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Protestant Reformation

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A social and political movement begun in 1517 in reaction to the widespread perception that the Catholic Church had become corrupt and had lost its moral compass.

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Thirty Year's War (1618-1648)

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The last of the great wars in Europe fought nominally for religion. Began over a disagreement about the right of political leaders to choose a state religion.

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Peace of Westphalia (1648)

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Ended the Thirty Year's War and was crucial in delimiting the political rights and authority of European monarchs. An acknowledgement of sovereign equality.

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Sovereign Equality

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the idea that all countries have the same rights, including the right of noninterference in their internal affairs.

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Society of States

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an association of sovereign states based on their common interests, values, and norms.

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balance of power

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in the international system, a state of affairs in which there is parity and stability among competing forces, and no one state is sufficiently strong to dominate all the others.

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Peace of Utrecht (1713)

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The agreement that ended the War of the Spanish Succession and helped to consolidate the link between sovereign authority and territorial boundaries in Europe. This treaty refined the territorial scope of sovereign rights of states.

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National Self-Determination

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The right or desire of distinct national groups to become states and rule themselves.

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Concert Of Europe

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An informal institution created in 1815 by the five great powers of Europe (Austria, Britain, France, Prussia, and Russia) whereby they agreed on controlling revolutionary forces, managing the balance of power, and accepting interventions to keep current leaders in power. This system kept the peace in Europe from 1815 until World War I.

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Congress of Vienna

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A meeting of major European leaders (1814-1815) that redrew the political map of Europe after the Napoleonic Wars. The congress was an attempt to restore a conservative political order in the continent.

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Congress of Berlin

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A meeting of the European states that had an interest in colonizing Africa. it redrew the exisiting political map of Africa with a goal to avoid conflict between the European governments in Africa. "New Acts of Occupation"

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trench warfare

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warfare in which armies dug elaborate defensive fortifications in the ground, as both sides did in WWI. Because of the power of weapons like machine guns and rapid fire cannons, trenches often gave the advantage in battle to the defenders.

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Fourteen Points

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President Woodrow Wilson's vision of international society, first articulated in January 1918, included the principle of self-determination, the conduct of diplomacy on an open (not secret) basis, and the establishment of an association of nation-states to provide guarantees of independence and territorial integrity (League of Nations)

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Armistice

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a cease fire agreement between enemies in wartime. In the case of WWI, it began at 11am on Nov. 11, 1918

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Treaty of Versailles, 1919

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Formally ended World War I.

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Liberal Democracy

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A government that champions freedom of the individual, constitutional civil and political rights, and laissez-faire economic arrangements. Capitalist economies , multilateralism and free trade.

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Munich Agreement of 1938

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An agreement negotiated after a conference held in munich between Germany and the United Kingdom and other major powers of Europe along with Czechoslovakia. It permitted the Nazi German annexation of Sudentenland, an area along the Czech border that was inhabited primarily by ethnic Germans.

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Appeasement

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A policy of making concessions to a territorially acquisitive state in the hope that settlement of more modest claims will assuage that state's expansionist appetites.

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Blitzkrieg

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The German term for "lightning war". this was an offensive strategy that used the combination of mechanized forces - especially tanks - and aircraft as mobile artillery to exploit breaches in an enemy's front line.

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Hegemony

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A system regulated by a dominant leader, or political (and/or economic) domination of a region. It also means power and control exercised by a leading state over other states.

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Cold War

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The period from 1946 to 1991 defined by ideological conflict and rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union. This was a global struggle for the hearts and minds of citizens around the world that was characterized by political conflict, military competition, proxy wars, and economic competition.

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Bipolar

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an international political order in which two states dominate all others. It is often used to describe the nature of the international system when the two superpowers, the soviet union and the united states, were dominant powers during the cold war.

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Truman Doctrine

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A statement made by US President Harry Truman in March 1947 that it "must be the policy of the US to support free people who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures."

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Containment

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An American political strategy for resisting perceived Soviet expansion.

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Marshall Plan

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Officially known as the European Recovery Program, it was a program of financial and other economic aid for Europe after WWII.

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NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organization

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The organization established by treaty in April 1949 comprising twelve (later 16) countries from Western Europe and North America. The most important aspect of the NATO alliance was the American commitment to the defense of Western Europe. Today, NATO has 28 member states.

