1- Globalization, International Relations, and Daily Life

What is globalization?
It is a historical process of multiple facets, political, economic, cultural, social and environmental which offers great
opportunities for progress in global development.
What is the importance of globalization?
It is important because increased international cooperation against certain problems that arise today. It is also important
because encompasses many trends, including expanded international trade, telecommunications, monetary
coordination, multinational corporations, technical and scientific cooperation, cultural exchanges of new types and
scales, migration and refugee flows, and relations between the words rich and poor countries.
Positive effects
Globalization has distinct positive impacts on our daily lives as well. As technology advances, the world is shrinking year
by year.
Better communication and transportation capabilities constantly expand the ordinary persons contact with people,
products, and ideas from other countries.
Negative effects
The economic crisis spread quickly to other nations. Globalization allows terrorist groups have a better communication
through internet to plan, coordinate, and raise funds for attacks.
While is true the global market has brought prosperity and growth, but this has generated a large inequality because
earnings are not distributed equitably.
States are losing autonomy from supranational institutions for example the IMF, EU among other.
Purpose
The purpose of globalization should be to improve relations between worlds governments and thus seek the common
good, to make this globalization process more inclusive and benefit to each and every one of Nations.

2- Actors and Influences

The principal actors in IR are the worlds governments. The international stage is crowded with actors large and small
that are intimately interwoven with the decisions of governments. These actors are individual leaders and citizens. They
are multinational corporations and terrorist groups. But the most important actors in IR are states.
State Actors
What is it? A state is a territorial entity controlled by a government and inhabited by population, that is authorized to
exercise force to gain control of the members of society. This state cant function without three key elements are:
Common People (Pueblo), territory and power.
What is the significance/importance? The state's role then is to ensure the organization of society, acting in shape and
Autonomous Sovereign, and adopting various measures aimed at growth and Welfare

Example EE.UU, EL SALVADOR.

What is the advantage and disadvantage? Advantage: Foreign policy can only exist between sovereign entities, ie
between states, which are the only legitimate holders of sovereignty and power of coercion.
Disadvantage: There is a hierarchy of states according to their power or power to influence the international system.
Inability of states to act against the interests that have non-state actors.
What is the purpose? The State is who directs the destinies of a particular nation, in addition to making decisions that
should be considered as a benefit for most citizens in pursuit of a Social and Economic Progress, always relying on laws
and complementing stated and enacted.
States with similar interests are grouped formally or informally in the power blocs
Nonstate Actors
What is it? They are actors in the international system that are not states. They are not sovereign entities exercising
significant power and political, economic and social influence at the national level and in some cases international level
What is the significance/importance? Is to be movements and flows of private origin who try to be established across
borders and tend to enforce or impose their point of view in the international system.
Example Transnational corporations (TNCs) and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) Organizations,
Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs), NATO, WTO. Individuals with great politicaland economic power
What is the advantage and disadvantage? Advantage: Globalization has led to increased interaction of non-state actors
and has affected so that they can organize and form groups. These have developed spheres of influence, ie areas of
interest where exert dominance, because states have failed to engage.
Disadvantage: They are considered as actors of recent participation in the international system. Initially, they were made
visible because they are regarded as the only states in international relations.
What is the purpose? Perform functions that are not typically associated with state governments. Participate in global
governance; institutions and rules created to govern the affairs of global interests.
Levels of Analysis
What is it? International relations is the study of relations between nations. When analyzing international relations, there
are general levels referring to the complexities of world politics. A level of analysis is a perspective on IR based on a set
of like actors or Processes that Suggest possible Explanations to why questions.
What is the significance/importance? Levels of analysis help suggest multiple explanations and approaches to consider
in explaining an event. They remind to look beyond the immediate and superficial aspects of an event to explore the
possible influences o more distant causes.
Example
* The individual level of analysis Concerns the perceptions, choices, and actions of individual human beings.

