Jan 12, 2011
The practice and the study of IR has changed dramatically since the end of the
cold war.
during the cold war some fairly simple realities dominated IR. there were five
simple realities of the study and practice of IR:
- East-West confrontations dominated IR during the cold war. It was
not direct confrontation which is why we call it the cold war. The two superpowers
would fight each other through local and regional conflicts. This is where we get
the term proxy war. The civil war in China was the first example of a proxy war
followed by Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and many conflicts in Central America.
Proxy wars quickly became ideological they were proxy wars b/w the principles of
communism and democracy.
Egypt is an example of a proxy war where a nation changed it’s
backing. up to the 1950’s Egypt was supported by the USSR but with the rise of
power of Nasir Egypt changed “sides” to get their support from the USA. This
change is allegiances lead to the Camp David Peace Accords b/w Egypt and
Israel.
- The Cold War was dominated by Westphalia states. Sovereign states
and principles of sovereignty were the most important actors in IR business and
NGO came secondary. States dominated international institutions (UN, NATO,
WARSAW). This meant that the study of IR was simply the study of states. It
was a limited focus. This limited focus of IR wasn’t a new reality for the cold
war, IR has always been state-centric.
- Was dominated by some very intense rhetoric. Both the east and the
west used propaganda, slogans and inflammatory language to attack each other
and defend themselves. They also did this to socialize the populations. It was
an attempt to convince the people that their enemy was evil b/c then they would
support all the money being spent to fight the enemy and go and fight the enemy
as well. Again rhetoric wasn’t new in the cold war it has been used in virtually
every major conflict.
- It was an extremely bipolar system w/ a strong emphasis on
perception and relative gains. it was bipolar b/c there were two superpower.
B/c it was a bipolar system both the USSR and the USA focused on relative
gains rather than absolute gains. Relative gains means that you are focused on
the states power relative to other states and powers in the international system.
Absolute gains means that a state is focusing on how the international
community can gain together. Cold war was dominated by relative gains, b/c of
this perception was extremely important. Neither power wanted to be
perceived as weak. Both the USSR and USA were obsessed with being
perceived as strong.
- It was dominated by a specific conception of security, with a focus
on military security. Both the practice and the study of IR was focused on
military security. In the immediate post WW2 era this wasn’t the reality, most of
the focus of the practice of IR was economic reconstruction. the US military
significantly demobilized. Then came Korea. North Korea was funded and
assisted by China and it is the Korean war that kicks off the arms race and
military security of the cold war.
Korea was different b/c the Korean war was UN sanctioned with many
countries involved in the fighting. This is the only time that the UN was involved
in the proxy war.
in the 1950’s as a result of relative gains and perceptions and a by product
of the Korean was the USSR and the USA entered into a massive arms race
the first phase of the arms race focused on a massive buildup of conventional
weapons.
Eisenhower warned the people of this massive buildup and that the defence
contractors and arms company were becoming to powerful and rich and would
eventually play an important part of the US’s foreign policy. He invented the term
Military Industrial Complex.
the second phase of the arms race also begins in the 1950’s and it focused
on WMD and specifically nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons come to
dominate and define the arms race of the cold war.
the focus of the nuclear weapons arms race was on the delivery of nuclear
weapons, not until later in the cold war did nations start thinking about building a
bigger and better bomb.
this is why the space race was so important. Sputnik was alarming to the US
because it proved that the USSR had the delivery system that could launch a
missile from the USSR and hit the USA.
the USSR collapsed from 1990-1991 because they were bankrupt, largely
because of trying to copy the US SDI program.
Jan 17 2011
Post Cold War International Relations
USSR collapses in 1990 and there are 7 new realities that affect both the
practice and study of IR
1) Security - during cold war there was only military security. Post-cold
war three other types of security arise. Military security is still important it
is just no longer the only type of security
Environmental Security - environmental problems are not limited to state
boarders and yet they can still challenge state sovereignty. Chernobyl was
the wakening bell to environmental security in the international communities. Acid
Rain is another environmental security concern. Pollution from the mid-west
states was coming down in the form of rain on Ont. and Quebec. water pollution,
global warming, climate change are all examples of environmental security.
Human Security - integrity of the person - do humans have the basic materials
for survival (food, clothing, shelter, water). Floods, famines, and warfare all
contribute to refugee creation which is a main concern of Human Security.
During the Rwandan genocide 30,000 people an hour were entering into
Zaire. Sudan, Bangladesh, Somalia are examples of of nations with huge human
security issues.
all of these issues can happen within states as well (pakistan floods)
Child soldiers are another issue of Human Security
Economic Security - economic transactions and economic exchange are
increasingly becoming more difficult for states to regulate and control.
Re-emergence of local and regional conflicts. After the USSR collapsed
regional and regional conflicts such as civil wars in Europe started up again.
When the USSR was still around they would simply move in with their army and
crushed both sides of the conflict (Hungary in 56). Local and regional dissent was
heavy handedly controlled.
The conflicts that emerge after the collapse of the USSR are not new, they are
centuries old it’s just that now there was no “big brother” to make them stop
fighting. Yugoslavia is the case study for this. It was the first and most violent
post cold war conflict.
Nature of warfare changed. During the cold war nature of war was straight
forward. There were professional and distinguishable armies, it was easy to
identify your enemy. Also there was MAD.
Now primary combatants have changed. There are still modern armies but
there are now many non-professional armies. Terrorists, guerilla’s, pirates they aren’t new but they now have the capacity to destabilize the international
system.
Many of these combatants are successful even though they aren’t using
modern technology. In Rwanda 800,000 people were killed with machetes.
IED are very crude land mines that continue to kill NATO soldiers.
IR now focuses more on the importance of domestic politics. During the cold
war IR ignored domestic politics. Now we study domestic politics in IR more. it is
now understood that there are now two different levels of analysis. Both the
domestic and the international and the relationship b/w the two. Both domestic
and international politics affect each other.
Traditional powers of the Cold War are in Decline. The USSR doesn’t exist
and while Russia is a major power it isn’t a super power. The USA is also in
sharp decline especially it’s economic power. This has been happening since the
ending of the gold standard in 1971.
Instead we have seen the emergence of new powers. Germany has
emerged as the dominant European power. China, Japan, and South Korea
are emerging powers in the East
The actors and participants in IR have changed dramatically. Think the
corporation. Transnational and Multinational Corporations - Coke, Apple,
Siemens. These actors have significant power in the international system. Banks,
Automobile, Financial services (insurance) Oil, and Telecommunications are 5
industries that are in many cases more powerful than nation states.
It’s not just states anymore that are driving the global economy. This has
lead to a change in the practice and study of IR.
Technology Changes have lead to drastic changes in the practice and study of
IR
in the economic sector, in the military and security sectors, and many others the
sophistication of technology has massively changed practice and study of IR.
the level of information available to citizens has also changed the practice
and study of IR.
AN ESSAY QUESTION ON MIDTERM - COMPARE AND CONTRAST COLD
WAR VS POST COLD WAR PRACTICE AND STUDY OF IR
Jan 19, 2011
Classifying International Systems
Independent State System - a key concept to the independent state system is
autonomy. Autonomy is the complete control over all International and Domestic
Affairs.
It is virtually impossible for a nation today to have full autonomy. Most nations
have degrees of autonomy.
Hegemonic System - a system dominated by great powers. Unipolar is a
system driven by one great power, Bipolar is driven by two and Multipolar
driven by three or more.
Hegemonic systems often see great powers ally themselves with lesser
powers but the Great Powers run the system and make the decisions.
These alliances allow for great peace and stability.
Imperial or Suzerain System - A system of empires and large imperial
nations. There is often peaceful interactions w/i empires and b/w empires
but not always. Suzerain Almost always there is one empire that is
dominant.
Empires become involved in the domestic politics of conquered territories, or the
territories they control. They appoint officials, conscript citizens directly into their
armies, collect taxes, and provide positive involvements like services that benefit
the territory as well (roads, irrigation, education and other infrastructure projects)
Suzerain system will be on MIDTERM give definition and compare with
Hegemonic system
Feudal System - pre-dates the modern state system. This system was unique to
western europe in the medieval period.
Shared authority is a main feature of the feudal system. Territory is controlled by
the nobility and elites of a territory and there are levels of control.
The economics of the feudal system were driven by merchant banks.
Labour was controlled by guilds for skilled labour/artisans. Guilds were very
powerful and wealthy and were socially relevant.
Church - the most stable and dominant source of authority. The church was the
single most entity in the peasantry’s lives.
History of the State
Starts with the Greeks in the 5th and 6th C BCE.
the Greek system there are a number of very small territorial units (City
States). The City State itself was the Polis and the surrounding area was called
the Metro.
There was tension b/w these units. the Greek system swung b/w empire
and hegemony. There were both internal (b/w city states) and external tensions.
Primarily a Dual Hegemony b/w Athens and Sparta. Athens was much more
expansionist but Sparta was more isolationist and concerned with its domestic
affairs. Both had strong militaries.
Sparta was an unstable city states with many revolts and thats why they
were isolationist.
By the late 5th C BCE we see the first external threats to the greek system
from Persia. This threat brings some unity to the Greek system w/ Athens and
Sparta coming together to fight the Persians. It was an extremely violent conflict.
By 480-490 the Persians are defeated and the unity w/i Greece collapses return
to a unipolar hegemonic system where Athens is a dominant power.
Athens starts to become an Empire. Lasts for about 40 years and they form
the Delian League. It is one of the first recorded alliance and almost 200 city
states are part of the alliance. Tension erupts w/i the Delian League as other city
states become more powerful (Thebes, Corinth, Argos). As the league collapses
there are a series of anti-hegemonic alliances.
Leads to a very violent period of Greek history. By 400 BCE the greek city
state system has fallen
The Greeks established a number of principles for the practice of IR such as
diplomacy. The Greeks are the first to send envoys and ambassadors to other
city states. We also see negotiated agreements b/w city states for peace,
security, and trade. the Greeks are first international system to form alliances on
a large scale as well.
The Greeks are the first to engage the concept of Balance of Power b/w city
states. They were conscious and aware that there needed to be a balance of
power to avoid violence.
The greeks gave us the classification system that we use to classify states.
Another reason Greece is important is b/c the first IR theorists come out of
ancient greece. The observations that came out of Greece at this time are the
foundation for the study and theory of IR that we use today.
The school of realism comes out of Greece and realism is the most dominant
modern theory today. Thucydidies is the father of realism.
Jan 21, 2011
Paper Stuff
paper need an argument that gives both sides of the story. Not a descriptive
paper.
when writing a thesis statement it is important to ask questions. The questions
should be how and why questions. Avoid what questions. Only one or two
questions in the paper.
One question should be around the basic question around the case study and
the other question should be about which international relations theory applies,
Liberalism or realism.
After you have asked the questions you need to answer them. One sentence
answer for each question asked.
tell the reader what points to touch on to substantiate the argument. Be very
explicit. do it in 1-2 sentences. “To substantiate this argument this paper will
examine blah blah blah blah.”
Endnotes and Footnotes - Use Chicago
ibid., p. 159
last name, abbreviated title, p.#
use summary citations (citing a whole chapter)
The Greek hegemonic system is replaced by the Macedonian Empire. Philip and
his son Alexander the Great are the leaders. it’s short 355-323 bce.
because they were part of the greek system the macedonians follow the greek
practice of IR
following the collapse of the macedonian empire there was about 100 years
where there was no hegemony or empire. It is the closest thing to an
independent state system until the modern era.
Clans and tribes are no longer the foundation of organization as the City state is
now becoming the driving force of IR
The Roman empire comes next at about 250 bce. There were many stages to
the empire
the first stage has considerable conflict b/w the Roman and Phoenicians
(Carthaginians). This comes to head in the Punic Wars, the Romans win and the
empire starts to grow.
stage 2 - very rapid expansion of the empire. This leads to instability b/c Rome
doesn’t have the military and administrative resources to rule the territories they
have conquered. Rome is almost on the brink of imploding.
Julius Caesar and Pompey restore stability to the empire through strong
autocratic military actions. The stability doesn’t last long as he is assassinated
and the empire folds into civil war
two emperors establish the golden age of the Roman Empire Octavius and his
son Augustus. The golden age is shaped by the chaos that came before it.
These two men want to build an empire based on the idea of universal
citizenship. provide stability for all members of the empire. wanted all areas of
the empire to have basic services and stability.
they built roads and viaducts, they introduced a universal system of weights and
measurements to help with trade. They codified systems of law and transfered
them to the entire empire.
they provided food and housing for areas of the empire as well as security.
At its hight the empire stretched north to Britain, east to the middle east and
south to North Africa.
the romans are important to the practice of IR b/c
they create a system of gov’t based on a set of common laws. first system
of international law
ongoing practices of diplomacy.
Romans begin to offer philosophical concepts of organizations, the most
important of these was the concept of sovereignty
to the theory of IR
Roman stoics contradict the Greek realists - universal humanity, peace,
progress, and morality are all stoic traditions that come out of the golden age of
rome
Jan 24, 2011
htttp:/people.uleth.ca/~christopher.kukucha/
Collapse of Rome to the Modern State
there are 2 stages of the collapse of Rome. Western Rome falls around 476 AD.
The Byzantium empire (Eastern Rome) doesn’t fall until around 625 AD.
some of the ideas and intellectual contributions of the empire will be revived after
a few centuries of dormancy.
400 AD - 1100 AD - we see a fragmented Europe but it does have one unifying
factor - the RC Church
Christianity is adopted by many of the Germanic tribes that now control
different areas of Europe.
Authority other than the church is extremely fragmented. There are many
very small fiefs/vassal states.
Citizens/vassals were controlled by their rulers through personal quid-proquo relationship. labour for protection b/w peasants and lord.
Nobility only really interacted through marriage, which was a by product of
protection, and external threats. That is how the different nobility groups
interacted.
Other competing sources of authority are:
Clans/tribes
merchant class/middle class
merchant banks.
there are still concepts of diplomacy during this period. There is international
diplomacy, safe passage for ambassadors and messengers, agreements and
negotiations.
1100 AD - 1600 AD - we start to see larger territorial units because of conquest
and marriage
larger population groups so people can’t move around as much and the
nobility has to provide services for larger numbers of people which means that
the nobility now needs collect taxes. So nobility creates the infrastructure
(bureaucracy) to collect these taxes
the relationship is no longer a personal relationship but an economic
relationship built on services and taxation.
b/c nobility was able to control larger territories, the nobility went out
seeking more land to control.
