Define These Introduction to International Relations Terms Flashcards

Coalitions of states formed for mutual protection.

Conflict between the capitalist owners of wealth and industrialproduction and the workers they employ. Class conflict is drivenby antagonistic economic interests and, according to Marxism,will increasingly define the relations between workers and capitalists.

The idea that market society and economic interdependence tendto have a pacifying impact on relations among states. As the economicrelations between two states increase, the interests of these states instable and continuous relations grow.

A social system in which there is no private property or capitalist state, and workers collectively and harmoniously govern the economy and society.

The tendency of peoples in different countries to embrace eachother as fellow global citizens. Cosmopolitanism can be contrastedwith nationalism.

The theory that democracies are unusually peaceful toward each other.Democracies, or republics, are understood as states that have electedgovernments, a free press, private property, and the rule of law.

The liberal idea that institutions are tools that allow states to developmore efficient and durable forms of cooperation.

Civil society is the realm of private activity that lies outside the political system. It is the realm of private associations, where religious, ethnic,and civic groups flourish. Civil society exists within countries but it also operates between countries, often manifest in transnational groups and associations. Global civil society is, in effect, the sum total of these transnational groups and activities.

The notion that ideas matter in international relations.

The basic organization of the economy – the way in which people relate to one another and to the material world.

The idea that mankind is constantly inventing, innovating, improving, and creating, and that process itself.

A term that describes the political identity a people share, or a sense of collective fate as a political community.

The idea that as global learning and international socialization occur, ideas about what is or is not acceptable or “normal” change. As normative change occurs, it can impact international relations.

The problem of how the international system copes with the relative transition among rising and declining great powers.

When the relative power of two (or more) states changes, often due to technological innovations and uneven economic growth.