IR 2006

IR 2006

1. Introductory week

   • critical analysis
     • recognising assumptions
     • evaluating evidence
     • judging the relative strengths and weaknesses
     • identifying paradigms
       • a set of beliefs/values used to justify and put forward research priorities and choices
         • ontological and epistemological assumptions
   • positivist
     • epistemology: true knowledge exists out there and can be acquired through science
     • ontology: reality is singular and exists apart from the researcher
   • interpretivist
     • epistemology: knowledge is produced by the researcher
     • ontology: reality is multiple and interpreted by the researcher

2. Waging War

   • what is war?
     • sustained, coordinated violence between political organisations
     • 1000+ deaths per year
   • dimensions of conflict
     • onset
     • duration
     • intensity
     • microdynamics
     • termination
   • causes of war at different levels
     • system level: realist, balance of power, hegemony
     • intn level: rivalries, bargaining model, economic interdependence, conflict
     • state/society level: marxist theories, coalitional models, diversionary theory, democratic peace, culture clashes
     • organisational level: bureaucratic politics, organisational process, small group model
     • man, the state and war (Waltz)
       • first image: individual, morgenthau
       • second image: society, kant
       • Third image: intn, rousseau
       • first and second cannot function without the third, and the third cannot explain without the first or second
   • Van Evera's Causes of War
     • false optimism
     • ease of conquest
     • first strike advantage
     • resource cumulation
     • fluctuations in relative power creating opportunity and vulnerability
   • The Cult of the Offensive
     • widespread belief that conquest was easy in WWI
     • all european powers adopted military doctrines
     • Leiber: defensive view of Germany is wrong
       • not a fear of others striking but a bid fr continental domination

3. Terrorism

   • definitions differ even within a gov
     • CIA: always premeditated and politically motivated
       • the FBI uses none of these factors
   • Richard English
     • T is a method
     • there is an important psychological element
     • t embodies the exertion and implimentation of power
     • Responding to terrorism:
       • learn to live with it
       • address underlying root causes
       • avoid overly militarised response
       • intelligence is vital
       • maintain strong credibility in counter terrorism
   • Martha Cranshaw
     • terrorism is a revolution strategy
       • insurgents trying to seize power
         • symbolic selection of targets
           • psychological effect on targets
     • rational actors making a decision
       • inexpensive, high impact, immediacy, last resort
     • permissive factors providing t opportunities
       • modernisation/ urbanisation
       • better communication and transport
       • technological progress
     • situational factors
       • grievances by a subgroup
       • lack of political opportunity
       • critical gov action
       • what matters is the t's perception of these
     • personal factors
       • willingness to accept high risk for cause
       • group dynamics, seeking purpose
       • isolation from society/vengance
     • short term objectives
       • recognition
       • state disruption
       • creating fear
       • provoking a state response
       • internal group respect
   • new terrorism
     • WMD
     • religious extremism
       • new groups
     • increased violence
     • new terrorism or just moving with the times
       • high casualty attacks are the ones we remember
     • new groups
       • flatter
         • network style
         • use other groups
           • more difficult to dismantle
   • waves: anarchism - nationalism - marxism - religion
     • not recognising the difference misrepresents terrorism and makes states unprepared
     • doesn't mean we need to discard research and wisdom
   • problems in responding
     • lack of resources
     • pressured rushed responses
     • failure to coordinate response
     • harsh responses are cathartic
   • critical terrorism studies
     • lack of fieldwork
     • persuit of state centric priorities
     • lack of independent academics
     • problem solving ignores power relations, hierarchies and inequalities
     • the impact of our research agenda on legitimising and deligitimising actions

4. Religion

   • Dawkins: religious engagement in public life almost inevitably results in conflict
     • esp when they try to regulate other people and society
       • jews and sabbath observance
       • islamists and shari'a law
   • claims on secular state may
     • divide society
     • lead to low level conflict
     • lead to civil war
     • emphasise cultural divisions
   • religion is an ethnic marker
     • us vs them
   • o'leary and mcgary
     • conflict is not theological
     • no correlation between violence and strong religion
   • Former Yugoslavia: many religions and ethnic groups
     • historical roots of conflict
     • not caused by ancient rivalries
     • Mojzes three ways of analysing it:
       • a religious war, not a war of religion
       • an ethno- religious war with religion reinforcing nationalism
       • religion was manipulated by politicians for their own ends
     • routine demonisation of the other
       • esp by the Serbs
     • targeting religious sites
   • religious movements with transnational practices
     • religious organisations with global reach
       • vatican diplomacy and un status
     • religious NGOs persuing particular aims
     • political islam is trans-national in motivation
   • Ethnocentrism
     • spread of religious values in hegemons interest
       • religion and bush fp
         • global religious freedom = cultural imposition?
   • conflict resolution
     • perceived neutrality
       • commitment to peace
     • r is socially embedded in communities
     • media only highlights negative implications
     • SA Truth and Reconciliation Commission
   • constructivism
     • norms, values, cultures and beliefs
     • defining the boundaries of religion and secular is a political decision
   • Marx: as sick people need medicine, oppressed people need religion
   • Secularisation Theory
     • a decline in the social significance of religion
     • desacralisation
     • constitutional, policy, institutional and agenda secularisation
     • reformation made religious political input illegitimate
   • Westphalian assumptions
     • necessity of privatised religion
       • New Christian Right and the Iranian revolutoin show a rejection of this
     • religion should be in domestic not intn politics
   • Realism
     • ideas and values are secondary to power and interests
       • religious radicalism due to anarchy
       • Machiavelli: religion is a political tool
     • neibuhr: religious but doesn't think this works for states
       • states are evil
   • Iranian Revolution
     • attempts to secularise the state
     • revolution made of secular and religious groups
       • turned into an islamic state (not isis)
   • political islam
     • islamic finance, economics and charity
   • US Christian Right
     • a response to social chage
     • changing the political agenda
     • influences the Republican party
   • primordalists: it's all about religion
     • instrumentalists: it's all about mobilisation

