INR2002 Chapter 2 Understanding Interests Interactions and Institutions The Puzzle What explains the patterns of world politics Why do interests interactions and institutions matter in international relations Interests What Do Actors Want from Politics Interests what actors want to achieve through political action their preferences over the outcomes that might result from their political choices o Primary motivations behind actors choices o Determine how actors rank the desirability of different outcomes from most to least preferred At the most general level analysts often group interests into 3 categories power or security economic or material welfare and ideological goals o Power or security all political actors are understood to require a degree of security as a prerequisite to all other goals extreme to desire power and the ability to dominate others as a part of human nature or as essential to survival in a competitive international environment o Economic or material welfare political actors are presumed to desire a higher standard of living or quality of life defined largely in terms or greater income more consumable goods and services or more leisure time less work o Ideological goals political actors may desire moral religious or other ideological goals including democracy human equality and dignity the glory of a particular god etc Ideas often shape what actors want or believe to be good and desirable o Actors the basic unit for the analysis of international politics can be individuals or groups of people w Actors and Interests common interests Individuals the most basic political actors b c they cannot be divided into smaller political units State a central authority that has the ability to make and enforce laws rules and decisions within its territory Interests security power wealth ideology Ex U S Canada China Failed state a state that has a breakdown in central authority Sovereignty the expectation that states have legal and political supremacy or ultimate authority within their territorial boundaries defining feature of the modern international system o Anarchy the absence of a central authority with the ability to make and enforce laws that bind all actors National interests interests that belong to the states themselves o States as actors intl politics driven by states quest for security and power OR concept serves as shorthand for sets of national leaders acting in the name of their country Politicians Interests reelection retention of office ideology policy goals Ex Pres of the U S Prime Minister of Great Britain Speaker of the U S House of Reps Firms industries or business associations Interests wealth profit Ex General Motors Sony the pharmaceutical industry Classes or factors of production Interests material well being wealth Ex Capital labor land human capital Bureaucracies Interests budget maximization influence policy preferences often summarized by the adage of where you stand depends on where you sit Ex Department of Defense Department of Commerce National Security Council Ministry of Foreign Affairs International Organizations Interests as a composite of states they reflect the interests of member states according to their voting power as organizations they are assumed to be similar to domestic bureaucracies Ex United Nations International Monetary Fund International Postal Unions Nongovernmental organizations often transnational or international in scope and membership Interests Moral ideological or policy goals human rights the environment religion Ex Red Cross Amnesty International Greenpeace the Catholic Church Interactions Why Can t Actors Always Get What They Want Interests are essential in analyzing any event in international relations b c they represent how actors rank alternative outcomes Interactions the ways in which the choices of 2 actors combine to product political outcomes o Strategic interactions interactions where each actor s strategy or plan of action depends on the anticipated strategy of others Assumptions in studying interactions o 1 We assume that actors behave with the intention of producing a desired result o 2 In cases of strategic interaction we assume that actors adopt strategies based on what they believe to be the interests and likely actions of others Strategy a plan to do as well as possible given one s expectations about the interests and actions of others not a guarantee that one will obtain one s most preferred result o Best response strategy the actor s plan to do as well as possible in light of the interests and likely strategies of the other relevant actors Does not guarantee that the actor will obtain its most preferred or even a desirable outcome o Cooperation when 2 actors adopt policies that make at least one actor better off w out making any Cooperation and Bargaining actor worse off Defined from the perspectives of the 2 actors who are interacting Benefits only exist for those who adjust their policies to bring about an outcome they prefer Ex States cooperate to further a shared interest in free trade stable monetary relations to protect the global environment etc 2 Cooperation consists of mutual policy adjustments that move actors toward or onto the Pareto frontier increasing the welfare of some or all partners w out diminishing the welfare of any one actor Positive sum game one party is better off than otherwise Pareto frontier the line representing possible divisions of the maximum feasible benefit o Bargaining an interaction in which actors must choose outcomes that make one better off at the expense of another bargaining is redistributive it involves allocating a fixed sum of value between different actors Forms of bargaining negotiation sanction imposition war etc Zero sum game the gains for one side perfectly match the losses of another When Can Actors Cooperate o Coordination a type of cooperative interaction in which actors benefit from all making the same choices and subsequently have no incentive to not comply Ex driving on the same side of the road o Collaboration a type of cooperation in which actors gain from working together but nonetheless have incentives not to comply w any agreement Public goods products that are nonexcludable and nonrival in consumption Ex National defense clean air water eradication of communicable diseases Collective action problems obstacles to cooperation that occur when actors have incentives to collaborate but each acts in anticipation that others will pay the costs
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