Marriage is being used to merge fiefs not just for protection.
Larger states are beginning to form in France, Spain, and England.
a second major development in this period is information and education. This is
where the intellectual struggle begins to change. the church’s control of
education was now being challenged by secular sources of information.
the first universities emerge - Paris, Bologna, Prague, Oxford, Cambridge.It
is from these early universities that we get our concept of liberalism.
there cannot be a modern Westphalia state built on a Christian educated society.
Nobles are beginning to tax Churches on their territories.
a third major development is the earliest (1300-1400’s) signs of nationalism.
People are beginning to identify with larger territorial units built on common
languages and/or cultures and laws. Think Henry V in England, and Joan of Arc.
socialization of large populations starts at this time. Modern Westphalian
states depend on the socialization of large populations. The willingness to fight
and die for an abstract idea like nationalism is crucial to the modern state.
The transition from small fiefs to larger pseudo nation states was not a smooth
and easy transition. there was a great deal of violence that went along with this
transition and it happened over decades. In England there were 5 major
rebellions from 1497-1553.
The fourth development of this time period was the reformation which ends the
dominance of the RC Church and the Papacy.
intellectually important.
There is considerable violence that breaks out in Europe b/w territories that want
to maintain the power of Rome and those that are associating themselves with
the Protestant movement.
in 1618 the most important religious war happens in Bohemia. It is the 30 years
war and it starts as a civil war that spreads to quickly engulf most of Europe. Two
agreements come out of this war that leads to the modern state
1635 - Peace of Prague - a group of territorial units officially reject the
Pope’s call for a counter-reformation. It is important b/c it is the first formal
treaty that rejects the authority of Rome. first time that states came
together and signed agreements defying the church.
1648 - Peace of Westphalia - the most important treaty of the 30 years
war and the official foundation of the modern state. It ends the 30 years
war.
the agreement formally recognized and acknowledges the
Hegemons. Branderburg-Prussia, France, and Sweden.
It gives all signatories of the Peace of Westphalia the right to
determine the religion of it’s citizens. Whoever controls the territory
controls its religion.
The Peace of Westphalia officially recognizes the concept of
sovereignty. Based on the Roman concept of Imperium (control by any
means necessary)
The Peace brings recognition to the table. A state is only
recognized as sovereign if other sovereign states recognize you as such.
In 1648 there were over 300 sovereign states in Europe.
TREATY OF WESTPHALIA IS A DEFFINITON ON MIDTERM AS IS PEACE OF
PRAGUE
Jan 26, 2011
in the 1600’s there are economic changes which reinforces the idea that the state
will be the most important actors in the European systems. Prior to this the
largest economic actors were merchant banks and powerful families.
These early states begin to challenge the control of these families and
merchant banks. They do this by creating companies to create wealth and to loan
money. The East India Company (1600), Dutch East India Company (1602),
Hudson’s Bay Company. In 1611 Hamburg created the Hamburg Trading
Company.
These companies created wealth through resource activities in the colonies.
These gov’t companies are the first sign of Mercantilism.
The 200 years from 1600-1800 is still a period of intense transition. There is still
significant conflict and lots of violence w/i Europe. Think Napoleon and the
French Revolution and wars.
The nature of the violence changed, armies are no longer made up of
mercenaries fighting for money but rather they are made up of national trained
soldiers who fought for God, King, and Country.
States and their leaders were attempting consolidate and legitimize violence w/i
the states. States were trying to eliminate all the rouge actors (pirates, robbers,
armed clans and tribes) in the state.
1800’s - in 1814 the Congress of Vienna is a major meeting of European
sovereign states and over the next 2 years these states agree on basic
principles as well as rules and norms which entrench the modern
Westphalian state w/i Europe.
They are also trying to bring about a period of peace and stability so that
they could go colonize.
Norms and Rules from the Congress of Vienna - Concert of Europe
Europe would function on a system of a balance of power with
multiple hegemons. There were 5 - Britain, Russia, Prussia, Austria, and
France.
There would be no empire building w/i Europe.
**European powers agreed to respect each others sovereignty.
Sovereignty was the core principle of the Congress of Vienna
They agreed to meet regularly but informally. they met 25 times b/w 1830
and 1884.
There was a consensus to settle disagreements through diplomatic means
and negotiations and not violence
The Concert powers agreed that there would be no unilateral changes
to the Congress.
There would be no formal voting w/i the Concert of Europe agreement would be made through consensus.
The Congress of Vienna and the Concert of Europe were not formal
agreements. They were ad hoc agreements known as regimes (cooperation
w/o formal agreement).
The Concert of Europe functioned on a balance of power system b/c it is
much easier to keep the peace if there are multiple hegemons rather than
just two
Crimean War 1853-1856 - Russia and France were both claiming the Crimean
Peninsula.
Russia moved troops towards the Crimea and the concert power saw this
as a destabilization of the Concert of Europe.
The Ottoman Empire was crumbling so the remaining concert powers unite
with the Ottoman empire ally to stop Russia.
The Crimean war ends with the Treaty of Paris
Franco-Prussian Wars 1871 - The other concert powers step in to stop this
was as well.
The Concert powers stepped in and this pissed off the Germans. This
is the start of the unification of Germany b/c they are angry with the
Concert
Germany is the nation that defaults on the Congress of Vienna and
destabilizes the Concert of Europe.
The Concert of Europe recognize some new states in Europe. Belgium,
Serbia, Montenegro, Romania - based on the idea that sovereignty is based
on recognition by other sovereign states.
the Concert also intervened in other European conflicts such as a war b/w
Belgium and Luxembourg.
The Legacy of the Concert of Europe is the League of Nations and the
United Nations.
CONCERT OF EUROPE WILL BE ON MIDTERM AS DEFFINITON
Colonization
Pre- Concert - modern sovereignty is a European construct and is a foreign idea
to the rest of the world. It was transfered to the other continents through
colonization
over 100’s of years these European ideals were slowly brought to the
colonies.
The America’s were the earliest targets of colonization (1500’s Spanish and
Portuguese). they brought rules, law, religion, customs, traditions, and language
to their colonies. they had to replace forms of all these things in the different tribal
races that they encountered.
It was the British, French, and Dutch that brought the concept sovereignty so the
America’s
Just as sovereignty was A-symmetrical in Europe it was that way across the
globe in colonies.
sovereignty happens slowly in Asian b/c there are already dominant and
entrenched empires and forms of gov’t in these areas. This is similar as with the
Middle East
Usually european nations could only have a presence in Asia b/c they are
allowed to by these Asian authorities and it usually is based on trade. It is only
when these traditional forms of authority in Asia start to collapse that we see
rapid colonization in Asia.
Jan 31, 2011
Western Sovereign states are transfered to the rest of the world, asymmetrically
through colonization. It started in the America’s.
Britain is the primary colonizer in the Middle East.
Until the late 1800s b/c of malaria the interior of Africa was uncolonized.
Congress of Berlin - the final stage of the transfer of Westphalian
Sovereignty to the rest of the world.
the large powers of Europe sit down and decide who gets what
colonies around the world but mainly the Interior Africa.
many smaller powers and new nations get their first colonies,
Germany, Italy, Belgium, Holland.
Theory Time - Directly from Textbook
Realism - it is the way that most states conduct Foreign Policy today.
Chinese philosopher, Sun Tzu Art of War writes about the basic principles of
realism.
realists emphasize matters of security and conflict. Military resources are far
more important that economic or human resources.
Realists are trying to avoid conflict through strength of arms, b/c of the chance of
death and the cost of conflict.
realists want to be rational actors, it’s not rational to run around and fight
everyone. You must act rationally.
Sun Tzu’s four concepts
- rationality
- power
- military resources
security
Feb 2, 2011
Thucydides
another founder of realist ideas in political sciences.
Much like Sun Tzu we see Thucydides emphasizing power in political science
International relations and the relations b/w states is cyclical.
Thucydides is also pointing out that even great powers will eventually fall. The
cyclical nature of states means that those in power shouldn’t be too harsh on
others as they will have vengeance visited upon them.
in realism there is no room for fair play, justice, or morality.
For realists perception is an important concept. You cannot appear to be weak
b/c then you appear to have no power.
this is the concept of relative gains - what is my power as compared to the
power of other states?
Realists are always about competitive hierarchical relationships.
law of nature is another one of Thucydides contributions to realism. The Law of
nature is bigger than the state and transcend the International System.
the nature of the system and the law of nature focus on violence and conflict.
There will be temporary peace, but there will never be permanent peace b/c the
nature of the system will not allow it.
Anarchy - the law of Nature - no overarching authority that can impose
peace or control the law of nature.
Thucydides argues that at some point conflict will be inevitable. He also says that
any limitation placed on anarchy is only temporary.
Thucydides 460-406 BC and wrote during the 15 years of the Peloppnessan war.
he highlights the importance of:
military power
relative gains - both actual and perceived
Anarchy - there can be peace and stability in an anarchical system if 1)
there is a bi/multi-polar balance of power. 2) there is one dominant hegemon
imposing peace and stability. But this peace and security is ALWAYS temporary.
the law of nature can NEVER be undermined.
Rationality
The end of a period of Balance of Power - he looks at what happens at the
end of balance of power
Thucydides is also important for his contribution of the nature of knowledge. He
differs from other Greeks (Plato, Socrates etc. who are trying to build a better
society - Normative analysis - What should be?) in his approach to the universe
and to knowledge. Thucydides is asking the question What is? which is called a
positivist approach which tends to be empirical and based on observation.
Machiavelli (1469-1527)
Writing in the 1400’s in Northern Italy at a time when the first sovereign states
are just beginning to emerge.
He is seeing this emergence but he is also seeing a lot of violence b/w Italian city
states and the threat of invasion
he is a positivist scholar (What is?). He worked for a Prince and wrote The Prince
which is a guide book to the prince on how to gaining and keeping power as well
as surviving.
he emphasizes:
military security
anarchy - violence will be inevitable
relative gains in perception
Self interest and survival - self interest = survival for Machiavelli. all the
actions that a prince takes in his self interest must contribute to his survival
Machiavelli talks about domestic politics which is unusual for realists. He says
that you need to keep your citizens happy. It can be actual happiness or
perceived happiness by providing services or involving citizens in gov’t
at the international level it again comes back to avoiding aggression through
power, alliances and diplomacy.
Realists will fight when they need to but they would rather not b/c it is expensive
Machiavelli wants to avoid conflict but if you have to fight you better win for your
own survival.
“It is always good to be loved, but if not loved, feared”
Thomas Hobbs (1588-1679)
Was writing during an extremely unstable time in England when the westphalian
state is just emerging (English Civil Wars). His famous book is Leviathan (1650).
In the absence of a gov’t or any over arching authority there will be constant war
in which every man will fight every other.
the fact that there is no over arching authority is as common as the weather. i.e.
anarchy
he tries to instill a fear of anarchy into the reader so that they will avoid anarchy
at any cost.
life of man will be solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short in a time of anarchy.
if man is going to fight, exist, and survive then he cannot be concerned about
justice and morality.
after he scares people he is optimistic that anarchy can be avoided b/c the
human being is a rational being.
he is not writing from an international perspective but rather from the domestic
perspective. For Hobbes anarchy was the civil war that he was witnessing.
He was pro monarchist and wanted a strong King who had the authority to rule
over England.
he acknowledges that his laws of nature are an abstract concept that may not
exist in the real world.
he is important to IR because he develops the concept of anarchy greater than
Thucydides.
many IR scholars look at his domestic theories as a metaphor for IR. In this case,
individuals are metaphors for states.
Karl von Clauswitz
Was prussian general. His famous book is called On War.
argues that war is an extension of politics, it is natural, it is something that we
won’t be able to avoid - anarchy.
He emphasizes that states are the most important actors in the international
system, especially when it comes to violence and the legitimacy of violence.
there is no room for emotion in war.
Clauswitz talks about rationality but even more importantly about domestic
politics and how unimportant domestic politics are to IR. He says that we don’t
need to care about domestic politics b/c of rationality and that states will always
act as a rational realist.
this is how the US and the USSR dealt with each other during the Cold War
he believes that if a state is to act rationally control over war must be kept from
the army. The whole point of IR is to avoid war and for the Army to act rationally
it must go to war b/c that is it’s purpose.
Feb 7, 2011
Power - a core principal or realism
Power can be expressed through
influence
coercion
authority/legitimacy
power in inter-state relations can be expressed through 6 strategies
Bargaining - the most common form of inter-state relations in IR - Not the
same as negotiations (negotiations are part of bargaining - the formal
discussions that take place w/i bargaining) Bargaining involves different actorsparticipants (have a direct interest in the outcome) and mediators (supposed to
be neutral third party to help participants arrive at an agreement).
Very rarely will actors have the same interests during bargaining. This
means that participants will almost always have to compromise and sacrifice
some of your interests to arrive at a successful outcome. Compromise is an
absolute gain - where everyone gains.
NAFTA is an example of compromise. The US wanted to limit
illegal immigration and the drug trade in Mexico. Mexico wanted access to US
markets and US investment. Canada wanted to maintain the status quo in
Canada-US relations.
If a participant uses leverage to obtain a particular outcome. Leverage
can be both tangible (stuff you can touch or see think military or economic) or
intangible (things you can’t touch or feel think nationalism, ideology, patriotism).
Bargaining with leverage often leads to relative gains.
reciprocity - trying to engage in a reciprocal relationship built on quid pro
quo of actions - interaction b/w states that can be both positive and negative. It
can occur b/w states with no relations. It is a very common strategy in the IR
system. Often it will not be clear what type of response a state will get through
reciprocity. It can result in no response, there is no guarantee that there need to
be a response.
In the 60’s the US and mainland China had no relations. Mainland
China wasn’t even recognized as a state. It was in the US’s interest to have
some sort of relationship with China b/c of the cold war to try and destabilize the
bipolar nature of the Cold War. China was supporting the Viet Cong at the time in
the Vietnam war. US partially lifted an economic embargo against China. Then
they waited for a response. About a week later China released three US citizens
who had been arrested when their boat drifted into Chinese waters. From that the
US and China began a pattern of Bargaining. 6 months after the initial embargo
lifting Nixon visited China which lead to the recognition of mainland China
those two strategies are the only positive ones. the next three are negative and
not all states can use them.
Deterrence -peace through strength- The military or economic power to
deter some other state from a particular action. Almost always military power.
Deterrence works when there is nothing going on, there is no violence or trade
war. Conflicts that don’t occur are the key to deterrence. To engage in deterrence
you must have a position of power.
Deterrence was the main form of IR during the cold war.
Compellence - involves the threat and the actual use of force. There is
almost always a process of escalation and the increasing severity in the threat of
force or use of force in compellence and involves a longer term situation. Even
with compellence a state always leaves room for an exit to bargaining.
Bargaining is the desired result from compellence. Compellence is an extremely
expensive strategy. If you adopt this strategy you must be prepared to fight and
prepared to win. Again you need power to use this strategy.
1991 Gulf War was a textbook case of compellence. The US firstly
condemned the Iraqi invasion. Then went to UN and gained support for UN
resolutions condemning the invasion. Then they formed an alliance, then placed
economic sanctions, then began a military buildup in the region, then they used
an implicit threat of force (they said that they couldn’t rule out the use of force),
then an explicit threat of violence, finally an actual deadline that would lead to
violence.
Alliance formation - a collection of states agreeing to coordinate activity with
a common goal in mind. Alliances almost always have formalized agreements
(treaty or written document) and also almost always for military reasons.
Alliances are usually long term relationships. There can be alliances b/w states
that are not on friendly terms. States pursue alliances b/c it allows states to poor
power in the IR system. It allows states in the alliance to practice compellence or
deterrence when they couldn’t on their own.
Example is the USSR and China in the 60’s even though they were
fighting boarder wars against each other. NATO is a great example of an
alliance.
Coalitions are not alliances b/c they are short term and informal.
Arms Race - basically trying to out spend your opponent in terms of military
resources. It is a rapid increase in military resources and capacity. It is an
extremely destabilizing strategy to use. It always destabilizes the existing
balance of power.
There are three classification of power
Great Powers - typically quite rare. Must have military and economic power
to be a great power. Usually have large populations and access to a lot of natural
resources. Need to be a technologically advanced with a fairly well educated
population. Need to have access to a large labour force. Also have to a have a
relevant geographic location.
there are only about 7 states that qualify as great powers based on the
above and their GDP. The US is first with a GDP of 7 trillion, next is Japan with 3
trillion, then Germany and China with 2 trillion, Russia with just under 2 trillion,
finally GB and France with 1 trillion. 5 of these 7 states are permanent members
of the UN security council with a veto. Other than Japan and Germany all others
are acknowledged nuclear power. These 7 states account for over 50% of the
world GDP.
Great powers are long lasting, they don’t change very often. They are
also very hard to to defeat and if you do defeat them they bounce back very
quickly. GB and France have been great powers for over 500 years.
Sweden, Holland, Italy. Spain, Turkey, and Austria are the only nations
that were once great powers.
Middle Powers - applies to about 2/3 of all other states in the
international states. There are three categories of middle powers which are
arbitrary. Often middle power status comes through geography and the
states importance in their region. larger middle powers have larger
populations and access to resources but the resources are in the state.
well educated upper class and have some access to technology. What
separates most middle powers from great powers is military resources.
India, Brazil, Turkey, Iran, Mexico, Italy, South Korea, Canada are
generally accepted as upper tier middle powers.
Using the term middle power has become almost meaningless
because it applies to so many states.
Small Powers - Everyone that is left over.
Idealism - Liberalism
Stoics - all about the ability of Humans to reason and manage emotion, Universal
humanity. Epictetus was one of the first.
He said that we should reject our materialist desires but more importantly we
need to accept the things in life that we cannot control. Bad things happen to
everyone, the important thing is how you respond to the negative situation.
He is not advocating apathy but rather you need to take charge of your response.
It is about wisdom and virtue. He stresses that this is going to be a difficult
process.
Other Greek stoics - Zeno and Panaetius
Roman Stoics take these basic individual theories and build on them making
them relevant to the whole empire
Seneca was a Roman stoic who wrote about anger, saying that there was
no faster way to insanity. He argued that anger is not part of our human
nature, rather it is a learned response. Wisdom, self control and virtue are
important ideas - same as Greeks
Stoics have a positive view of human nature
Roman Stoics after Seneca expand Stoicism in 2 directions
Natural Law - jus natural - argued that there are certain laws in society
that are natural and so basic that they didn’t to be codified or written down.
This is very different than the realists view of human nature who saw
natural laws as anarchy. Stoics that everyone understands natural laws b/c
humans are knowledgeable and positive.
Jus gentium - these are laws that are not natural and need to be
codified. Sometimes you are going to have to manage society. These laws
according to the stoics should be created the empire, but not necessarily
the emperor
both jus natural and gentium were very controversial b/c they are
challenging the authority of the emperor.
Universal humanity - the concept of citizenship, believed that there
was a community of mankind. Roman Stoics believed that there was an
obligation on the empire to provide safety, food, and services to the entire
empire. they believed that all people need to be treated as a member of the
community of humans
some Roman Stoics - Cicero, Marcus Aerelius
Hugo Grotius (1583-1645) is Dutch and a legal theorist. He is writing during
the 30 years war. He is neither a realist or a liberalist he is the founder of
the Gortian approach. He is trying to bridge the gap b/w idealism and
realism.
writes about the individual stoic tradition of people control their emotions.
He also uses the concepts of jus natural and gentium.
states are the most important actors.
he talks about violence in the IR and makes it clear that the sovereign
state should be the only actors with the legitimacy of violence and that they
should have to follow rules - International Law. these are two ideas are not
related to Stoic ideas. He is writing this b/c he wants to get rid of pirates.
States can use violence whenever a sovereign needs to maintain
authority. Survival and self-interest are the keys to this concept.
Society of States - the Club of Sovereign states. He makes it clear that
colonies are not a member of the club.
He believes that anarchy exists but that it is manageable.
- Gortius’s ideas influenced the formation of the treaty of Westphalia and
the Concert of Europe. He is the father of international law and
international organizations.
Feb 11, 2011
Emmerich de Vattel 1714-1767 - He wanted to know when it was morally right
to use violence. Should there be rules about when to fight and how to fight.
Should there be morality in relations b/w states.
security first through balance of power is his realist idea.
he is a member of the Grotain approach and believes in pretty much all the same
things as him
Immanuel Kant 1724-1804 - writes about concepts of universalism, his long
term goal of which is a global community of equal citizens.
he wants to see a normative transformation towards a better human beings
and global society.
Kant is clear that he accepts the fact that states and international anarchy
exist.
Kant believes that in their current reality humans are inherently flawed but
that they can change. People can learn how to be better through learning,
reason, and knowledge.
In terms of IR:
Perpetual peace - Kant talks about how we can move from our current
reality towards the perpetual peace in three steps:
1) All states must change their constitutions and all states must
form
a republican form of gov’t (pres/PM, elected leg, no
monarchy) he
believes that if everyone has the same form of gov’t no
one will want
to fight.
2) the need to create a rule based international system. He calls
for a
world gov’t in the form of a federation of states.
Universal community of human beings where everyone will be equal
citizens. At this point we will no longer need the state and it will disappear.
Kant wants to eliminate anarchy through a transformation of human
society.
Exam
definitions (2 marks each). 5 to choose from pick 3. Proxy wars, treaty of
westphalia, middle power, congress of vienna/berlin, concert of europe. Write
everything down and give example. 1/2 page.
2 essays (7 marks each) no choice. It will be two of:
explain the cold war vs post cold war period
realism *very important to know the dates.
Liberalism *again know dates.
Feb 14, 2011.
Interwar Idealists - Woodrow Wilson, Gilbert Murray, G.L. Dickinson
Woodrow Wilson is the US President during WW1. After the war he laid out 14
points that he believes will prevent another World War from happening.
he accepts that violence and conflict exist, focuses on security issues. He
agrees that states are the most important actors.
He believes that justice and fairness will be determined by states, it will be
created by rules and laws. He wants rules b/c the nature of the system is
anarchy and rules can be used to prevent anarchy.
Anarchy can be managed!!
The points
open covenants of Peace openly arrived at - no private international
understandings. states are the only legitimate actors
absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas - as above states will
determine the rules.
a free, open minded and impartial adjustment of all colonies - He wants to
clarify disputed claims of territory w/i Europe. All the states on his list are
european states. He is not talking about dismantling Asian, Africa, and South
American colonies but european colonies and disputes. States will determine
who becomes a new state, only dealing with Europe at this time. Treaty of
Westphalia 1648
a general association of nations must be formed. - basis for the league of
nations. He believes in the positivity of Humans and positive outcomes. He
believes that through learning and reason there will be no more need to fight.
Think Kant and Universal Humanity. He is channeling his grotian spirit, and
it as re-visit to the concert of europe.
- Woodrow Wilson is part of the Grotian school of IR theory. He is concerned with
the here and now questions of IR.
Dickinson - writing in the 20’s and is writing about human nature and anarchy. He
doesn’t feel that violence is natural and that it is inevitable
Violence can be avoided, it happens when humans are put in certain situations
Anarchy is the problem and can be managed with rules and that will help
humanity deal with violence.
anarchy is not natural - it isn’t like the weather.
Murray - very similar to Dickinson, says the same thing.
in the 20th C till 1970, all IR theory comes out of either British or America which
is where all three men come from.
people from the idealist school and the Grotain merge together to become the
Liberals, so that by the 20’s there are the Realists and Liberals.
Liberalists will spend the next 80 years trying to figure out what Liberalism is.
There are 7 core principals of Liberalism.
Anarchy exists and is a reality. They believe that anarchy can be
managed (Grotains beat the idealists on this theory). Rules, international
law and international institutions can all be used to manage anarchy.
International and Domestic policy are both important and should be
analyzed. This challenges the realist theory that states are unitary actors,
they ignore what happens w/i a nation while liberals study it to see how it
affects international relations.
Rationality - Liberals take a much longer term view of rationality than
realists due. Realists are concerned w/ immediate survival but liberals want
to build norms, rules and confidence. This should be done through
diplomacy and bargaining. It is where the concept of absolute gains
becomes important.
Power is important in the international system. For a liberal it is not
always about military power, it can come through bargaining and
diplomacy.
Security - power is to a Liberal how many tanks and guns you have,
but it is also economic. Commercial relationships are just as important to
liberals as military relationships.
States are the most important actors (gortians win again) but they also
look at other actors as being relevant as well. Non-state actors include
corporation, NGO’s, and individuals.
Human Nature - Liberals agree that humans are currently flawed but
there is hope that we can move past this some day. It is perhaps the least
developed part of the LIberal Theory. There are a few liberals that hold on
to the idea of human utopia.
20th C Realists - E.H. Carr, Hans Morgenthau, Waltz
Carr is British and is looking at the 20 year crisis following WW1 (1939). Twenty
Years Crisis
He believes that the Treaty of Versailles was a flawed treaty and had created the
current (1939) problems.
He redefines the concept of power for realists. The old ones have a tendency to
lead to violence and he wants to expand power to mean power, economic power,
and propaganda - the importance of knowledge and information.
he feels that a holistic view of power leads to a better understanding of IR.
Carr is the first realist to accept that morality might be important and that human
nature might be able to be transformed. he talked about to concepts in regards to
this
Ethics of conviction - all state leaders wanted to live in a peaceful national
and wanted the utopian life. It is natural to want perfection
Ethics of responsibility - you must approach the world as a good realist. It is
a leaders responsibility to think as a realist b/c that is how the state will survive.
He argued that all state leaders struggled w/ these two concepts. It is an internal
struggle w/i the leader, but at the end of the day the ethics of responsibility and
realism must win out for the state to survive.
Carr is trying to defend Chamberlain’s appeasement of Hitler. Carr argued that it
was rational b/c Hitler was acting rationally b/c the treaty of Versailles was so
crappy to the Germans.
The real purpose of Carr’s book was to avoid war. He believed that the German
army could challenge the survival of Britain.
If Hitler had acted rationally he would have stopped after Czech and not tried to
build another empire.
Hans Morgenthau - 1904-80 - Politics Among Nations (1948) SUPER
IMPORTANT BOOK. It was the number one textbook during the cold war for intro
to IR in Western Nations.
His ideas shaped realism in the post-war international system.
He is trying to bring a scientific and behavioral approach to IR. It is a real attempt
to be empirical, he is trying to put the science in political science by using the
scientific method.
Isolate variables
test and retest.
Three things that scare Morgenthau are:
the rapid change of great powers with the mergence of the USSR and USA
and the decline of Germany, Japan, Britain, and France.
the predominance of ideology in the new bi-polar system. He thought these
extremes of ideology obstructed rationality
The emergence of nuclear technology and nuclear weapons.
He felt that realism wasn’t capable of responding to these changes, it wasn’t
constructed to deal with these realities.
He had to build a new realism that could deal with them, He isolated the variable
of power - believed that realism needed a better definition of power - he found 9
ways to exercise/not exercise your power
1) Power in diplomacy comes from a rejection of Crusades - ideology,
nationalism, religion. All these things get in the way of thinking rationally.
2) The national interest of a state must reflect it’s power capabilities.
Canada can’t want to be a great power b/c it doesn’t have that kind of power
capabilities.
3) Diplomacy must consider the national interest of other states. You cannot
impose your will on other states, you must leave states some room to participate
in the international system as well.
4) States must be willing to compromise on issues that aren’t central to
national interest.
5) Ignore gains made through propaganda as they are not real, security is
real. Propaganda inhibited rationality so it must be ignored
6) Don’t make demands that you cannot back up with power. Don’t put
yourself in a situation where you could lose. Even if you don’t have the conflict
and you back down, you still look weak.
7) Never allow smaller states to define a states national interests.
8) Don’t allow the military to define a states national interests. IF you do you
will fight b/c that is the purpose of the military.
9) Public opinion must be listened to, but it cannot define national interests.
State survival must determine national interests.
Morgenthau considers himself to be the 20th C version of Machiavelli and his
book is a guide book to IR.
Henry Kissinger was a main proponent of Morgenthau’s IR.
Morgenthau also focuses on the concept of Change. He wants stability in the
International system and he believes that a balance of power is a way to achieve
stability.
