POLS1005 Exam notes (Wk 6-12)

Week 6 Lecture outline

Violence by non-state actors: Civil war and terrorism

Lecture Outline
 Civil War
 Terrorism
 Case Study: Dem. Rep. of the Congo

Part 1: Civil war

Motivating puzzle
 Most of the violence since 1945 has been within states rather than between them.
 However, most conflict scholars (until recently) and the press focus on interstate war.

 What can we learn by relaxing the assumption that the state has a monopoly on the use of
force?

Civil war
 Definition: “armed combat taking place within the boundaries of a recognised sovereign
entity between parties subject to a common authority at the outset of the hostilities.” (Kalyvas
2007: 417)
 Key features:

o Militarisation of a conflict/armed combat

o Domestic challenge of authority
o Conflict rises above a death threshold
 Usually over 100k people
Similarities between interstate and intrastate war
 There is a basic similarity—the use of violence by organised actors to pursue political
interests.
 External actors/state actors (also non-state actors) often play important roles over a civil
conflict’s lifespan—civil wars can be a forum for interstate conflict.
The changing nature of war
 An overall decline in national identity as a motivation for conflict.
 19th C. wars were often about state-building.
 20th C. wars were often about ideology.
 21st C. wars are (so far) often about state failure.
o When government does not have ability to govern territory and provide for its people.
Why should we care?
 Between 1945 and 1999:
o Interstate wars led to 3 million casualties.
o Civil wars led to more than 16 million casualties.
 Of the 69 peacekeeping operations undertaken by the UN between 1948 and 2014:
o 39 were deployed to conflicts within a single state.
o 12 dealt with conflicts involving both international and civil dimensions.
Civil conflicts by the numbers
 143,883—The average number of deaths per civil war (Kalyvas 2007)
 22 of 32—The number of least developed states that have had a civil war in the last twenty
years (Harbom & Wallensteen 2010)
State failure
 Failed state: “a state that is unable to perform its key role of ensuring domestic order by
monopolising the use of force within its territory,” (Heywood 2014: 126)
 Thus, a state can be considered as failing or failed if it is unable to hold up its end of the
social contract.
  The spike in failures after the Cold War often attributed to both:
 The withdrawal of international support for autocratic governments
 A pressure to democratise domestic political institutions.
 Leads to “bad neighbourhoods” in the international sphere, making it hard for neighbouring
states to feel secure.
o Refugee flow, crime and drugs etc.

Civil war
 Civil wars raise hard questions about (1) the limits of sovereignty and (2)
 definitions of national security.
 Different motivations lead to different policy responses
o Economic aid (carrot)
o Military intervention (stick)
o Diplomatic efforts
o Refugee support
Conflict life-cycle
 History of previous conflict
 Conflict onset (violence)
 Conflict duration (violence)
 Conflict outcome (violence)
 Conflict legacy
Rebel goals
 Secession—breaking away territory (e.g. South Sudan)
 Irridentistism—breaking away territory to join another state (e.g. former Yugoslavia)
 Government control or policy change (e.g. DRC)
Causes of civil wars
 An aspiring rebel group needs three things:
1. The means
2. The motive
3. An opportunity
(1) The Means
 Domestic sources
o Dissatisfied elites
o Dissatisfied citizens
 International sources
o Dissatisfied rival states
o Dissatisfied diasporas
(2) The Motive
 Grievances
o Ethnic disadvantage
o Religious oppression
o Linguistic oppression
o Political motivations/ policy that disadvantaged certain groups
 Greed
o Public governmental control of rents
o Private gain
(3) The Opportunity
 Increased opportunity
o Center vs. periphery
o Political uncertainty
 Constitutional or institutional change or elections
o Geography
o Youth bulges
 Decreased opportunity
o Opportunity costs are greater in wealthier countries.
 o International economic/military support for existing government.
Civil conflict as a bargaining failure
 Both governments and rebel groups have incentives to withhold information.
o Both have access to different kinds of information.
 Information asymmetries prevent them from making a deal to avoid war.
Civil conflict and commitment problems
 If rebels make a deal with the state, how can they be sure that the state will live up to its
promises?
 If the state makes a deal with the rebels, how can it be sure rebels will not continue to
agitate?
 Commitment problems arise from changes in:
o Relative power
o Rebel disarmament
o Rebel inability to control dissidents
o States facing multiple rebel groups
Civil conflict and indivisible goods
 States and rebels might adopt a zero-sum approach to a particular piece of territory, or insist
on a separate state for particular ethnic groups.
 For instance, South Sudan would like full control of the oil wealth generated on its newly
independent territory.

Part 2: Terrorism
Terrorism
 Definition: The use of violence against citizens by a non-state actor

Are terrorists rational?

 Remember our definition of rational.
o Ordering of preferences in outcomes
o Using techniques to advocate outcome of preference
 Evidence shows that terrorist networks choose targets, respond to risk, and adjust to
counterterrorist efforts in rational ways. They are strategic and have goals.
o Even random terrorist attacks may be part of a terrorist networkʼs strategy.
o Terrorists attempt to instil fear into the population they are targeting.
o Random selection make it harder for the population to avoid and adjust to terrorist
attacks.
 Terrorists have goals.
o Most successful acts are costly to carry out.
o Terrorists follow patterns.
 They are extremists and politically weak given their demands.
 Terrorists avoid the other sideʼs military because they lack the means to attack and defeat
them directly.

Motivations
 Are “ancient hatreds” to blame?
 Looking at terrorism as a bargaining failure (as well as variation across time and place)
suggests that they are not the root cause of terrorism.
 If people want peace, why not just make a deal?
o We have asked the same question of interstate and civil war.
 Problems of incomplete information and credibility of commitments can lead to
bargaining failure.
Terrorism strategies—Coercion
 Induces policy change by imposing costs on the target.
 The threat of these costs and future attacks lead to policy change.
 Terrorists often use fear to motivate individuals to put pressure on their governments.
  Actual attacks make credible the threat of future violence.
Terrorism strategies—Provocation
 Terrorists may take action to provoke a response from a government.
 State action can play into the terrorist strategy of provocation.
 A disproportionate response from the state may cause sympathetic audiences to radicalise
and increase support for terrorists.
Terrorism strategies—Spoiling
 Terrorists may attempt to sabotage, or “spoil,” a potential peace between the target and the
leadership from their home society.
 Target states will generally not want to negotiate with a group that cannot prevent future
terrorist attacks.
 Spoiling, a problem in many peace negotiations, makes a target state believe that the
moderate leadership is not sincere about making peace.
 This creates a credibility problem.
 Attacks motivated by spoiling are most likely to occur during or just after peace
negotiations.
Terrorism strategies—Outbidding
 In some cases, a terrorist group may attack a target simply to increase support for the group
within the home population.
 When two or more terrorist groups compete for support, a group may try to “outbid” the
other, hoping to demonstrate its superior leadership and devotion (e.g. competitive
dynamics between Al Qaeda and ISIS).

Part 3: Case study: Democratic Republic of the Congo

D.R. Congo
 Independence: 30 June 1960 from Belgium
 Geography: 2.34 million sq. km. (11th largest and 1/3 size of Australia)
 Population: 77.4 million people (2014 estimate)
 GDP per capita: US$400 (in 2013 dollars, the poorest in the world)
 Life expectancy at birth: 56.5 years
D.R. Congo
 At independence in 1960, the DRC was the most industrialized country on the
 continent (after South Africa).
 It boasted a thriving mining sector, and its agriculture sector was relatively productive.
 In 1960 there were only 16 university graduates out of a population of 20 million.
 Before independence, there were just 3 out of 5,000 government jobs held by Congolese
people.

Letʼs return to the motivating puzzle.

