Understanding The International System
1. Structural
Characteristics
2. Power
Relationships
Organizati on of Authority Actors
Interactio n No. of System Poles Concentration of power Causes & effects of changes in power
3. Economic Realities 4. Norms of Behavior
POWER Relationships Concentration of Power - Not all power poles are equal. - Propensity for war?
POWER Relationships Causes and Effects of Power Changes - Power distribution is not stable. Ex.: The Roman Empire, the Ottoman Empire. Hitler’s Germany, The USSR, the Causes: USA, China.
Ways of change: Source and/or Importance. Change of conditions
POWER Relationships Causes and Effects of Power Changes 1. Ways of Change: A - Changes is the SOURCE: - Weapons of Mass Destruction -(WMD) The Soft Power B - Changes is the IMPORTANCE: - Technological, leadership, and economic power versus military Power.
POWER Relationships Causes and Effects of Power Changes 2. Conditions within Major Actors - Refers to the impact of domestic politics on a country’s foreign policy.
Ex.: The Case of the former Soviet Union. -It may affect a nation’s willingness to act abnormally.
Ex.: The Policy of Appeasement.
POWER Relationships Causes and Effects of Power Changes Effects: Specific Effects Power Transitions and System Instability
POWER Relationships Causes and Effects of Power Changes Altered the criteria of a Superpower Altered the Behavior of Superpowers.
1. Specific Effects: Source of Power: (WMD) Distribution of Power:
Created deterrence.
Ex.: the current evolving international system.
POWER Relationships Causes and Effects of Power Changes Power Transitions and System Stability:
- Instability is high in periods of power transitions. Ex.: WWI and WWII.
ECONOMIC Patterns - Explaining Economic Patterns 1. Economic Interdependence 2. Location & Use of Natural Ex.1: Kissinger’s Step-by-Step Diplomacy Resources Ex.2: The Carter Doctrine (Jan. 1980) Ex.3: The Gulf War of 1991
3. Maldistribution of Development The North-South Axis (the LDCs & the EDCs)
NORMS of Behavior What are the Norms of Behavior? - Countries are theoretically free to make any decision, but they are practically restrained by the realities of the system in which they exist.
Why a System develops these Norms? Are these Norms Changeable?
PREDICTABILITY The Shape of the Future System - State-Centric - Global Government - Disintegration