The Study of International Relations

1. The Study of International Relations PO 325: International Politics

2. The Four-Person World • Rules: • Two Consecutive Moves for Each Person – Confer with any and all Participants • Can only do one of two things: • Attack any one state • Ally with any one state • The only ways an attack can be repelled is if: • Mutual attacks on the same turn cancel each other out (A attacks B and B attacks A) • One state attacks another that has formed an alliance on that turn

3. __________LAND __________IA REP. of __________ U.S. of __________

4. Lessons of the Four-Person World • Individual self-interest • World populated by those who might harm others • Potential inability to protect self from overwhelming opposition • Importance of overcoming collective action problem

5. Most Important Lesson: Anarchy • No overarching government; no final arbiter of international conflicts of interest • Hallmark of IR, unlike study of domestic politics • Different theoretical perspectives on anarchy (Realism, Liberalism, Constructivism)

6. What is Theory? Why is it Important? • Theory: An interrelated set of logically consistent and parsimonious fact-like statements about a broad class of similar phenomena with the ultimate goal of explaining and predicting phenomena within that class • Complex world; we construct explanatory models of reality to guide our analysis and inquiry (astrophysics)

7. Theory and Description • Puzzle: How Can We Explain the Onset of War? • Theoretical Approach: Probabilistic generalizations explaining onset in numerous cases • Descriptive Approach: Factors causing different wars too numerous and varied; explain causes separately • Both are necessary, but theory is better. Why?

8. Theory and Description • Keep with explanation of war example • Many actors at different levels of analysis contribute to international outcomes, and must be considered by theoretical and descriptive approaches • Goldstein’s Levels of Analysis: Global, Interstate, Domestic, Individual

9. What Caused WWI? • Example of Descriptive Approach: • Militarism (Interstate) • Imperialism (Global) • Nationalism (Domestic) • Rigid Alliance Structure (Individual and Interstate) • Shared Perception of Short War (Individual) • Bosnian Crisis (1908): Culminates in assassination of Archduke (Individual) • Rigid Mobilization Plans (Individual and Interstate)

10. What Caused WWI? • Example of Theoretical Approach: • “Downward Spiral” (Interstate) • Willingness of states to engage in arms races, “saber rattling,” rigid mobilization plans, in order to deter aggression, makes war more likely

11. What Caused WWII? • Example of Descriptive Approach: • Emasculation of Germany Following WWI (Interstate) • Radicalization of German opinion – the rise of Hitler and anti-Semitism (Individual and Domestic) • The Great Depression (Global)

12. What Caused WWII? • Example of Theoretical Approach: • Deterrence (Interstate and Global): In a world characterized by anarchy, war is prevented when threatened states act to deter invasion by aggressors

13. Theory and Description Compared • Though descriptive explanations are important, they are seemingly infinite and differ widely from occurrence to occurrence • Moreover, description does not allow us to draw generalizable lessons from complex phenomena, as does theory

14. Theory and Description Compared • Theories can provide expectations across several occurrences, thereby simplifying complexity • Though more useful, there are some important caveats to theory’s utility: • Description of occurrences is necessary to reach theoretical conclusions • Theoretical explanations are rarely (if ever) applicable in all cases (Deterrence vs. Downward Spiral); basis for comparative theory testing