History of International Relations - IRES I PDF

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IR: articulate studies that are meant for understanding the decisive role of what is happening in the global politics of the charismatic leaders and with influence. They happen without charismatic people too, events that influence the situation of the international situation. IR take place when ther...

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IR: articulate studies that are meant for understanding the decisive role of what is happening in the global politics of the charismatic leaders and with influence. They happen without charismatic people too, by events that influence the situation of the international situation. IR take place when there are no certain events that might change the way things happen at an international level. The prolific institutions are not even the ones that could change what is happening at a global level. IR studies the consequences of the cultural superiority. These superior cultures influence any confrontation that is international, but it is not enough. The substance of IR is the power – the capacity influences the decisions of other actors. The manifestation of power is associated with force. This thing can also be done by the realization of relations. Categories of the power of the state: - Geography: in general, the states that have a big area are those that really matter on the international arena, like France, Germany - Climate: it influences IR – a country where it is too hot and there is no rain is not as good as one with rain - Transport – it helps the economic dynamics, the access of political actors at the global ocean, the trade - Natural resources – food, raw materials, industry, the agriculture - Industrial capacity – the capacity to transform raw materials into products Elements that create power: - The national/moral character - The quality of diplomacy - The general quality of governance COALITION – agreement of cooperation made exclusively on interests that don’t contain, only rarely, values, that don’t have a big duration. When their goal is achieved, the coalition ends. It doesn’t have a document as a base. ALLY – a form of cooperation that is more stable and that has a longer duration of time. Allies last even after they achieved their initial goal. INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS – institutional forms of cooperation between political actors, who represent the states in order to collaborate with other states. INT. ORG. can be big, small, regional, continental, global etc. THEORIES OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS Realism – Thucydides (History of the Peloponnesian War), Machiavelli, and Hobbes 1. the anarchy of the international system => each state is responsible for its own survival and is free to define its own interests 2. states = rational actors acting as best they can in order to maximize their interests (=> they will inevitably come into conflict with one another) 3. all States possess some military capacity 4. the States with most economic clout and, especially, military might, hold the power (which has the overriding role in shaping interstate relations)

! POWER POLITICS Human nature is characterized by selfishness and greed. Politics is a domain of human activity structured by power and coercion. Global order is structured by the distribution of power (capabilities) among states. (4) 

Thucydides – the cause of the Peloponnesian War: the changing distribution of power between the two blocs of Greek city-states: the Delian League, under the leadership of Athens, and the Peloponnesian League, under the leadership of Sparta => Athenian power made the Spartans afraid for their security

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Classical realists emphasize state egoism, arguing that rivalry between and among political communities reflects inherent tendencies within human nature towards self-seeking, competition and aggression

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Offensive realism → hegemony

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Defensive realism → balance of power systems → a roughly equal distribution of power amongst States ensures that none will risk attacking another → polarity

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Decisions about war and peace are made through a kind of cost–benefit analysis

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Moral principles, in their abstract universal formulation, do not take into account political realities (Morgenthau, 4)

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Machiavellianism → the doctrine of raison d’état → all means (moral and immoral) are justified to achieve certain political ends => e.g.: the politics of Lebensraum, two world wars, the Holocaust

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Morgenthau, 6 – the autonomy of the political sphere: recognizing that different facets of human nature exist (economic man, religious man, moral man, political man, etc.), political realism also recognizes that in order to understand one of them, one has to deal with it on its own terms, and apply the standards of thought appropriate to it, while always remaining aware of the existence of other standards and their influence

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Hobbes: independent states, like independent individuals, are enemies by nature, asocial and selfish

Neorealism 

as the international system is anarchic —the absence of a central authority (Waltz) —, states are forced to rely on self-help in order to achieve survival and security, and this can only be ensured through military power

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Morgenthau: the struggle for power – human nature

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Waltz: a theory of international politics analogous to microeconomics – states in the international system are like firms in a domestic economy and have the same fundamental interest: to survive; the international structure is defined by its ordering principle, anarchy (=> a self-help system) and by the distribution of capabilities (structural constraints)

