Chapter 2
The holding by one state of a preponderance of power in the international system
What is hegemony?
A political and economic situation in which states are mutually dependent on each other for products
What is interdependence?
Warfare by one state waged to conquer and occupy another
What is total war?
Tanks and other armored vehicles.
What is armor?
A variable that might potentially "cause" something else.
What is an independent variable?
In IR Theory, a term that implies not complete chaos but the lack of a central government that can enforce rules
What is anarchy?
The proposition that democracies almost never fight wars against each other (although they do fight against authoritarian states).
What is democratic peace?
An intentional and systematic attempt to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.
Genocide
An effort to combat guerrilla armies
What is counterinsurgency?
A situation where we don't know which variable is a cause and which is an effect
What is the chicken-egg problem?
A situation in which actions that states take to increase their own security are perceived as threats by other states
What is the security dilemma?
The public’s increased support for government leaders during wartime, at least in the short term.
What is the rally around the flag effect?
The principle that people who identify as a nation should have the right to form a state.
What is self-determination?
The ability to use force in areas far from a country’s region or sphere of influence.
What is power projection?
A causal relationship that falls short of necessity and sufficiency. In other words, it is likely or probable that it will happen, but not guaranteed.
What is a probabilistic relationship?
The argument that regimes are most eƯective when power in the international system is most concentrated.
What is hegemonic stability theory?
A strand of feminism that emphasizes gender equality and views differences in men’s and women’s abilities as trivial.
What is liberal feminism?
A warfare without front lines and with irregular forces, such as the FARC in Colombia.
What is guerrilla war?
An “airplane-style” delivery system for weapons of increasing popularity given the rise of anti-ballistic missile systems.
What is a cruise missile?
Making inferences based only on positive outcomes of a given phenomenon.
What is selection on the dependent variable?
Actors conceived of as single entities that can “think” about their actions, coherently make choices, and identify and rank their interests
What are rational actors?
Foreign policies adopted to distract the public from domestic political problems.
What is Diversionary Foreign Policy?
A form of nationalism whose goal is to regain territory lost to another state.
What is irredentism?
The possession of second-strike nuclear capabilities, which assures that neither of two adversaries can prevent the other from destroying it in an all-out war.
What is Mutually Assured Destruction?
The practice of turning abstract concepts into measurable variables
What is operationalization?