Billiard-Ball Model - a way to conceptualize change in the International system
It is anarchic - there is no over arching authority over the pool table
states are the most important actor’s - pool balls
pool balls (states) must act rationally and not violate the 9 principals. This
would cause the pool balls to move and that would disrupt the balance of power
and upsets stability.
the goal is to keep the pool balls still
Morgenthau wasn’t to optimistic about stability
the arms race was disrupting the balance of power
ideology, fear, and nuclear weapons were disrupting rationality
he felt that the US gov’t was distorting his principals of realism. Arms Race,
Cuban Missel Crisis, Vietnam, US involvement in Central America.
7 Core Concepts of Realism
Human Nature is Flawed
Power is based on security, they don’t care about economics, or propaganda
States are the most important actors
States are a unitary actor - domestic policies are important
IR system is one of Anarchy w/ no overarching authority - the only way to
manage anarchy is through a balance of power.
States must be rational actors in the IR system and follow the realist play books.
focused on the concept of relative gains.
Paper
lit review
1 paragraph on each of the major realists we have talked about.
Paraphrase the lecture notes.
summary citation of each of the realists major works at the end
finish with 7 core principals but recognize that not all 7 may fit my case
study.
Lit review goes first then case study then analysis
analysis - how and why are states the most important actors? how and why
is power based on security? How and why must states be rational actors? some
of the principals will not fit into the analysis
last paragraph is a yeah but paragraph. it looks at concepts that don’t fit and
how they could be part of liberalism and how liberalism applies.
conclusion is restatement of the intro.
page 6 of reader is lit review.
Post Mid-Term
Feb 28, 2011
Kenneth Waltz created a new branch of realism called neo-realism. He
introduced this theory in his PhD dissertation Man, the State, and War.
he says that
military security and power are the most important
states are the most important actors
domestic politics aren’t important
the IR system is based on Anarchy
For Waltz Anarchy is the most important part of realism. He is one of the first to
emphasize the importance of structural study. The IR system is based on a
structure of anarchy. Everything that happens in the IR system is defined and
shaped by Anarchy.
Waltz is influenced by Hobbes and he has a similar perspective of anarchy in
regards to violence and conflict. Waltz believes that violence and conflict are
inevitable. The goal for Waltz isn’t to manage the anarchy it is trying to stretch
out the periods of peace as long as possible.
Waltz believes that the best way to prolong the peace is to have a bi-polar
system with a balance of power. He loved the Cold War because it was a period
of peace.
Box of Squirrels
Morgenthau focuses on the squirrels and who is the strongest of them.
Waltz studies the box that the squirrels are in.
Security - Evolution of Force.
conflict prior to 7000 BC were unorganized and fairly non-lethal as not many
people died. Also not very many people were involved in the fight.
we use 7000 BC b/c that is the emergence of the first empires (Egypt). In about
1900 BC we see the first recorded examples of organized, well trained, large,
and disciplined forces.
Drills in formation are an important part of the modern army. The goal of training
is to transform a mob into a coordinated, well organized force.
The Egyptians invented the Phalanx and it’s early strategies. Each phalanx
was 5-6 men wide and 5-6 men deep.
the phalanx was a formation that required massive amounts of disciple to
make sure that it didn’t scatter.
The Phalanx system produced mass causalities and conflicts were often
very short. After the initial collision the fighting would end w/i 30-60 min.
Either the opponents would be surrounded or one side would break rank
and retreat in an unorganized fashion.
these wars took place on an area about the size of a football field.
these are still limited conflicts as rarely are their very more than 1000 people
involved.
Innovations to the Phalanx
Egyptians
Archers - allow you to attack a phalanx at a distance. the velocity and
accuracy of arrows were fairly limited. Armor is now being used as protection
from arrows and is a coat of leather.
Small horses - Chariots are introduced at 1500 BC but their use and horses
in general is quiet limited. Horses aren’t used as part of the Phalanx strategy they
are there to chase the retreating forces as they are running away.
Greeks/Romans
strategy - Romans felt that the traditional phalanx was crude so they
created Maniples. This allowed for greater flexibility on the battlefield. Their
phalanx’s were lined up like a checker board which allowed for fast
formation and strategy changes.
MANIPLES WILL BE ON FINAL - NEED TO DESCRIBE EARLIER
PHALANX’S AND HOW THE MANIPLE IS DIFFERENT
Weapons - Greek/Roman soldiers all had two weapons. A long throwing
spear which was a more effective way to attack a phalanx from a distance. Each
soldier also had a short sword for hand to hand combat. This allowed for better
results once the phalanx’s had collided.
Armor - Greeks/Romans are the first to have limited use of chain mail and
some metal armor. metal armor was most often on forearms and shins.
Shields - soldiers had either bucklers or long shields which were almost the
same size of a man and used in the phalanx for protection but not for hand to
hand combat.
Sieges - Greeks and Romans used sieges to starve enemies out of their
fortified cities.
European Impacts - european impacts that emergence of the modern state
Horses/Calvary - The horses are much larger in Europe and are able to
carry people with lots of armor on them. They are also able to travel greater
distances faster. Horses were used in calvary formations to attack. The
strategy stays the same it just that now the phalanx has horses.
there were two ways to defend against calvary charges. One is to hold
a spear at the front lines and stab the horse (think Brave Heart). The other way
was to dig lots of holes on the battlefield to try and incapacitate the horses.
Armor - there is much better/lighter chain mail and some chain mail.
Mar 2, 2011
European Impacts (1300s)
Parallels the emergence of the modern sovereign state; as we see
people
become much more capable of killing one another, the state evolves
1) Horses: through interbreeding, Europeans began having larger
animals
(European Phenomenon) which can carry a human being with large
amounts of
materials as well; this allows you to travel distances much faster, allows
you to attack your enemy on horseback; this is where phalanx’ begin to
include horses; people now begin to charge via horses
Two ways to defend against this- 1) long spear: needed tremendous
discipline as an animal was charging towards you; 2) changing the
landscape: due to war being highly organized at this time (negotiate a
time and place), you would change the landscape to create a disadvantage
for horses (e.g. holes)
Also begin to develop better chain mail and innovations to plate metal
armor
2) Archery: begin to perfect longbows and crossbows, which allow for
greater accuracy, lethality and better distances; want to attack phalanx’s
from farther away but with better lethality; naturally, there were
developments in how to protect the phalanx; in the 1300-1500s, we see
better chain mail (more layered; would be given to foot soldiers); for
nobles they were given plate metal, which were to protect you from these
flying arrows (e.g. Breast Plates covering their front and back); as well,
your upper nobility (Queens, Kings, Princes) would have full suits of
armor; it looks impressive but also protects them from flying arrows; the
problems with this is that it was extremely heavy and hot (60-70lbs); not
very flexible either; your plate of armor was useless on the battlefield,
as it was extremely difficult for you to fight with this; this armor was
meant more for horseback
Often a defense for these men with the armor was to kill the knights
horse; the Battle of Agincourt in France during the Hundred Years’ War
saw
1/3 of Europes nobility die due to this reason (horse shot down and had to
charge the battlefield on foot)
3) Gunpowder: created and used in Asia, but the Europeans are the
ones
to refine and perfect it on the battlefield; this type of weapon was very
rare to see on the battlefield; they were very heavy (so much so that they
had to be mounted on a tripod), not mobile or accurate; in terms of
phalanx and strategy it was not very usable; most of these weapons
were
defensive weapons; by the late 1500s-early 1600s, we start to see
smaller
weapons that are lighter; the earliest generations of muskets occur
here;
they begin to appear within your phalanx, in your last 2-3 rows; the
weapon was useless because it only had one bullet and it took a long time
to reload (90 seconds to load); they were also highly inaccurate (accuracy
of 15-20 yards at most); because you only had one shot, you also needed
to
fight; this led to the invention of the bayonet (knife on the gun); after
your shot, you screwed it on and charged the opposition
As the 1600s go on, we see this being perfected more and more;
the
Swedes were a hegemon in the 1600s because they were the ones
who perfects the use of these weapons on the battlefield; in terms of
muskets, they
were technologically savvy people; they built muskets that were lighter
and more accurate; they revamped there military- took their phalanx
army
and replaced 2/3 of their army with people with muskets; 1/3 still had
swords and spears; also removed all armor from the soldiers, making them
faster and to respond to developments on the battlefield; also did this
because they knew their enemies weapons were not very accurate; also
are
the first to change the way that artillery is used; up until the
1500-1600s you had cannons but they were very large, expensive,
inaccurate
and hard to move (the objective is to hit people with balls of lead); this
was inefficient because you only had one or two balls and you just hurled
them into people; the Swedes changed this- create smaller canons that
could be moved by 2-3 horses, could have dozens of these on the
battlefield, and they could fly through the air; this is how Sweden became
a hegemon; the goal of filling the air with flying arrows was replaced by
filling the air with flying metal; by the time we get to the 1700s,
everyones army looks like Sweden’s
Is it more lethal? Absolutely; you still have thousands of people of
dying on the battlefield, but the lethality is nowhere near what it is
today
1700s development
You begin to see a number of new states in Europe because they are
improving the usage of muskets and canons; you are getting better
weapons
but it is still slow to reload these things (45 seconds); Socket Bayonet
was created meaning you could leave your knife on your weapon,
therefore
saving you the time to screw it on
There are still some accuracy problems here; the Prussian army did a
study in the 1700s; they took a big sheet of canvas that was six feet high
100 ft long; this was representative of a series of phalanx’ marching
towards you; they fired at them from 225 yards (two football fields) and
only 25% of the shots hit the target; from 150 yards, only 40% of the
shots hit the target; and at 75 yards, you only had 60% of the shots
hitting the target
Even by the late 1700s, these weapons were still inefficient;
Mar 4, 2011
Naval Conflict
for the better part of the 18th C and before naval strategy was very crude and
similar to land battler. Ram if you can board if you cannot.
the greeks and romans were the first to use this strategy with naval ships, mainly
to protect shipping. The battle b/w rome and Carthage was the first time that
these ships were used in large scale battle.
these ships were powered by rowing and wind and kept close to shore.
the last major battle of this style was the Battle of Lepanto with Christian states
against the Ottoman Empire in 1571. 30,000 people died and the majority of
these were drowned. the sheer number of people involved was the reason that
so many people died
colonialism changes the naval game. Dutch, Spanish, Portugal, and England are
the first naval powers and first nations with colonies.
their ships are almost solely wind powered and also have many cannons.
boarding a ship is still an important part of naval warfare.
Emergence of nationalism is an important step on the road to total war. We are
starting to see strong senses of citizenship and identity in the late 1700’s and
early 1800’s especially in France and Spain.
Nationalism is a way to influence people to engage in warfare. France is the
first to do this under Napoleon.
when nationalism isn’t enough conscription is the next step. Again france
is the first to do this in post-revolution france. Only through the draft can
enormous armies be maintained. Other states follow b/c they must if they
are going to survive. This means that most of Europe have large trained
modern armies.
scale is the reason for the increase in casualties until the industrial
revolution
in the earliest phases of the ind rev mass production allows for many identical
weapons to be constructed for fighting purposes.
later in the ind rev we see technology (1820-30) change the nature of conflict.
The Rifled musket has a much longer range, and are more accurate and is faster
to reload.
the American Civil war was the laboratory for testing out the new weapons and
new technology.
The American Civil war was driven by nationalism and resulted in large
scale armies. Both sides of the conflict use the same strategy as the
swedes had used 200 years before and this lead to massive casualties.
4th major change has to do with demographics and the shift from rural to urban
populations. This is important b/c it leads to greater socialization through
propaganda, and media. Nationalism is still the driving force not ideology.
5th change in the 20th C is permanent conscription creating massive reserves
that are trained and ready to fight without the need for much training. large scale
wars can be formed up and fought in only weeks instead of months
the Machine gun represents a change in technology that armies were not able to
adapt to. The machine gun isn’t an accurate gun it just fires so many bullets that
it cannot help to hit people.
for the first few months of WW1 the same strategy is used that has been
used for centuries and by the time the decide to change tactics to the
continuos front (trench) over a million people had died.
Mar 7, 2011.
the first reality of trench warfare was a psychological one. For the first time in
history soldiers had to fear death every day, all day. Also the soldiers were living
in what are ditches which fill with water, rats, and corpses.
the second reality of trench warfare is that they still have no new tactics to
attack, you have to crawl out of the ditch to go attack.
the scale of lethality is unprecedented. At the Battle of the Somme 60,000 people
dead or wounded in one afternoon. At Ypres 250,000 dead in 3 months. These
are the first indications of total war.
the gov’ts of Europe changed their economies over to war economies. Women
flooded into the workplace to replace the men.
the gov’t of europe had to to do this b/c they had to support the 15 million men in
the battlefield.
Tanks are the first offensive breakthrough of the war. They sheltered the troops
inside and provided cover fire for advancing troops.
Early tanks solved the problems of the trenches. Tanks first went into battle in
large numbers in 1917. They were slow and unreliable but they advanced 6 miles
in 6 hours with only 4000 casualties.
the tank didn’t come about until the end of the war so they had a limited impact
as they didn’t fight for too long.
To justify the cost of the war the allied forces put all the blame on the losers
leaving them feeling unjustly punished.
WW2 people knew what was coming and they weren’t excited about the war. No
one expected the start to WW2 that happened.
tanks and aircraft combined in WW2 to create a fluctuating front.
The battle of Kursk was the shift in WW2 advancement. nearly 2 million men,
tanks, and guns fought in the battle.
WW2 saw huge civilian casualties b/c the front moved so rapidly and
moved back and forth over the same areas. The huge killing capacity of the
army was brought to bear on anything that got in the fronts way.
if people are the base of any nations army and workforce then it made sense for
air forces to attack and bomb cities.
massive numbers of planes and bombs were used to bomb cities on both sides
of the front. formations of 1000’s of bombers were used to bomb enemy cities.
the London Blitz lasted 30 months and 30000 people died but people went on
about their daily lives.
Sir Arthur Harris the head of British Bomber Command decided to bomb
military and economic targets but couldn’t hit them specifically so he
decided to just decided to just destroy entire cities.
these bomber raids were highly dangerous more pilots and flyers died than all
the people in the Blitz.
In feb 1944 Ausburg was completely destroyed. On one night US bombers
destroyed the factories and the water works and the next night the British
Bombers dropped 1 bomb for every citizen of Ausburg.
70000 civilians burned to death in Hamburg in one night. A city of 1.5 million was
emptied.
only 23 years after WW1 the technological and tactical progress os enormous.
tanks are fast and reliable. Air craft can now carry large amounts of bombs.
