The foundation of world politics

World Politics

• What is World politics and why do we study it?

Kelly WalkerGlobal Systems

Tallwood High School

Terms:

• Theory: a logically consistent set of statements that explains a phenomenon of interest.

• Political Scientists analyze events and develop criteria for understanding the conditions as to why they occur.

• Why did this happen?

Political science hat

The Framework• A way of thinking about world politics that will build theories that

shed light on events.• Interests: What actors want to achieve through political action;

their preferences over the outcomes that might result from their political choices.

Business have an interest in maximizing profits• Interactions: The ways in which the choices of two or more actors

combine to produce political outcomes.War is the product of an interaction• Institution: a set of rules, known and shared by the community, that

structure political interactions in particular ways.United Nations

Interactions

• Two broad types of interactions:1.Bargaining: situations in which two or more

actors try to divide something they both want-states bargain over territory

2.Cooperation: actors have common interests and need to act together in order to achieve their interests. Governments that want to stop one country from invading another may collectively set sanctions on the aggressor.

Levels of Analysis

• Interactions at 3 levels1.International Level (UN, WTO)2.Domestic Level (subnational actors,

politicians, business and labor groups)

3.Transnational Level (MNC’s, terrorist organizations)

Realism, Liberalism, and Constructivism• Realism: States are dominant actor and world politics is

characterized by anarchy- War a permanent condition as states always wag war when it is in their interest to do so.

• Liberalism: No single interest dominates and wealth is a common goal. Optimistic about cooperation in the world. Progress is possible.

• Constructivism: Many types of actors are important and actors’ interests are influenced by culture, identity, and prevailing ideas. Similar to liberals, except they do not believe in material sources of interest. Nonmaterial factors such as ideas, culture, and norms are important. Transformers.

What Shaped Our World? 1

What Shaped Our World?

1. Cooperation Through History2. The Mercantilist Era, 1492–18153. The Pax Britannica, 1815–19144. The Thirty Years’ Crisis, 1914–19455. The Cold War, 1945–19906. Post–Cold War, 1991–Present7. Future Trends and Challenges

What Shaped Our World?

1. Cooperation Through History2. The Mercantilist Era, 1492–18153. The Pax Britannica, 1815–19144. The Thirty Years’ Crisis, 1914–19455. The Cold War, 1945–19906. Post–Cold War, 1991–Present7. Future Trends and Challenges

Cooperation Through History

• 1800s: Relative peace and prosperity

• Early–mid-1900s: Wars, depression

• Late 1900s: Economic globalization

• 2000s: Still unknown

What Shaped Our World?

1. Cooperation Through History2. The Mercantilist Era, 1492–18153. The Pax Britannica, 1815–19144. The Thirty Years’ Crisis, 1914–19455. The Cold War, 1945–19906. Post–Cold War, 1991–Present7. Future Trends and Challenges

The Mercantilist Era,1492–1815Explorers and

traders discover the “New World”

• Mercantilism: the use of military power to enrich imperial governments

• Height of mercantilism was from the 16th to 18th Centuries.

• Favor the mother country over both colonies and competing empires

• Key mechanisms• - State monopolies (Spanish

mines, Hudson’s Bay Company)• - Controls on colonial trade

The Mercantilist Era,1492–1815

• Mercantilism as economic doctrine

• Military and economic power complementary

The Mercantilist Era,1492–1815• The British imposed mercantilist policies on their colonies in North

America. For example, the tobacco being loaded onto these ships in the Virginia Colony could be exported only to Britain, where the American producers received a lower price for their crops than they would on world markets.

• Sought goods to satisfy empire: for example, tea, cocoa, rubber, gold, and silver.

The Mercantilist Era,1492–1815

Controls on Trade: An Example- Britain restricted Virginia’s commerce.- Virginia Colony could sell tobacco only to Britain

The British paid Virginia Colony about 49% less for its tobacco than growers could have earned on world markets, and paid rice planters of South Carolina less than half what they could have gotten on world markets.Britain’s colonies could buy goods only from Britain. Net effect:

- Lower price for tobacco and rice (leading to underproduction)- Higher price for manufactured goods- Unfavorable terms of trade for colonies

The Mercantilist Era,1492–1815

• The Thirty Years’ War, 1618–1648– The Peace of WestphaliaThe Thirty Years’ War

–- Rising imperial competitors emerged

– - Between 1618 and 1648, the French and Dutch battled Spain– - Sealed the decline of Spain

– The Peace of Westphalia• Effects• - Stabilized borders• - Helped resolve religious conflicts • - Beginning of the modern system of states; pledge of

noninterference 

Sovereignty• Establishing sovereignty• - Sovereignty refers to the expectation that states have legal and political

supremacy within their boundaries, and control over their own policies and political processes such as the maintenance of domestic order and provision of governance.

• In practice, intervention still occurs; for example, when the U.S. government demanded that Saddam Hussein step down from power in Iraq. Sovereignty is presumed but not always respected. This topic will come up again when we talk about humanitarian intervention, and when we consider the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

• Early understandings of sovereignty emphasized ethical obligations, and later understandings emphasize:

• 1. territorial integrity,• 2. border inviolability• 3. supremacy of the state• 4. the “sovereign” as supreme lawmaking authority within its jurisdiction

The Mercantilist Era,1492–1815• Fight for Hegemony• Anglo-French Rivalry

Seven Years’ WarNapoleonic Wars (Waterloo)

• Interests– Security through power– Control of markets and resources

• Interactions– Zero-sum bargaining among states

• Institutions– Few international institutions beyond the norm of

sovereignty

The Mercantilist Era,1492–1815

What Shaped Our World?