 Most of the violence since 1945 has been within states rather than between them.
 What can we learn by relaxing the assumption that the state has a monopoly on the use of
force?
Conclusions
 There are similarities (and overlap) with the causes of interstate war.
 Generalisable dynamics that have been seen across the centuries.
 Civil conflict—parties have conflict with the state and canʼt overcome collective action and
bargaining problems.
 Terrorist organisations—relatively small numbers with extremist preferences also face
bargaining problems.

Wk 6 Tutorial
 Essay writing
o Must have clear argument and main claim
o Comprehensive empirical, theoretical or historical support
o Clear essay structure
 3 causes of civil wars
o Political factors
o Economic factors
o Social factors
o Other factors
 Potential essay
o Central claim: Political factors are the primary causes of civil wars.
o Introduction
 Provide context of a recent civil conflict
 Define political factors
 Thesis statement: why political factors are key as opposed to other factors
 Bring out a roadmap/ structure of essay
o Body 1
 Topic sentence: define what the paragraph will argue
 E.g. Political factors are key to understanding civil wars/ key to Syria
o Body 2
 Should flow on from previous paragraph
 Bring out empirical examples
 Syria
o Authoritarian policies
 Grievance and unrest
 Lack of compromise and violent oppression of
dissatisfaction/ no expression of grievances
 No channels of dispute resolution
o Humans rights abuses
 Lead to retaliation
 Violence promotes further violence
 Clarify/explain thesis
 Bring in theory (according to this, x and y are important to cause z)
o Body 3- counterarguments
 Explain why economic factors aren’t more important than political factors
 Economic factors
 Unemployment and the cycle that this will lead to
 Human rights abuses are prevalent in other nations like China, but
they do not have civil conflicts
 What does this mean?
 Social factors
o Social factors are the primary causes of civil war
o Body 1: Religious
 Religion creates otherness
 E.g. Palestine, disputed religious laws and territory
 Creates grievances, especially when there is an unequal power dynamic
between groups,
 Marginalisation and oppression of specific groups
o Body 2
 Ethnic
 E.g. Rwanda
 Superiority, otherness, unequal power dynamic between two groups,
domination
 Taking away opportunities/ culture, identity divide (language and other
symbolic divides)
 Marginalisation and genocide as an extreme form of oppression
 Forced separation/ segregation
o Body 3- counterarguments
 Economic/political factors are not as important
 Evidence of case studies where economic instability is present but does not
cause civil war
 Cases where political factors are not
 Potential counterargument
 Social conflicts are inflamed by political and economic factors
 However, these political factors actually stem from social causes
POLS1005 WK 7 Politics of Trade and Finance

Today’s puzzle:
 If states benefit from economic co-operation and free trade is expected to maximise
states’ welfare...
o Why do states have trade barriers
o Why is economic co-operation often hard to achieve?
 Collective action problem
Today
 Understanding the post WWII international economic order
o International trade: key theoretical approaches
o International trade: key concepts
o International trade: key institutions (IMF, WB, WTO)
 Motivating example: shifting into a new international economic order?
o China’s Asian Infrastructure Bank and the One Belt Road Initiative

Understanding the post WWII international economic order

Key theoretical approaches

International Trade: Why do we care about economics and trade?

 Because it is political
o About power, security, distribution and therefore also about peace and
conflict
o Key arena for conflict to be escalated or mitigated
Theoretical approaches to political economy

Mercantilism Liberalism Marxism

(protectionist)
Nature of economic Conflictual Harmonious Conflictual
relations
Actors Nation states Individuals and firms Economic classes
Goal of economic Maximisation of Maximisation of Maximisation of
activity national interests global welfare class interests
(positive sum view)
Relationship Politics determines Economics should Economics does
between economics economics determine politics determine politics
and politics
Theory of change Shift in the Dynamic equilibrium Tendency toward
distribution of disequilibrium
power

Mercantilism
 States are the main actors in the international political economy
 Economic relations are inherently conflictual (zero sum game)
 Politics drives economics
 Trade’s goal is to maximise state power
Liberalism
 A focus on individualism households and businesses
 The nature of economic relations is harmonious and interests are reconcilable
(positive sum game)
 Economics drives politics
 Trade’s goal is to maximise global welfare
Marxism
 Focus on socio-economic class and social forces (Bourgeoisie owns the means of
production, proletariat are exploited as labourers)
 Economic relations is inherently conflictual (zero sum game)
 Economics drives politics
 Trade’s goal is to maximise class interests
(Socialism: public and not private ownership of property, natural resources and the
means of production as the basis for a state’s economy)

Key concepts
Free Trade
 Definition: the free movement of goods between countries as much as possible
unimpeded by government-imposed barriers to import and export of goods (also
called laissez-faire)
Adam Smith on comparative advantage
 “if a foreign country can supply us with a commodity cheaper than we ourselves can
make it, better buy it of them with some part of the produce of our own industry,
employed in a way in which we have some advantage.”
o Specialisation and the division of labour
o Leads to efficiency (production of the best quality product for the lowest
price)
Generates comparative advantage determined by:
o A country’s inherent endowments
o The endowments of that country’s trade partners
Absolute vs. comparative advantage
 AA- one country is more efficient than another at producing one product
 CA- even if a country is not the most efficient at a given product when compared to
other countries, it should specialise in what it does best
o Producing other products less efficiently wastes resources
Factors of production
 Land: farming or natural resources
 Labor: skilled or unskilled
 Capital: human or financial
Hecksher-Ohlin theorem
 A country is best off specialising in producing goods that it is comparatively best at
producing and exchanging these goods for those it is comparatively less adept at
producing.
o Focus on relative productivity rather than absolute productivity
  Abundant FOP are those inputs that a country possesses in greater proportion than
the world average
 Scarce FOP are those possessed in smaller proportion than the world average
o E.g. AUS today is relatively abundant in economic and human capital,
intermediate in land and relatively scarce in unskilled labor
o AUS than exports capital and human capital intensive goods and imports
goods that are relatively intensive in unskilled labor
Stolper-Samuelson theorem
 Abundant FOP (and producers who use them) gain from freer trade
 Scarce FOP ( and producers who use them intensively) lose from freer trade
 As export production expands, demand for the abundant FOP rises relative to
demand for the scarce FOP
 Free trade will lead to a contraction of the scarce-factor-intensive industry
International trade interactions: a collective action problem
 Everyone wants to have consumers to sell to
 No one wants others to have access to their own consumers
 Mutual liberalisation resembles a prisoner’s dilemma
 And a collective action problem
Domestic tensions are inevitable
 All states must balance:
o The desire to have to material benefits of an open economic system
o The pressure to promote or defend state or sector interests
 There is a clear collective action problem in managing this tension
o Ideally, governments would compensate trade’s losers with part of the
winner’s trade gains
Protectionism
 Definition: a policy of protecting domestic industries against foreign policy
competition by means of tariffs, subsidies, import quotas or other restrictions or
handicaps placed on the imports of foreign competitors
Trade restrictions
 Tariffs: taxes on the import or export of a good
 Quotas: limits on the volume of values of goods that can be traded
 Nontariff barriers: barriers that are not taxes
o Legislated preferences
o Health and safety standards that target foreign products
o Antidumping penalties
 Subsidies: government payments to business producing goods and services to export
 Prohibitions: some exports are prohibited. Often these are sensitive military
technologies
Tensions between producer and consumer interests
 Producers have concentrated interests in protecting their businesses and receive
significant benefits from protection (e.g. profits, jobs)
o Expected to be in favour of some protectionist policies
 Consumers have diffuse interests (e.g. lower prices) in free trade
o Generally in favour of free trade
Trade barriers redistribute income
  With less competition, domestic producers can charge more for their goods and
services
 Due to collective action problems, producers often enjoy greater political influence
than consumers
 For domestic producers seeking trade protection, the benefits are concentrated and
high
 This helps them overcome collective action problems to mobilise for economic gain
 Protectionism is costly for consumers, who have to pay higher prices
Does free trade promote prosperity and opportunity? (Costs and benefits)
 YES
o The market is the only reliable means of generating wealth
o Everyone wins (absolute gains). The rich get richer but the poor get less poor
o Economic freedoms promote other freedoms
 NO
o Deepens poverty and inequality (relative gains)
o Hollows out politics and democracy
o Corruption of consumerist materialism: cultural and social distinctiveness is
lost

