Ordering the International:Actors, Processes,

Structures

Basic Concepts and Analytical Levels of

International Relations

IntroductionIntroduction

Perspectives of International Relations

Actor

Process

Structure

IntroductionIntroduction

Actor

Environment Actor

a) Who acts ?

b) Forms, occasions, reasons, causes, results of the behaviour of actors which crosses national borders or is directed towards the international system ?

IntroductionIntroduction

Process

a) Interaction of Actors

(Duration, Regularity,

Action-Reaction-Pattern ?

b) Forms, occasions, reasons,

causes, results ?

A C

B

IntroductionIntroduction

Structure

a) Like processes between actors repeated over time and thus solidified

b) Forms, reasons, consequences ?

Foreign Policy

1. Ressources2. Means3. Aims4. Interests5. Decision

making processes

International environment

National ActorBorder crossing

action

International Politics

Actor A

Actor CActor B

Action

Reaction

Action

Reaction

Action

Reaction

The Billard-Ball-Model of International Politics

Pulling forces

Pushing forces

International Politics

Society A

Akteur A

Society B

Akteur B

IGO

Foreign Policy A

Foreign Policy B

Internationale Politik

The modern territorial State – Substrate of the Billard-Ball-Model of International Politics

Premiss: Legitimation of the state by successful completion of its functions: guarantee of law and order domestically and protection against (military)attacks in its external relations Factors of Change:

Development of the forces of production and destruction

Medieval starting point

Wall-protected impenetrability

Territorial State: hard shell of fortresses round periphery & parallell abolition of independence of interior fortified places by the central power

Gun powder revolution of the late middle ages: development of artillery and distance weapons

cancels

Fortress protected impenetrability

manifestations

Strategy military power

Politics:

Independence

Law Sovereignty

Modern State: domestically pacified and externally hard shelled defensible Unit with monopoly of the use of physical force on its territory

Impenetrability based on military, political, legal developments

Premiss: warfare rests in the horizontal

Air warfare: ballistic carriers and nuclear weapons of mass destruction

cancels

Military and political impenetrability protected by force

Air Warfare, in particular ballistic weapons of mass destruction

overcomes

Penetrability underlines Modern industrial dynamics

GlobalizationGlobalization functional Interdependence

Transnational networking

Further differentiation of international division of labour

Environmental problems & their secondary effects crossing borders

Intensification of social and cultural forces by social change

Replacement of Fordistic by Postfordistic Accumulation

Cobweb model of international Relations

Transnational Society (of Actors)

Society

A

Government

Society

B

Government

Society

C

Government

National Actor

Transnational Society

Transnational Politics

Society

B

Government

Society

C

Government

Society

A

Government

LOOKING AT THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM FROM A RECENT INTERNATIONAL

RELATIONS PERSPECTIVE

LOOKING AT THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM FROM A RECENT INTERNATIONAL

RELATIONS PERSPECTIVE

For some time already, the analysis of International Relations is characterised

by a change in perspective

- away from the state as a unitary actor acting as a gatekeeper between the

domestic and international policy areas

- up, down, and sideways to supra-state, sub-state, and non-state actors.

For some time already, the analysis of International Relations is characterised

by a change in perspective

- away from the state as a unitary actor acting as a gatekeeper between the

domestic and international policy areas

- up, down, and sideways to supra-state, sub-state, and non-state actors.

From the society of states, our focus of attention has consequently

shifted to transnational and transgovernmental societies which take the

form of boundary-crossing networks amongst individuals and non-

governmental organisations (NGOs).

From the society of states, our focus of attention has consequently

shifted to transnational and transgovernmental societies which take the

form of boundary-crossing networks amongst individuals and non-

governmental organisations (NGOs).

IGOIGO

INGOINGO

= government

= society

= foreign or international societal interactions = foreign or international political interactions

Society C

State C

Society A

State A State B

Society B

The traditional concept of international politics: States as international gatekeepers

The traditional concept of international politics: States as international gatekeepers

MULTILEVEL GOVERNANCE: MAIN ACTORS AND LEVELS OF ANALYSISMULTILEVEL GOVERNANCE: MAIN ACTORS AND LEVELS OF ANALYSIS

GOVERNMENT A

GOVERNMENT B

GOVERNMENT C

International & national regimes

International & national regimes

Supranational and intergovernmental

actors

Supranational and intergovernmental

actorsTARGET STATE

TARGET STATE

Transnational groups

Administration Legislative branch Judiciary system

Central state

Administration Legislative branch Judiciary system

Central state

Administration Legislative branch Judiciary system

Regional/substate unit

Administration Legislative branch Judiciary system

Regional/substate unit

Individual cognition; Belief system;

Personal and national identity

Individual cognition; Belief system;

Personal and national identity

Domestic groups&issue-

specific groups

(commercial, religious,

and environmental)

Domestic groups&issue-

specific groups

(commercial, religious,

and environmental)

International levelInternational level

State levelState level

Regional levelRegional level

Individual levelIndividual level

Multilevel Governance

Flexibly organised common problem solving among different communities from the local via the regional

and state to the international level(and vice versa)

Flexibly organised common problem solving among different communities from the local via the regional

and state to the international level(and vice versa)

MULTI-LEVEL GOVERNANCEMULTI-LEVEL GOVERNANCE

Concept gains importance in contexts in which political institutions and their decision-makers lose part of their auto-nomy to act; political direction and problem solving has to rely on cooperation of political AND societal actors in networks and negotiation systems (Round Tables etc.)

Concept gains importance in contexts in which political institutions and their decision-makers lose part of their auto-nomy to act; political direction and problem solving has to rely on cooperation of political AND societal actors in networks and negotiation systems (Round Tables etc.)

IN DOMESTIC POLITICSIN DOMESTIC POLITICS

Concept covers the mechanisms, agreements, and patterns necessary to insure, in an anarchical international system* transnational cooperation* balances (of power/influence)* stabilitywithout formalised and insti-tutionalised organisations and treaty systems

governance without government

Concept covers the mechanisms, agreements, and patterns necessary to insure, in an anarchical international system* transnational cooperation* balances (of power/influence)* stabilitywithout formalised and insti-tutionalised organisations and treaty systems

governance without government

IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONSIN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS