Woman, the State, and War

2009 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 289-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Bethke Elshtain
Keyword(s):  
Structural Analysis ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
The State ◽  
Levels Of Analysis ◽  
Central Feature ◽  
Structural Level ◽  
Explanatory Framework ◽  
Level Of Analysis

Does `gender' as a category of analysis or as a central feature of a logic of explanation alter in significant ways Kenneth Waltz's famous `levels of analysis' as developed in his classic, Man, the State, and War? One overriding claim of feminist international relations has been that `gender' alters all levels of analysis; thus, changing `man' to `woman' in the formulation `man, the state, and war' significantly transforms our understanding of international relations. I evaluate this claim critically by assessing the adequacy of feminist formulations on each of Waltz's levels of analysis and, further, by unpacking Waltz's own understanding of these levels. I conclude that Waltz remains enormously helpful in deconstructing reductionist accounts, especially on the `first level' of analysis, but that his own account is problematic insofar as it insists on a `structural analysis' sundered from his levels 1 and 2, namely, wars flow from human nature or, alternatively, from the domestic ordering of states. I point out that Waltz himself leaves some `wiggle room' in his book that permits one to `plug in' features of the first two levels of analysis that are critical to understanding the structural level. In other words, all three levels must be in play if one is to craft a compelling explanatory framework.

Network Science and International Relations

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zeev Maoz
Keyword(s):  
Network Analysis ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Network Effects ◽  
Network Science ◽  
International Politics ◽  
Levels Of Analysis ◽  
Emergent Properties ◽  
Units Of Analysis ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Level Of Analysis

Network analysis has been one of the fastest-growing approaches to the study of politics in general and the study of international politics in particular. Network analysis relies on several key assumptions: (a) relations are interdependent, (b) complex relations give rise to emergent and unintended structures, (c) agents’ choices affect structure and structure affects agents’ choices, and (d) once we understand the emergent properties of a system and the interrelations between agents and structure, we can generalize across levels of analysis. These assumptions parallel many of the key features of international relations. Key contributions of network analysis helps shed light on important puzzles in the study and research of international relations. Specifically, (a) network analytic studies helped refine many key concepts and measures of various aspects of international politics; (b) network analysis helped unpack structures of interdependence, uncovering endogenous network effects that have caused biased inferences of dyadic behavior; (c) network analytic studies have shed light on important aspects of emergent structures and previously unrealized units of analysis (e.g., endogenous groups); and (d) network analytic studies helped resolve multiple puzzles, wherein results found at one level of analysis contradicted those found at other levels of analysis.

scholarly journals Levels of Analysis in International Relations and Regional Security Complex Theory

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fakhreddin Soltani ◽  
Saeid Naji ◽  
Reza Ekhtiari Amiri
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Regional Analysis ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Regional Level ◽  
Levels Of Analysis ◽  
Regional Security ◽  
Complex Theory ◽  
Traditional Approaches ◽  
Level Of Analysis

Levels of Analysis is related to the explaining of causes of phenomenon (Buzan, 1995). The coming to the fore of levels of analysis in international relations was the result of the behavioral movement during the 1950s that was attempting to apply methodology of natural sciences in social sciences. Before that, traditional approaches were dominant, and they were more oriented towards history and law. The works of Kenneth N. Waltz, Morton A. Kaplan, and J. David Singer have had major roles in bringing levels of analysis into international relations (Buzan, 1995). Since then, the works of Barry Buzan and Ole Wæver have added the level of regional analysis to International Relations studies. This article reviews the three main levels of analysis and also explains the regional level of analysis in international relations.

System, State, or Individual: Gaming Levels of Analysis in International Relations

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Asal ◽  
Inga Miller ◽  
Charmaine N Willis
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Levels Of Analysis ◽  
System State ◽  
International Level ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
Level Of Analysis

Abstract Students often struggle to grasp how examining international phenomena at the systemic, state, or international level of analysis can yield different understandings or perspectives. To help students understand the dynamics at the different levels of analysis, we suggest the use of several short games that make students be “lab rats in their own experiments.” In this article, we discuss the mechanics of three short games we play with our students. We offer our qualitative impressions of the impact of these games on the understanding of the students.

scholarly journals State centrism in International Relations. Strengths and limitations and possible alternatives

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolina Velandia Hernandez
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
State Formation ◽  
The State ◽  
Transnational Networks ◽  
Levels Of Analysis ◽  
Unit Of Analysis ◽  
Units Of Analysis

Realism, institutional-liberalism and constructivism are state-centric. State formation and consolidation as a unitary actor that concentrates sovereignty, population, territory, autonomy, and authority is a product of modernity. This essay first address how state centrism evolved in the principal theories in IR, then present the strengths and limitations of the state centric approach as a unit of analysis, followed by an analysis of the incorporation of new units of analysis such as transnational networks or subnational actors. Recently, there is a development of new unit of analysis, which shows a flow back where the subnational level and individual levels of analysis influencing international relations.