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Warsaw Pact

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An agreement of mutual defense and military aid signed in May 1955 in response to West Germany's rearmament and entry into NATO. It comprised the USSR and seven communist states (though Albania withdrew support in 1961). The pact was officially dissolved in July 1991.

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Arms Race

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A central concept in realist thought. As states build up their military to address real or perceived threats to their national security, they may create insecurity in other states. These states in turn develop their military capacities and thus begin an arms race. This never-ending pursuit of security creates the condition we know as a security dilemma.

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Détente

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The relaxation of tension between East and West; Soviet-American lasted from the late 1960's to the late 1970's and was characterized by negotiations and nuclear arms control agreements.

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Rapprochment

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The reestablishment of more friendly relations between the People's Republic of China and the United States in the early 1970's.

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Ostpolitik

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The West German government's "Eastern Policy" of the mid to late 1960's, designed to develop relations between West Germany and members of the Warsaw Pact.

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Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)

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A controversial strategic policy advocated by the Reagan administration and nuclear physicists such as Edward Teller, who helped create the hydrogen bomb. The plan, which is often nicknamed Star Wars, called for a defensive missile shield that would make Soviet offensive missiles ineffective by destroying them in flight.

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Glasnost

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a policy of greater openness pursued by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev from 1985, involving more toleration of internal dissent and criticism.

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Perestroika

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Gorbachev's policy of restructuring, pursued in tandem with glasnost and intended to modernize the Soviet political and economic system.

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Strategic Arms Reductions Treaty (START)

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Negotiations between the US and SU over limiting nuclear arsenals began in 1982 and progressed at a very slow pace over 8 years. The eventual treaty in 1991 broke new ground because it called for a reduction of nuclear arms rather than just a limit on the growth of these weapons.

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Capitalism

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A system of production in which human labor an dits products are commodities that are bought and sold in the marketplace.

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hyperpower

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the situation of the US after the Cold War ended. with the SU's military might greatly diminished and China having primarily only regional power-projecting capability, the US was unchallenged in the world.

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Oligarchs

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a term from ancient Greece to describe members of a small group that controls a state

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Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

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The sum of all economic activity that takes place within a country.

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Soft power

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the influence and authority deriving from the attraction that a country's political, social, and economic ideas, beliefs, and practices have for people living in other countries.

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Pluralism

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A political theory holding that political power and influence in society do not belong just to the citizens nor only to elite groups in various sectors of society but are distributed among a wide number of groups in the society. It can also mean a recognition of ethnic, racial and cultural diversity.

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Theocracy

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a state based on a religion

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Jihad

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In Arabic, it means struggle. It can refer to a purely internal struggle to be a better Muslim or a struggle to make society more closely align with the teachings of the Koran.

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Realism

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The theoretical approach that analyzes all international relations as the relation of states engaged in the pursuit of power. Realists see the international system as anarchic, or without a common power, and they believe conflict is endemic in the international system.

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Power

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This is a contested concept. Joseph Nye (2011) states that power is the capacity to do things and, in social and political situations, to affect others to get the outcome one wants. Sources of power include material or tangible resources and control over meaning or ideas.

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Sovereignty

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The condition of a state having control and authority over its own territory and being free from any higher legal authority. it is related to, but distinct from, the condition of a government being free from any external political constraints.

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Civil Society

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The totality of all individuals and groups in a society who are not acting as participants in any government institutions or acting in the interests of commercial companies.

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Ethic of Responsibility

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For realists, it represents the limits of ethics in international politics, it involves the weighing up of consequences and the realization that positive outcomes may result from amoral actions.

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Ethics

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Ethical studies in international relations and foreign policy include the identification, illumination, and application fo relevant moral norms to the conduct of foreign policy and assessing the moral architecture of the international system.

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Self-help

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in realist theory, in an anarchical environment, states cannot assume other states will come to their defense even if they are allies. Each state must take care of itself.

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Security Dilemma

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In an anarchic international system, one with no common central power, when one state seeks to improve its security it creates insecurity in other states.

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Anarchic System

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A realist description of the international system that suggests there is no common power or central governing structure.