Key institutions (IMF, WB, WTO)

Bretton Woods Conference
 July 1944: representatives from 44 nations setting the stage for the current
international economic order
Bretton Woods conference key purpose
 Set up a new system of international finance consisting of rules, regulations and
procedures to ensure global economic stability
 Established the IMF and the WB
International finance
 Monetary interactions between countries: bilateral and multilateral
 Benefit: cross-border investment can improve welfare in both countries
 Risk: financial ties can make societies mutually vulnerable, as seen in the 2008
financial crisis and the Greek debt crisis of 2015
International finance- actors
 States
 Multinational corporations (MNCs)
 International organisations (e.g. IMF)
Cross-border investment types
 Portfolio: investor has no roles in management
o Bonds
 Net value is specified at time of sale
 Issued by governments or firms
 Loans
 Terms (e.g. interest rate) but not value-set at the time of sale
 Issued to and from individuals, firms, banks, governments or
international organisations such as the WB
o Stocks
  Value and dividend vary without guarantee
 Firms sell shares to individual and institutional investors
 Direct investment: the investor maintains control of facilities (and risk)
o MNCs engage in FDI
o Conflicts between firm and host country can arise over distribution of profits
and control of resources
IMF
 Key purpose
o Further international financial stability by providing short-term loans to
countries (at low interest) that are having balance of payment problems
(struggling to pay back foreign debts)
 Established at Bretton Woods in 1944
 Current membership: 189 states
 Based in Washington DC, USA
 IMF loans
o Provided with low interest rates
o However, conditions are attached: borrower must show signs of reform.
These reforms often include austerity measures (e.g. policies aiming to
reduce govt. budget deficit by cutting spending, raising taxes)
 Conditions criticised
o Lender of last resort- typically to assist countries in financial crisis
 Has the IMF achieved the objective of preventing financial crises?
o The financial standards and information that the IMF provides seem to have
a limited impact on preventing crises
o Recent crises include: Mexico (1982, 1988, 1994) east Asia (1997) Brazil
(1998) Russia (1998) Argentina (2001) and 2008 GFC, Eurozone crisis (2015-)
WB
 Key purpose
o Finance infrastructure and other projects in developing countries with
longer-term loans to finance specific infrastructure and development
projects
 Est. Bretton Woods in 1944
 Current membership: 189 states
 Based in Washington DC, USA
Enforcement mechanism for both IMF and WB
 No actual enforcement mechanisms
 However, both can refuse to grant future loans
 There are also big reputational costs that impact the attractiveness of a country to
investors if a country does not repay loans
Example of an international institution to regulate trade and facilitate co-operation
 GATT/WTO
 WTO replaced GATT in 1995
WTO
 Key purpose
 o Forum for govts. to negotiate trade agreements and settle trade disputes,
operating under a system of trade rules (helps states with information
problems, commitments, enforcement issues)
 Est. 1995
 Current membership: 164 member states and 23 observer govts.
 Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland
Overcoming barriers to cooperation
 Barriers can be overcome when:
o Smaller number of states involved (bilateral trade agreements)
o Increase information about other’s interests and strategies is available
o Iterated interaction- over time
o Issue linkage- concessions can be linked to other areas (log-rolling)
o Institutions can help to promote trade liberalisation and provide and
enforcement mechanism

China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the One Belt Road Initiative
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)
 Key purpose
o Multilateral development bank
o Aims to support infrastructure development primarily in the Asia-Pacific
region
 Grown from 57 founding member-states in 2016 to 84 member-states as of April
2018-04-17
One Belt One Road initiative (OBOR)
 What is the OBOR?
o An initiative from China’s president Xi Jingpin to improve China’s land and sea
connectivity with the rest of the world
o First mentioned in speeches by Xi in 2013
o Opens new trade routes that span from China across central Asia to EUR, to
the Mid-East, SE Asia and sea routes connecting CHN ports to EUR and the
South Pacific
o Investment in road and sea infrastructure such as highways, bridges and
waterways
o Joint-goal of developing under-developed regions in CHN, and contributing to
development across the SE and Central Asian region
 International support for OBOR
o EIB, Britain etc
 Global interconnection, increased cooperation and mutual benefit? Or a bid for
hegemony?

Today’s puzzle: why is international economic cooperation challenging?

 What have we learnt?
o Because econ. Cooperation is inseparable from political concerns
o Int. trade presents a collection action problem and can be likened to a
prisoner’s dilemma
 However
o Institutions can greatly increase the chances for cooperation
Wk 7 Tutorials
 International political economy
o Definition
 Global economic interactions
 Alliances, treaties and agreements
 Key actors involved: states and sovereign governments, international
institutions, MNCs, individuals/investors, labour unions, criminal
organisations (terrorists and cartels, crime syndicates)
 Different types of interactions
o Trade
o Investment
o Trade agreements
o Research and development
o Transport
o Trade barriers/protectionist policies
o Dumping etc.
 Different institutions
o DFAT, Austrade, DoD, Chamber of Commerce, ABC (AUS Business Council)
 Why states interact
 Constraints in interactions
o Geography etc.
 AUS trade agreements
o 10 FTAs- China, JPN, SK, NZ, SING, THD, US, CHILE, ASEAN and Malaysia
 Benefit the involved nations because of stronger trade and
commercial ties, open opportunities for exporters and investors to
expand into key markets, benefit consumers, more G+S for cheaper
o TPP concluded negotiations in Oct 2015
 TA between AUYS, Brunei, CND, Chile, JPN, etc. signed on Feb 2016
 Cuts over 18,000 tariffs, includes environmental protections, combats
illegal fishing, promotes sustainable fisheries combats wildlife
trafficking etc.
 Also, prohibits forced labour and child labour
o APEC- regional economic forum established in 1989 to leverage growing
interdependence
 21 members
 Benefits the 21 member states, ensures that G+S, investment and
people move more easily across borders, faster customs procedures
at borders, more favourable business climates and consistent
regulations and standards between members
o Benefits: involved member states, interest groups such as environmental
groups and farmers, R+D groups, businesses
 Why do countries trade
o Comparative advantage
o Military trade connection
o Scarcity/resources
 o Historical trade relations
o Culture
o Geographical proximity
o Convenience
Week 8
Economic and political development

Todayʼs puzzle

 Background—We live in a time of unparalleled prosperity and opportunity. However,
inequality exists both within and between countries.
o Why are some countries rich while others are poor?

o What role does international relations play in shaping these outcomes?

Lecture outline
1. Trends in economic development and inequality
2. Development (and the lack thereof)

3. The Sustainable Development Goals

5—The good news:
 The world is getting richer.

6—Graph of global distribution of income over time
7—Graph of growth in Australian GDP per capita
8—Graph showing Australia’s level of growth compared to China
9—Graph of China and India
10—Life expectancy globally and by world regions since 1770
11—Development doesn’t always go in one direction—Venezuela
12—Risk of famine in Africa and Yemen
13—World map of people living in poverty

14—The bad news:
 The world is getting more unequal.

15—Between-country inequality
16— Within-country inequality
17—The source of inequality has changed from being mostly about class to about location
18—Income inequality in Anglo-Saxon countries
19—Income inequality in emerging countries
20—Countries with high and low life expectancy and child mortality
21—Visualising changes in development
Source: gapminder.org. A demonstration of the online interface occurred during lecture.

