IR: Actors and Levels of Analysis

Actors and Levels of Analysis

• A couple of basic concepts in International Politics

• Language and organization to help think and talk like a student of International Relations

1. Actors

Actors: States VS Non-State

• States: - territory controlled by a government, and inhabited by a population.

• State has sovereignty over the territory• i.e. Has control. Can have military, use

force, make and enforce laws, collect taxes, etc.

• State sovereignty is recognized by other states.

Note:

• When we’re talking about states here, we mean them in the country sense, not in the sense of a state of the United States, like California.

• This is important to distinguish.

State VS Nation

• Nation: a group of people (usually sharing a territory) that share a collective identity, often because of shared language, culture, religion, etc.

• E.g. Korea, Quebec, Uyghur (“Ooy-goor) people of Northwestern China

Nation-State

• Those times when the state is composed of a nation of people.

• When state and nation overlap.

• Not all states are made up like this. E.g. Canada – Quebec, First Nations,

Non-State Actors

• Actors other than states can be important in International Relations.

• Non-State Actors: actors that are not states, and that can act below the level of the state (sub-state actors) or above it (transnational actors).

Sub-state Actors:

• Act WITHIN states, but can be important for us as well.

• E.g.: – nations within states– Political parties– Individual people– Companies or Industries (Automotive in U.S.) -

Lobbying

Transnational Actors

• Operate beyond just one state

• Many important types of these exist.

Transnational Actors: Multinational Coroprations (MNCs)

• Can be more powerful that some small states (control more resources, affect other gov’ts more than)

• Can act to make governments friendly to their business interests (Canadian mining companies in Central and South America)

• Not always negative, can work well with state actors to bring investment and developement

Transnational Actors: Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)

• Private organizations that can influence state and interstate politics

• E.g. – Catholic Church– Greenpeace– International Olympic Committee (IOC)

• Can be political, humanitarian, economic, technical, etc

Transnational Actors: Global Social Movements

• Protests, rights activists groups, etc.• For example, anti-globalization movements,

anti-Free Trade movements, Occupy movements, Democracy movements

• Quickly growing more important in our connected world.

• Facebook – 2005 2012

Transnational Actors: International Terrorist Groups

• Not NGOs, or social movements, but act like them in some ways. Can act globally and be a huge influence on international politics.

• Again partly because of changes in technology and individual capabilities

Transnational Actors: Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs)

• Organizations whose members are state governments

• E.g. – World Trade Organization– World Bank– International Monetary Fund– United Nations– Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

(only 11 members)

IGOs (continued)

• Can also be military alliances – North American Treaty Organization (NATO)

• Or political groupings– African Union

• IGOs and NGOs can be referred to generally as International Organizations (IOs)

2. Levels of Analysis

Levels of Analysis:

• Lots of types of actors all interacting can make things confusing. So many use “levels of analysis” to help organize and understand.

• 4 main levels: individual, domestic, interstate, and global (see table 1.1)

Individual Level

• Perceptions, choices, and actions of individual human beings

• Probably least often the focus, but still important.

• Who are some important single person actors of history or currently?

Domestic / State / Societal Level

• Groups of individuals WITHIN states that can influence states’ actions on an international level

• Again, refer to Table 1.1

Interstate / International / Systemic Level

• Interactions of states (+ other actors) without considering their internal makeup or their particular leaders

• Often looking at location, power,

• E.g. “The U.S. attacked Germany in WWII”

Global Level

• Global trends and forces that are bigger than interactions between states. The least clear, and least common focus of these 4 levels.

• E.g.– Historical trends– Evolution of technology– Worldwide beliefs (e.g. Nationalism)– Global economy

Time for Some Practice!

• Take a look at the “Actors and Levels of Analysis Practice Worksheet”

• Try #1 by yourself first. After you’ve done all you can, compare your results with a friend or 2. Can you add more with their help?

• Then look at #2 on the back, work with peers to analyze an example of your choice.