Interpretation, explanation and critique in IR

Transcription

1 Interpretation, explanation and critique in IR

2 How does the University work? How did UCSC come to be what it is? 1. We are subject to roles, rules and relations 2. These are in place when we arrive 3. We have ideas about how things should happen 4. But we are constrained by structures, meanings, beliefs 5. There are formal (written) & informal (customary) structures 6. We produce and reproduce the institution 7. Outcomes are not always desired or salutary or intended

3 How does this type pf analysis apply to Lord of the Flies? 1. The boys, who are individually different, create a society on the island 2. They organize a political system of governance 3. They assign tasks to individuals and groups 4. They produce and reproduce this society 5. They become embroiled in a power struggle 6. They fall into conflict and civil war 7. They ignite a conflagration that will destroy them

4 But none of this happens in a vaccuum 1. British class structure a. Historical origins of the class system b. Class in politics and economics c. Class system in war d. Class system in education 2. Public (aka, private) school system a. Rankings read off of clothing, caps, accents b. Public schools as system of socialization & discipline c. Public schools as sources of officer corps d. Public schools and nationalism

5 And they reproduce naturalized social structures & relations learned in Britain I. Gendering & power relations a. In public schools & on the island b. In the household II. Violence direct and implied a. In language b. In images & symbols c. Savage behavior not how British boys should behave III. Fear & paranoia of difference a. Of the unknown and the dark b. Of the beast c. Of each other

6 How do these elements factor into politics? 1. Abuse of those the lower classes 2. Assumptions about who serves whom 3. Threats of punishment for dissent 4. Disrespect for those who are different 5. Legalized theft of others possessions 6. Tendencies toward oligarchy 7. Reliance on violence when all else fails 8. Destruction of the world to protect power

7 In the final analysis, they are victims not of human nature but of behaviors learned, recalled and reproduced in their new situation

8 Some common propositions in IR 1. Focus primarily on states as like units 2. States have national characters 3. The security of the state is most critical 4. Believe states are motivated by national interests 5. As a result of which competition, conflict and war are the result 6. This is generally called realism 7. We call concepts such as realism a theory of IR

9 By contrast, political sociology is the study of people in societies and: Power, in its different forms Individual actions and relations within social structures, and their mutual effects And the politics involved and that result The field of fruit

10 Political sociology assumes that 1. People have multiple motivations for their beliefs, actions & practices 2. Meanings, culture, symbols matter 3. Social relations constrain beliefs and actions 4. Societies tend to naturalize that which has become customary 5. Language is the medium of structuring societies, and is a face of power

11 What does this mean for our study of international politics? 1. States are not identical units & act differently, but not due to character 2. Sociological (unit & state level) factors matter both inside and outside 3. Differences in cultures and meanings matter in terms of goals & interests 4. Power cannot be defined in simple terms as force

12 What about Gruzia (Georgia)? 1. Democratic, defenseless Georgia was invaded by powerful, predatory Russia without warning 2. Russia was backing secessionists in South Ossetia and Abkazia, and providing them with weapons 3. Both regions are lawfully part of Georgia although insurrectionary forces occupied both of them 4. Georgia was only trying to assert its legal sovereignty over the two regions 5. A change in the balance-of-power meant that Russia could defy NATO and invade Georgia 6. This is the same thing that happened in 1939

13 Sociologically, the story is not so simple 1. There is a long history of both good and poor relations between Russia and the Georgians 2. The Soviet Union was organized along ethnonational lines, for political and social reasons 3. When the USSR was in its last days, these entities became the basis for the rise of nationalism 4. Those nationalities that came to rule the new states confronted, in turn, other ethnonationalities 5. In Georgia, such groups became de facto independent in the early 1990s 6. George was never able to reintegrate them