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the fundamental interest of each state is security and states would therefore concentrate on the distribution of power

Liberalism 

international anarchy can and should be replaced by an international rule of law (supranational bodies)

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democratic peace (Doyle, Kant)

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war is often linked to economic nationalism and autarky; the quest for economic selfsufficiency tends to bring states into violent conflict with one another; SOLUTION for PEACE: free trade and other forms of economic interdependence, especially as these may make war too costly)

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Andrew Moravcsik – 3 core assumptions: (i) individuals and private groups, not States, are the fundamental actors in world politics (→ Non-State Actors); (ii) States represent some dominant subset of domestic society, whose interests they serve; and (iii) the configuration of these preferences across the international system determines State behaviour

Idealism – Plato, Aristotle 

war does not originate in an egoistic human nature, but rather in imperfect social conditions and political arrangements, which could be improved.

Constructivism 

a focus on the social context in which international relations occur leads Constructivists to emphasize issues of identity and belief, which outrun the simplistic notions of rationality under which States pursue simply survival, power or wealth

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‘logic of consequences’: actions are rationally chosen to maximize the interests of a State

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‘logic of appropriateness’: rationality is heavily mediated by social norms

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international co-operation - based on constructed attitudes rather than the rational pursuit of objective interests

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the role of transnational actors

Institutionalism 

cooperation may be a rational, self-interested strategy for countries to pursue, but institutions —defined as a set of rules, norms, practices and decision-making procedures that shape expectations—can overcome the uncertainty that undermines it

Marxism 

explains war primarily in economic terms

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historical materialism

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developed countries, in their pursuit of power, penetrate developing states in order to appropriate natural resources and foster dependence by developing countries on developed countries

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WWI, for instance, was an imperialist war fought in pursuit of colonial gains in Africa and elsewhere (Lenin 1970)

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the origins of war can be traced back to the capitalist economic system, war, in effect, being the pursuit of economic advantage by other means => socialism is the best guarantee of peace, socialist movements often having a marked anti-war or even pacifist orientation, shaped by a commitment to internationalism

THE GREEK EMPIRE - Mycenaean Greece = the last phase of the Bronze Age in Ancient Greece, spanning the period from approximately 1600–1100 BC. It represents the first advanced civilization in mainland Greece, with its palatial states, urban organization, works of art and writing system. The Mycenaean Greeks introduced several innovations in the fields of engineering, architecture and military infrastructure, while trade over vast areas of the Mediterranean was essential for the Mycenaean economy. - Palatial states ruled by a king  sub-regions  smaller districts - The Mycenaean economy, given its pre-monetary nature, was focused on the redistribution of goods, commodities and labor by a central administration. - They invested in the development of military infrastructure, with military production and logistics being supervised directly from the palatial centres. The spear remained the main weapon among Mycenaean warriors. - The Mycenaean Greeks were also pioneers in the field of engineering, launching large-scale projects unmatched in Europe until the Roman period, such as fortifications, bridges, culverts, aqueducts, dams and roads suitable for wheeled traffic PHOENICIAN EMPIRE =an empire at sea, an ancient Semitic civilization that originated in the Eastern Mediterranean and in the west of the Fertile Crescent; its colonies later reached the Western Mediterranean (most notably Carthage) and even the Atlantic Ocean =their civilization was organized in city-states, similar to those of ancient Greece =today's Lebanon, northern Israel and southern Syria 539: The Persians then divided Phoenicia into four vassal kingdoms: Sidon, Tyre, Arwad, and Byblos. Alexander the Great took Tyre in 332 BC. BATTLE OF KADESH (1274 BC)  It took place between the forces of the Egyptian Empire under Ramesses II and the Hittie Empire under Muwatalli II at the city of Kadesh, near the modern Syrian-Lebanese border