Artillery is very accurate.
the strategy of conflict has changed for the first time in 5000 years to a mobile
continuous front. You never knew where that battle was going to take place.
Total war has now changed to include the killing of civilians. 40 million people
died in WW2 and most of those were civilians, over 20 million civilians died and
this was the first time that this had ever happened.
unintentional killing - if towns and cities were in the way of the fighting or the
front they were destroyed. The people became conscripts or refugees, or they
died. Atrocities were committed on an almost daily basis - torture, rape, and
murder.
intentional killing - the 8th month London Blitz killed 30,000 Londoners.
Luckily the technology isn’t very advanced and the bombs are fairly inaccurate.
The British perfect the use of mass bombing. They couldn’t hit the specific
military targets so they just bombed the entire city and create a firestorm.
Firestorms were created through huge amounts of bombs (1000’s of tons) and
they created a self feeding fires that was hot enough to burn everything in it’s
past.
Gwynee Dyer video
When Napoleon marched into Russia he took over a half million troops with him.
this was the largest army ever assembled. Casualties were high but that b/c of
the number of people was so high.
The wars of the French revolution were the first to see the mass mobilization of
the entire population of a nation to war. this was the start of total war. All of
europe saw the effect of total war and how it was the only way to win a war.
with the start of the industrial revolution weapons became more accurate and
more deadly. Weapons were not built by hand but rather by factories.
the American civil war was the first large scale war with new weapons, they used
old tactics though. This lead to mass casualties with smaller numbers of soldiers
fighting.
in the 1900 and early 20th C most nations were living in a constant states of war
readiness. People thought that a war would be short and glorious.
People had been living in cities for some time now and had a much better
sense of citizenship and identity then ever before. They also knew who the
“others” were and that they were potentially dangerous.
Mar 9, 2011
on the 6th of August 1945 the first nuclear weapon was dropped on
Hiroshima. 70,000 people died in 5 minutes there and cancer killed people
for years to come.
in Tokyo 250,000 people were killed through conventional bombing.
total war is the change in technology, strategy but more importantly it is the
change in the approach to dealing with civilians.
there hasn’t been a total war since the end of WW2 but there have been many
attacks and mass targeting of civilians in places like, cambodia, rwanda,
Yugoslavia.
conventional weapons - are all weapons that are not WMD’s and all conflicts
since WW2 have been fought with conventional weapons, some which are very
primitive
the dominant producers and sellers of conventional weapons are the 5
permanent members of the UN Security Council.
in 2009 world military expenditures on conventional weapons was $1.5
trillion(US) or 2.4% of global GDP. That figure has decreased from 4% in the
1980’s
the consumers and buyers of these weapons are often in the most unstable
regions of the world and are some of the poorer nations of the world.
United Nations
UNSSOD1 and UNSSOD2 - in ’78 and ’82. the purpose of the sessions was
to try and reduce the sale of conventional weapons in the IR system but
they were unsuccessful ad haven’t tried to do much since.
The UN does try and track the sales and purchase of conventional weapons.
there are 7 categories on the UN register of conventional arms including tanks,
naval vessels. They are tracking big things.
many of the weapons sold aren’t on the register b/c most of the weapons bought
and sold is much smaller than these things.
Also many conventional weapons are bought and sold on the black market.
Canada’s Role in the International Weapons trade
80% of what we buy and sell goes to the US as part of our commitment to NATO
the other 20% goes into the international system but most of it is small stuff that
isn’t on the UN register. in 2000 we sold 8 surplus Howitzers to Brazil and 4
armored cars to Saudi Arabia
Canada is ranked 10th in the world in terms of weapons exports. We sell small
arms, ammunition, and weapons components to nations such as Indonesia,
Argentina (4.9 mil rockets), Malaysia, Egypt, and China.
the top weapons sellers are
USA, UK, Russia, China, France, Germany, Israel, Czech Republic, Spain,
Canada. These 10 nations sell 93% of the worlds conventional weapons.
project plowshare - a non governmental organization ranks us as 7th as they only
count sales to undeveloped nations.
Weapons of Mass Destruction
3 kinds Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological. The majority of arms control
treaties and agreements deal with nuclear.
WMD are different from conventional weapon in 4 ways
levels of lethality - they can kill great numbers of people very easily
size - they are fairly small
cost - other than nuclear, these weapons are cheap to make and
deliver
lack of discrimination - WMD’s don’t care who they come in contact
with, they just kill them
Nuclear weapons are broken down into Fission and Fusion weapons. Fission are
the cruder and older nuclear weapons - they are easier to make.
Fission weapons create their force by simply splitting atoms of U235 or Pu
239. Only a small amount of fissionable material is needed. an amount the
size of a penny was used in the WW2 bombs.
Fission weapons are exploded in two ways. The U 235 material is packed in a
subcritical mass in a long tube surrounded by conventional explosive. In Pu
bombs the Pu is packed in a circular mass and again surrounded by conventional
explosives.
10lbs of fissionable material is all you need to become a nuclear power. U235
and Pu 239 are hard to find. U 235 has to be refined which is a long and
expensive process. Pu 232 is a by product of nuclear power and therefore easier
to come by.
When the US dropped the bombs on Japan they used one of each kind of
Fission bombs.
Fusion weapons use Hydrogen and the goal of Fusion weapons are to
create chain reactions. These are extremely complex and expensive
weapons and the explosions are difficult to control.
these weapons are trying to reproduce the reaction found in the sun. Most of the
weapons the USSR and the US had pointed at each other were fusion weapons
Fission weapons created explosions equal to about 100-200 kilotons of
TNT. Fusion weapons are in the 1-20 Megaton range. They are roughly 1000
times more powerful than a Fission weapon.
What nuclear weapons do...
Heat - the heat generated from nuclear weapons incinerates people the
immediate area.
Radiation - radiation sickness and poisoning will kill you in about 12 to 24 hrs.
Radiation also causes cancer so it might kill you years later.
EMPs - non lethal but they shut down all electronic devices.
Environmental - these weapons contaminate the local environment for 1000s of
years.
Nuclear Winter - this is speculative. All of the smoke, dust, and debris would
cloud over the sky and block the sun.
March 11, 2011
Delivery Systems
delivery systems are as important as the weapon itself. A weapon is no
good if you cannot get it to its target.
strategic delivery systems are systems that can deliver a weapon great distances
to a target
the original strategic system was the bomber. They were replaced with
ballistic missiles.
there are 3 identifying features of ballistic missiles.
range
throw weight- how much they can carry
accuracy
ballistic missiles can be fired from stationary or mobile launching platforms
there are 4 types of ballistic missiles
ICBM - Inter-continental ballistic missiles - they are the largest
missiles with the longest range and largest throw weight. Their range is
about 5000 miles and can carry a lot of weight. Their accuracy varies greatly.
Early ICBM’s were merely a rocket with a nuclear bomb strapped to the front of it.
you were lucky to hit the same region. Later ICBM’s were accurate down to 3
square meters. They can carry up to ten war heads
INF - Intermediate Nuclear Forces - range of 1000 to 3000 miles and a
smaller throw weight than ICBM’s. Can still have 10 war heads. They are
typically more accurate than ICMB’s. The Missiles in Europe in the cold war were
all INF’s. They can be both land based and sea based.
SLBM - Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile - not the missiles that
will be on an aircraft carrier or Missile Cruiser. same range and throw
weight as INF’s. They are extremely important platform b/c they cannot be
targeted in a first strike. Many US and Soviet strategists thought that it would be
these kinds of weapons that would win the war.
SRBM - Short Range Ballistic Missiles - range b/w 500 and 1000 miles
and usually only carry one warhead but they are extremely accurate. They
are used in regional conflicts or they are used by great powers from aircraft or
some Warships. India and Pakistan have a lot of SRBM’s and the concern in the
Middle East as Israel has them and Iran wants them. The US and Soviet Union
had a lot of these missiles as well but they often referred to them as cruise
missiles.
The space race was about security and creating ICBM technology while “selling”
it to the people as putting people on the moon.
the technology for ballistic missiles began to change in the 1970’s and they
became much more accurate. They become more accurate b/c of MIRV
technology which stands for Multiple Independent Re-Entry Vehicle. It allows
each war head in a ICBM to have an individual target.
by the 70’s ICBM’s are carrying around 20 warheads and INF’s are carrying 10+.
This makes arms control hard, what do you count, missiles or war heads.
Cruise Missiles (SRBM) - were used extensively in both of Gulf Wars. They are
able to follow streets and can be put through a specific window in a building.
Canada played a significant role in the development of Cruise missiles as most of
the NATO missiles were tested up at Cold Lake.
The 4 above missiles types are the strategic weapons and the concept of MAD
was built around them. Mad and strategic weapons were the reason was that the
Cold War stayed Cold.
Tactical Delivery Systems - tactical nuclear weapons are much smaller and are
designed to fight a limited nuclear war. They were designed to be used on the
battle field in particular situations. They could be used to attack a tank column,
air base, aircraft carrier, etc, etc.
tactical weapons can be gravity bombs, artillery shells, and other missiles
launched from ships, planes, rocket launchers, they even designed a nuclear
hand grenade.
there were lots and lots of tactical nuclear weapons. In 1990, after 20 years of
arms controls, the US and 14,000 Strategic nuclear weapons, but they had
roughly 75,000 tactical warheads.
Chemical Weapons - can be lethal or can be used to only disable people.
They can interfere with the nervous system, effect breathing, blood flow, or
other bodily functions. the most lethal attack the DNA of a target.
Most chemical weapons are inhaled or absorbed through the skin. You can
protect yourself from a chemical weapon with a full body suit and a respirator.
the biggest concern is that civilians will be targeted instead of soldiers b/c
they don’t have access to the suits.
chemical weapons were used all the way back by the Greeks, and the Chinese in
Sun Tzu’s time
there are only a few cases of use of these weapons. Mustard gas was used on
the battle field in Ethiopia and in WW1.
Gas wasn’t used in WW2 b/c both sides feared retaliation but gas was used
in the death camps.
In the ‘80s gas was used in the Iran-Iraq war and both sides used gas on each
other. Suddam Hussein used gas on two Kurdish villages in northern Iraq. even
now the soil, and water are contaminated but the gas also affected the DNA of
the villagers and is being passed down.
Chemical weapons are considered to be the poor persons nuclear
weapons. They are relatively cheap to produce and easy to deliver
Biological Weapons are micro-organisms or toxins in which extremely
small amounts can be extraordinarily lethal.
the delivery system can be very crude. They could be delivered in the mail.
the bio-weapon will be some sort of bacteria or virus in which you hope
that the population will spread it amongst themselves.
Bio-weapons like chemical weapons are very old. Bodies being launched into
cities under siege or small pox in blankets.
very few documented cases but there has been many cases of speculated bioweapons use.
Mar 14, 2011
There are 4 types of arms agreement
Qualitative - try and distinguish b/w offensive and defensive weapons.
The Key is to try and limit the offensive weapons. First discussions on
qualitative agreements pre-date WW1 at The Hague Int’l Peace conferences
in 1899 and 1907. This is happening just as lethality of weapons was increasing.
Unfortunately The Hague conferences came to nothing
At the Geneva Convention the Geneva Protocol was signed in 1925 - it
addressed the use of chemical weapons. Banned the use of chemical
weapons in war but not the manufacturing, testing, stockpiling, or
developing.
There were 111 signatories to the Geneva Protocols, this is a good thing b/c the
more signatories an agreement has the more legitimacy it has. Signing an int’l
agreement is not all that a nation has to do, it has to be ratified by each nations
gov’t. This is a domestic conformation that a state will follow the treaty.
There are 2 thresholds of agreements (40 or 60) before it even becomes an
agreement. i.e. it needs to be ratified 60 states before it is considered in effect
In Canada int’l agreements are ratified by orders in council - where cabinet
declares that a treaty is ratified and is law. In the US it has to go before
Congress.
After Geneva there isn’t another qualitative agreement until the Limited
Test Ban Treaty in 1963 with 116 signatories. It limits the area thats nuclear
weapons could be tested in. Cannot test in Space, water, atmosphere, or
above ground. The one place that is missing from the agreement is the
testing of weapons underground. France and China didn’t sign.
The first major qualitative agreement was the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
in 1968 and had 136 signatories. It stops the construction of new nuclear
weapons, it isn’t a disarmament treaty. it bans the selling, giving, or
receiving nuclear technology to a non-nuclear state, unless it is for
peaceful purposes. There are only 2 forms of peaceful nuclear technology power and medicine.
there is one article in the NPT that talks about disarmament. Article 6
talks about the need to pursue other disarmament options but the language is
vague and only commits the signatories to do it sometime in the future.
Export Controls - it was understood that if you were to give a state
nuclear tech for peaceful purposes that there would be some export controls to
ensure this, but there is nothing in the NPT that states what the export controls
should be. That leaves it up to individual states to determine what the controls
are and this means that they are never the same. Canada exported the CANDU
nuclear reactors to India in the 50’s and by 1974 they had tested their first
nuclear weapon b/c of weak export controls.
Verification - the NPT talks about verification but the language is
again very loose. There is no outline about what the verification procedures or
criteria were. The IAEA had been trying to do this since 1957 and so it’s practices
and procedures were incorporated into the NPT but again had loose language
and there is a strong basis on state sovereignty.
Non-signatories - there were a number of states that have never
signed and many of them are now Nuclear states: Pakistan, India, Israel as well
as Cuba and Argentina. Some states signed and then backed out North Korea.
North Korea signed the agreement but then in 1993 they announced
that they were going to withdraw from the NPT. This came at the same time they
they were making advancements in missile technology. This gave them an
effective delivery system for nuclear weapons and made many states (Japan,
South Korea) nervous. The IAEA was trying to get onto North Korean soil to
verify it’s nuclear program so they just opted out. The world basically did nothing.
Then Clinton organized a massive cash payment to get them back into the NPT.
Then they promised to build 2 reactors if they rejoin the agreement. in 2002 NK
announces that it has nuclear capacity and then withdrew from the NPT. This
leads to a lot of negotiations. The off and on again 6 party talks China, Russia,
USA, South Korea, Japan, and North Korea. In 2005 NK announces that it will
rejoin the NPT, then they tested their nuclear weapon. They have never rejoined
the NPT.
