States and International Politics, I

1. international politics

2. the nature of the state

3. conclusions

Definition of the state: states are territorially defined political units that exercise ultimate internal authority and that recognize no legitimate external authority over them.

1. international politics

a. the globe constitutes a system, with some extension into space as well (e.g., satellite transmissions, space shuttles)

i. boundaries exist for interaction

ii. must identify the actors within the world as a political system – range from individuals through states to transnational entities

iii. while all of these actors will become relevant at various stages of the course, the principal emphasis will be on the state as an actor

iv. this will be conducted with appropriate criticism because the state is an abstraction and interstate interactions do not encompass all that is relevant, politically speaking

v. IGOs (World Bank), INGOs (Red Cross) and even individuals

vii. Lead singer and front man for U2, Bono uses his worldwide popularity and influence to draw attention to the crises of poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa (i.e., Live 8 Concerts and One Campaign).

viii. other international actors?

b. a focus on the state, however, will help to articulate many of the most pressing questions about international politics

i. how can states act effectively to control the spread and possible use of nuclear and chemical weapons?; What should the international community do

about Iran?

ii. can interstate war be minimized in the future? are its causes comprehensible?

iii. what are the prospects for collective action by states regarding environmental problems related to the global warming, the oceans, Amazon Rainforest and so on?

iv. how is foreign policy, such as that of the US or North Korea in the controversy over possible acquisition of nuclear weapons, formulated and implemented?

v. how can states individually and/or collectively cope with international terrorism? is the approach based on the US Office of Homeland Security the right way to go?

vi. any interesting question about world politics always will require use of the state as a concept in developing an answer

vii. LOTR: what are the political units of Middle Earth?viii. list of Peoples, Ruane and James, p. 12

2. the nature of the statea. states are territorially defined political units that exercise ultimate internal authority and that recognize no legitimate external authority over them

i. we know that states are not people, but much can be explained by using the state as “shorthand”

ii. we refine this idea of the ‘state as an actor’ and make things more complicated, as necessary, in explaining various subjects

iii. basic assumption is that leaders of states act out of self-interest

iv. i.e., not always what would be ‘best’ for their state and that is hard to define anyway

v. “nation-state” definition – note that very few states correspond to one primary nation any more (Japan, Iceland)

vi. anomalies are a function of difficulty in obtaining permanent status

b. states have all or most of six characteristics: sovereignty, territory, population, diplomatic

recognition, internal organization and domestic support

i. all states have these properties in some minimal degree, so with six dimensions, we can expect plenty of variation among them

c. sovereignty

i. most important political characteristic of a state

ii. incorporates the idea that the state does not recognize any higher authority as legitimate

LOTR, The Fellowship of the Ring, p.4-5, sovereignty of the Hobbits.

iii. decline and disintegration of Holy Roman Empire by the 14th century ended transnational theocracy centered in Vatican

iv. legal independence and equality among states, denoted by the Treaty of Westphalia at the end of the Thirty Years War in 1648, becomes the norm

v. war was extremely destructive, especially in central Europe, and created widespread desire for order and stability

vi. legal equality among states applies in the UN General Assembly, but there are important de facto differences and an enormous range to consider

vii. look at San Marino, which lies entirely within Italy and is the world’s oldest Republic (dating back to the 4th century B.C.)

versus China – both are members of the UN, but they differ in every every other imaginable way

d. territoryi. physical boundaries, whether

contested or not, are required for status as a state

LOTR, The Fellowship of the Ring, p.5, second paragraph, Shire, the territory of the Hobbits.

ii. world now has almost 200 states – cartography became a reborn business when the USSR broke up!

iii. to be thorough, we mean not just borders when referring to territory, but also size and location relative to their states (e.g., high/low access, due to mountains (Switzerland), or island status (UK, Australia), other aspects of topography (agriculture richness of US) and climate (Horn of Africa and persistent drought)

iv. all of these characteristics of territory can affect foreign policy

v. states often try to improve on their limitations (e.g., Russian pursuit for centuries of a warm water port, Japanese lack of natural resources created pressure for expansion) and that is acted out through foreign policy, sometimes including violent means

vi. maps of Japan and an American state bring this out

- the role of arable land

vii. abnormal situations also occur regarding territory – Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, Hamas in Gaza Strip and the role of disputed borders Israel's creation in 1948 – limited self-rule but not statehood for the Palestinian governments

viii. these situations are troubling and the system exerts pressure, usually led by great powers, toward uniformity of state status

ix. are you optimistic about this situation as handled by states?

e. populationi. people are an obvious requirement of any state

ii. range from less than a thousand inhabitants of the Holy See to more than one billion in China

iii. size, diversity in ethnic terms, levels of expertise and productivity, rate of expansion and other characteristics all can affect a state’s experiences at the international level

iv. persistent US leadership, in spite of various challenges, is due in large part to virtually uninterrupted lead in productivity of workers for a full century

v. India’s sheer size of population and ethnic diversity create problems in terms of creating sufficient infrastructure and preserving national unity – population is projected to pass China within the next two or three decades and large Islamic minority is expanding and will want more autonomy

vi. due to heightened mobility, citizenship and residence are becoming more complex with time – Mexican political parties in 1996 reached agreement that Mexicans who emigrate to the US still can vote in future Mexican presidential elections

vii. what do you think of the border situation?

viii. think about ambiguous representation of borders/others in Middle Earth

f. diplomatic recognition

i. if a tree fell in the forest and no one heard it, did it make any sound? – similar to question of statehood

ii. if a state declares independence, it is crucial for recognition to occur among at least some key actors

iii. China was not recognized by US until many years after its 1949 revolution, but many other states did extend recognition

iv. failed revolutionary movements sometimes go under because they cannot convince the outside world of their viability (e.g., US-supported FNLA in Angola in the 1970s).

v. The Northern Republic of Cyprus (Turkish side), which separated from the Greek side in 1974, is still recognized only by Turkey.

g. internal organization

i. states normally must have some level of political and economic structure to survive

ii. government is the legal and motivating force – voice of the people

iii. form and structure are important, federal vs. parliamentary systems, monarchies, autocratic, military and other forms of government

iv. names can be misleading, e.g., East Germany, the ‘GDR’, was none of those things! ?

v. economic system summed up in national income or GDP

h. domestic supporti. patriotism is the emotional identification of the populace with

its state, manifested in flags and other national symbols, mythology (e.g., Bunker Hill in terms of location and outcome) – what do you know about Bunker Hill?

ii. legitimacy is crucial – the government cannot punish everyone all the time for breaking rules, so it must count on a naturally high level of compliance to function

iii. dissolution of Czechoslovakia, the USSR and other states was rapid and decisive, but not violent – non-cooperation with the government became near universal in these cases

iv. even the most oppressive regimes must rely on some degree of support in order to carry out desired policies – most Germans supported Hitler until late in the war

i. the preceding six characteristics form the basis for the national interest – states will seek to maintain and/or improve them

3. conclusionsa. international politics contains an enormous range of subject matter, in terms of both cooperation and conflict

b. states are the principal units of the international political system and the state is a simplifying assumption

c. generic properties of the state, from sovereignty through domestic support, have been identified

d. ‘big picture’: states are the starting point for explaining international politics and we add complexity as more actors are needed

e. now consider all of this after a visual encounter with Middle-earth – be ready to talk about its states and international politics next