Understanding International Relations: Key Concepts and Theories
States, Nations, and Actors in International Relations
States
States are political units with two crucial characteristics: territoriality and sovereignty. They are the most important actors in international relations. A state is also the government of a country.
Nations
A nation is a group of people who share some combination of common language, culture, religion, history, mythology, identity, or sense of destiny.
Nation-States
A nation-state is a state whose citizens are mostly members of one single nation or ethnic group.
Actors
While states are the primary actors, individuals also act as agents for their states. Governments are institutions, not individuals, and countries consist of people. The state remains the most important actor.
Power and Authority in International Relations
Power
Power is the ability to achieve one’s purpose or goals. It is the ability to make others do what they would otherwise not do.
Hard Power
Hard power involves payments, taxes, threats, and military forces.
Soft Power
Soft power involves getting others to want what you want. If a state has power with legitimacy, it also has authority.
Coercion
Power without authority is coercion.
Systems and Structures in International Relations
System
A system is a set of interrelated political units.
Structure
Structure refers to the distribution of power within a system.
Process
Process describes the types of interactions between actors.
International System
The international system is a combination of ideas and material things.
System Stability
System stability aims to protect the sovereignty and security of the sovereign state members.
Crisis Stability
Crisis stability depends on military technology. If the attacker feels pressure to strike first, the defender has less incentive to go to war.
National Interest and Perspectives
National Interest
How states define their national interest varies based on perspective:
Realists
Realists believe states have no choice but to define their national interest according to their position within the international system in terms of power, in order to survive.
Liberals and Constructivists
Liberals and constructivists believe the position within the international system is one part of the definition, but not the only one. Culture and domestic society are also important.
Realist Views
Realist views are considered more fitting in the Middle East.
Liberal Views
Liberal views are considered more fitting in Western Europe.
Levels of Analysis in International Relations
The Individual Level
Personality is important but does not explain everything; personal history and motivations of leaders are also considered.
Psychological Analysis
- Cognitive Psychology: How do people process information around them? Connecting the familiar with the unfamiliar.
- Motivational Psychology: Deep-seated fears, desires, and needs are the basis for actions.
- Behavioral Economics: People make decisions depending on their prospects of gain or loss.
- Psychobiography: Neurosis, psychosis, childhood trauma, self-hate, and life experiences influence decisions.
The State Level
Marxists emphasize that states act on the international stage in similar ways as they act domestically.
Classical Liberalism
Classical liberalism posits that war is too expensive and unnecessary, and that capitalism causes peace.
Theoretical Perspectives in International Relations
Realism
All realists believe there is an immutable logic to world politics. They believe there are no permanent friends or enemies, only permanent interests for states.
Classical and Neo-Realism
Classical realists believe that material power matters, along with ideas. Neo-realists have a more clinical, scientific view and favor systemic theories.
Hard and Soft Realists
Hard realists emphasize security and power. Soft realists stress the maintenance of a functioning international order.
Liberalism
- Economic Liberalism: The focus is on trade. Trade may not prevent wars, but it changes incentives, which produce different social structures.
- Social Liberalism: Transnational contacts between students, business people, companies, etc., promote mutual understanding.
- Institutions: Institutions provide information and a framework that shapes people’s expectations.
Marxism
Marxism predicted the death of capitalism as a consequence of imperialism, greed, increased war, and the rise of socialism-communism. However, communism collapsed, there were fewer interstate wars, and fewer socialist states.
Weaknesses of Marxist Theory
- Politics can’t be reduced to economics.
- The state is not the tool of only one particular socio-economic class.
- There is no inevitability in history. Coincidence, human choice, and complexity make the course of events unpredictable.
Dependency Theory
Dependency theory brings attention to the harmful consequences of inequality.
Constructivism
Constructivism focuses on the social context and social structures that determine the meaning of interaction between states.
- Agents and structure interact and influence one another in a cyclical way.
- Identities and interests of agents are a product of social interaction.
- Meaning changes as a result of social interaction, and therefore norms, rules, and expectations change, too.