Iraq is almost the exact same scenario as North Korea. the NPT and
IAEA were trying to gain access to Iraqi “nuclear” sites. The differences was that
the US used this to justify the invasion of Iraq, instead of sending money and
promising to build the nuclear reactors for them. Saddam thought that he might
get that but instead he got a can o’ whoop-ass.
Iran is a signatory of the NPT and is doing the same thing as North
Korea and Iraq. Israel will take care of this if they feel they need to.
China and France were initially non-signatories, they signed in 1991
but they both subsequently tested nuclear weapons.
Brazil announced it was opting out in 2002 but they rejoined later on.
The fourth qualitative agreement was the bio-weapons in 1972 with 107
signatories. It built on the framework of the Geneva protocols and then
tried to tighten it up. The production, development, and the stockpiling of
weapons is prohibited. States agreed to destroy a certain level, not all, of
existing bio-weapons. It is stronger than the Geneva Protocols but there are a
few things missing, it doesn’t talk about the use of bio-weapons, there is no
specific language about testing. The agreement uses vague language to leave
states wiggle room.
Threshold Test Ban Treaty (1974) only 2 signatories but it was the 2 that
mattered US and USSR. It tightened the language of the original test ban
treaty. It prohibits underground testing, but there is a loop-hole as it only
applies to yields over 150 kilotons. It was never ratified but it has been
observed to this day.
INF - Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty (1987) - Again signed by
only the US and the USSR. Important b/c it eliminated 2 sets of Missiles
from Europe: intermediate range, and shorter range missiles. NATO
Missiles and WARSAW pact missile from Europe are now gone. It also
changed the way that verification worked.
Chemical Weapons Convention of 93 - It was one of the first post-Cold War
qualitative convention. 130 signatories. Called for:
prohibited development, production, stockpiling, transfer, acquisition,
and use of chemical weapons.
destruction of existing chemical weapons by 2005. (not met by most
signatories but large cuts have been made)
on site inspections to verify the destruction of weapons.
Convention of Nuclear Safety ’94 - 25 signatories - trying to focus on nuclear
power and the safe use of nuclear power. It dealt with levels of radiation
protection for workers and civilians and rules dealing with verification.
NPT extension ’95 - a clause in the original NPT states that there will be
review conferences so on the 25th anniversary they reviewed it and 188
nations signed or resigned the agreement. They agreed to extend the
original agreement. During these discussion there was considerable debate
about vertical proliferation in other words the main nuclear weapon states
limiting their nuclear stockpiles.
Comprehensive test ban treaty ’96 - signatories agree promise not to test
nuclear weapons anywhere on the planet. It is only a test ban and not a
disarmament treaty. There were a number of notable non-signatories India,
Pakistan, Israel, US (congress would ratify it). There is nothing in the CTB that
talks about the production of fissile material. There is no commitment to remove
nuclear weapons in the future.
ON EXAM - we will evaluate these arms control regime (all 4 kinds) based on
realism or liberalism. realism is the loop-holes, and liberalism is the agreements
themselves trying to manage the anarchy.
Mar 21, 2011
Quantitative Agreements - A slow incremental method of
reducing the numbers of weapons by chipping away at the massive totals.
Almost all of them are bilateral b/w the US and USSR (Russia). It is an
ongoing process. It sets limits and numbers of weapons. Quantitative
agreements are not disarmament, they are guaranteeing MAD
ABM Treaty (1972) commonly referred to as SALT 1 (Strategic Arms
Limitation Treaty). It allowed both nations to have one defensive weapons
system for their state capitals. It could be one fixed complex or a series of
scattered silos. It froze further ABM development
SALT 2 (1979) - places specific limits on the number of ICBMs, SLBMs,
bombers, and surface to air missiles. More importantly there were limits to
the number of warheads allowed on the missiles (10-14). This means that
both sides are allowed to have about 12,000 nuclear warheads.
there are a number of missiles that aren’t included. nothing is mentioned
about intermediate, reserve, cruise, or tactical missiles.
Agreement was signed by US and USSR but US Congress refused to ratify
it b/c USSR invaded Afghanistan but it was still followed.
Chemical Weapons Accord ’90 - trying to level the playing field in Chemical
weapons, both sides agreed to cut their stock piles to 5000 tons of
chemical weapons by 2002.
Troop Levels in Central Europe agreement ‘90 - both sides were allowed to
have 195,000 troops in central europe
Conventional Armed forces agreement ‘90 - defined the numbers and
location of specific conventional weapons within Europe. Tanks, artillery,
combat vehicles, aircraft, and helicopters.
START I ’91 - Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty - There were 5 signatories:
US, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Khazakstan. Negotiations started in ’82
and were an extension of the SALT agenda. Again it deals with ICBMs,
SLBMs, and bombers trying to reach a total of 1600 missiles with a total of
6000 warheads. It is trying to cut in half the number of warheads lying
around. As with SALT there are many other types of strategic delivery
platforms that aren’t mentioned.
START II ’93 - Only US and Rus and tried to cut levels of warheads to 3000.
Wasn’t ratified or followed.
Trilateral Accord ‘94 - US Rus and Ukraine trying to get rid of Ukraine’s
nuclear capacity. It is an extension of the Lisbon protocol which got rid of
nuclear weapons in Belarus and Khazakstan but Ukraine had refused to be
a part of.
Ukraine didn’t sign the Lisbon protocol b/c it views Russia as a threat.
The Ukraine signed after they were promised massive amounts of cash and
that they would be allowed to consult with NATO if Russia presented a
threat. They signed the agreement giving up their nuclear weapons as well
as signing the NPT.
Treaty banning anti-personal Land mine ‘97 - Agreed to prohibit the use,
stockpiling, production, and transfer of land mines. Signatories had 4 years
to destroy stockpiles of land mines, and 10 years to clear all land mines. it was
estimated that there were 100 million land mines in over 71 nations. Iraq, Iran,
Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, China, Russia, US (Korea the DMZ probably
has over 50 million land mines and b/c the US uses land mines for anti-tank
systems) are all nations that haven’t ratified the treaty.
the goals of the treaty haven’t been met. Land mines are extremely popular
in 3rd world conflicts b/c they are so cheap (about $3 to make)
Moscow Treaty ’02 (SORT - Strategic offensive reduction treaty) - signed by
Putin and Bush. Cut the amount of warheads to be b/w 1700 and 2002 by 2012.
There were no verification methods. This treaty wasn’t a priority of the gov’t
START 2 April 2010 - It is a very comprehensive agreement. It is very
asymmetrical as it allows Russia and the USA to have different things.
All commitments to be fulfilled by 2017. Deals mostly with SLBMs and
ICBMs.
US to cut ICBMs and warheads to b/w 1500 and 1675. The Russians
get to keep 2800 warheads
Nuclear weapons not included in START 2: tactical US (500) Rus
(2000), reserve US (2500) Rus (3500), awaiting retirement US (4200) Rus
(4670) in each case Russia has more bombs. The fact that these weapons
are mentioned and amounts given is extremely important b/c it is the first
time that they are mentioned and amounts stated. previous agreements
just ignored that they existed.
The US signed the deal b/c there is a specific clause about bombers. A
plane that can carry 6-20 warheads it is counted as a warhead and the US
has about 4000 of these bombers and the Russians only have 2000. So the
Russians have more warheads but the US has more delivery platforms.
Regional agreements
Antarctic Treaty in 1959 with 33 signatories which prohibits the militarization of
the antarctic or fighting there.
Treaty of Tlateloco 1967 - 23 signatories - banned nuclear weapons in Latin
America
Seabed Treaty 1971 - prohibited the placement of nuclear weapons on or under
the seabed.
Outer Space Treaty 1967 - 89 states signed on. These states agreed not to
extend sovereignty into outer space. 100 kms (not in the treaty) is the commonly
accepted range of sovereignty in the atmosphere.
Moon treaty 1959 - 54 signatories. Nuclear weapons couldn’t be placed on the
moon or in orbit around the moon.
the space treaties are happening b/c the weaponization of space worried
states and politicians. SDI was part of the weaponization of space and meant to
protect the US from space. Although SDI didn’t work many satellites in space are
military satellites, surveillance and and defence - magnets and lasers meant to
push warheads off course.
Confidence building measures
Hotline Agreement 1963 - signed after the Cuban Missile Crisis. The US and
USSR realized that there was no way to communicate with each other. This
agreement put a direct phone line to each other on their desks.
Nuclear Accidents Agreement 1971 - designed to increase transparency in the
case of a nuclear accident
the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe 1975 - It established
conferences in Europe b/w NATO and Warsaw pact members to sit down and
talk about issues. It kept both sides talking during the Cold War.
Agreement on Confidence and Security Building Measures and Disarmament in
Europe 1986 - Allowed military observers to watch military maneuvers of the
other side
Open Skies Treaty ’92 - Allows unarmed spy and reconnaissance planes to fly
over each others nations. This allowed outside nations to fly over a state so that
they can verify that the nations are following disarmament agreements.
On site verification - the On-sight Inspection Agency was formed in the US to
verify weapons disarmament. This was allowed in the 1987 INF treaty. On sight
verification is a confidence building progress and it also allows for verification that
cannot be done by airplane.
Talk about arms control regime (the 4 types of agreements) on the Exam.
Mention them all but, don’t talk about them in great details but talk about the
main ones NPT, START 1&2, and SALTs. Once you have talked about them talk
about them from a liberal or realist viewpoint and explain the agreements.
International Government Associations (IGO) - there are approximately 500 IGOs
in the International system today. Important to Liberals b/c of management of
Anarchy, absolute gains. Realists like them b/c of security, but mainly self
interest and the perception of the use of Force.
NGOs - there are way more of these about 5000
IGOs
there are regional IGOs
Organization of American States (OAS)
Organization of African Unity (AU)
Association of South East Asian States (ASEAN)
Common purpose IGOs
OPEC
Commonwealth - former British Colonies
Francophone - former French Colonies
WTO
Collective Security IGOs
NATO
- NGOs - there are lots and lots and lots and lots and lots...
Red Cross
Dr. W/O boarders
Samaritans Purse
IOC
Green Peace
WWF - not the wrestlers
Mar 25, 2011.
The UN is the largest IGO in the world with roughly 90% of the total of states
members of the General Assembly
in 1996 there were 188 members only d4 have been added since and only 3
since 2000
2002 East Timor and Switzerland joined and the last to join was
Montenegro in 2006
This is unlike the 60s when the membership of the UN doubled
the UN has a massive mandate
collective security
collect data and census
diplomacy and dialogue
economic matters both trade and assistance
population information
food
energy
Human Rights
The Headquarters of the UN is located in downtown New York and is its own
sovereign territory with its own rules, flag, police force, official languages.
The UN is not a world gov’t b/c it has no citizens, it doesn’t control its boarders
and it doesn’t collect taxes.
the Un is governed by its Charter.
Under the charter, all states are equal under international law.
all states have full sovereignty over their domestic affairs (article 2.7)
all states have full territorial integrity - the UN cannot take sovereign
territory.
all states in the UN agree to engage in diplomatic practices and norms.
the UN charter articles 6 and 7 talk about international problems
6 is pacific (peaceful) resolutions to international problems embargoes,
boycotts
7 talks about collective security through military action.
the charter also outlines the institutional organization of the UN and its 6 primary
organs.
the Charter was being written and negotiated during WW2 and then finalized at
San Francisco following the war.
The 6 organs of the UN are:
General Assembly - all member states sit.
All states have an equal vote.
the GA meets regularly in plenary sessions.
There is a president of the GA but the position lacks power he just sets
the agenda and runs the sessions.
Special sessions can be held at any time (think UNSSOD) there have
been 27 special sessions of the UN.
Emergency sessions can also be held and will deal with a specific
emergency, these are rare and are help in regards to a threat to peace in the
International assembly The Security council calls for emergency sessions.
Anything can be brought up at emergency and special sessions.
The budget for the UN has to be approved by the GA.
The GA can also make recommendations to the Security Council that
are either important questions (2/3 majority) of other considerations (50% +1).
The GA makes non-binding decisions and resolutions. The GA makes
declarations - very broad statements, resolutions - more specific and deal with a
specific nation or issue, and conventions - not common that are basically treaties,
there are multi-lateral conventions (NPT) and bi-lateral conventions (b/w UN and
a specific state or region and usually talking about peacekeeping missions). The
majority of the decisions that the GA makes are declarations and resolutions.
- Security Council
the primary role of the SC is to find peaceful resolutions to conflict
decisions by the SC are supposed to be binding on Member States. they
are supposed to be more important than GA decisions.
the mandate of the SC is Peace and Security in the international system
the SC has the right to identify and aggressor in a conflict and direct military
force against aggressors.
the forces directed by the SC are supposed to be lead by a Military staff
committee. All members were supposed to donate troops to the committee. This
didn’t happen.
the SC has 5 permanent members - Rus, USA, GB, Fra, Chn, and all have
a veto. These are the main winners of WW2. China was represented until the
1970s by Taiwan.
through most of the cold war the SC was grid locked b/c of the veto and the
ideological differences on the SC.
for a resolution to pass the SC all P-5 members and 4 out of 10 of the nonpermanent members.
there are 10 non-permanent members elected for 2 year terms and they are
staggered elections. they don’t have a veto. There are usually attempts to have
geographic and economic representation in the non-permanent members
the chair of the SC rotates on a monthly basis. the chair sets the agenda for
the SC
there are some members of the SC that will regularly abstain from voting China used to only vote on issues that it believed that were important to it’s
regional concerns.
the SC meets irregularly. they have no specific times to meet, they meet at
the request of any member of the GA.
in 1992 there was a summit meeting of council members (P-5) and the
possibility of reform of the SC was discussed. The council reinforced their
support for the original charter and the status quo. This has started to change a
little bit with most of the discussion concerning broadening the membership of
the SC but this is a long term goal.
Canada has been a non permanent member of the SC 6 times starting in
1946. The 2000s was the first decade in the history of the UN when Canada was
not a non-permanent. Canada lost to Portugal in 2010.
The SC has passed resolutions endorsing armed intervention a number of
times:
1st Gulf War, Invasion of Haiti, Cambodia, Rwanda, Yugoslavia,
Kosovo, and Libya.
ECOSOC
Economic and Social Council - it was added to the UN largely due to the
demands of developing nations
it was added to make sure that the UN wouldn’t focus solely on security
ECOSOC is supposed to take care of small and developing states in the UN
ECOSOC conducts a lot of research on economic and social issues.