Development (and the lack thereof)

UNDP’s definition of development
 “Human development is about freedom. It is about building human capabilities—the range of
things that people can do, and what they can be,” (UNDP 2009: 18).
 “The most basic capabilities for human development are leading a long and healthy life, being
educated and having adequate resources for a decent standard of living. Other capabilities include
social and political participation in society,” (UNDP 2009: 18-19).

Measures of weath and inequality

 Gross Domestic Product (GDP)—The total value of all the goods and services produced in an
economy, a measure of national income.
 Gross National Income (GNI)—GDP plus net income from abroad
 Purchase power parity—A calculation of purchasing power that takes account of the relative cost
of living and the inflation rates of different countries.
  Absolute vs relative poverty—calculations according to universal or comparative standards

25—Difference between absolute and relative poverty

 Absolute poverty—“A standard of poverty that is based on an income level or access to
resources, especially food, clothing, and shelter which are insufficient to keep body and soul
together.” (Heywood: 360)
 Relative poverty—“A standard of poverty in which people are deprived of the living conditions
and amenities which are customary in the society to which they belong,” (Heywood: 360)
 Poverty has been the rule rather than the exception over time.

26—GINI index—A measure of inequality

 Definition—a measure of “the extent to which the distribution of income or consumption
expenditure among individuals or households within an economy deviates from a perfectly equal
distribution.
 “A Lorenz curve plots the cumulative percentages of total income received against the
cumulative number of recipients, starting with the poorest individual or household.
 “The Gini index measures the area between the Lorenz curve and a hypothetical line of absolute
equality, expressed as a percentage of the maximum area under the line.
 “Thus a Gini index of 0 represents perfect equality, while an index of 100 implies perfect
inequality,” (World Bank http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.GINI )

28—Goals in economic development

 Immanuel Kant said that a human being should be treated as an end in themselves and not as a
means to something else.
 Therefore, the fact that we are human has intrinsic value.
 Amartya Sen argues that a focus on economic growth often treats humans as a means of
(instrumental) development rather than an end.

29—Sen argues that human freedom (like human rights) is both intrinsically and instrumentally
important.
 Intrinsically important—Freedom is important for its own sake. It is a goal in and of itself.
 Instrumentally important—Freedom is important as a means to achieving something else.
 Economic growth and industrialisation also are seen (by some political actors) as being
intrinsically important.
 Sen thinks that economic development is instrumentally important. Economic prosperity is but
one way to enrich people’s lives.

30—Instrumental freedoms
 Political freedoms—civil rights, chose your leader, freedom of expression and the press
 Economic facilities—access to economic resources for consumption, production, or exchange
 Social opportunities—societal arrangements for education, health care, etc.
 Transparency guarantees—means for building social trust
 Protective security—social safety net

31—Sen 1999—“The ends and the means of development”

 Development can be seen as either a fierce or a friendly process.
 Fierce— Countries have to sacrifice some (often social) goals while developing economically.
o Social safety nets
o Political liberties
o These goods can come once countries reach a certain level of development.
o Avoid the “softness”
 Friendly—Sen believes the softness actually helps further development rather than hinders it.
o The ends and the means of development are intertwined.
 E.g. social freedoms help contribute to economic development.
32—Different pathways to development

33—Economic development

 Globally, the rich and poor have a common interest in development.
 The rich want markets to buy their goods.
 The poor want more and better opportunities.
 However, there is disagreement on the best way to achieve economic development.
 And rich countries may support policies that hurt the poor countries.

34—Factors contributing to unequal development

 Legacy factors (geography & history)
 Domestic politics

 International politics

35—Geography—Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel

36—Geography & history

 Landlocked countries
o Higher costs of trade and engagement in global economy
 Tropical countries
o Poor soil; disease; infrastructure maintenance is costly
 Colonialisation
o Some colonies geared towards extracting assets rather than development.
o Many borders combine hostile populations.
o European empires divided land arbitrarily, with no knowledge/ consideration of local
cultures or ethnic divisions.
o Lasting effects, distorting the civil society organization of economy.

37—Domestic politics

 Politicians and military governments may cater to existing powerful interests
 (including their own) instead of to public interest.
 The rule of law is important so that producers, consumers, investors, and traders have a
predictable and stable environment to promote development.
 Arbitrary exercises of power can disrupt a development agenda.

38—The resource curse


 Natural resource wealth can:
o Allow for patronage and corruption
o Make taxes unnecessary, since there is no need to be democratic with big booms in
commodity prices
o Reduce accountability

o Deter economic diversification

39—Nigeria example
 Nigeria was ranked 136th (out of 176) in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception
Index
 Video is shown regarding stacks of cash found in intelligence leader’s apartment

40—International factors

 The distribution of international trade’s comparative advantages
 Wealthy countries enjoy advantages in international economic institutions such as the WTO and
the IMF.
 o Agendas typically represent wealthy interests.

o Poor countries have a large disadvantage in negotiating capacity.
o The IMF imposes conditions, not letting a country choose its own policy.
 Wealthy countries violate international rules, yet are rarely punished (e.g. agricultural subsidies).

41—Several popular development models

 Import-substituting industrialisation (ISI)
o High tariffs & trade barriers

o Foreign exchange & banking tightly controlled by state.

o The state borrows on international markets for domestic industry.
o Agricultural producers are heavily taxed & not provided with credit. Substantial business
participation, but closely regulated
 Export-oriented industrialization (EOI)

o Foreign exchange & banking are tightly controlled by the state.

o The state controls credit.

o Wages are set by the state and state-controlled unions.

o Little investment in domestic consumer economy; high trade barriers for consumer
imports.

o State ownership is minimized.
 Washington Consensus

o Policies to encourage capital inflows
o Removing barriers to trade

o Privatizing state-owned industries
o Liberalizing the banking sector

o Lowering government deficits and spending
 State capitalism
o A residual category involving extensive control of state economy (e.g. Russia & China)

42—Overall, developed countries generally have:


 The ability to build physical infrastructure for commerce (e.g. ports, roads,bridges, power
stations)

 Provision of rule of law

 Stable regulatory policies

 Transparent and accountable economic institutions
 Civil society organisations

43—Poorer countries generally have:

 Less material wealth and income
 Wealthy countriesʼ GDP (pc) is in the $10,000s
 Poor countriesʼ GDP (pc) is in the 100s.

 Poorer distribution of wealth (higher inequality).

 Continued migration from rural to urban areas.

 A lack of domestic investment in people and productive facilities (e.g. poor services and
infrastructure)

 Often a younger and rapidly growing population.
44—Path dependence

45—Polya’s Urn
 a statistical model that captures the self-reinforcing properties of a process, here that the “rich
get richer.”

THEORETICAL VIEWS OF DEVELOPMENT

51—Realist approaches to development
 No explicit theoretical approach per se because development is not the focus of realism
 When explaining differential development the focus is on mercantilism.
o 16th-18th cent. European theory advocating government regulation to enhance state
power
o Encouraged higher tariffs and positive balance of trade
 Mercantilism thus sees a strong role for state including in intervention/protectionism.

52—Liberalist approaches to development

 Focus more on economic liberalism
 Policy approach is more market-oriented, which is argued to be self-regulating.
 Often associated with modernisation theory

53—Modernisation theory
 All countries go through roughly similar stages of development (Rostow 1960)
 W.W. Rostow’s stages of development
o Traditional societies (e.g. subsistence agriculture and hunting)
o Preconditions for takeoff (e.g. cash crops, infrastructure investment)
o Takeoff (e.g. urbanisation, industrialisation, technological developments)
o Drive to maturity (e.g. sector diversification, shift to consumer goods and social
infrastructure)
o High mass consumption
 State governments should facilitate economic development through minimal regulation.
 This is a structuralist approach to development

54—Critical approaches to development

 World Systems theory sees global division of labor (e.g. Wallerstein 1974)
o Core (West)
o Semi-peripheral (e.g. Brazil, China, India)
o and peripheral areas (e.g. Russia, most of Africa)
o Environmental theorists critique focus on growth as being unsustainable and a primary
cause of global environmental degradation. (e.g. Burkett 2006)
 Neo-Marxists often focused on external rather than internal explanations—dependency theory
(Singer 1949, Prebisch 1949)
 Resources flow from the periphery to the center.

