POL 202 1st Edition Lecture 7I. Preventative War Against Iraqa. March 2003—US launched war against Iraq i. Tensions had been high since Iraq invaded Kuwait in the 90sb. US led “coalition of the willing” into Iraq despite failing to get authorization from UN Security CouncilII. Important Questionsa. Interestsi. Fundamental building blocks of politicsb. Interactionsi. Cooperation1. 2+ actors working together to achieve preferred outcomea. Depends on number, size of actors, number of interactions,accuracy of the information2. “Equal winnings, outcome”ii. Bargaining 1. Interaction involving distribution of fixed valuea. One actor is made better off, one is made worsec. Institutionsi. Sets of rules1. Facilitate cooperation2. Lower cost of decision-making3. Bias policy outcomesIII. Interestsa. What Actors Want to Achieve Through Political Actioni. Example: US wanted to prevent the use of chemical weapons in the Middle Eastb. 3 Categories of interestThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.i. Power/securityii. Economic or material welfareiii. Ideological goalsc. 3 Tradition schools within categoriesi. Realismii. Liberalismiii. ConstructivismIV. Actors and Interestsa. Many different types of actors in international relationsi. States, governments, groups, international organizations, individualsb. State:i. Central authority with ability to make/enforce laws, decisions within territoryc. Failed states:i. Countries governed by states that lose central authority1. Somaliad. Concept of sovereignty: key part of being a statei. Expectation that states have legal/political supremacy within their boundariesV. National Interestsa. State-as-Actorsi. States motivated by an interest in security ii. Seek safety from external/internal threatsb. National interestsVI. Origins of Interestsa. National Leaders’ interests may originate from:i. Particular interest groupii. Personal/political agendab. Examplei. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq1. “Personal vendetta/reasons”VII. Best Response Strategiesa. Best response strategy does not always guarantee…VIII. Understanding Outcomesa. “Game theory” helps us study