* The domestic level of analysis Concerns the aggregations of individuals within states that influence state actions in the
international arena.
* The interstate level of analysis Concerns the influence of the international system upon outcomes THE MOST
IMPORTANT OF THE LEVELS OF ANALYSIS.
* The global level of analysis which seeks to explain international outcomes in terms of global trends and forces that
transcend the interactions of states themselves
What is the advantage and disadvantage?
Advantage: Levels of analysis help suggest multiple explanations and approaches to consider in explaining an
event
Disadvantage: The processes a higher levels tend to operate more slowly than those on the lower levels.
What is the purpose? It is often common that scholars of international relations lie in the same plane of his research and
theories phenomena, actors and relationships that, strictly
Globalization
What is the globalization? One view sees globalization as the accomplishment of liberal economic principles
Globalization encompasses many trends, including expanded international trade, telecommunications, monetary
coordination, multinational corporations, technical and scientific cooperation, cultural exchanges, migration and refugee
flows, and relations between the worlds rich and poor countries.
Importance
Although globalization clearly is very important to integrate markets and expand international trade, it is also rather
vaguely defined and not well explained by any one theory.
Purpose Globalization is seeking achieve the economic integration of states, may be leading not to a single world free
trade zone, but to distinct regional blocs in America, Europe, and Asia.
Advantages: Globalization has distinct positive impacts on our daily lives as well as:
Technology advances
Better communication and transportation capabilities constantly expand the ordinary persons contact with people,
products, and ideas from other countries
Globalization is internationalizing us.
Disadvantages:
This economic process has made traditional states obsolete as economic units. States are thus losing authority to
supranational institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Union (EU), and to
transnational actors.

3- Global Geography
What is the global geography?
It is a social science which has classified the regions of the world and studied the importance of these. There are some
geographical designations such as the West, the South and the Middle East
The North includes both: the West: rich countries of North America, Europe, and Japan and the old East, including the
former Soviet Union (now Russia)
The South includes Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and much of Asia. The South is often called the third world
(third after the West and East)
Importance
GLOBAL GEOGRAPHY helps us to understand that exist a global North-South gap between the relatively rich countries
of the North and the relatively poor countries of the South, is the most important geographical element at the global level
of analysis.
Advantages:
It shown us that there are several criteria beyond income levels help distinguish major geographically contiguous
regions. Countries with similar economic levels, cultures, and languages have been kept together where possible.
States with a history of interaction, including historical empires or trading zones, are also placed together in a region
Examples:
Most of worlds regions correspond with commonly used geographical names: East Asia refers to China, Japan, and
Korea. Southeast Asia refers to countries from Burma through Indonesia and the Philippines. Russia is considered a
European state although a large section (Siberia) is in Asia.
4- The Evolving International System
-What it was the World War I? -What it was the World War II?
The two world wars were global or hegemonic wars in which almost all major states participated in an all-out struggle
over the future of the international system.
World War I (19141918) and World War II (19391945) occupied only ten years of the 20th century. But they shaped
the character of the century.
Importance
The World War I led to create the League of Nations which was an association of countries established in 1919 by the
Treaty of Versailles to promote international cooperation and achieve international peace and security. It was powerless
to stop Italian, German, and Japanese expansionism leading to World War II and was replaced by the United Nations in
1945.
Advantages:
The two world wars remain a key reference point for the world in which we live today

Disadvantages:
The lessons of the two world wars seem contradictory. From the failure of the Munich Agreement in 1938 to appease
Hitler, many people have concluded that only a hardline foreign policy with preparedness for war will deter aggression
and prevent war.
Which it was one of the most important events during the World War I?
When a Serbian nationalist assassinated Archduke Ferdinand of Austria in 1914 in Sarajevo, a minor crisis escalated
and the mobilization plans pushed Europe to all-out war.
Which it was one of the most important events during the World War II?
The strategic bombing of Japanese cities by the United States culminated in the only historical use of nuclear weapons
in warthe destruction of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945which triggered Japans quick
surrender.
COLD WAR
What was Cold War?
The Cold War was a political, economic, social, military, informative confrontation started after the Second World War,
whose origin is usually placed in 1947 during the stresses of war, and lasted until the dissolution of the Union Soviet
(beginning of Perestroika in 1985, fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the coup in the USSR, 1991), between the Westerncapitalist blocs led by the United States, and Eastern-communist led by the Soviet Union. The reasons for this
confrontation were essentially ideological and political.
While these clashes failed to trigger a world war, the entity and the severity of the economic, political and ideological
conflicts, which undertook significantly marked much of the history of the second half of the twentieth century. The two
superpowers certainly wanted to implement their model of government worldwide.
Neither blocks never took direct action against the other, why the conflict was called "cold war".
Tell me about some Effects of Cold War:
The effects brought about by the Cold War were:
* The United States and the Soviet Union built up large stockpiles of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles
* Military blocs of NATO and the Warsaw Pact were transformed
* Destructive conflicts in Vietnam and Korea
* The Soviet Union collapsed because of their economic weaknesses
* the Berlin Wall was torn down and the Warsaw Pact disintegrated
* The Baltic states and some former Soviet republics gained independence
* America became the world's only superpower

* Collapsed communism

What was the hottest moment in the Cold War?

