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.