Kropotkin

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Kinna
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Political Change ◽  
Direct Action ◽  
The State ◽  
Social Analysis ◽  
Mutual Aid ◽  
Special Character ◽  
Revolutionary Politics

This book is designed to remove Peter Kropotkin from the framework of classical anarchism. By focusing attention on his theory of mutual aid, it argues that the classical framing distorts Kropotkin's political theory by associating it with a narrowly positivistic conception of science, a naively optimistic idea of human nature and a millenarian idea of revolution. Kropotkin's abiding concern with Russian revolutionary politics is the lens for this analysis. The argument is that his engagement with nihilism shaped his conception of science and that his expeditions in Siberia underpinned an approach to social analysis that was rooted in geography. Looking at Kropotkin's relationship with Elisée Reclus and Erico Malatesta and examining his critical appreciation of P-J. Proudhon, Michael Bakunin and Max Stirner, the study shows how he understood anarchist traditions and reveals the special character of his anarchist communism. His idea of the state as a colonising process and his contention that exploitation and oppression operate in global contexts is a key feature of this. Kropotkin's views about the role of theory in revolutionary practice show how he developed this critique of the state and capitalism to advance an idea of political change that combined the building of non-state alternatives through direct action and wilful disobedience. Against critics who argue that Kropotkin betrayed these principles in 1914, the book suggests that this controversial decision was consistent with his anarchism and that it reflected his judgment about the prospects of anarchistic revolution in Russia.

The position of the State in the international system from the perspective of major schools of thought in international relations

2019 ◽  
pp. 79
Author(s):  
Salah Hassan Mohammed ◽  
Mahaa Ahmed Al-Mawla
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
International Politics ◽  
International System ◽  
International Order ◽  
The State ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Status ◽  
Future Vision

The Study is based on the state as one of the main pillars in international politics. In additions, it tackles its position in the international order from the major schools perspectives in international relations, Especially, these schools differ in the status and priorities of the state according to its priorities, also, each scholar has a different point of view. The research is dedicated to providing a future vision of the state's position in the international order in which based on the vision of the major schools in international relations.

STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF REVENUES AND EXPENDITURES OF THE STATE SOCIAL PROTECTION FUND OF THE REPUBLIC OF AZERBAIJAN

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (9) ◽  
pp. 155-160
Author(s):  
N. G. GUSEYNOV ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Structural Analysis ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
The State ◽  
The Republic

The article analyzes the dynamics and structure of revenues and expenditures of the State social protection Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan, identifies trends that determine the level of balance of its budget, and substantiates the directions for solving certain problems.

Hobbes among the Classic Jurists

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Boucher
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
International Law ◽  
The State ◽  
Law Of Nature ◽  
Law Of Nations ◽  
Complete Identification ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Hedley Bull ◽  
Hans Morgenthau

The classic foundational status that Hobbes has been afforded by contemporary international relations theorists is largely the work of Hans Morgenthau, Martin Wight, and Hedley Bull. They were not unaware that they were to some extent creating a convenient fiction, an emblematic realist, a shorthand for all of the features encapsulated in the term. The detachment of international law from the law of nature by nineteenth-century positivists opened Hobbes up, even among international jurists, to be portrayed as almost exclusively a mechanistic theorist of absolute state sovereignty. If we are to endow him with a foundational place at all it is not because he was an uncompromising realist equating might with right, on the analogy of the state of nature, but instead to his complete identification of natural law with the law of nations. It was simply a matter of subject that distinguished them, the individual and the state.

scholarly journals Platonic metaphysics and the ontology of international relations: a sketch

2021 ◽  
pp. 004711782110214
Author(s):  
King-Ho Leung
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
World Order ◽  
Social World ◽  
Levels Of Analysis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ir Theory ◽  
The Social ◽  
Human Individual

This article offers a reading of Plato in light of the recent debates concerning the unique ‘ontology’ of International Relations (IR) as an academic discipline. In particular, this article suggests that Plato’s metaphysical account of the integral connection between human individual, the domestic state and world order can offer IR an alternative outlook to the ‘political scientific’ schema of ‘levels of analysis’. This article argues that Plato’s metaphysical conception of world order can not only provide IR theory with a way to re-imagine the relation between the human, the state and world order. Moreover, Plato’s outlook can highlight or even call into question the post-metaphysical presuppositions of contemporary IR theory in its ‘borrowed ontology’ from modern social science, which can in turn facilitate IR’s re-interpretation of its own ‘ontology’ as well as its distinct contributions to the understanding of the various aspects of the social world and human life.

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