The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the The Missile Scare, was a confrontation in October 1962 between the
United States and the Soviet Union over Soviet ballistic missiles deployed in Cuba. It played out on television worldwide
and was the closest the Cold War came to escalating into a full-scale nuclear war.
The Post Cold War Era
What was Post Cold War Era ?
The Post Cold War era is the period in world history from the Collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 to the present.
It has mostly been dominated by the rise of globalization (as well as seemingly paradoxically, nationalism) enabled by
the commercialization of the Internet and the growth of the mobile phone system. The ideology of postmodernism and
cultural relativism has according to some scholars replaced modernism and notions of absolute progress and ideology.
Could you tell me some EFFECTS of the Post cold War Era?
* The emergence of the " New World Order "
The end of the Cold War, had the effect of opposite sign on the US claim to preserve its hegemony. On the one hand ,
placed the country in the condition of the only military superpower in the world.
* The two Germanys united after a series of internal difficulties.
* The former communist republics in Eastern Europe and Central penetrated to the progress of democracy and
capitalism.
* Reconstruction of capitalism as the only World System
5- Realism and Power
What IS Realism?
Political realism is a theory of political philosophy that attempts to explain, model, and prescribe political relations. it
takes as its assumption that power is (or ought to be) the primary end of political action, whether in the domestic or
international arena.
PURPOSE: in the domestic arena, the theory asserts that politicians do, or should, strive to maximize their power, whilst
on the international stage, nation states are seen as the primary agents that maximize, or ought to maximize, their
power. the theory is therefore to be examined as either a prescription of what ought to be the case, that is, nations and
politicians ought to pursue power or their own interests, or as a description of the ruling state of affairs-that nations and
politicians only pursue (and perhaps only can pursue) power or self-interest.
Could you tell me some key features about Political Realism?

* Pessimistic view of human nature and politics .

* Interpretation of the centrality and balance of power.
* Defense of " national interest " as the main goal of foreign policy.
* Lack of moral standards in international politics.
* Exclusivity of laws rules and policies . Interest defined in terms of power and increasing it .
Examples:
Kissinger argues for a review of the foreign policy of the United States who makes alliances with other countries, but the
US doesnt have friends , it has only interests and such partnerships can break at any time if it is threatened.
What is realism?
This is a school of thought that explains international relations in terms of power; realist set out to undestand the
principles of power politics.
Wich is the importance of realism?
This theory helps to understand the power relations between states and tries to stablish an paradigm that helps another
scholars to understand better all the context of the international system.
Some examples where realism had some influences.
they provided a theoretical foundation for the Cold War policy makers not to appease the Soviet Union and China as the
West had appeased Hitler at Munich in 1938. Sun Tzu advised the rulers of states how to survive in an era when war
had become a systematic instrument of power for the first time.
Thucydides wrote an account of the Peloponesian War (431-404 B.C) focusing on relative power among the Greek citystates.
In italy, Niccolo Machiavelli; urges princes to concntrate on expedient actions to stay in power, including the
manipulation of the public and military alliances.
Hans Morgenthau, he reasoned that no nation had God on its side (a universal morality) and that all nations had to
base their actions on prudence and practicality.
The Bush administration, advocated more energetic use of American power, especially military forc to accomplish
ambitious and moralistic goals suchas democratizing the Midlle East.
Some advantajes:
* It makes a truth analysis of the reality
* It tries to defind the role of the states in the international system
* It helps to understand the power relations and interes of the states
Some disadvantajes:
* States are the unique object of study

* Realist dont believe in a central authority

The purpose of realism
Is to understand the purpose of the actions made by the states and know how diferent interests affects the position that
one country has according with its influence on the international system.