55—Dependency theory
 Colonial powers forced specialisation.
 Colonialism gave way to neo-colonialism.
 There are hierarchies in the global economy.
 Northern developed states exploit lesser developed Southern states for their primary
commodities.
 The World Bank, IMF, and other IOs help perpetuate inequalities through tough loan
conditionality.
 Remedy is to develop own economy through import-substituting industrialisation.
 This leads to an increased role for the state in the economy.
56—During and after the Cold War
 Both the US and the USSR pushed their preferred economic models on their spheres of
influence.
 After Cold War, modernisation approaches came to dominate.
o World Trade Organisation (WTO) was founded in 1995.
o Millennium Development Goals announced in 2000.
 However, there is growing skepticism about the current system’s effects on global and domestic
inequalities.
 This is exacerbated by the 2007-2008 global recession.

57—The Sustainable Development Goals

58—Millennium Development Goals, 2000-2015

 Eight goals with 21 targets

o Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
o Universal primary education

o Promote gender equality

o Reduce child mortality

o Improve maternal health

o Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
o Ensure environmental sustainability

o Global partnership for development
 New post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals have 169 targets.

65—Case study—Venezuela
66—"Venezuela is on the brink of a complete economic collapse.” Washington Post. 29 January 2018.
67—“Police believe thieves steal Venezuela zoo animals to eat them.” Reuters. 17 August 2017.
68—“Armed Venezuelan soldiers caught in Guyana begging for food.” Miami Herald. 15 August 2017.
69—“Malaria infections spreading in crisis-ridden Venezuela.” Al Jazeera. 16 August 2017.
70—“’We’re Losing the Fight:’ Tuberculosis Batters a Venezuela in Crisis.” New York Times. 20 March
2018.
71—"Protests Over Food Shortages in Venezuela Leave Three Dead in a Week.” Vice News. 14 June
2016.
72—“Venezuela may be sliding into a civil war.” Washington Post. 29 June 2017.
75—“Venezuela Delays Presidential Vote, but Opposition Still Plans a Boycott.” New York Times. 1
March 2018.

76—Conclusions

 There are important implications between policies seeing economic growth as being intrinsically
or instrumentally important.
 Theorists and policymakers differ as to what the world is developing towards and how to get
there.
 Successful development requires a country to overcome both internal and external obstacles.
 While everyone prefers development, powerful groups can block it or extract rents.
 Domestic institutions play an important role—they may promote or hinder development.
 Rich countries often adopt policies that hurt the poor.
 Issue selection and measurement are crucial to which conclusions reached.
Wk 9 International Law POLS1009

Today’s Puzzle
 International system is anarchic and based on sovereign states. No central authority
w/ enforcement capacity to prevent states from doing as they see fit
 • Still, states often act as they’re constrained by norms and laws
 • What explains this discrepancy? (How) can law constrain what states do?

Today’s Outline
1. What is international law and what does it do?
2. What are international organisations and what do they do?
3. Case study: International Criminal Court

Salient International Law Terms

 International norm
 International law
 International organisation
 International regime

Part 1: What is International Law and What Does it Do?

Some Definitions
 (International) norm:
• “Standard of appropriate behaviour for an actor with a given identity” (P.
Katzenstein)
• Norms often eventually get codified into domestic and international law
 International law
• “A body of rules that binds states and other agents in world politics and is
considered to have the status of law” (FLS)
• 2 main sources: treaties, int’l custom
 • Facilitates cooperation by clarifying obligations & defining violations;
sometimes establishes tribunals/dispute settlement
Treaties: Humanitarian Law
• Henri Dunant and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies (ICRC) (non-governmental organisation)
 ICRC Fundamental Principles
 Humanity, Impartiality, Neutrality, Independence, Voluntary
service, Unity, Universality
• Geneva Convention 1, 1949 (original 1864): Wounded and Sick Armed Forces
in Field
• Geneva Convention 2, 1949 (original 1906): Condition of Wounded, Sick and
Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea
• Geneva Convention 3, 1949 (original 1929): Prisoners of War
• Geneva Convention 4, 1949: Civilians in Time of War
• Protocol 1 to Geneva Convention, 1977: Victims of International Armed
Conflicts
• Protocol 2 to Geneva Convention, 1977: Non-International Armed Conflicts
Are Treaties Consistent with Sovereignty?
 Treaties with distributive implications often involve hard bargaining
 Once finalised, treaties only become legally binding once they are ratified by a
participant
 Ratification is voluntary and of a country’s own will (principle: no one is forced to
ratify)
 Adherence to treaties is therefore in principle consistent with sovereignty
because no state can be bound, except by its own consent
Customary International Law
 Develops (usually) slowly over time as states accept practice as appropriate/useful
 Sometimes hard to differentiate from norms
 Examples: diplomatic immunity, freedom of seas
 Often becomes codified in treaties, but still considered ’law’ even if not!
Some Definitions
 International Organisation
o 2+ governments
o Permanent (HQ, staff etc.)
o Regular meetings and decision-making process
 International regime
o “Norms, rules and procedures agreed to in order to regulate an issue area”
(E. Haas)
Bring it all together...
 International norms tell us why states collaborate
 International law gives us:
• Rules: what the collaboration is about
• Procedures: how the collaboration is to be achieved
 International organisations give us structures:
• To carry out the procedures
• To adapt (sometimes)
  International regimes = the body of all the above

Part 2: What are International Organisations and What Do They Do?

Why and How are IOs Formed?
 They are formed when there is sufficient will by sufficient # of states
 A defining feature of IOs: created by states and limit state action, but are not
themselves states
 Why? Many reasons:
– Hegemonic pressure
– Evolving consensus of mutual interest & need to act
– It’s what’s expected (constructivist argument)
Public Int. Unions: The 1st IOs
 Examples:
• 1815: Rhine Commission
• 1865: International Telegraph Union
• 1874: Universal Postal Union
• 1919: International Labour Organisation
• 1923: Int’l Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol)
 Issue-areas where there was recognition that states stood to benefit from
cooperation
 Often with a technical or functional purpose
 Needed regular permanent bureaucrats
Essential IO Characteristics
 Centralisation
 Independence
IO Centralisation
 Concrete and stable organisational structure
 Supportive administrative apparatus (bureaucrats)
o Both can make it hard to adapt to changing power relations
 Allows for pooling of risks, assets, activities
 Allows for joint production of goods
o NATO helps in the joint production of security
o World Bank centralises efforts to aid development
 Norm elaboration and coordination
IO Neutrality
 Independence (operates autonomously) + impartiality (not biased)
 Important for providing credible information
 Also important...
• Peacekeeping
• Allocating scarce goods/services
• Brokering ceasefires, solving conflicts...
Common Critics of IOs
 Entrench power relationships
 Develop own pathologies
 Mission creep
 Not accountable/democratic
Transnational Advocacy Networks (TANs)
 Have played important roles in changing behaviour by promoting normative values
 Sometimes these lead to changes in international law
 Can help states cooperate by:
• Providing information
• Monitoring cooperation
• “Naming and shaming”