Has 6 specific commissions:
Human rights
population
statistics
social development
status of women
narcotic drugs.
there are regional commissions w/i ECOSOC - Africa, Europe, Latin America,
Asia, and the Pacific.
many of the specialized agencies of the UN are housed w/i ECOSOC UNESCO, Universal Postal Union, WHO, IMF,
Its most challenging function is that it is in charge of being the contact for all
NGOs in the International System. ECOSOC has to maintain relations with the
NGOs
Secretariat
It is the bureaucratic wing of the UN with about 15000 people working in this
organization with 1/3 in New York and the rest in Geneva
the goal of the secretariat was to create a global bureaucracy that would have no
ties to national gov’ts
the secretariat:
collects and publishes data
all administrative tasks for peace keeping
organizes conferences
budgeting and accounting responsibilities
headed by the most important person in the UN - the Secretary General.
the Secretary- General is responsible for the highest level of diplomacy and
mediation.
the Secretary - General is nominated for a 5 year term and that can be extended.
there has never been a secretary-general from a great powers.
Secretary - Generals are often elected from small nations that aren’t even
regional powers.
Trusteeship Council
created in 1945 to dismantle old colonial empires.
the council was designed to help shepherd colonies into independence
in the 60s and 70s were the busiest times for the council and by 85 it was down
to 18.
in the 90s there were only 2 nations still looked after by the council. Namibia
gained independence in 1990 and Palau was the last trusteeship in 1994.
International Court of Justice
Envisioned to be a world court that would settle disputes b/w states and would
advise the UN on International Law.
there are 15 Justices that are elected by the security council. They are ratified by
the GA. the Justices serve 9 year terms
the ICJ has not served as a court to settle international disputes. It has only
heard about 60 cases in its History and mostly advises the UN on international
law
b/c of article 2.7 the decisions of the ICJ are non-binding.
Mar 30, 2011.
Human Rights
Will talk about
identifying rights
defining special rights
codifying rights
enforcement of rights
Identifying Rights
there is a debate b/w individual and collective rights. this was a major part
of cold war. and there was constant tension b/w these two divisions.
Individual rights were freedoms that we associate with western liberal
rights - property rights, freedom of speech, association, religion.
Collective rights represented the ideological dynamic of socialism common ownership, shared labour, equal standards of living.
there is some over lap b/w these two and most states in the Int’l system have a
combination of both individual and collective rights.
Canada is a prime example of this We have individual rights in The Charter
of Rights and Freedoms and collective rights are protected in the Constitution.
The origin of individual rights came from the classic European Liberal
Philosophers in the 15th-17th Century, Locke, Mills, Smith, Bentham. These
were men with an agenda that were trying to gain some autonomy and
freedom from the monarchy.
Liberal rights are primarily a domestic concept until post WW2.
The origins of collective rights are also pre-cold war. They are not
ideological, they are based on non-westphalian concepts of organization tribal societies - food, clothing, shelter. It is an indigenous concept of
rights that is common to non-european societies.
The second debate in identifying rights is the debate b/w relative and
universal rights. It is related to the collective-individual rights.
A relativist will say that there is no such thing as universal rights b/c of
culture - different cultures will have different conceptions of rights in
different parts of the world, and time - the reality that concepts of rights will
change over time, they are not static.
Universalists argue that it is possible to come to some mutually agreeable
set of rights.
Defining International Human Rights
in the Int’l system there are three broad categories in terms of defining
rights:
Integrity of the Person - it deals with the rights of individuals and
usually deals with imprisonment, torture,
Political and Civil Rights - deal with various freedoms - expression,
association, movement, peaceful protests, religion.
Economic and Social Rights - deal with money and social issues rights that ensure that all people have the rights to housing, employment,
safety, basic standard of living, health care, education. These rights are
trying to close the gap b/w classes in the int’l system. Also trying to protect
groups of people during times of crisis.
individual rights and the relative rights movement are the movements that
have won - from identifying rights.
Crimes and Problems facing Human Rights
Genocide - as a term it didn’t exist until after WW2 (coined by a polish jurist) It
was the word that was created to talk about the atrocities of WW2. It is a
combination of a greek and latin word that mean people (genos) and kill
(caudere).
genocide is the systematic and deliberate putting to death of an entire
people. This means that there has to be a well organized plan. It cannot be
spontaneous. it also must last over an extended period of time.
It must encompass an entire people. It isn’t a mass killing b/c mass killing
isn’t trying to get rid of an entire people.
Only 3 events have qualified as a genocide
Holocaust
Rwanda
Cambodia
Another problem facing genocide is article 2.7 of the UN charter b/c it gives
a gov’t the right to do anything to it’s citizens w/i it’s own boarders.
The UN got around this by defining genocide as a crime against humanity
which supersedes Article 2.7.
there are no obligations on the int’l community if an event is agreed upon as a
genocide.
Apartheid - the physical separation of a certain group of people and
limiting their movement, education, employment, and residence.
again under 2.7 this is a legal action
the most obvious example of apartheid was South Africa. It was a
deliberate action of the National Party of South Africa. It was a gov’t policy.
Blacks were physically separated into townships and restrictions were placed on
their lifestyles.
the National party also had death squads that imprisoned or assassinated
opponents to apartheid. There were tens of thousands of deaths associated with
death squads.
Until the 70’s there was little tangible action against South Africa. When states
did decide to act, economic boycotts was the primary way to punish South Africa.
Canada boycotted South African wine but there was limited trade with South
Africa less than 1% and wine was chosen to be boycotted b/c it protected the
Canadian wine industry. Canada never boycotted diamonds which would have
actually meant something.
many states acted like Canada and the economic sanctions weren’t very
important the important boycotts that actually affected SA was the fact that
we wouldn’t let them play international sports.
Apartheid was dismantled by the African National Congress after it was
elected in 1994. Nelson Mandela was elected President after spending 30
years in prison.
While Apartheid is no longer an official policy it still exists today. SA tried to deal
with the abuses that took place during Apartheid but it was a domestic issue and
int’l human rights had nothing to do with it.
Mandela set up the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and it was a nonpunitive commission. The purpose of the commission was to get the
testimony on record and then to forgive and move on. As long as the
violence was politically motivated the perpetrator of the violence was
allowed to go free.
some people tried to exploit this and they were often convicted and sent to
prison
Capital Punishment - the state takes the most sever action against a
prisoner and takes his/her life.
again under article 2.7 this is allowable.
It is still a very common punishment around the world. some of the most
frequent users of capital punishment are
China
Saudi Arabia
USA
April 1, 2011
Warfare
The debate about human rights during conflict; a lot of people refer to
the “Just War Theory”; the most famous person that has done this is
Michael Walzer; it is a very state centric approach; he is focusing on
issues regarding states, citizenship
There are others that will write from a more cosmopolitan approach
that
are more human centric, such as Richard Beitz
We will focus more on Walzer; Walzer outlines two concepts, both of
which are Latin
1) Jus ad bellum: this is talking about the justice of war; when is
it
just for states to go to war with one another? The only justified wars
that exist in the IS are the ones that are fought in self-defense; his
best example of this would be the western intervention when Iraq
invaded
Kuwait; when these wars end, if you are fighting on the right side, it is
acceptable to punish the aggressor; the punishment is designed to
weaken
them and try to serve as a deterrent to other states
2) Jus in bello: this is more important towards human rights; this
is
the treatment of citizens in warfare; violence in a just war should be
proportional (e.g. if someone bombs a tower from Iraq, you should
not drop
a nuclear bomb on Iraq in retaliation); citizens are often the ones that
are targeted/killed in non-proportional conflicts; as well, in a just war
you should not intentionally target citizens; you must do whatever
you can
to limit civilian casualties
Refugees
The issue of refugees has changed; used be a person fleeing wellfounded
fears of persecution; the UN took the issue of refugees quite seriously;
in 1951 they create the UN high commissioner for Refugees; however, the
UN
at this time is dominated by western states, and those fleeing the
persecution of communism were considered refugees; this began to
change
around the 1970s; a couple of events take place that change this; the
first is the refugee problem that occurs between India and
Bangladesh;
thousands of Bangladeshi refugees flood into Northern India to
escape
flooding, famine and warfare; the other one was Vietnam and the
Vietnamese
boat people; this was 800,000 Vietnam refugees fleeing their country;
there were thousands of refugee camps surrounded all throughout
SE Asia with
these people (Hong Kong, Manila);
The UN’s response was to convince member states to take these
refugees;
the UN also came up with its comprehensive plan for action; this
would
return specific refugees to their original country (e.g. Boat People to
Vietnam); you could use force if it was necessary; the UN is really not
doing anything for these people
A problem occurred when the Cold War ended; a good example of
this would
be Germany in 1992; 438,000 people declared themselves refugees,
allowing
them to stay in Germany as the country began to form into its shape today;
Today we have lots of refugee issues; a good example would be
thousands
of Cuban and Haitian refugees trying to get into Florida; SE Asian
citizens are trying to get into Canada and the US; the response by
member
states is to intercept these refugees via the Coast Guard;
Africa is another good example of a refugee problems; During
the height
of the Rwandan crisis over 80,000 people an hour were entering
Zaire;
It is estimated in 1995 that there were 23 million refugees in the
world, while today they estimate there are over 35 million people
Why this deals with human rights is that these are the most
vulnerable
people in the IS; it is up to states to deal with these issues; the UN
does little here
Gender
What we deal with gender issues in the western world are much
less
severe in comparison to other gender issues; in the west, we deal
with pay
equity, domestic violence, hiring etc
The UN in the 1900s, there was a group of Canadian women who
asked the
UN to intervene on the issue of unequal taxing; the UN declined this on a
basis of too many issues
Due to culture, laws and religion women are declined the most
basic
human rights; women are often treated as less than human and are
often
discriminated at or earlier than birth; if you are in a society that has
the money or technology to determine whether a fetus is female, you
may be aborted; male children are more favored because it is more
financially
feasible; male children can take care of the adults, can support them
financially; females need to pay a dowry for you to get married off; a
lot
of families cannot afford this; some of these societies also have a
two-child policy
The reality is that most societies cannot determine the sex
before
birth; this leads to infanticide if the sex is a women; 1300 women
were
surveyed in rural India, and 50% had either participated or knew a
family
member who had engaged in it; it is very common in rural areas; as
well,
it is very difficult to prosecute a person because it is accepted
socially; a common way of killing is pouring scalding water down the
throat of an infant
If a female survives birth, there are other barriers; women are
often
not given the same educational opportunities in relation to a man; in
rural Pakistan, schools are segregated; most of the schools that exist are
very poorly attended and resourced; if you are given access to education
it wont last long; most women are finished with school around seven or
eight because at this age they are financially able to provide for the
family; they become a source of labor; a survey done in Pakistan’s rural
and urban showed that 90% of women over the age of 25 are illiterate; of
the 1.7 billion living in poverty in the world today, 70% of those are
women;
1 out of 18 women in South Asian countries dies of pregnancy
related
causes; these are not simply childbirth, but also abortion; many of
these
abortion methods are crude and hazardous to womens health; in
Nepal and
Bangladesh, 1 out of every five women will die before the age of five; you
have a 20% chance of dying before you are five; in India, 25% of the 12
million females born in India will die before the age of fifteen;
In India, it is also culturally acceptable to engage in wife burning;
5000 women were killed for this; this is when a dowry or a behavior of
a
wife to be unacceptable; this allows a male to burn his wife for this;
It is common for women to have genital mutilation; the female
area will
be altered/cut; it is culturally a right of passage, and is common in
Africa;
There are a lot of problems to gender issues, causing the IS to
respond
minimally
The response has been minimal due to article 2.7 in the UN
charter; the
other problem is that there is very little motivation by western states
to
act; they do not make this a priority; Canada has made genital
mutilation
illegal and made this a valid reason to apply for refugee status; the
problem with this is that this procedure occurs around 11-12 years old;
The UN tried to deal with this by having a large conference in
Beijing
China; 50,000 delegates were here to discuss the issues facing
women; the
UN Conference on Women; there were six final points raised here;
1) Women’s right to decide on matters of their own sexuality
2) Prohibited violence against women: these included rape
during
wartime, sexual harassment, genital mutilation and domestic abuse;
shows
the East-West divide
3) Discrimination against female infants and young girls: this
goes with the problems of infanticide
4) Women should have the right to access credit and other
instruments of economic power
5) Women should have the right to own and inherit property
6) Strengthen the family as the basic unit of society: this shows
the
problems that the conference faced; the Christian rights movement in
the
United States were a huge presence at this conference, therefore
showing
their influence; this point does not really apply to the issues facing
women in the developing world
April 4, 2011
Gender issues continued
Child Labour has been compared to slavery. UNICEF is the branch of the
UN that looks at child labour and child labour issues. UNICEF looks for:
working in exploitive conditions
age - below 16 although many children even in western society under
16 have jobs
the labour is depriving children of the basic standards of living mainly access to education
opportunities to break the cycle of poverty is was UNICEF is looking
for
Child labour happens mainly in 3 sectors of economies:
Agriculture - plantation economies (Coffee, sugar cane)
light manufacturing - textiles industry (sweatshops)
Sex industries - both male and female children are exploited. India has
an estimated 400,000 children in the sex industry. Thailand about 100,000.
Vietnam, Cambodia, Sri Lanka all have about 50,000. Cuba about 20,000.
Foreign sex tourists use these minors in the industry as well as local consumers.
Child sex industries happens in western nations as well.
in 1996 Canada made a contribution to the International Labour Organization to
help study child labour. The same year we also attended the world congress on
the sexual exploitation of children in Stockholm with about 118 other states. This
congress did result in changes in Canada.
Namely bill C-27 - it made it illegal to travel to another nation and have sex with
children. Canadians could now be prosecuted in Canada for commercial sexual
activities abroad.
Up until now there has only been one conviction. Foreign nations don’t help
prosecute b/c it is culturally acceptable for children to be part of the industry and
b/c it is often a large part of the hosts nation’s economy so they don’t want to
disrupt it.
It is also hard to prosecute offenders b/c it is very hard to find evidence.
in 2002 bill C-15A was passed to deal with the problems of C-27. Any sexual
offence against a minor overseas. It also deals with internet luring and it includes
non-commercial sexual activities.
What has the International Community done about Abuses in the Int’l
System?