POWER
Is the ability to get another actor to do what it would not otherwise have done (or not to do what it would have done).
The best single indicator of a states power may be its total GDP which combines overall size, technological level, and
wealth, it is a useful estimator of material capabilities but not a precise one, power also depens on nonmaterial
elements.
Elements of power
GDP, population, territory, geography, and natural resources
Culture, patriotism, education of the population, and strength of the scientific and technological base
Realist tend to see military force as the most important element of national power, and oter elements such as economic
strenght, diplomatic skill, or moral legitimacy.
Importance.
Power is base on specific characteristics or possessions of states and that Capabilities give a state the potential to
influence others, this also depends on national will, diplomatic skill, popular support for the government and forth.
Examples
Russias position as a major energy supplier to Europe has increased its power in recent yeras, they shut off natural gas
supplies during a Price dispute with Ukraine, a dispute shadowed by Russian anger at Ukraines efforts to join NATO
Advantajes
* The states has the capability of influence others with they ideas
* The powerful states can stablish the rules on the international system
Disadvantajes
* Influence can be feel like an interference in the internal affairs of other states
* The less powerful states can feel unjust and ilegitimate the influence of the powerful states.
6- The International System
What is it?
States interact within a set of long-established rules of the game governing what is considered a state and how states
treat each other
What is it the importance?

International system are important because is the place where different actors (states, non-states, companies, ONG)
interact each others and decide rulers and structure of the relations around the world . Realist believe that international
system exist in a state of anarchy (implies chaos and enforces rules) But there some values that states continues
considered important norms of the international systems.
Sovereignty. Mean that a government has the right, in principle. To do whatever it wants in its own territory.
Balance of power
Refers to the general concept of one o more states power being used to balance that of other states of groups of states
Can refer to any ratio of power capabilities between states or alliances, or it can mean only a relatively equal ratio.
Example: In the cold war, United States encircles the Soviet Union whit military and political alliances prevent Soviet
territorial expansion.
Great powers and middle powers
Are generally considered the half-dozen or so most powerful states. Sometimes great powers status is formally
recognized in an international structure. The great powers generally have the worlds strongest military forces and the
strongest economies to pay for them.
Examples: United States, Russia, China, G-8, United Kingdom, France
Middle powers. Rank somewhat below the great powers in terms of their influence on world affairs.
Examples: G-77, Non-Ali
gned Movement, BRICS
Power Distribution
Hegemony
The Great Power System

7- Alliances
1- What is it?
Alliance, in international relations, is a formal agreement between two or more states for mutual support in case of war.
Contemporary alliances provide for combined action on the part of two or more independent states and are generally
defensive in nature, obligating allies to join forces if one or more of them are attacked by another state or coalition.
2- What is the importance?
Alliances are important especially for those weak orsmall territories countries, these partnerships can be of different
types and with different objectives but all are aimed at the protection of members.

3 - What do you think about?

I think the alliance form in response to a perceived threat. Alliances are based on national interests, and can shift as
national interests change. While the great powers often form alliances (or less formal commitments) with smaller states,
sometimes called client states.
4- Example.
The United States could back Islamic militants in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union in the 1980s, and then attack
them in 2001.
Other example is NATO was founded in 1949 to oppose and deter Soviet power in Europe. The NATO is stronger
alliance because asks members to come to the defense of a fellow member under attack
The second most important alliance is the U.S.-Japanese Security Treaty , a bilateral
Alliance. In this alliance the United States is committed to defend Japan if it is
Attacked, but Japan is not similarly obligated to defend the United States.
5 - What is the advantage and disadvantage?
* Advantage:
Greater chance to achieve objectives
Decrease risk and possibility that the results increase.
Unification of resources
* Disadvantage:
The risk that changes in the interest
Lack of sincerity of intentions and cooperation between the parties
Different ways to solve a problem
Differences of objectives to be achieved with the association
6 - What is the purpose?
Alliances generally have the purpose of augmenting their members power by pooling capabilities. For smaller states,
alliances can be their most important power element, and for great powers the structure of alliances shapes the confi
guration of power in the system.
8- Strategy
Is the location of a state, a party or a political leader next to a doctrine, an ideological or political thesis, a bloc of countries or international
position. It was designated as aligned States took position near one of the powers that staged the> cold war. When this alignment involved the
exercise of "limited sovereignty" and disciplinary submission to the power of the superpower, as happened most acutely in the Soviet bloc during