 It is the earliest battle in recorded history for which details of tactics and formations are known  It is believed to have been the largest chariot battle ever fought  The Hittite chariots seemed slow and ungainly; the lighter Egyptian vehicles outmanoeuvred them with ease. Result : Egyptian tactical victory  In truth, the outcome was inconclusive. So much so that, 15 years later, the two sides returned to Kadesh to agree to a nonaggression pact – the first known example in history PUNIC WARS (3 wars fought between Rome and Carthage from 246 to 146 BC)  The main cause: the conflicts of interest between the existing Carthaginian Empire and the expanding Roman Republic (the Romans were initially interested in expansion via Sicily, part of which lay under Carthaginian control)  1st war: Carthage was the dominant power of the Western Mediterranean, with an extensive maritime empire. Rome was a rapidly ascending power, but it lacked the naval power of Carthage  2nd war: Hannibal’s crossing of the Alps followed by a prolonged but ultimately failed campaign of Carthage’s Hannibal in mainland Italy  3rd war: after more than 100 years and the loss of many hundreds of thousands of soldiers, Rome conquered Carthage’s empire, completely destroyed the city, and became the most powerful state in the Western Mediterranean GREEK COLONIZATION - FR, SP, ASIA MINOR, N AFRICA, THE BLACK SEA  In the first half of the 1st millennium BCE, ancient Greek city-states began to look beyond Greece for land and resources, so they founded colonies across the Mediterranean  First steps: trade contracts and free markets, and then, once local populations were subdued or included in the colony, cities were established => most became fully independent polis, sometimes very Greek in character, in other cases, culturally close to the indigenous people they neighboured  One of the most important consequences of this process was that the movement of goods (Greek pottery, wine, oil, metalwork, textiles, timber, metals), people, art, and ideas, myths and other Greek features spread the Greek way of life far and wide in SP, FR, IT, Adriatic Sea, Black Sea and North Africa  The Greeks established some 500 colonies => by 500 BCE these new territories would eventually account for 40% of all Greeks in the Hellenic World.  Types of government included those seen across Greece itself – oligarchy, tyranny, even democracy  Although colonies could be independent, they were at the same time expected to be active members of the wider Greek world by manifest in the supply of soldiers, ships, and money for the Panhellenic conflicts such as those against Persia and the Peloponnesian War, the sending of athletes to the great sporting games at places like Olympia and Nemea, the setting up of military victory monuments at Delphi, the guarantee of safe passage to foreign travellers through their territory, or the export and import of intellectual and artistic ideas such as the works of Pythagoras or centres of studies like Plato’s academy which attracted scholars from across the Greek world  It brought conflict and tensions with the Persian Empire, inaugurating the two-decade long Persian Wars from 500 to 479 BCE.

PELOPONNESIAN WAR - marked the dramatic end to the fifth century BC and the golden age of Greece 1. Archidamian War: 431-430 BC, the Spartan king Archidamus II invaded Attica (the countryside of Athens) => Athens had survived and won the war => the Peace of Nicias 1. Athens’s attack in Syracuse - failed disastrously 2. Sparta, receiving support from Persia, supported rebellions in Athens' subject states in the Aegean Sea and Ionia, undermining Athens' empire, and, eventually, depriving the city of its naval supremacy The Peloponnesian War reshaped the ancient Greek world. On the level of international relations, Athens, the strongest city-state in Greece prior to the war's beginning, was reduced to a state of near-complete subjection, while Sparta became established as the leading power of Greece. The Thirty Tyrants = a pro-Spartan oligarchy installed in Athens after its defeat in the Peloponnesian War in 404 BCE. ALEXANDER THE GREAT (king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon and a member of the Argead dynasty)  After his father’s death, he succeeded to the throne and inherited a strong kingdom and an experienced army; he was awarded the general-ship of Greece and used this authority to launch his father’s pan-Hellenic project to lead the Greeks in the conquest of Persia  He invaded the Persian Empire and began a series of campaigns in 334 BC that lasted 10 years. He broke the power of Persia in a series of decisive battles, most notably the ones of Issus and Gaugamela  He overthrew Persian King Darius III and conquered the Persian Empire in its entirety – at this point, his empire stretched from the Adriatic Sea to the Indus River  He endeavoured to reach the ends of the world and the Great Outer Sea and invaded India, winning an important victory at the Battle of the Hydaspes  He died in Babylon, the city he planned to establish as his capital, without executing a series of planned campaigns that would have begun with an invasion of Arabia FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE By 285 CE, the Roman Empire had grown so vast that it was no longer feasible to govern all the provinces from the central seat of Rome. The Emperor Diocletian divided the empire into halves with the Eastern Empire governed out of Byzantium (later Constantinople) and the Western Empire governed from Rome. The Western Roman Empire, in its classic form, came to an end in the year 476, when the last emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was removed from power by Odoacer, who formerly acted as the military administrator of the Italian Peninsula. The Roman-German synthesis would be the core of Western medieval society and culture. Imperialism itself = the seeds of destruction in Rome (TACITUS) JUSTINIAN AND THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE  Origins have to be traced back to the founding of Constantinople as a second Roman capital in 330, as also to the definitive separation between the Eastern and Western Roman Empires in 395.

