1. International System
The pattern of relations between nation-states and non-state international actors

2. Comparison Domestic Politics International Politics Formal
Hierarchical
Rules/regulations
To produce justice
Social contract
International Politics
Two Views
Anarchy
Institutionalization

3. Categories of Comparison
Central Authority
Conflict Resolution and Force

4. Domestic Politics: Central Authority US Constitution
THE PREAMBLE
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

5. US Congress

6. Presidency

7. US Supreme Court

8. International Politics: Anarchy: No Central Authority

9. Rules? Anarchy?
Sovereignty
Self-reliance
Capability
Might makes right

10. But…Institutions: Central Authority in the Making?
Geneva Conventions
International
Criminal Court
(Rome Statute)
Kyoto Protocol
International Whaling
Commission
World Intellectual
Property Rights Org.

11. Regional Organizations
African Union (AU)
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC)
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
The Commonwealth (The UK and nations that were former British colonies, but remain close to the UK economically and politically)
Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Organization of Central Asian states, from Turkey to Kyrgyzstan
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
European Union (EU)
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
Organization of American States (OAS)
Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC)
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) -- a cartel of oil producing nations that spans several regions. 
Pacific Community (Pacific Island nations and territories)

12. Conflict Resolution and Force
Domestic Political System?

18. Tradition in International System: Anarchy?
Event
From To
Low 
High
Warring States Era, China
BC 475
BC 221
10 m
An Shi Rebellion, China
756
763
36 m
Mongol Conquests, Europe, Asia
1207
1279
30 m
60 m
Thirty Years War
1618
1648
3 m
11.5 m
Napoleonic Wars
1804
1815
3.5 m
16 m
Taiping Rebellion, China
1851
1864
20 m
50 m
US Civil War
1861
1865
618,000
970,000
Russian Civil War
1917
1921 5m
9 m
WW I (high includes Spanish Flu)
1914
1918
15 m
66 m

19. Continued Anarchy? Chinese Civil War 1945 1949 1.3 m 6. 1 m WW II 1939
Viet Nam War
1975
2.5 m
5 m
Korean War
1950
1953
3.5 m
Nigerian Civil War
1967
1970
1 m
Afghan Civil War
1979
Present
1.5 m
2.0 m
Iran-Iraq War
1980
1988
1.0 m
Congo Civil War
1994
1997
800,000
Second Congo War
1998
2003
3.8m
13.8

20. Might Makes Right: US-Mexican War 1846-1847

21. Japanese Constitution 1946
Staff member Beate Sirota Gordon, then in her early twenties, still remembers the day well: And one morning I came in..., it was ten a.m. and General Whitney [head of the government section] called us into a meeting room. It was too small for all of us. Some of us had to stand because there were about 25 of us. And he said, "You are now a constituent assembly…And you will write the Japanese constitution. You will write a draft and it will have to be done in a week." Well, I mean, we were stunned of course. But, on the other hand, when you're in the army and you get an order, you just do it. You just go ahead.
From PBS, The American Experience, MacArthur. Available at

22. Instutionalization? International Conflict Resolution and Regulation of the Use of Force
United Nations
Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
Russia-China Border
WTO Dispute Resolution Mechanism
International Court of Justice

23. Old Enemies, New Friends
China/Japan Germany/France

24. The International System Evolves
Anarchy Institutionalization
You are here

25. The Security Dilemma
You don’t know the first thing about international relations!
Yes, I do. It’s the security dilemma!