1 / 15

Topics for today

Topics for today. Events of the day/week The state system What is a ‘state’? Theories of IR: World War I and World War II Collective security Comparing the League of Nations and the United Nations. What is a “state”?. Montevideo Convention on Rights and Duties of States (1933)

devika
Download Presentation

Topics for today

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Topics for today • Events of the day/week • The state system • What is a ‘state’? • Theories of IR: World War I and World War II • Collective security • Comparing the League of Nations and the United Nations

  2. What is a “state”? • Montevideo Convention on Rights and Duties of States (1933) • State: a legal entity in international law • with a permanent population • with a defined territory • with a government capable of effective domestic control and international representation/recognition

  3. What is “sovereignty”? • Sovereignty: No superior authority. • Control over domestic affairs • Control over cross-border movements • Exclusive representation in international politics • Sovereignty is an idealized state of affairs. The actual degree of sovereign control varies greatly among states.

  4. Sovereignty as control • Effective domestic monopoly of violence. • Government controls domestic affairs. • How do states loose control? • Voluntarily: enter treaties with other states or create inter- and supranational institutions (“pooling of sovereignty”). • Involuntarily: Military invasion, economic sanctions, diplomatic threats, smugglers, cross-border pollution.

  5. New states • Bangladesh, 1974 • (formerly part of Pakistan). • Eritrea, 1993 • (formerly part of Ethiopia). • Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, 1991/2 • (formerly Soviet Union). • East Timor, 2002 • (formerly part of Indonesia). • Montenegro, 2006 • (formerly part of Serbia and Montenegro) • 1700: 45 states • 1945: 65 states; • Today: almost 200 states.

  6. World history and IR theories • Realism • A cyclical struggle for power • Liberalism • Progressive economic development of societies • Idealism/Constructivism • Unfolding of competing ideas, in the past: nationalism; today: human rights

  7. What caused World War I? • Realism: German unification leading to power struggle among European states/decline of British empire • Institutionalism: Weakness of international institutions to prevent war • Identity/constructivism: Nationalism; feelings of superiority over other peoples.

  8. Realism • Cause (anarchy): anarchy creating mistrust and insecurity in a multipolar system (p. 78); third image/international level • Process: • Germany’s blitzkrieg aimed to avoid a two-front war, but increased the threat level for everyone else. • Germany attacked Russia to prevent its rise as a power. • One country attacked another because of an imminent attack.

  9. Liberal institutionalism • Causes (institutions): • Weak global institutions: No global inter-governmental body; trade and law not strong enough (third image, international level) • Lack of democracy: weak representation of pacifistic voices (second image, domestic level) • Clumsy diplomacy: Kaiser Wilhelm II • Lack of sufficient interdependence.

  10. Identity/Constructivism • Causes (ideologies): • Racist nationalism: Jingoism combined with advanced military technology • Ideological nationalism: growing tensions between liberalism (US, France, Britain) and other ideologies • Socialist nationalism: Emergence of Marxism creates incentives for conservative leaders to divert attention away from domestic struggles by going to war • Lack of common understanding and norms.

  11. What caused World War II?

  12. Failure of the League of Nations

  13. What is collective security? • Effort to neutralize military power • Focus on threat, not power • Reciprocity: trade in the right to attack for collective protection by all • Examples: League of Nations/United Nations

  14. From the League to the UN • Context: • League's Covenant was drafted after the end of hostilities and at the same time as the negotiations about The fate of the loosing powers (Paris Conference). The U.N. Charter was negotiated during World War II and led to an independent legal document. • League: unanimity; U.N.: majority voting (with exceptions) • More effective institutions: • Creation of an executive body (Security Council) with privileged status pertaining to security questions. • Stronger norms: • U.N. Charter provides more comprehensive powers for peacekeeping and peacemaking. • U.N. does not allow the unilateral use of force, except in case of an ‘imminent attack;’ the League’s covenant allowed the use of force for dispute settlement (after arbitration).

More Related