5. Forced Migration

   • definitions
     • refugee: fleeing persecution, outside their country of nationality and unable to get protection there
     • asylum seeker: someone seeking refugee status
     • Internally displaced persons: refugees but in their own country
   • League of Nations ref acts
     • principles and norms:
       • burden sharing, asylum, non refoulement,
   • United Nations
     • same norms as before but stress on sovereignty
     • informal developments
     • tensions over the scope of protection
     • not a simple development from less to more cooperation
   • UNHCR Convention 1951
     • lists rights to be protected: access to courts, religious freedom
     • prohibits punishment for illegal entry, expulsion and refoulement
       • subject to national security
   • The English School
     • cooperation due to the evolution of the intn society
     • EU
     • norms of the intn society shapes states interests and behaviours
     • not good for explaining individual experiences or why repatriation fails/succeeds
   • Feminism
     • epistemological not ontological
       • how we think things are not just how they are
     • images of women and children
       • appear to be passive victims of circumstance, without agency
     • paternalistic assumptions of needs and desires
     • gender persecution seen as discrimination so not always covered by the definition
     • there is a human rights hierarchy that favours political/civil rights over economic and social
       • male issues more political
   • representations form the context for policy making and implimenting
     • in order to attract money, refugees must be visible
   • post structuralism
     • the role of discourse and representation on the assumption that words and pictures are involved in the reproduction of reality
     • power creates knowledge which is used to serve power
     • labels create their subjects
     • humanitarian vs security vs political issue framing
       • the response corresponds
       • is humanitarian action a substitute for a political response

6. Security

   • Military definition
     • focuses on the state and the use of force
     • realist
     • anarchy means we cannot eliminate the threat of war
     • one state's protection may make another feel vulnerable
   • security as political
     • often a trade off between liberty and security
       • hobbes state of nature
     • how threats are defined, who is a threat, how to address threats
     • democratic peace: increased liberty = increased security
   • essentially contested concept
     • ethnocentric definition after the cold war
   • security through shared sovereignty
     • increased cooperation means less military usage
   • security and imperialism
     • resource scarcity, overpopulation, underdevelopment and climate change
     • states lack institutional capacity to protect citizens/defend boundaries
   • who or what is being secured?
     • security of citizens is subsumed by the state
       • what about their rights against the state?
         • most individual threats come from the state
           • genocide in WWII
     • who is the object of security when it comes to refugees
   • Post Structuralism
     • obsessive pursuit of security in an uncertain world creates insecurity
     • security is so linked with military that a new language is needed
   • Security and Development
     • post cold war proliferation of failed states
     • sustainable development requires security
     • unequal distribution of wealth leads to conflict
   • human security
     • meeting basic needs
     • preserving dignity
     • maintaining community
     • embodies liberal assumptions and reinforces a liberal agenda
       • this reproduces a global hierarchy
   • Copenhagen School
     • buzan
     • security justifies the use of extraordinary measures
       • whatever means necessary
     • promises and threats are actions
     • the label of security creates an existential threat
       • must be dealt with by elites
       • threats can be undemocratically exploited
     • securitization
     • desecuritization
       • from security to normal politics
         • obama: "unclenching fists"

7. Climate Change

   • Hardin
     • global commons require 'self- regulatory temperance' but the reality is 'tragic'
   • rational choice theory
     • understands and predicts human behaviour
       • turns social science into science
     • goal orientated, rational, consistent, cost/ benefit analysis, degrees of preference
     • individual agent
     • relative vulnerability and resource capacity determines individual/ state position
       • neorealist strategic positioning
       • doesn't explain all states
   • constructivism
     • position depends on context, political culture, story telling
     • cost benefit analysis not the main factor in shaping positions or behaviours
     • two level game: domestic and intn
       • three level game? what about other actors
   • unfccc allows developing statesto increase their emissions for development
   • kyoto protocol
     • level playing field collectivity and rational realism
     • failing to meet targets leads to penalties and tougher targets in next commitment period
       • canada left before the penalties could be applied
   • talanoa dialogue: sharing stories, ideas, skills and experiences, not blaming people
   • failed resource management leads to competition and then conflict
     • becomes a security issue
     • conflict also has environmental implications
     • doesn't always lead to conflict, sometimes cooperations
   • we need preemptive measures and cooperation
   • environmental security criteria
     • the impacts are substantial enough to be a security problem
     • can the link between environmental cause and security effect be established
     • do security institutions have the capacity to respond?
   • climate change may not be the sole factor
     • it exacerbates existing vulnerabilities in already unstable regions
   • institutional adjustments occur as a response to perceived security threats