Realism - Introduction to International Relations

Introduction to International Relations (appunti)

Inter-national relations means intergovernmental relations. States and power are key terms.

From the liberal perspective, it is not only the interaction between states but also between countries and other non-state actors (multinational corporations, NGOs, IOs).

Basic premises - every individual on earth is a member of a state (not always true think about second class citizens, Palestinians, Kurds, unknown tribes); almost all parts of the earth surface are under the jurisdiction of a state (again there are some exceptions like the sea, air space, the global commons).

Levels of analysis - what is the phenomenon affected by? (Global, Regional, International, National, individual)

Approaches - state-centric (realism), multi-centric (liberalism), global-centric (Marxism)
Focus of IR: Security (power politics, conflict and war), Freedom (cooperation, peace, progress), Order and Justice (shared interests, rules, institutions), Welfare (wealth, poverty, equality).

The Westphalian Model 1648

It is considered as a conventional turning point in international affairs, thought as the moment in which a state-centric paradigm imposed itself as the predominant model. After that, the system is compartmentalized. Each piece of land is characterized with sovereignty and other entities, like the Pope, from that moment on does not have the power to interfere with the state. Each state is free to determine its own government. No one is entitled to interfere with your own affairs; this is the idea of sovereignty. Nonetheless, in many IR accounts that is a kind of mental framework. The Westphalian system was generated in the West but then spread all over the world and in a matter of a few centuries we live in a system where the key political format is the state. By now all actors in international affairs claim to be or aspire to be states, independent sovereign state with UN membership. Empires were considered too slow and inefficient in dealing with politics and were then substituted by states.

State sovereignty means that there is no superior authority recognized above the state. Classical realist view - the Westphalian principle is anarchic (not messy, in the sense that there is no global government), a model without a world sovereign. This anarchic system entails domestic disanalogy - what happened inside and outside follows two different logics. Hobbes - In the state of nature, people give away part of their sovereignty to the sovereign etc. At the international level there is not the same kind of reciprocal vulnerability, a powerful state would not consent to give away part of its sovereignty. Because of that, the logic of domestic policy does not stand at the international level. This is because there are differences between the different actors (stronger and weaker states).

Agent structure issue - it is a matter of prioritizing what is around us or our own will/individuals? A voluntarist would say that you are what you want to be, the result of the choice you have made in the past, of a course of action that you have altered (agent view, mentality of the self-made man). A determinist would say that you are what the system wanted you to be, there are many structural factors that inflect you that he margin of authority that you have is almost insignificant, what you are depends on the system in which you live. Classical tension between individualism and holism.

Idealism – (Wilson, Angell) important to understand realism, which moves kind of in the opposite direction. The guiding principle should be values, legal norms and institutions. International politics= global peace. International institutions, international law, central global government (opposed to Westphalian Model). The way to prevent war is based on new norms, institutions and moral values. Most important achievement Society of Nations. Although it was a failure, it covered a very important role: it established the first international framework and it followed precisely this kind of idea. Idealism is within the tradition of liberalism. Some of Wilson’s 14 points are in opposition with the Westphalian Model. Then, why did the war occurred? For idealists is because institutions are imperfect. The solution would be to spread democracy and to create international institutions or international law (again important point of departure for liberalism).

        REALISM        

APPUNTI + Manuale di Politica Internazionale - Marchetti

Assumptions of realism

1. First assumption - the most important actors of the international relations are the states. Specifically, only the big states. Understood in sense of territorial sovereignty. International law can only be established with the consent of the states. One of the key words for defining a state is self-help: there is nobody to protect you; you cannot really appeal to a superior world government or something like that (autotutela). Everything is your responsibility.
2. Second assumption - the state is a unitary actor. What is inside is irrelevant for explaining foreign policy, which follows certain trends that are independent from endogenous factors.
3. Third assumption - the state is a rational actor. Idea that you can make a national calculus about what strategy maximizes your national interest.
4. Fourth assumption - the agenda is centered on security. The first goal is survival.

Power and National Interests

Power – according to Dahl, it is the capability to change someone else’s preferences and actions. According to Waltz, an actor has power when his/hers capabilities of influencing others are higher than the other’s capability of influencing him/her. Power = influence.
There are a number of tangible and intangible elements considered important for national interest, which are important for power: population (i.e. Russians feel threatened from Chinese people because they are more numerous), territory and geographical conditions (dangerous or harmless neighbors), natural resources, industrial capacity. With the term soft power (Joseph Nye) we indicate a kind of power based on intangible factors such as the values system, lifestyles, cultural models, on the basis of which international rules and institutions are created. Soft power is opposed to hard power, which indicates economic and military power.