Global security

1.What Is Politics? The process by which human communities make collective decisions. The word politics has its origins in Ancient Greece. All of the cities in Ancient Greece, such as Athens, Sparta, and Corinth, were referred to as city-states and the Greek word for a city-state was polis (πολις). Latin Politicus was an adjective that was used to describe anything “of the state”.

2.Minor actors in IR:

Individuals: those who are able to influence politics in someone’s country: presidents, business entrepreneurs, mass media entrepreneurs

Nongovernmental Organizations: The International Red Cross is a good example. Many professional organizations fall into this category, everything from medical associations to the International Chamber of Commerce.

Multinational Corporations: These have become particularly important and increasingly studied since World War II. Huge corporations may have branches in the United States, Germany, France, Japan, Brazil, and a host of other countries. Each branch is obliged to follow the laws of each country in which it operates.

Elites: are select groups of people that come to the fore in certain areas. In international relations, there is a group of individuals both in and out of governments who are so active, powerful, and important that they form a communications network that can influence many aspects of the international system.

3.International conflicts (case study). The Arab–Israeli conflict refers to the political tension and military conflicts between certain Arab countries and Israel. The roots of the modern Arab–Israeli conflict are bound in the rise of Zionism and Arab nationalism towards the end of the 19th century. Territory regarded by the Jewish people as their historical homeland is also regarded by the Pan-Arab movement as historically and presently belonging to the Palestinian Arabs, and in the Pan-Islamic context, as Muslim lands. The sectarian conflict between Palestinian Jews and Arabs emerged in the early 20th century, peaking into a full-scale civil war. Many Jews began to immigrate to Palestine in the late 1800’s.Pre-WWI: Area of Palestine under Ottoman Empire after WWI: Area of Palestine under control of British (British Mandate) until it became independent. Balfour Declaration: 1917: Britain supports idea of a Jewish homeland / rights of non-Jews protected. The Land of Canaan or Land of Israel was, according to the Bible, promised by God to the Children of Israel. Muslims also claim rights to that land in accordance with the Quran.

Palestinians – Arabs who had lived in the area of Israel for 2000 years forced to move. Palestinians became refugees in other countries throughout the middle east.

Palestinians that remained forced to live in camps to make room for Jews

Jews and Muslims each want to control Jerusalem.

The conflict has shifted over the years from the large scale regional Arab–Israeli conflict to a more local Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

Zionism is the national movement of Jews and Jewish culture that supports the creation of a Jewish homeland in the territory defined as the Land of Israel.

The land known as Palestine had, by 1947, seen considerable immigration of Jewish peoples fleeing persecution. Zionist Jews were particularly in favour of getting Palestine as a new Jewish homeland. The local Palestinian population of Muslim Arabs felt that the influx of newcomers was threatening their way of life. The British rulers of Palestine decided on a repression of the Arabic people to keep the peace. By 1947 this had achieved an unhappy calm between all three groups. The United Nations Partition Plan (1947) had decided that partition was the best way to stop the fighting in Palestine.

The Jews were to get c.55% of the land, and the Arabs, 45%.

Naturally the Palestinian Arabs rejected it out of hand.

The Jewish - leader Ben-Gurion -gave it a cautious welcome.

All sides knew, however, that the British rule was coming to an end. Their ‘Mandate’ (permission) to rule only lasted until May15 1948.

Palestinian uprising or Intifada against Israeli occupation, living conditions, and to demand independence that begins in 1987. Includes Palestinian demonstrations, strikes, boycotts, rock throwing and gasoline bombs.

The Arabic Palestinians, led by the Arab Higher Committee, moved first. There was a wave of anti-Jewish protests, Jewish shops were looted, and Jewish people attacked.

The Jewish provisional government decided that they had to act independently. They felt that they had to act for themselves- and not wait for the British to leave.

May 14, 1948 The Prime Minister Ben Gurion declared the Independence of Israel,only one day before the end of the mandate, and in a climate of fear and violence. Israel was quickly recognised by the USA and Russia. They were powerful, and rich, friends.

1948-9 Israeli War of Independence: Arab League countries declared war on the new Israel immediately. Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon all planned invasions.

The idea was to crush Israel before it could become established.

The war itself: It was a disaster for the Arabic nations. The Israeli forces were far stronger than any of them expected. Many Jews had fought in World War II and they had reasonable weaponry-mostly also from World war II. The Jewish army also greatly increased in size, whereas the Arab forces grew only slowly. Results of the war: Only the Jordanians and the Egyptians made any real gains. The Jordanians grabbed East Jerusalem and the ‘West Bank’ land. The Egyptians gained a strip of coast-line called the ‘Gaza strip’. Elsewhere the Arabic forces were all pushed back.1949 the United Nations declared a cease-fire on the ‘Green Line’. Israel signed armistice agreements with all the Arab states. Israel had expanded by another 25%!

Creation of Israel (1947)

United Nations decided to partition Palestine between Jews and Palestinians.

Jewish state = Israel.

Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia & Syria declare war on Israel.

The Suez Crisis (1956)

Egypt gains control of the Suez Canal.

Israel (w/ Britain & France) fight for control of the canal.

Outside pressure to stop the war.

The Six-Day War (1967)

Israel strikes Middle Eastern airfields.

Arabs backed by the Soviets.

15,000 Arabs dead.

Yom Kippur War (1973)

Joint Arab attack on Jewish holy day.