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Comparative Advantage

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A theory developed by David Ricardo stating that two countries will both gain from trade if, in the absence of trade, they have different relative costs for producing the same goods. Even if one country is more efficient in the production of all goods than the other (absolute advantage), both countries will still gain by trading with each other as long as they have different relative efficiencies.

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Protectionist

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An economic policy of restraining trade between states through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, restrictive quotas, and a variety of other government regulations designed to allow "fair competition"among imports and goods and services produced domestically.

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Classical Realism

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The belief that it is fundamentally the nature of people and the state to act in a way that places interests over ideologies. The drive for power and the will to dominate are held to be fundamental aspects of human nature.

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Structural Realism (neorealism)

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A theory of realism that maintains the international system and the condition of anarchy or no common power push states and individuals to act in a way that places interest over ideologies. This condition creates a self help system. The international system is seen as a structure acting on the state with individuals below the level of the state actin gas agency on the state as a whole.

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Offensive Realism

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A structural theory of realism that views states as power maximizers.

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Defensive Realism

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A structural theory of realism that views states as security maximizers - more concerned with absolute power as opposed to relative power. According to this view, it is unwise for states to try to maximize their share of power and seek hegemony.

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Neoclassical Realism

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A version of realism that combines both structural factors such as the distribution of power and unit-level factors such as the interests of states.

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Liberalism

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A theoretical approach that argues for human rights, parliamentary democracy, and free trade - while also maintaining that all such goals must begin within a state.

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Multilateralism

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The process by which states work together to solve a common problem.

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Liberal internationalism

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A perspective that seeks to transform international relations to emphasize peace, individual freedom, and prosperity and to replicate domestic models of liberal democracy at the international level.

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Anarchy

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A system operating in the absence of any central government. It does not imply chaos but, in realist theory, the absence of political authority.

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Imperialism

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The practice of foreign conquest and rule in the context of global relations of hierarchy and subordination. It can lead to the establishment of an empire.

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Democratic Peace Thesis

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A central plank of liberal internationalist thought, makes two claims. 1, liberal polities exhibit restraint in their relations with other liberal polities (the so-called separate peace), but 2, they are imprudent in relations with authoritarian states. The validity of this thesis has been fiercely debated.

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Free Trade

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an essential element of capitalism that argues for no barriers or minimal barriers to the exchange of goods, services, and investments among states.

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Collective Security

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An Arrangement where each state in the system accepts that the security of one is the concern of all, and agrees to join in a collective response to aggression.

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Functionalism

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An idea that cooperation should begin with efforts aimed at resolving specific regional or transnational problems. it is assumed that resolution of these problems will lead to cooperation, or spillover, in other policy areas.

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Transnational Nonstate Actor

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any nonstate or nongovernmental actor from one country that has relations with any actor from another country or with an international organization.

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Neoliberalism

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Theory shaped by the ideas of commercial, republican, sociological, and institutional liberalism. They see the international system as anarchic but believe relations can be managed by the establishment of international regimes and institutions.

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Radical Liberalism

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The utopian side of liberalism best exemplified by the academic community called the World Order Models Project. These scholars advocate a world in which states promote values like social justice, economic well being, peace, and ecological balance.

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Positivism

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The position arguing that we can explain the social world as effectively as natural and physical scientists explain phenomena.

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Marxism

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A theory critical of the status quo, or dominant capitalist paradigm. It is a critique of the capitalist political economy from the view of the revolutionary proletariat, or workers. The ideal is a stateless and classless society.

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class

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a social group that in marxism is identified by its relationship with the means of production and the distribution of societal resources. Thus, we have the bourgeoisie, or the owners or upper classes, and the proletariat, or the workers.

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Liberal Feminism

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A position that advocates equal rights for women but also supports a more progressive policy agenda, including social justice, peace, economic well being, and ecological balance.

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Postmodern Feminism

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A position that criticizes the basic distinction between sex and gender that earlier feminist theories found useful.

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Constructivism

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An approach to international politics that concerns itself with the centrality of ideas and human consciousness. They have been broadly interested in how the structure constructs the actor's identities and interests, how their interactions are organized and constrained by that structure, and how their very interaction serves to either reproduce or transform that structure.

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