International Relations

This seems to be the only way I can study. I need to distract myself and yet learn at the same time. This has been an issue for me since I got here. Life is making it rather difficult for me to be sane and learn at the same time.

Anyways, if you don't want to learn things in an entertaining way....then don't read on.

Yay international relations is not only about the relations between nation-states...but it also concerns organizations!

Realism-people suck...they are selfish and can never ever be perfect. By now this should seem like common sense because the media likes to show you the awful things we do to one another. The main actors are the states....other things like organizations have to work within the framework of inter-state relations. Everything boils down to human nature. International politics is the struggle for power. globalization makes states interconnected which may make them more dependent on one another.....but states still are sovereign! So take that!

Liberalism-yay idealistic world of happy people. Humans can be perfectible but we need to spread democracy for that to happen! Notice how no two democracies have gone to war? Speaking of war...war is bad. It's not natural. Multinational corporations and international organizations are the main actors in most issue areas....state only gets the stage when they have their own interests in mind. the world is just one big complex bargaining machine. globalization is the end product of world politics. Yay we are all one big cobweb of relations.

Marxist-The world is a system. It's pretty fixed. ummm...other marxist ideas that I still dont' understand. globalization is a sham.

Constructivists- we make and remake the social world because humans are the key! the possibilities for human betterment and progress are endless! World is open to change! You can do anything if you wish for it! Globalization is just a political act so leaders don't have to take responsibility!

GLOBALIZATION GOOD: states aren't closed we are all together, communication goes up, world is homogeneous, economy is interdependent, global culture is developed, time and space collapse...yay.

GLOBALIZATION BAD/NONEXISTENT: it's just a buzzword, a lot of people still haven't made a phone call in their life, non-western values? hello?, drug cartels and terrorists and stuff can operate more easily, it's the latest stage in western imperialism, exploits well off nations....boo.

FUN FACT: Osama Bin Laden didn't like globalization or America...he wanted to stop them both. (hence why he targeted the WTC in the US). So then what does he do? Use airplanes for terrorist attacks, use video to communicate to people around the world, use global financial system to fund operations....does anyone else see a hypocrite here?

I'm going to spare you all the rest of my studying. I have lot more to go over. I'm going to go now.

~AM