How is state power measured? According to Mingst, state power comes in three ways: natural sources, like geographic, natural resources, and population; tangible sources, such as industrial development and access to resources; and intangible sources, like national image, public support, and leadership. (108-12) Natural sources of power are not available to all countries, and therefore very prized. To have a large nation chock full of resources and people is the ideal. However, for ...

Why is the concept of a system a powerful descriptive and explanatory device in IR? The Encyclopedia Britannica defines a system as a "set of formal legal institutions that constitute a "government" or a "state." This is the definition adopted by many studies of the legal or constitutional arrangements of advanced political orders." By encapsulating the power of the state into a system, scholars distill a complex nation-state down to its primal essence: a structure with a working dynamic...

Just as a nuclear physicist constructs a theory about the causes and effects of a project before going out to the test range and detonating, it's important that scholars and practitioners of international relations have a strong framework of theory before going out onto the UN floor. Trial and error is not an option, whether it's diplomacy or nuclear physics! Through international theory, we can examine scenarios and motivations regarding states to "understand the causes of events th...

What is the role of international law in international relations? International law serves as an arbiter between the nations as they strive to one-up each other. Law provides "norms of permissible and impermissible behavior, sets a body of expectations, provides order, protects the status quo, and legitimates the use of force by a government to maintain order" (Mingst, 186). It keeps the Iraqs from invading the Kuwaits... again. International law establishes rules of conduct and order ...

What is power? What is the difference between political and economic power? Is there such a thing as cultural power? What is the difference between power and influence or power and force? Power, officially, is "control over the minds and actions of other actors in order to maintain the distribution of power that exists in a particular moment. More generally, the ability to control resources, to control the behavior of other actors, to control events, to control the outcomes of interac...

Is the balance of power at work in the world today? The balance of power is constantly at work, though not always involving the actors with whom we are familiar. And not always in ways that are obvious to the untrained eye. Our world can experience war, terrorism, bloodshed... or peace, prosperity, and understanding... and the balance of power is maintained. For our planet to have a balance of power, power must be concentrated in those nations who are willing to maintain the status qu...

Liberalism is often referred to as “idealism” in the literature of the field. Do you feel this term accurately describes the liberal view of international relations? When the word “liberal” is invoked, I have to admit it brings to mind the derogatory epithet used by George H.W. Bush to attack Michael Dukakis in the 1988 presidential race. I also think of tree-hugging hippies having love-ins at Woodstock. So to discover that the term “liberal” actually means: 1) Not limited to o...

Model One deals with the Rational Policy paradigm, which states that foreign policy is conceived by a course of action undertaken by the government in question. Governments therefore set the "national interest" and act upon it, both internally and externally. These expected decisions arise from consistency in policy and planning. The government abides by principles and has best courses of action laid out before it. Morgenthau stated that this method "provides for rational discipline in ...

What is the relationship between domestic politics and international regimes? When decision makers are weighing the costs and benefits of cooperation, what domestic concerns and actors figure into their calculations? The institutionalist believes that cooperation is a necessary step in achieving the ideal: interdependent, cooperative international society. Keohane regards "sophisticated institutionalists" as ones who "accept the self-interested nature of the state and believe that coop...

Q: What are the assumptions of the "rational actor model"? Are they too strong? The first assumption is that people are rational. "Rational" is a very subjective term, so when one ascribes rationality to an individual or governing power, one must understand what rationality entails. "Rationality does not carry any connotations of normative behavior. That is, behaving rationally does not necessarily mean that one behaves morally or ethically... Rational behavior is purposeful behavior."...

INTRODUCTION Cooperation between states is not only practical but also necessary for mutual ensured survival. Complaints are laid against multinational and nongovernmental organizations, that they maintain the status quo and are hesitant to go in, guns blazing, to affect change within a rogue nation. However, without the levels of social and international understanding and cooperation that exist today, the world would be full of nations ruthlessly attacking one another, waiting for another...

I think Iran is building its nuclear capability because it has two clear goals: 1) the destruction of Israel. 2) self-preservation. With Americans on either side of them, in Afganistan and Iraq, and a nuclear Pakistan, India, and China? What are your thoughts?

INTRODUCTION Cooperation between states is not only practical but also necessary for mutual ensured survival. Complaints are laid against multinational and nongovernmental organizations, that they maintain the status quo and are hesitant to go in, guns blazing, to affect change within a rogue nation. However, without the levels of social and international understanding and cooperation that exist today, the world would be full of nations ruthlessly attacking one another, waiting for anoth...

By the end of the Second World War (WWII), Europe and Japan were in shambles. The United Nations (UN) was established after WWII to prevent war from breaking out again. It was not founded to govern over the myriad nations of the earth, but rather to preserve the sovereignty of each through international oversight and action. All nations could have a seat in the General Assembly, but only five nations would comprise the UN Security Council: the United States (US), France, the United Kingdom...

The development dilemma addresses the compulsion for the so-called Second and Third Worlds to grow and prosper only through sustainable development. Sustainable development is defined as improving living standards without sacrificing environmental integrity, thus allowing nations to grow with minimal impact on the environment. This is in complete contrast with the development of those countries that have already gone through their growth phases. The nations of the First World became indust...