Realism
What is the difference between offensive vs. defensive realism?
OR: All states are revisionist, states have an insatiable appetite for power
DR: States just want to preserve the balance of power; once power is balanced, they are restrained
What are the four effects of sacred time according to Ron?
Vulnerability, motivation, constraint, and outrage
What is DPT?
Seeks to explain the near-complete absence of war within democratic dyads; the theory argues that this pattern is caused by the democratic character of the states involved
What is meant by the "delicate balance" of military power?
The military is strong enough to protect the state against outsiders but not too strong to impose its will over the state.
What is soft power?
the ability to co-opt rather than coerce. It involves shaping the preferences of others through appeal and attraction. Soft power is non-coercive, using culture, political values, and foreign policies to enact change
What is the difference between balancing vs. bandwagoning? And how does each relate to OR and DR?
DR: Hegemons are “bad” → balance → ultimate hegemonic decline
OR: Bandwagon → join and become more powerful
What are the three necessary and sufficient conditions for indivisibility of sacred space?
(i) Integrity (ii) Clear and unambiguous boundaries (iii) Non-fungibility
T or F: According to the DPT, there is a positive linear relationship between the "democratic-ness" of states and their tendency not to go to wars.
FALSE
What are TWO of the many ways (six mentioned in lecture) by which societies try to control the military?
Limiting state investments in security
Creating competing military organizations
Limiting the size of the military
Creating a representative military
Focusing the military on narrow technical expertise
Creating “citizen soldiers” / civic education - allegiance to the constitution
List and describe two reasons why territory is valuable to people/states.
When do states balance vs. bandwagon?
States balance to preserve their own influence and values
States bandwagon to free ride
What is meant by "necessary" and "sufficient" conditions (for sacred space)?
Necessary: Must be included for the event to occur, but can be insufficient to trigger the event
Sufficient: Can trigger the event, but technically doesn't imply necessity (can be excluded)
The three explanations for the DPT theory are institutional, cultural, and rationalist. What does each mean?
1. Citizens restrain leaders from going to war by means of democratic institutions (laws, vote, congress, lobbies, media)
2. Citizens in democracies recognize and respect the liberty of citizens in fellow democracies
3. Wars occur when states choose to misrepresent their capabilities or resolve; in democracies, the media restrains leaders from lying
What are praetorian states?
A strong military influence over the state but not a complete take-over of the government; indirect rule
According to Joseph Nye, why are democracies better suited to employ soft power?
Public diplomacy: NOT diplomacy between states/elites, but rather communicate between public 1 and state 2 (vice versa) or between public 1 and public 2
What is the difference between preventive war vs. preemptive strike? AND, what do defensive realists have to say about preventive wars (specifically, who is to blame, and when is war most likely)?
Difference: "Imminence"
DR: Defensive Realists blame the hegemon for starting the war, not the revisionist state, because war is most likely when a hegemon declines in power and a revisionist state threatens to overtake; the hegemon feels that war now is better than waiting.
Leaders are most likely to time their attacks with sacred dates in the religious calendar under three conditions according to Ron. What are they?
When conflict occurs across religious divides, when the sacred day is unambiguous in significance and meaning, and when rituals connected to that day will undermine an opponents’ military effectiveness.
Come up to the board, and graph the empirically more accurate relationship between the "democratic-ness" of states and their tendency not to go to war (specify and label the axes!).
See the board
Summarize Lutterbeck's main argument/theory regarding the civil-military relationship. ALSO, explain how tribalism/cronyism and meritocracy relate to the theory.
Low-Level of Institutionalization + Weak Link to Society = Resistance to Pro-Reform Movements
High-Level of Institutionalization + Strong Link to Society = Openness to Pro-Reform Movements
Tribalism/cronyism = low-level of institutionalization
Meritocracy = high-level of institutionalization
List and describe two ways how territorial disputes can escalate into war.
Misperception
Other Psychological Reasons - loss aversion/sunk cost
SOPs - accidental clashes/interaction
Social Identity Theory
Authoritarianism - scapegoating adversary for domestic control
List an example of a revisionist state and the corresponding balancing coalition in WANA, AND the specific corresponding historical period.
1940-1960 Israel V Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi
1960-1980 Egypt V Jordan, Iraq, Israel
1980-1990 Iran V Iraq, Egypt, Saudi, Gulf, Israel
1990-2000 Iraq V Iran, Egypt, Saudi, Gulf, Israel
2000-now Iran V Iraq, Egypt, Saudi, Gulf, Israel
List the five stages/structures of how places become holy/sacred IN ORDER.
Hierophany, Pilgrimage, Shrine, Temple, Mirror Site
What are anocracies? How do they challenge the DPT theory? AND WHY are anocracies more susceptible to conflict than autocracies (think John Owen article)?
Anocracies = semi-democracies (states transitioning to democracies)
They challenge the DPT theory as anocracies are the reason why the linear relationship assumption is not observed in real life.
Anocracies are more susceptible to conflict than autocracies because "Politicians, vying for power, appeased domestic hard-liners by resorting to nationalistic appeals that vilified foreigners, and these policies often led to wars that were not in the countries' strategic interests." (Rally-round-the-flag effect)
Define "military dictatorships," compare them to praetorian states, AND list two current or historical military dictatorships in WANA.
A military dictatorship, or a military regime, is a type of dictatorship in which power is held by one or more military officers. Military dictatorships are led by either a single military dictator, known as a strongman, or by a council of military officers known as a military junta.
Syria - Assad, Libya - Qaddafi, Iraq - Hussein
List all three conditions under which a territorial dispute resolution is likely to occur.
The contenders are not enemies
The territory has economic value but no strategic value
There are no ethnic enclaves on the other side of the border