POLI 244 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Coercive Monopoly, Laissez-Faire
16 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
What is IR?
= study of the interactions among the actors that participate in international politics
Neorealism
= theory that states the most important factor in IR is power
Laissez faire economics
= type of economy where transactions between private parties are free from government
intervention, such as regulations and tariffs
Hegemony
= leadership of one country or state over others
Sovereign state
= a state (with borders) which is recognized by other states, where the government makes laws
and rules which citizens have to abide by.
= requires peer recognition, territoriality, hierarchy, centralized power
International Anarchy
= the idea that the world lacks supreme authority or sovereign
= decentralized political authority
Bipolarity vs Multipolarity
● Prior to WW2 the world was under a multipolar system
● Post WW2 during the cold war the world was under a bipolar system: US and Soviet
Union
● After Soviet Union disintegrated into 15 states and loosened its communist grip, US was
the superpower: Unipolar
The emergence of sovereign states
● War and preparation: efficient way of resource extraction
● Capital Intensive states e.g. Venice, Genoa: no force used, negotiation and trade
● Coercion Intensive states e.g. Russia: coercion and force used to obtain resources
● Capital Coercive states e.g. France and England: extraction of resources through
negotiation, trade and if not then force and coercion
○ The most efficient type of sovereign state
Predominance of sovereign states
● Law enforcement and transaction costs reduction
● Lower the commitment problems within inter unit (state) relations
Parsimony
= the optimal combination of simplification and explanatory power
Document Summary
= study of the interactions among the actors that participate in international politics. = theory that states the most important factor in ir is power. = type of economy where transactions between private parties are free from government intervention, such as regulations and tariffs. = leadership of one country or state over others. = a state (with borders) which is recognized by other states, where the government makes laws and rules which citizens have to abide by. = requires peer recognition, territoriality, hierarchy, centralized power. = the idea that the world lacks supreme authority or sovereign. Prior to ww2 the world was under a multipolar system. Post ww2 during the cold war the world was under a bipolar system: us and soviet. After soviet union disintegrated into 15 states and loosened its communist grip, us was the superpower: unipolar. War and preparation: efficient way of resource extraction. Capital intensive states e. g. venice, genoa: no force used, negotiation and trade.
