Ordering the International: Actors, Processes, Structures Basic Concepts and Analytical Levels of International Relations

Introduction Perspectives of International Relations Actor Process Structure

Introduction Actor Environment Actor a)Who acts ? b)Forms, occasions, reasons, causes, results of the behaviour of actors which crosses national borders or is directed towards the international system ?

Introduction Process a)Interaction of Actors (Duration, Regularity, Action-Reaction-Pattern ? b)Forms, occasions, reasons, causes, results ? AC B

Introduction Structure a)Like processes between actors repeated over time and thus solidified b)Forms, reasons, consequences ?

Foreign Policy 1.Ressources 2.Means 3.Aims 4.Interests 5.Decision making processes International environment National Actor Border crossing action

International Politics Actor A Actor C Actor B Action Reaction Action Reaction Action Reaction

The Billard-Ball-Model of International Politics Pulling forces Pushing forces

International Politics Society A Akteur A Society B Akteur B IGO Foreign Policy A Foreign Policy B Internationale Politik

The modern territorial State – Substrate of the Billard-Ball-Model of International Politics Premiss: Legitimation of the state by successful completion of its functions: guarantee of law and order domestically and protection against (military)attacks in its external relations Factors of Change: Development of the forces of production and destruction Medieval starting point Wall-protected impenetrability Territorial State: hard shell of fortresses round periphery & parallell abolition of independence of interior fortified places by the central power Gun powder revolution of the late middle ages: development of artillery and distance weapons cancels Fortress protected impenetrability manifestations Strategy military power Politics: Independence Law Sovereignty Modern State: domestically pacified and externally hard shelled defensible Unit with monopoly of the use of physical force on its territory Impenetrability based on military, political, legal developments Premiss: warfare rests in the horizontal Air warfare: ballistic carriers and nuclear weapons of mass destruction cancels

Military and political impenetrability protected by force Air Warfare, in particular ballistic weapons of mass destruction overcomes Penetrability underlines Modern industrial dynamics Globalization Globalization functional Interdependence Transnational networking Further differentiation of international division of labour Environmental problems & their secondary effects crossing borders Intensification of social and cultural forces by social change Replacement of Fordistic by Postfordistic Accumulation

Cobweb model of international Relations

Transnational Society (of Actors) Society A Government Society B Government Society C Government National Actor Transnational Society

Transnational Politics Society B Government Society C Government Society A Government

LOOKING AT THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM FROM A RECENT INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS PERSPECTIVE For some time already, the analysis of International Relations is characterised by a change in perspective - away from the state as a unitary actor acting as a gatekeeper between the domestic and international policy areas - up, down, and sideways to supra-state, sub-state, and non-state actors. From the society of states, our focus of attention has consequently shifted to transnational and transgovernmental societies which take the form of boundary-crossing networks amongst individuals and non- governmental organisations (NGOs).

IGO INGO = government = society = foreign or international societal interactions = foreign or international political interactions Society C State C Society A State AState B Society B The traditional concept of international politics: States as international gatekeepers

MULTILEVEL GOVERNANCE: MAIN ACTORS AND LEVELS OF ANALYSIS GOVERNMENT A GOVERNMENT B GOVERNMENT C International & national regimes Supranational and intergovernmental actors TARGET STATE Transnational groups Administration Legislative branch Judiciary system Central state Administration Legislative branch Judiciary system Regional/substate unit Individual cognition; Belief system; Personal and national identity Domestic groups&issue-specific groups (commercial, religious, and environmental) International level State level Regional level Individual level

Multilevel Governance Flexibly organised common problem solving among different communities from the local via the regional and state to the international level (and vice versa) MULTI-LEVEL GOVERNANCE Concept gains importance in contexts in which political institutions and their decision-makers lose part of their auto- nomy to act; political direction and problem solving has to rely on cooperation of political AND societal actors in networks and negotiation systems (Round Tables etc.) IN DOMESTIC POLITICS Concept covers the mechanisms, agreements, and patterns necessary to insure, in an anarchical international system * transnational cooperation * balances (of power/influence) * stability without formalised and insti- tutionalised organisations and treaty systems governance without government IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS