Identity: International Relations and Power Essay

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Identity

Explain the conventional account of the development of the modern state system as founded by the Peace of Westphalia.

1) Peace of Westphalia in 1648 – to end 30 year war between conflict of power between churches & kings over sovereign rule
2) Religious sovereignty OUT, state sovereignty IN
3) 3 key principles: i) State sovereignty (i.e state>church) ii) Self determination (i.e state is highest authority, can make all decisions) iii) Non-intervention (i.e right of political authority over specific area)
4) State system emerged truly after post WWII  institutionalization of state system – very Eurocentric // initially in Europe, was interlacing of powers and no monopoly of power  system = ‘feudualism’  idea grew that state and law and order can be managed best with one system
5) Modern state system encompasses what is known as ‘equal sovereignty’  the irony lying in that some states more sovereign than others, making ‘equal’ redundant // +conventional approach obscures violence used behind scenes to form state system  statem system revolved around economics, politics, social, military, legal life around single governance
6) ‘war made the state and the state made war’  links between organized violence and state building + influence of political and military context

Explain the difference between statehood and nationhood.

1) state = legal, political  known to be totalizing ‘political realm’ with sovereignty claims over territory, identity and culture//politics of ‘us’ vs ‘them’
2) nation = cultural
3) nation-state is where ‘national community and the state largely coincide’
Explain the core differences between essentialist and constructivist theories of nationalism.

1) essentialism = which nation as something you were born in, is pre-social, pre-determined, something inherited due to similar historical, cultural values etc  kinship inevitably leads to loyalty // loyalty to nation state =
2) constructivists = nature of nations is social constructed and invented// humans learn to give state allegiance and are rewarded  nation becomes ‘common sense’

The Discipline:
House of IR and the ‘great debates’
Demonstrate knowledge of the historical and political context of theoretical debates in IR;

1) 1920-40s = liberalism VS realism liberalism history/political context:
- birth of IR, post devastation of WWI in liberal intellectual climate
- key aim: discover causes of war and work towards prevention
- born due to opposition to absolute monarchy and divine rule
- applies concept of global environment, made up assumptions of how world works/ should work realism history/political context:
- came form rise of WWII  used outcomes of WWII as evidence of theories
- aims to explain fundamental features of intl politics: conflict & war
- has a long history/tradition of political thought (Thucycides)

2) 1960s = neorealism (aka structural realism) VS neoliberalism
METHOD: sought to refine scientific methods of inquiry in IR neorealism history/political context:
- ideological departure from Hans Morgenthau’s writing on classical realism neoliberalism history/political context:
- formulated by John Locke in conflict of absolutist oppressive regimes  societal desire for freedom and rights

3) 1980s/90s = positivists VS post positivists // critical VS mainstream theories
EPISTEMOLOGY: how we produce and acquire knowledge, concenerd with establishing conditions for producing valid knowledhe history: political context:
Recognise and be able to recount the central ideas and claims of liberalism and realism and the core concepts each uses to explain the world (including ‘cooperation’, ‘security dilemma’, ‘balance of power’ and ‘interdependence’)
1) Liberalism: characteristics of freedom, human rights, reason, toleration, sees world in positive
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