Part 3: Case Study: International Criminal Court

Previous International Tribunals
 1945-1946: Nuremburg Trials
 1946-1948: Tokyo War Crimes Trials
 1993: ICT Yugoslavia created S. Milošević tried
 1994: ICT Rwanda created. T. Bagosora convicted
 1997: Extraordinary Chambers in Courts of Cambodia
 2002: Special Court for Sierra Leone. C Taylor convicted
Previous International Tribunals
 But these courts were all ad hoc
– Extremely costly to create
– Hard to establish consistent jurisprudence
– Deterrent effect questionable
 Create a permanent court
– To go after the ‘worst of the worst’
– – With universal jurisdiction
ICC
 Mandate limited to worst crimes
– War crimes
– Genocide
– Crimes against humanity
 Court of last resort
 Can only exercise jurisdiction:
– Post-2002
– If crime took place in a member-country or if perpetrator is citizen of a
member-country
– Or if UNSC refers it
Some ICC Cases
 Joseph Kony: Uganda
 Omar Al-Bashir: Sudan
 Thomas Lubanga: DRC

Conclusions
 International norms, regimes, laws, and organisations represent different parts of
evolving transnational regulatory structure
 IOs often reflect power structure at time of creation
 International regime structure has evolved dramatically since 1945 (and will
continue to evolve).
  The trend has been towards expanding and deepening international legal regulations
and expectations.
 This can threaten state sovereignty



Week 10: The global environment

Todayʼs puzzle
 If we all have an interest in a cleaner global environment, why is global cooperation so hard?
 Why can cooperation, nevertheless, sometimes succeed?
Why the puzzle matters
Global environmental change shrinks the resource pie.
 Population growth divides the pie into smaller slices.
 Unequal resource distribution means that some groups get disproportionately large slices.

#1. Vozrozhdenyia Island

 What's so bad about it? It was the site of Soviet biowarfare experiments. The whole area is
contaminated with anthrax, smallpox and bubonic plague.
 Local rodents are thought to have picked up some super-resilient strains of these diseases.
 The laboratory was established in 1948. At its height, the facility housed 1,500 people.
 It is currently uninhabited. The site was completely abandoned in 1992.

Making environmental policy

Environmental norms
 The international system has evolved a set of observable norms regarding at least giving lip-
service towards global environmental protection, sustainable resource extraction, and
protection for affected populations.
 Some of these norms have led to the creation of the organisations and meetings we will see
below.
 These organisations and exchanges have also had an effect on furthering and internalising new
norms.
 Given the (to date) lack of systematic changes in behaviour necessary to avoid substantial
global damage and negative economic effects, however, the norm regarding environmental
protection and sustainable growth has yet to be fully internalised to the point of action.

33—Video about the tragedy of the commons (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSuETYEgY68)

This is a form of the collective action problem
 Definition: “Obstacles to cooperation that occur when actors have incentives to collaborate but
each acts in anticipation that others will pay the costs of cooperation,” (Frieden, Lake and
Schultz, 2016: 60).
 Multiple actors interact to take advantage of a public good or common-pool resource.
 Each actor has an interest in maximum personal gain and minimizing the costs of collaboration
 Institutions can help solve collective action problems but only if members agree to be
constrained.

Collective action problem #1—Public goods & free riding

 What is a public good?
 Non-excludable: Once the good is available to one person, others cannot be excluded from
either suffering the cost or enjoying the benefits of that good. Example: Global fish stocks
 Non-rival: The use or consumption of a public good by one person does not diminish the
quantity of the good available for use by others. Example: US nuclear umbrella.
 What collective action problem is related to public goods?
 Free riding: Fail to contribute to a public good while benefiting from others actions. Example:
Not paying UN dues.
 Externalities: When a decision creates costs or benefits for others. Examples: cleaning a beach
or polluting a river.

Collective action problem #2—Common-pool resources & overexploitation

 What is a common-pool resource?
 Non-excludable but rival in consumption: difficult to exclude anyone from using a common-
pool resource, however one user's consumption reduces the amount available for consumption
 What collective action problem is related to common-pool resources?
 Overexploitation: consumption of a good at a rate that is collectively undesirable, even if it is
efficient from the view of any single actor

What other reasons are there for lack of action on environmental issues?
 There are two sets of winners and losers
 Domestic level: Polluting industries vs. concerned citizens
 Costs are concentrated while the benefits are diffuse
 International level: Developing countries vs. developed countries
 Most existing carbon in atmosphere was emitted by developed countries as they industrialised.
 So (developing countries argue) developed countries ought to bear the costs of reducing future
carbon emissions.

Why does cooperation (sometimes) succeed?

 Successful cooperation on ozone layer depletion—Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) vs. Less
successful cooperation on climate change—Kyoto Protocol

191 states signed Kyoto Protocol on 11/12/1997

 Key elements
o Reduce emissions of six gases
o Targets for reducing emissions
o Emissions trading
o Joint implementation

Increasing the chances for cooperation through recognizing actors’ interests

 Bundle goods: If public goods are bundled with private goods - "joint goods"
o Market mechanisms to curb greenhouse gas emissions: cap-and-trade system
 Have a privileged group: an actor or small group of actors receive sufficient benefits that they are
willing to bear the costs of creating and helping implement agreement.
48—Increasing the chances for cooperation through increased interactions
 Reduce the number of actors: fewer actors increase the chances of cooperation
 Iteration: Repeated interactions - higher chance for cooperation

49—Increasing the chances for cooperation with international institutions

 Set standards: establishing clear standards of behaviour to which states can be held accountable.
 Framework conventions establish general principles that all states agree to respect (e.g., The
1985 Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer)
 Verify compliance: Time-consuming and challenging unless there is a complete ban on a
particular practice that is damaging to the environment (e.g., emitting CFCs; whaling).
 Facilitate discussion, decision-making, and dispute resolution

50—International agreements
 1985: Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer
o 1989: Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer
o 2016: Kigali Amendment to Montreal protocol
 1992: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC)
o 1997: Kyoto protocol
o 2016: Paris Agreement

51—Case study—managing a changing Arctic

53—The changing weather and politics of the Arctic

 Since 1980 the Arctic has been warming at about twice as fast as the rest of the world leading
to unprecedented loss in sea ice. (Adger et al. 2014: 776)
 Overall, the consensus is that there is little current risk of a war, but there is much maneuvering
for national security and economic and military advantage.
 The growing pace of sea ice melt leads to a number of challenges:
o Economic
o Military
o Environmental
o Technological

57—Uncovering new resources

 Estimates of up to 90 billion barrels of oil in the Arctic
o For context, Saudi Arabia’s current proven reserve is 266,000 million barrels (3% of
the Arctic reserves) (http://www.opec.org/opec_web/en/about_us/169.htm)
 1,669 trillion cubic feet of natural gas
o Russia currently has the world’s largest proven reserves at 661 trillion cubic feet (40%)
 Source for Arctic resource estimates: USGS (2009: 5931)

58—Environmental challenges of climate change in the Arctic

 Fish stocks are moving northward into cooler waters
 Animals (seals, whales) that depend on these animals also are moving north
 Polar bears may become extinct in the first half of this century.

59—Population challenges
 Indigenous populations also have to adapt to the changing wildlife patterns and potential
economic and political changes with increased international interest.

60—Transportation challenges
 Some transportation challenges will become easier with less ice (e.g. opening of the Northwest
passage)
 This will also help avoid piracy in other congested areas of international sea transport.
  Tourism will also become easier but also brings with it safety and environmental concerns
 There is still a scarcity of (very expensive and slow to build) icebreakers.
 The US (and Australia) only has one icebreaker (each).
 There are risks of non-icebreaking ships being damaged with ice uncertain channels
 Search and rescue capabilities will need to be enhanced in case of these risks being realised.