1. Cooperation Through History2. The Mercantilist Era, 1492–18153. The Pax Britannica, 1815–19144. The Thirty Years’ Crisis, 1914–19455. The Cold War, 1945–19906. Post–Cold War, 1991–Present7. Future Trends and Challenges

The Pax Britannica, 1815–1914

• “The Hundred Years’ Peace”• Sources of Cooperation

The Pax Britannica, 1815–1914

Figure 1.1: GDP per Capita, 1500-2008

The Pax Britannica, 1815–1914

• Industrial revolution altered interests• Exchange replaces mercantilism• Economic integration increases• Mechanisms

– migration– free trade– gold standard

The Pax Britannica, 1815–1914

The Gold StandardGold becomes the major monetary system, promoting stability and predictability.

The Pax Britannica, 1815–1914

The Colonial Empires, 1914

The Pax Britannica, 1815–1914

• Interests– Economic wealth through trade and investment

• Interactions– Informal diplomacy; state cooperation in security and

economic affairs

• Institutions– British hegemony and the Concert of Europe

What Shaped Our World?

1. Cooperation Through History2. The Mercantilist Era, 1492–18153. The Pax Britannica, 1815–19144. The Thirty Years’ Crisis, 1914–19455. The Cold War, 1945–19906. Post–Cold War, 1991–Present7. Future Trends and Challenges

The Thirty Years’ Crisis,1914–1945

• Europe divides into two camps• Central Powers • Allied Powers

The Thirty Years’ Crisis,1914–1945

Map 1.2: Europe, 1914

The Thirty Years’ Crisis,1914–1945

Map 1.3: Europe after World War I,

1920

The Thirty Years’ Crisis,1914–1945

• The Treaty of Versailles

The Thirty Years’ Crisis,1914–1945

The Thirty Years’ Crisis,1914–1945

• The Great Depression of 1929• Countries turn inward

The Thirty Years’ Crisis,1914–1945

• World War II• Axis Powers• Allied Powers

The Thirty Years’ Crisis,1914–1945

• Interests– Security through alliances, expansion, and economic

self-sufficiency

• Interactions– World Wars I and II

• Institutions– The League of Nations

What Shaped Our World?

1. Cooperation Through History2. The Mercantilist Era, 1492–18153. The Pax Britannica, 1815–19144. The Thirty Years’ Crisis, 1914–19455. The Cold War, 1945–19906. Post–Cold War, 1991–Present7. Future Trends and Challenges

The Cold War, 1945–1990

Map 1.4: The Cold

War and Its Alliances,

1980

The Cold War, 1945–1990

• The Eastern Bloc: Command Economy, centralized government with few civil liberties

• The Western Bloc: Free enterprise economy, democracies, protect civil liberties

The Cold War, 1945–1990

• Conflicts, crises, and coups• Rise of the Third World• NATO forms to combat USSR

hegemony (Warsaw Pact)• Bretton Woods: lowered trade

barriers among member states

The Cold War, 1945–1990

• GATT- General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (WTO)

• IMF-US $ tied to gold and all other currencies were tied to the $- Go US

• World Bank-Fostered development in developing nations.

• Created an integrated international economy = Peace

The Cold War, 1945–1990

• Warsaw Pact- military alliance formed by the USSR to include its satellite states

• Comecon-(Council for Mutual Economic Assistance) Economic alliance formed by the USSR and its satellite states

The Cold War, 1945–1990• Interests

– Superpowers and allies sought to maximize global influence

– All countries sought gains in wealth• Interactions

– Bipolar structure turned more pluralistic – Coercive diplomacy slowly yielded to bargaining– Brinkmanship- Berlin Airlift/ Cuban Missile Crisis– Decolonization

• Institutions– U.S.-supported institutions survived– Soviet institutions lacked legitimacy

What Shaped Our World?

1. Cooperation Through History2. The Mercantilist Era, 1492–18153. The Pax Britannica, 1815–19144. The Thirty Years’ Crisis, 1914–19455. The Cold War, 1945–19906. Post–Cold War, 1991–Present7. Future Trends and Challenges

Post–Cold War, 1991–Present

Post–Cold War, 1991–Present

• Collapse of the USSR• CooperationEconomic Developments• Regional Trade Agreements • EU grows=Euro• Free Trade Agreements NAFTA

Post–Cold War, 1991–Present

Diplomatic Challenges•Ethnic and regional conflict•Non-state actors•Transnational issues (environment, human trafficking, narcoterrorism)•Who is the enemy????

Post–Cold War, 1991–Present

• Interests– States increasingly focus on wealth gains through

trade and investment– Rise of non-state actors with diverse goals

• Interactions– “Complex interdependence”– Weak states often bargain with global institutions

• Institutions– UN and global financial and trade institutions– NGOs participate

What Shaped Our World?

1. Cooperation Through History2. The Mercantilist Era, 1492–18153. The Pax Britannica, 1815–19144. The Thirty Years’ Crisis, 1914–19455. The Cold War, 1945–19906. Post–Cold War, 1991–Present7. Future Trends and Challenges

Future Trends and Challenges

1.Predominance of the United States2.Globalization

Future Trends and Challenges

• US political Challenges in the 21st century

• Military, political and ethnic conflicts• Environmental costs• Nuclear proliferation• Financial crises• Power shifts

Additional art from the text follows this slide