Up until the 1700’s only the nobility and elite had rights. The first discourse on
rights are about domestic rights and they are again rights for DWEM (dead white
european men). These rights are focused on freedom of association, expression,
and movement.
It isn’t until the late 1800s that we see some discussion on the issue of
human rights in the Int’l system. It is focused on slavery. The first
discussion was at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 and Berlin in 1880. It was
recognized that they shouldn’t be doing this, nothing was done.
It was left up to domestic legislation w/i nations to deal with slavery.
during and after WW2 we start to see a dialogue on the need for human
rights.this was due to:
the massive amounts of civilian deaths.
Holocaust/genocide
domestic violations of human rights (Japanese Internment in Canada)
The Nuremberg trials and the different asian trials were the first attempts to
deal with human rights and war criminals. These trials were not an attempt
to apply human rights universally, it was a winner driven set of trials.
There were no other int’ human rights courts until the 1990s.
the first attempt to deal with human rights int’ly and universally was the
formation of the UN and the UN Charter on Human Rights in 1948.
The leading advocate of Int’l human rights was President Roosevelt. He believed
that the UN should be founded on basic universal human rights. It was his widow
Eleanor that took got the Human rights charter passed.
Canada played an important role in the drafting of the charter of human rights.
John Humphrey from McGill University played a large role in the drafting.
UN Charter of Human Rights - has 30 articles
1 - All humans are born free and equal in dignity and rights. IN(dividual)
2 - humans are entitled to these rights w/o discrimination based on race,
colour, sex, language, religion, national or social origin, property, birth,
social status and many many more. IN
3 - every one has the right to life, liberty, and security of person. IN
4 - prohibits slavery IN
5 - no individuals shall be subject to torture, degrading, or inhumane
treatment or punishment. IN
17 - everyone has the right to own property IN
19 - everyone has the right to freedom of opinion, expression, association,
and peaceful assembly. IN
23 - everyone has the right to work and be employed, also have the right to
rest and leisure including a payed holiday. IN
26 - individuals have the right to an education. COL(lective)
the UN declaration of human rights focuses on the rights of the individual
and over the next 60 years as the membership of the UN changes there is
an attempt to balance the rights of the individual with the rights of the
collective.
the UN does this by passing covenants, resolutions, and holding conventions on
human rights.
in 1966 two covenants are passed to help balance human rights in the UN
INt’l Covenant on Individual and Civil Rights - re-enforced western individual
rights.
Int’l Covenant on Economic, Cultural, and Social Rights - was designed to
balance individual and collective rights.
There are 6 broad categories that the UN uses to define covenants and
conventions
General Human rights
slavery
racial discrimination
rights of women and children
refugees
Others
it took 10 years to get enough states to ratify these agreements.
April 6, 2011
Human Rights Con’t
Human Rights during the Cold War
it was very difficult to deal with human rights during the cold war b/c of the
ideological differences USA and USSR (individual vs collective). THe two
sides didn’t talk very much and the security council veto make it even more
difficult to discuss human rights
in the 70s there was a brief thaw in the cold war and this results in the Helsinki
agreements
the Helsinki agreements established a forum of communication. The
Conference for Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) was the
conference that was formed. The west had to acknowledge the legitimacy
of current boarders in Europe to get the conference.
In return for acknowledging boarders western nations were able to make
sure that the CSCE established three areas of negotiations. Security (see
arms control section), Economics - science and technology, Human Rights
- culture and information.
there were a number of conferences - 2 in Madrid and one in Vienna (1986-89)
and Moscow in ’91.
No formal agreements on Human Rights came out of the CSCE, what does
happen is that western nations prioritized human rights in each of these
conferences.
In eastern european nations as well as the USSR there is some willingness
to allow discussion of human rights w/i the states after these conferences.
In Moscow a NGO called Helsinki Watch was allowed to operate and it
reported on human rights abuses in Russia. There was a similar group in the
Czech Republic.
once the Soviet union collapsed in 1990 the CSCE expanded from 35
members to 53 members in 1992. This presented a challenge on
organization to the CSCE and they reorganized themselves into a formal
institution by:
establishing a permanent secretariat in Prague
opened a conflict prevention center in Vienna
established the Office of Democratic Institutions and Rights in
Warsaw.
the CSCE changed its name to the OSCE (Organization on Security and
Cooperation in Europe). The OSCE focuses on diplomacy and mediation,
and Human Rights.
Russia proposed in the early 1990s that the OSCE replace NATO in Europe but
the US, GB, and FRA refused.
During the civil war in Yugoslavia the OSCE tried to negotiate an end to the war
before the UN and NATO became involved.
During the conflict in Kosovo the OSCE was part of the international observer
mission.
Because of the OSCE and other organization, Europe has a massive
amount of resources dedicated to human rights and has one of the best
track records on enforcing human rights in the world.
Enforcing Human Rights
there has to be institutions in place to prosecute, imprison or otherwise
punish offenders.
the UN International Court of Justice (ineffective), Nuremberg and Pacific
Trials (ad hoc and winner driven approaches as well as temporary), UN
efforts in Rwanda and Yugoslavia are the only attempts globally that have
tried to enforce human rights
there are no permanent, effective global human rights enforcement
organizations. As a result enforcement of human rights becomes a regional
issue.
Europe has the most effective enforcement organizations and it started in
1949 with the Council or Europe which had the broad mandate of promote
democratic values. In 1950 the Council codified what it was going to do in
the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms. In that document the institutional structure of the
council of europe is outlined and how it is going to go about enforcing
human rights
the Council of Europe consist of an: (both are in Strasbourg)
Executive - the European Commission on Human Rights, Where the
bureaucracy of the Council of Europe sits.
Judiciary - European Court of Human Rights. It is important b/c it can
hear cases regarding individuals. Individuals who feel that there human
rights have been violated can also go and have their case heard at the
court.
there are a number of ways that cases make it to the court:
A member state can authorize that a case be heard
The executive of the Council of Europe and the European Commission
on Human Rights can also sponsor a case and authorize that it be heard.
The European Court on Human Rights can also serve as a court of appeal
on human rights issues from domestic court systems.
the European Court on Human Rights is an important institutional change b/c it is
the first to allow domestic issues from other nations to be heard in an
international court.
it establishes an international precedent. Over its 50 years it has heard about 150
cases which is a fairly large number of cases.
EU - it is not the Council of Europe and the EJC (European Court of Justice) is
not a human rights court. The ECJ deals w/ EU law which is often economic and
contract law based.
International Criminal Court - grew out of a 1998 conference in Rome and
the Rome Statute which called for the creation of an international criminal
court primarily to deal with international human rights abuses.
It called for the establishment of a permanent court located in The Hague. The
process of ratification took about 4 years and in 2002 the ICC was formed.
The ICC has some rather significant loopholes in the ICC
If you are a signatory on the Rome statue you have the right to opt out
of the courts jurisdiction at any time for 7 years.
the ICC has no jurisdiction over states that aren’t signatories.
People accused of genocide have to voluntarily appear and agree to
be prosecuted.
Members of the UN Security Council could suspend an ICC case at
any time if it was vital to international security.
there were a number of things considered not to be considered crimes
against human rights - Deliberate starvation of civilians, use of nuclear
chemical and biological weapons.
the major problem with the ICC was the non-signatories - China, Libya,
Algeria, Yemen, USA
Libya didn’t sign the original Rome Statue but they did sign the ICC
later on when they got rid of their Nuclear weapons.
The USA was originally a member b/c Clinton signed the agreement
but Bush unsigned the agreement.
Cases of the ICC
Since 2002 6 cases have been considered and 1 has been suspended. All of
these cases have been heard post 2006. Those first few years were spent
building up the ICC.
There are three ways to get a case in front of the ICC
a member state sponsors a case
the UN security council sponsors a case
the ICC can appoint a special prosecutor to investigate a potential
case. They can also launch a formal investigation which can lead to
charges.
April, 8 2011
ICC Continued...
Cases that that ICC has heard
Situation in Uganda - One of the first cases brought to the ICC. THe Ugandan
gov’t filed the case, the Ugandan gov’t accused 5 rebel leaders of the Lords
Resistance Army of atrocities. The ICC only prosecutes leaders.
Of the 5 leaders charged, one has died and the other 4 are still at large.
Situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo - 6 cases involving 6 people. 2
of the cases are at pre-trial stage and 4 cases at the trial stage. Of the 6 people
charged 5 are on trial and one is at large. The accused were turned over by the
congolese gov’t who also filled the case.
Sudan - was filled by the UN Security Council - there are 4 cases associated with
Darfur and they involve 4 individuals. All are in pre-trial stage and of the 4 cases
one of the people appeared voluntarily before the court (Bahr Idriss Abu Gardu).
He was cleared of all charges. The other 3 people charged are still at large
Situation in Central Africa Republic - the gov’t of CAR filled the case and turned
over the suspect to the ICC and the trial is currently ongoing.
ICC special prosecutors have only launched 2 formal investigations
Columbia - but no charges were ever laid.
Situation in Kenya - charges have been laid on 6 people and April 7 2011
was the first hearing in which 3 suspects showed up voluntarily and the other 3
are at large.
Situation in Libya - UN Security Council asked the ICC to launch an investigation
into activities in Libya. In march 2011 a formal investigation was launched.
The geography of of the ICC cases is interesting as all of the cases The ICC
has considered and pursued are in Africa.
Great Powers and Hegemonies decide how much state sovereignty will be
respected although the special prosecution can somewhat do this.
no trial has ever reached the sentencing phase. In almost ten years no one
has ever been found guilty or completed a trial
the ICC has been used by national gov’ts to weaken or challenge the
legitimacy of your opposition.
ICC in regards to Realism
states are the most important actors b/c most of the cases have been
brought forward by states. It is a state driven institution created by states
and state sovereignty article 2.7 is always respected
security - hegemons have played a large role in deciding who gets
investigated (UN security council)
anarchy - the existence of the ICC shows that there is no overarching
authority as the court doesn’t work.
Exam
3 definitions out of a choice of 5 - UN organs, Arms control and Human Rights.
1 no choice - Essay question will either be Human Rights or arms control and
applying a liberal or realist model to the ideas.
essay will be a analysis - how and why the points of realism is applicable to
human rights or arms control. Only do 3 or 4 points and just do a good job of
them.
Rwandan Genocide
Rwanda is dominated by 2 tribal groups the Tutsi and Hutu, there is no record of
atrocities prior to colonialism
the Tutsi did establish a bit of a monarchy but there wasn’t huge differences.
Tutsi and Hutu’s are physically different - Tutsi are taller and thinner and Hutu’s
are shorter and stockier.
Rwanda was one of the last areas of Africa to be colonized, wasn’t colonized
until 1894. German traders were the first europeans in Rwanda and then Belgium
gained control in 1915.
the Belgians tried to use the divide and conquer game to control the colonize.
The used the Tutsi to rule over the Hutu and let the Tutsi run the colony. Tutsi
were the policemen, gov’t officials, and had all the important jobs.
Even in this system the tutsi and Hutu are friendly towards each other.
Rwanda was pushed into the trusteeship council post WW2 and this made the
Tutsi nervous b/c they were numerically inferior to the Hutu.
the Tutsi lobbied Belgium to not allow the country to become independent so that
they could maintain control. Belgium got so sick of the Rwanda problem that they
sponsored a Hutu led civil war in 1959. The Tutsi gov’t was toppled and Rwanda
became independent from Belgium
It was during the civil war that the first atrocities against Tutsi’s. There were also
mass refugees 500,000 and they are largely Tutsi.
in 1961 the Hutu Emancipation Movement wins UN sponsored elections and
forms the gov’t. in 1962 Rwanda is recognized by the IR system.
there are many problems w/i Rwanda - the economy sucks - and this leads to a
military coup in 1973. General Juvenal Habyarimana declares himself president
and dissolves the national assembly and elections. He is a Hutu.
He establishes his own political party - the National Revolutionary Movement for
Development (MRND). There are subsequent election in 78, 83, and 88 they are
one candidate, one party elections so he is re-elected every time.
in 1990 He announces that there will be free elections. The Tutsi refugees that
are outside the nation organized in the late 80s into the RPF - Rwanda Patriotic
Front - and shortly after this announcement they invade Rwanda
1990-91 RPF and MRND fight a civil war. There was a cease-fire signed in 92
that also establishes the UN mandate to send a peace keeping mission to
Rwanda.
The UN had already had to epic peace keeping fails in the early 90s - Yugoslavia
and Somalia. Both of these missions had been a shift away from peace keeping
to a peace keeping mission. The UN made it clear to everyone that they would
only go into Rwanda if it is going to be a traditional peace keeping mission aka peace has already been established and fighting has been stopped and all
combatants have to invite the UN into the country. UN peace keepers are
neutral, lightly armed and only fire in self defense.
The leader is D’Allaire and most of the troops are from Belgium.
the catalyst for the genocide was on april 6, 1994 - the President of Rwanda’s
plane is shot down. The President was Hutu - there is speculation that the Hutu’s
shot down the plane to give them a reason to start the genocide. The president of
Burrundi was also in the plane.
w/i hours of the plane going down, large groups of Hutu’s begin the genocide and
one of the first places they go is to the Tutsi PM and the Belgium body guards as
well. This begins the genocide.
the genocide lasted for several months. Hutu’s targeted the Tutsi but they also
targeted moderate Hutu’s as well. It is estimated that 800,000 people were killed
during the genocide and 2,000,000 refugees left the Rwanda into neighboring
nations.
Hutu Organized Militia’s and the army were largely responsible for the killing
although sometimes regular citizens joined into the frenzy
virtually all 800,000 people - women, children, seniors, disabled people, men, everyone was a target and most were killed with machetes.
civil war broke out again in response to the genocide and doesn’t end until 1994.
The RPF defeats the MRND. 100,000s of Hutus then leave the nation out of fear.
in 1996 the UN goes back to Rwanda in UNAMIR 2.
there was an attempt to establish trials and at reconciliation. It became very
difficult b/c 100,000s of people were imprisoned and charged. The UN and
Rwanda didn’t have the capacity to deal with these many people so Gacaca’s
were set up. These were traditional tribal councils.
The UN wrote a report on the genocide in Rwanda and in the report they admit
that more could have been done to prevent it but refused to accept blame for the
genocide.
The AU also wrote a report and it sharply criticized the UN and its failure to act in
the Genocide
in Both reports D’Allaire was exonerated and praised for his efforts to try and
prevent the genocide.