1 International System

The International System System-level Analysis

Understanding The International System The Essence of System-Level Analysis: - International Actors operate in a global social- economic-politicalgeographic environment. - System Characteristics determine the pattern of interaction among the actors.

Understanding The International System The operation of any system is based on 4 factors: 1. Structural Characteristics 2. Power Relationships 3. Economic Realities 4. Norms of Behavior

STRUCTURAL Characteristics • The Organization of Authority • Types of Actors

• Scope and Level of Interaction

STRUCTURAL Characteristics

• The Organization of Authority: - Vertical or Horizontal Structure? - Constant or Changing Structure?

Ex. 1: The U.S. and the WTO (1996). Ex. 2: The Policy of Apartheid in South Africa.

Ex. 3: The UN condemnation of the military overthrow of democracy in Haiti, and authorization of the U.S. led military intervention in 1994. -The charismatic leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide was elected president in 1991.

- The democratic government of Aristide in Haiti was toppled by a military junta, and a lot of Haitian refugees were fleeing to the United States coasts. - The Clinton administration allowed the Haitian refugees to enter the U.S. as political refugees and reasoned that the only solution to the refugee problem was the establishment of a stable democratic government in Haiti under Aristide.

-Washington, thereupon, imposed a set of economic sanctions in partnership with the U.N. that eventually compelled the ruling junta in Haiti to sign an agreement in July 1993 allowing Aristide to regain power within 3 months. -When officers in charge failed to meet the deadline for the legally elected head of state, Clinton dispatched a contingent of marines in the fall of 1994 to occupy the country and reinstate Aristide. -The mission was accomplished and the U.S. intervention force handed over authority to a U.N. peacekeeping force in March 1995. - The U.N. supervised a legislative and presidential elections in Haiti to replace Aristide.

STRUCTURAL Characteristics

2. Types of Actors: STATES

NON-STATES IGOs

Transnational

Geographic Function NGOs Scope

MNCs

- The continuous evolving of informal actors. actors

STRUCTURAL Characteristics

3. Scope and Level of Interaction - Increasing Economical, communicational and environmental Interdependence

Ex. 1: The formation regional bodies (ASEAN, NAFTA) Ex. 2: Internet and the boom in telecommunications.

Ex. 3: Environmental interdependence:

STRUCTURAL Characteristics

3. Scope and Level of Interaction

- Theories indicate that largescale war is becoming impossible between economically interdependent countries. Ex. 1: The Case of Europe. Ex. 2: European countries and the U.S.

STRUCTURAL Characteristics

3. Scope and Level of Interaction

- However, if Conflict/War erupts in an interdependent world, its repercussions affect all: Ex. 1: The September 11, 2001. Ex. 2: The War on Iraq, 2003.