the> cold war, spoke of the "satellization" of countries belonged to him. It was said of these being "satellites" of the Soviet Union. The
satellization is an acute form of dependency.
In 1961 the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries grouped States> Third World who wished to maintain an independent position and equidistant
from the superpowers and avoid the presence of a third force, the clash between them was formed.
the advantage of the countries aligned to a superpower is receiving economic, humanitarian, financial aid, but the downside is that being a
country aligned where those decisions are taken in the superpowers are stuck without agreeing. and the purpose of this is to exploit the
country's resources aligned by the power, while having interference in the area for its geography etc.
Now I going to give ones examples about the regional alignments at the end of the century, the 53-member organization of African Unity, and
IGO with few powers, re-formed as the African Union (AU), a stronger organization with a continent-wide parliament, central bank and court. In
Asia, China has long been loosely aligned with Pakistan in opposition to India (which was aligned with the Soviet Union). The United States
tended to favor to Pakistani side as well, but both U.S-Indian and U.S-Chinese relations have improved since the cold war ended. China also
gas a loose alliances whit north Korea, whom it values as a counterweight to south Korea, yet China maintains concerns about the north's
political and economic stability. In the Middle East, the Arab-Israeli conflict created a general anti-Israel alignment of the Arab countries for
decades, but that alignment broke down as Egypt in 1978 and then Jordan in 1994 made peace with Israel. The United States has close
relations with Egypt (since 1978) and cooperates closely with Turkey (a NATO), Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and morocco. U.S-Iranian relations
remain chilled 30 years after the 1979 revolution. But, oddly, Iran with its Shiite population has close ties with with Iraqs new U.S.-backed
government, which is dominated by Shiite religious parties. In the present international alignments both military alliances and trade
relationships center on the United States. (See figure 2.7). Although several independent-minded states such as China, Russia, and France
keep U.S. hegemony in cheek, little evidence exists of a coherent or formal rival power alignment emerging to challenge the United States.
STRATEGY
Actor use strategy to purse good outcomes in bargaining with one more other actors. States deploy power capabilities as leverage to influence
each other actions. Bargaining is interactive and requires an actor to take account of the other actors interest even while pursuing its own.
Has been increasingly used and acknowledged as a tool to assist in the comprehension of decision making. One of the best statements of the
utility of strategic theory has been given by Harry Yarger: Strategic theory opens the mind to all the possibilities and forces at play, prompting us
to consider the costs and risks of our decisions and weigh the consequences of those of our adversaries, allies, and others. In this regard,
strategic theory reveals itself less as a set of hard and fast rules, but more as a series of purposive assumptions that guide analysis.
Smith (2011), explains that the strategic theory accepts the existence of contrary interests in both actors; clarifying that this is due to the fact that
an individual actor has to function in an environment full of other actors all trying to pursue their interests and objectives. It is a constantly
reactive condition in which, according to Schelling, the ability of one participant to gain his ends is dependent to an important degree on the
choices or decisions the other participant [or participants] will make (as cited in Smith, 2011). Strategic theory thus accepts that clashes of
interest are liable to occur among actors and that in some instances this will lead to the resort to war as a means of obtaining objectives.
STATECRAFT
Classical realists emphasize statecraft the art of managing state affairs and effectively maneuvering in a world of power politics among
sovereign states. Power strategies are plans actors use to developed and deploy power capabilities to achieve their goals.
A key aspect of strategy is choosing the kind of capabilities to develop, given limited resources, in order to maximize international influence. The
capabilities chosen often will not be fungible in the short term. Central to this dilemma is what kind of standing military forces to maintain in
peacetime enough to prevent a quick defeat if war breaks out, but not so much as to overburden ones economy.
Strategies also shape policies for when a state is willing to use its power capabilities. The will of a nation or leader is hard to estimate. Even if
leaders make explicit their intention to fight over an issue, they may be bluffing.
for example the strategic actions of china in recent years exemplify the concept of strategy as national deployment of power capabilities. China
s central foreign policy goal is to prevent the independence of Taiwan, which China considers an integral part of its territory. Taiwan government
was set up to represent all of China in 1943, when the nationalist took refuge there after losing to the communist in chinas civil war.
The strategy of deterrence uses a threat to punish another actor if it takes a certain negative action (especially attacking ones own state or one
s allies). If the Terrence works, its effects are almost invisible; its success is measured in attacks that did not occur.

then we can say that the strategy and statecraft complement as a state, the central government can use the best strategies to achieve or attain
something, all this by the way is governing and capabilities that holds and as an example we can mention the independence of Taiwan in which
China did not want because it is part of its territory.