 Emperor Justinian the First ( 537-565) codified the Ancient Roman juridical conception in his Corpus Judis Civilis, the vehicle by which the Roman law would be transmitted to the medieval world and to the Modern world.  The Eastern Roman Empire took an attempt to reconquer the Western Mediterranean basin. The Italian peninsula was annexed to the empire, with the Ostrogothic state functioning here destroyed by Justinian’s general, Narses; also, the Western part of North Africa up the Atlantic cost was conquered by the second great general Belisarius (533–534) => the recovery of Africa cost the empire about 100,000 pounds of gold.  Both this territorial additions will be however lost to the empire after the reign of Justinian, together in fact with a large part of the Eastern territory. Justinian's ambition to restore the Roman Empire to its former glory was only partly realized. The dragging war with the Goths was a disaster for Italy. The heavy taxes that the administration imposed upon its population were deeply resented.  Unlike the barbarian kingdoms of the west, where the throne was passed from father to son, there was never a clear line of succession in the East. This was called the "Malady of the Purple”.  Greek fire helped to save the Byzantine Empire and Christianity for several hundred years. CHARISMATIC LEADERS -inspire great loyalty; “essentially very skilled communicators, individuals who are both verbally eloquent, but also able to communicate to followers on a deep, emotional level”; the personal vision of a charismatic leader has a great deal of influence over his or her audience Autocratic and charismatic leadership: The charismatic leader typically inspires people to perform. The autocratic leader uses their authority to demand high performance. Napoleon - realized it was important to win the trust of those you weren't leading => when his army invaded another country, he made it clear to the citizens that he wasn't against them, but rather against their leaders, who were tyrants. Churchill - people really began to rally behind him during the war; he delivered numerous inspirational and uplifting speeches to the Allied Forces around the world and to British citizens (to buoy the British people’s resilience during Germany’s World War II bombing of England). Dr. Martin Luther King - a charismatic leader who used powerful oratory, an engaging personality, and unwavering commitment to positive change in the lives of millions of people. MORGENTHAU = One of the major twentieth-century figures in the study of international politics . His works belong to the tradition of realism in IR and he is considered one of the leading American realists of the post WW2 period. 1. OBJECTIVE LAWS: Political realism believes that politics, like society in general, is governed by objective laws that have their roots in human nature 2. The main signpost of political realism is the concept of interest defined in terms of power, which infuses rational order into the subject matter of politics, and thus makes the theoretical understanding of politics possible.

3. Realism recognizes that the determining kind of interest varies depending on the political and cultural context in which foreign policy is made. It does not give interest defined as power a meaning that is fixed once and for all. 4. ABSTRACT MORALS: Political realism is aware of the moral significance of political action. But it maintains that universal moral principles must be filtered through the concrete circumstances of time and place (POLITICAL REALITIES), because they cannot be applied to the actions of states in their abstract universal formulation. 5. Political realism refuses to ident...