system
such as shifts in the balance of power