61—In 2016, Australia bought a new icebreaker

62—International responses to Arctic changes

 Going it alone (stick with domestic mitigation and adaptation)
 Bilateral agreements/treaties
 Multilateral treaties
 International organisations/regimes
 Norms

63—Arctic governance
 The earliest Arctic treaty, the Svalbard (aka Spitsbergen) treaty (1925 in effect; 1920 signing)
gave Norway rights to the Spitsbergen group of Arctic islands.
 Now 40 signatories including S Korea, China, Japan, India
 Sets up 200 nm zone around it that has been a source of a number of disputes with the Soviet
Union and Russia.
 There is always a challenge in trying to decide whether to work within existing treaties, change
the existing agreements or create new ones—of course this is an old challenge.
 For other examples of this in the area of international security see NATO and the UN Security
Council

64—Governance examples—from less to more organisation

 Bilateral cooperation
 Inuit Circumpolar Council
 The Arctic Council
 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea
 International Maritime Organisation

66—Inuit Circumpolar Council

 First met in 1977
 Multinational non-governmental organization (NGO) and Indigenous Peoples' Organization
(IPO) representing the 160,000 Inuit
 Holds a general assembly meeting every four years
 “It is our right to freely determine our political status, freely presume our economic, social,
cultural and linguistic development, and freely pursue our natural wealth and resources.”
(quoted in Ebinger & Zambetakis 1219)

68—The Arctic Council

• Founded in 1996
• Not an international organisation but a forum designed to foster cooperation and collaboration
• The Arctic Council is the leading intergovernmental forum promoting cooperation,
coordination and interaction among the Arctic states, Arctic Indigenous communities and other
Arctic inhabitants on common Arctic issues, in particular on issues of sustainable development
and environmental protection in the Arctic
• The Ottawa Declaration lists the following countries as Members of the Arctic Council: Canada,
the Kingdom of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, the Russian Federation, Sweden and the
United States.
• Mainly takes actions in six working groups

69—1982 Signing ceremony of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea

70—1982 Signing ceremony of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)
• Replaced four 1958 treaties
• All countries’ continental shelf extends beyond 200 nautical miles from its shoreline able to
claim resources to 250 nautical miles.
• US has failed to ratify it and prefers to rely on customary laws.
• Article 76 has proven problematic with submissions of area claims not visible to other states
until after they have been considered.

71—Photo of International Maritime Organization’s London headquarters

72—International Maritime Organization

 International shipping now transports more than 80 per cent of global trade.
 A UN specialized agency created in 1948 as the global standard-setting authority for the safety,
security and environmental performance of international shipping.
 Its main role is to create a regulatory framework for the shipping industry that is fair and
effective, universally adopted and universally implemented.
 IMO has promoted the adoption of some 50 conventions and protocols and adopted more than
1,000 codes and recommendations concerning maritime safety and security, the prevention of
pollution and related matters including in the Polar regions.
 IMO has passed the 2009 Guidelines for ships operating in polar waters.
o It also acceded to International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters (Polar Code)
and related amendments to make it mandatory under both the International Convention
for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and the International Convention for the
Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) that is due to enter force in 2017.
 It has also spearheaded efforts in the last two decades to counter piracy off Somalia and the
Straits of Malacca.

73—International responses summary

 International responses to environmental challenges fall along an axis of low to high complexity
and coordination.
 The organisations about the Arctic show the range and extent of activities in this area.
 There has been drastic change both in the environment as well as the international responses to
it over the last century as the number of mitigation and adaptation strategies have grown.

74—General conclusions
 Why is global environmental cooperation so hard?
 Collective action problems: free-riding, overexploitation
 Why does cooperation, nevertheless, sometimes occur?
 Increase the chances for cooperation through interests, interactions and institutions

75—Response paper and final exam

 Due Wednesday (21 May) by noon.
 Read the response paper guide.
 Do not submit at the last minute, as Wattle does crash.
 If Wattle does crash, take a screenshot and email it to Jessica along with the paper. Then still
submit the paper as soon as you can to Turnitin.
 900-1,100-word limit does not include bibliographies or footnotes, but it does include
everything else.
 Feedback and marks released 31 May.

76—Final exam
 Date: 6 June at 9:30am
 Doublecheck the date and time on the Timetabling website.
 Arrive early.
  BRING A PENCIL.
 Read the practice exam.

Wk 11 Human Rights

Today’s Puzzle
1. Modern state system predicated on ideal of sovereignty. But human rights, and related
treaty regime, based on idea that these entitlements are universal and inalienable. Can
universal human rights and state sovereignty co-exist?
2. States often encourage free flow of money and goods, but take markedly different
approaches to movement of people, including refugees. Why is forced migration seen
as potential threat to national & int’l security?

Today’s outline
1. What are human rights?
2. The evolving international human rights regime
3. Human rights treaty participation and compliance
4. Migrants and refugees

1. What are human rights?

Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
• “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”
 Entitlements that everyone has by virtue of being human:
– Universal
– Inalienable
– (Indivisible?)
Physical Integrity Rights
 Political imprisonment
 Torture
 Disappearance
 Extrajudicial killing
 Genocide
Civil and Political Rights
 Religion/belief
 Privacy
 Opinion/expression
 Assembly/association
 Political participation
 Fair treatment before the law
Economic Rights
 Worker’s rights/Union rights
o Safe work, equal pay, no child labour
o Right to unionise/strike
 Adequate standard of living (food, water, shelter)
 Development
Social and Cultural Rights
 Education
 Health
 Language/culture
 Indigenous rights
 Non-discrimination

2. The evolving international human rights regime

The Evolving International Human Rights Regime: 3 Main Themes
 Inherent tension between universal human rights and sovereignty
 Vast, complex, & largely à la carte
 Enforcement is hard, but sometimes works
The Evolving International Human Rights Regime: 3 Levels of Analysis
 Individuals like Henry Dunant and Ralph Lemkin
 States ratifying (and abiding by) international treaties (or not)
 Shifting systemic norms of warfare and political, economic, and social
responsibilities and IOs
The Evolving International Human Rights Regime: When Did it Start?
 Laws of war (e.g. Geneva Convention)
 Suffragist movement?
 Anti-slavery movement?
 1600s? Earlier?
Some Crucial Foundations
 Geneva Conventions
o Series of treaties over more than a century (1864, 1906, 1929, 1949, updates
in 1977)
1. Wartimes military, civilian prisoners, citizens in war zones
2. Wounded, sick, shipwrecked armed forces at sea
3. Prisoners of war
4. Civilians during war
o Therefore, the Syrian government is in breach of Geneva conventions
 Hague Conventions
o Convention for Pacific Settlement International Disputes (1899)
 o Convention on Laws and Customs War on Land (1899)
 Prisoners of war
 No killing enemy combatants who surrender
o 13 treaties in 1907, mostly on naval warfare
 Genocide Convention (1948)
o Largely result of efforts of Raphael Lemkin
o State parties commit:
 Not to commit genocide
 Prevent and punish genocide in other countries
o What is genocide?
 (art. 2): any of following acts committed with intention to destroy, in
whole/part, national, ethnic, racial or religious group via
 Killing
 Causing serious bodily or mental harm
 Deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring
about group physical destruction in whole or in part
 Imposing measures intended to prevent births within group
 Forcibly transferring group children to another group
 Rohingya situation in Myanmar is most likely a genocide
 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
o Not ratifiable so not technically legally binding
o But many countries put in constitutions and some argue that it is part of
customary international law now
Realism and Human Rights
 Power & security drive states. Will always come before concern for how people in
other countries are treated
 Anarchy makes int’l human rights law toothless
 Powerful states like the US pushed these norms to counteract USSR, but ignore
rights when not convenient
Liberalism and Human Rights
 Individuals & NGOs have proven crucial to encouraging human rights & pressuring
states to improve
 Under right conditions, int’l HR orgs have ‘teeth’
 Economic sanctions for those who violate
 Corporate social responsibility
 HR linkage
Norm-Based Approaches and Human Rights
 At least 2 massive normative changes in last 100 years alone: accountability for
impunity, and sovereign immunity
 “Normative theorists feel vindicated in their claim that it is as critical to study how
agents should behave as how they do behave" (Brown & Ainley: 222)
 Feminists critique HR for being gendered and systematically disadvantaging non-
male rights and perspectives (e.g. Binion, Gayle. 1995)

