Flashcards
Level of Analysis Problem
Cards in this deck (12)
- 1Level of Analysis ProblemWhat actors should we study to best understand international politics?
- The system
- The state
- The individual - 2Choosing the System- Consider how international system is structured
- What matters? level of anarchy, power distributions, global norms - 3Choosing the System - Tradeoffs- Ignores many of the underlying mechanisms (domestic politics, evolution of relationships)
- Difficult to explain change
- Ignores all other levels - 4If anarchy is constant, how can it explain the onset of anything?If something is constant and never changes, it CANNOT "cause" anything
- 5Choosing the State- assumes that states differ
- the state is not seen as being unitary
- most common perspective in IR currently - 6Choosing the State - What might matter?- regime
- institutional structure
- economic factors (level of development, type of trade agreements, market crashes)
- historical and cultural links to OTHER states
- changes in public opinion - 7Choosing the State - Tradeoffs- Which part of the state do you choose? (LOA problem)
- more difficult to produce a widely generalizable theory
- theory limited to a subset of cases - 8Choosing the Individual- argues that foreign policy is product of individual decisions (biased)
- states differ and behavior changes when leadership changes
- human nature vs sociology theories - 9Choosing the Individual - What might matter?- personal values and beliefs
- personality
-emotional response
- leadership style
- personal relationships - 10Choosing the Individual - Tradeoffs- too "deep" and hard to link to IR
- which leaders are important?
- good to understand foreign policy, but hard to grasp on broader problems
- implies that state-level factors matter only directly - 11LOA Problem - Mizzou Football Example- Predict the final record of the Mizzou Football team
- 12LOA Problem - (Mizzou) Levels- International (structure of NCAA; conference characteristics)
- state (university)
- Individuals (coaches; players)
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- Political Science Flashcards on Level of Analysis Problem, created by Kennadie Long on 16/10/2018.
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- Kennadie Long
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