Understanding International Relations: Level of analysis and actors Sept. 5, 2013

What is International Relations? -Political science, NOT history course -Not WHAT happened but WHY things happened -Explain rather than describe international relation

The Study of International Relations Government-to-government decisions Importance of non-government actors Wide range of activities and issue areas Mix of conflict and cooperation, e.g. Syria, China-Japan, North Korea IR combines both descriptive and theoretical Practical application

How can we analyze world politics? Theories: window (lenses) to help “explain” why certain events happen A set of propositions and concepts; specifying the relationship among concepts – E.g. national interests, balance of power, state, international system, anarchy etc. Aiming to predict future phenomena Level of analysis 5

Level of Analysis Explanations can be organized by three levels of analysis Individual State International system 6

Individual Level Individual decision-maker’s: Personality Perceptions Choices and activities E.g. George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Bin Ladin, Hu Jintao, Kim Jongil etc. 7

State Level Derived from characteristics of the state Type of government: democracy or authoritarianism Type of economic system: capitalist or socialist Interest groups within the country National interests 8

International System Level Anarchic characteristics of the system International and regional organizations and their strengths and weakness – World Trade Organizations – European Union Explanations from all three levels may contribute to policy-maker’s decisions E.g. UN Security Council resolution for North Korea 9

Why the level of analysis matters? Help orient your questions Suggest the appropriate type of evidences to explore Help you make logical deduction and enables us to explore all categories of explanation 10

Actors in International System State Non-state actors – Inter-governmental organizations (IGOs) – Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) – Individuals

State Must meet four fundamental conditions – 1) a territorial base, which is geographically defined – 2) a stable population within its borders – 3) a government: a state need not have a particular form of government, but most of its people must acknowledge the legitimacy of the government – 4) should be recognized diplomatically by other states However, measuring yardstick is not absolute. Some states that do not fulfill all the legal criteria are still states 12

Non-State actors Inter-governmental organizations (IGOs) – The United Nations (UN), the World Bank, the World Trade Organization etc. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) – Amnesty International, Greenpeace International, Friends of the Earth International, and Al Qaeda Individuals 13

Roles of IGOs Contribute to habits of cooperation – organizations and states become used to working together Engage in information-gathering, surveillance Aid in dispute settlement Conduct operational activities Serve as arena for bargaining 14

Roles of NGOs NGOs are generally private, voluntary organizations whose members are individuals or associations that come together to achieve a common goal Diverse entities, ranging from entirely local and/or grassroots organizations to nationally and trans-nationally organized All NGOs has benefited from new communications technologies, using World Wide Web to collect information 15