3. Human rights treaty participation and compliance

1984 Convention Against Torture:
  Almost everyone joins (163 State party, 8 signatories, 26 no action)
2002 Protocol Convention Against Torture Optional Protocol
 Selective participation (88 state party, 14 signatories, 95 no action)
1979 Convention on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
 Almost everyone joins (189 state party, 2 signatories, 6 no action)
1999 CEDAW Optional Protocol
 Selective participation (109 state party, 13 signatories, 75 no action)
Are Human Rights Improving?
 Depends on the right(s)
 On a number of dimensions, yes
 Evidence that this is due to human rights institutions per se: extremely mixed
 Abuses persist/are intensifying in many places, including in some established
democracies

4. Migrants and refugees

Forced migration
 Causes?
– Conflict, persecution, state collapse, economic inequality, natural
disaster...
 (Why)a potential threat to national & int’l security?
– Can be hard to identify problematic individuals
– Can destabilise domestic society & economy
 Should states be required to open borders to all?
Who is a refugee?
 Definition (1951 Refugee Convention)
o Well-founded fear of persecution (race, religion....)
o Outside home country
o Inability to enjoy protection of own state
Asylum seeker vs. refugee
 An asylum seeker is someone asking for official refugee status
 All who gain official refugee status were asylum seekers at some point
 Not all refugees
(1) apply; or
(2) obtain refugee status
Australia’s Refugee Policy
 Military in charge of asylum operations
o Protect integrity of borders
o Prevent deaths at sea (deter, intercept...)
 Those who reach Australia by boat:
o Processed offshore
o Even if found to be refugees, never allowed to settle in Australia
o PM refused NZ’s offer (begging) to take 150 currently detained

WK 11 TUTE
UNCAT (UN convention against torture)
Philosophical implications
  Limit state sovereignty
 Nothing justifies torture: Does it limit state security and information security
o If torture is needed for information about security
 Cultural differences
 May resort to other measures such as bribery
 Not orders by superiors: what if superiors threaten you or family
Political implications
 Prosecution of parties who resort to torture by state parties in areas under
jurisdiction
 Each state party must ensure that acts of torture are offences under criminal law

Week 12 Lecture Outline

Conclusions and
 future directions

Outline for today


I. Revisit main themes of this class
II. Results of the Syrian simulation

III. Future challenges for International Relations
IV. Preparing for the final exam

I. Main themes of POLS1005

How do we know what we know?

1. Start with a question.
 What are the characteristics of a good state?

 What are the responsibilities of a citizen?

 Why is Russia helping Ukrainian rebels?

 Why has an American always led the World Bank?

2. Propose an answer (and consider alternative explanations).

3. Use the appropriate method and level of analysis to evaluate your answer.

Levels of analysis (focus on different actors at different levels)

 Global
 State
o City, province, state, territory, country (units)
 Individual

Path diagram describing different academic approaches to explaining actions

Constructivism, Critical & historical approaches Preferences/motivations actions
Realism, liberalism, rational choice approaches Preferences/motivations actions
Three elements are crucial to understanding international relations.
(The Three I’s: interests, interactions and institutions)
1. Actorsʼ interests and behaviour

 Actorsʼ beliefs and actions

 They can both create and perpetuate institutions.

 Their knowledge cam be incomplete or just plain wrong.
2. Political institutions at various levels of analysis
3. Political interactions and outcomes
 War, peace, development, trade, human rights observance

Course outline:
Part 1: Foundations and concepts
 Week 1: Introduction
 Week 2: Theories of International Relations
Part 2: War and peace
 Week 3: Why are there wars?
 Week 4: Domestic politics and war
o Why states go to war (preferences of specific actors, domestic politics etc.)
 Week 5: Political institutions and war
 Week 6: Civil war and terrorism
Part 3: International political economy (economic self-interest)
 Week 7: The politics of trade and finance
 Week 8: Economy and political development
Part 4: specific transnational factors
 Week 9: International law
 Week 10: Human rights

 Week 11: The environment

 Week 12: Conclusion and future directions

How do we explain change in the international system?

 Changes in actors’ interests change their strategies.

 These shifting strategies change interactions.

 States adapt and create new institutions or adapt existing ones.

II. Results of the Syrian simulation


Many instances of partial agreement, some full agreements and few no agreements (less agreements
about political transition and lifting of sanctions. Agreement highest for ceasefires. Disagreement
most common for political transitions.

III. Future challenges for International Relations

When and where will we see international conflict?

27. Video from Dr. Strangelove (1964) about the utility of a Doomsday Machine and nuclear
deterrence.
28. Screenshot of headline about the proposed US-North Korean meeting in Singapore
29. Photos of previous US presidents visiting the demilitarized zone on the Korean peninsula
30. Photo of Francis Fukuyama’s “The End of History and the Last Man.”
31. Screenshot of The Economist graph titled “Democracy continues its disturbing retreat.”
32. Screenshot of The Economist 2004 headline “Why Europe must say yes to Turkey.”
33. Screenshot of Washington Post about Turkey being sued by demonstrators
34-35. Videos from 2017 demonstrators being attacked in Washington DC.
36. Screenshot of NPR headline saying that US dropped prosecution of Turkish bodyguards
37. Two screenshots about Turkish president in 2018

Civil conflict and terrorism

39.
 Screenshot of 2017 New York Times’ article “Syrian Crematory Is Hiding Mass Killings of
Prisoners, U.S. Says.”
40. Screenshot about academic debate about decline in violence
41. Screenshot of BBC News about recent killings of Gazan protestors
42. Screenshot of ACLED database summary of Yemen
43. Screenshot of Africa News about tensions in Cameroon
44. World map of terrorism attacks from 1979-2015

What changes in international political economy are afoot?

46. Screenshot of The Guardian headline “More than 100 cities now mostly powered by renewable
energy, data shows.”
47. Screenshots about Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030
48. Screenshot from Bloomberg stating “Shell Says Oil’s Not Going Anywhere.
49. Two screenshots of headlines about TPP and US-China trade tensions
50. Graph of China-US trade since 1979
51. Map of China’s USD $1 trillion Belt and Road initiative

Economic development & inequality

53. Graph of three waves of globalization
54. Photo of Trump Tower advertisement in Mumbai, India
55. Screenshots of WHO’s smallpox eradication campaign and current outbreak of Ebola in DRC.

Human rights
57. Two screenshots about human rights trends over time
58. Screenshot about Qatar joining two human rights treaties
59. Screenshot about Saudi Arabia’s lifting of ban on women drivers

Technological advances
61. Screenshot of The New York Times headline about the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation
62. Screenshot of the current Duke and Duchess of Sussex
63. Screenshot of BBC News story this week about Japanese climber dying on Mt. Everest
64.
 Screenshot of 2017 Sydney Morning Herald “Australian climber dies on Mount Everest,
officials say.”
65.
 Cartoon, photo, and book cover of Francis Younghusband’s 1903-1904 expedition to Tibet
66. Photo of Hillary and Norgay and photo of Daily Mirror cover from 1953.
67. Two screenshots about India-China tensions in Himalaya region

Environmental change
69. Photo of Lorenzo Quinn. 2017. Support. on Ca’Sagredo Palace, during Venice Biennale. 14 May.
70. Photo of 150cm flooding in St. Mark’s Square, November 2012
71. Screenshots about new Australian Senate report about security risks related to climate change
72. Photo of SPIR fridge to demonstrate collective action problem
73. Satellite photo of Middle East

IV. Preparing for the final exam

Content from weeks 6-12
(should apply concepts of first half)
Bring both pen and pencil

MCQ
- 20 questions
Short answer:
- 5 questions
- Bullet points
Essays
-Two essays (30% each)
-Make general argument and apply to Syrian essay or other case studies
-Quotes useful but not necessary
-Link to theories of IR, assumptions and key theorists
-Present counter-arguments