Creates a truce after a few weeks.

Oslo Accords, 1993

•In the 1990’s several advances towards peace were made with several meetings taking place in places such as Egypt, Spain, the United States, and Norway.

–1993 Oslo Accords: Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat and Israel’s Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin met to begin to work out a peace deal that included each side recognizing the right of the other to exist.

–Arafat and Rabin received the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts

•In 1994, Israel and Jordan signed a peace agreement

•Clashes between the Arabic and Jewish populations had been frequent and bloody.

•The wall dividing Palestinian Arabs from Jews.

•Israel has been the largest overall recipient of foreign aid from the US since World War II, receiving US$3 billion in military aid in 2012. In 2012, the US provided $100 million in assistance to Palestinian security forces and $396 million in economic support to the PA.

•In April 2012, the International Criminal Court (ICC) Office of the Prosecutor closed its consideration of a 2009 Palestinian declaration seeking to accept ICC jurisdiction, stating it did not have the authority to determine whether Palestine was a “state” for the purposes of the ICC treaty.

•On November 29, the UN General Assembly voted to recognize Palestine as a non-member observer state. Prior to the vote, Israel and the UK pressured Palestinian leaders not to join the ICC. It is unclear at this writing what effect the observer-state determination will have on the 2009 Palestinian declaration with the ICC. The division of governance between the parties has effectively resulted in the collapse of bipartisan governance of the Palestinian National Authority (PA). The latest round of peace negotiations began in July 2013 and are currently ongoing. For now, Israel had won her right to exist.

•The Arab league had to think again before challenging this right.

•Palestinians who had lost homes were a strong voice of protest against the new state.

4.What is political science? Why Study Political science? The term political science is the systematic study of the state and the government

Political Science is a social science regarding the practice and theory of politics, the analysis of political systems, and the study of political behavior. Simply put, political science is the study of politics.

Some particular areas that political scientists study include public policy, national politics, political theory, international relations, and comparative politics.

To understand politics in various countries.

To generate lessons from one place and apply them in another.

To develop broad theories.

5.Major actors in IR:

States (or Countries): are still the most important actors in the international system.

It is through states that most international relations are structured, ordered, and controlled.

Under international law, states are assumed to be sovereign and equal, that is, each of the approximately 200 independent states of the world is assumed to have control of its own destiny and have the same rights and duties as every other state. This idea of the equality of states flies in the face of objective reality.

States range in population from 1.1 billion to less than 100,000, in wealth from a GNP of several trillion dollars to less than 100 million dollars, and in area from a few square miles to 8 million square miles.

A profound problem with the international system is the existence of this gross inequality when the system operates under the assumptions of equality.

International Organizations: They are an important actor in the international system. International organizations can serve as a forum for states to interact in а regularized, systematic way.

But they also can take on a life of their own, having an importance that goes beyond the direct representation of their members.

good example is the specialized agencies of the United Nations) by international organizations we mean governmental organizations, that is, organizations to which states belong, for example, the U.N., OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries), and the European Communities.

6)Modern Ideologies and Political Philosophy.

liberalism, conservatism and socialism. Most people approach politics through an ideology—an organized set of related ideas that modify one another. For instance, one person may believe that everyone is basically selfish, that politicians are all crooks, that a citizen owes nothing to the state, that it is all right to cheat on one’s taxes, that gun control is a bad thing because it

keeps us from protecting ourselves, and so on. This is an ideology—a set of ideas about politics, all of which are related to one another and that modify and support each other. An ideology also has public uses. In politics, we are typically concerned to convince others that a policy we favor is the right one. We usually have personal reasons for favoring the policy (we may want taxes to be cut because we are wealthy, oppose gun control because we like to collect guns, or favor national health insurance because we are poor), but these personal reasons are not usually good public reasons.Two main ideologies are found among Americans: American liberalism and

American conservatism. The two American ideologies are actually variants of liberalism,one of the three great

ideologies that developed in Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. These three ideologies—liberalism, conservatism, and socialism—have provided the framework for most political debate throughout the world since then. American liberalism, for instance, has developed as a rather loosely held sense of support for underdogs. As a result, concerns for economic equality are strong in American liberalism (the poor as underdogs), as is support for the interests of ethnic minorities, women, and gays. Support for environmental protection is also part of American liberalism. And so is support for a fairly radical defense of freedom of expression, as exemplified by the American Civil Liberties Union. American conservatism has traditionally emphasized more keeping governmental regulation of people’s lives to a minimum, in order to allow ample room for individual self-reliance. This has led to such positions as support for the right to own guns without regulation, the right of consumers to make their choices free of government oversight, and the right of businesses to operate with a minimum level of governmental regulation. In recent decades American conservatism has added to these concerns a desire to maintain common values of morality and spirituality, and opposition to legalized abortion

Liberalism posits as the highest good of society the ability of the members of that society to develop their individual capacities to the fullest extent. That is, in a good society, all individuals should be able to develop their minds, musical talents, athletic abilities, or any other gift as much as possible. This requires, according to liberalism, that people be maximally responsible for their own actions, rather than having someone else do things for them or tell them what to do. It is only by acting and feeling the consequences of such action that we can develop our capacity to act.

When liberalism arose to challenge the existing social arrangements, the defenders of those arrangements needed an ideology to counteract the persuasive power of liberalism. Conservatism developed in response to this need.Liberalism is a political philosophy or worldview founded on ideas of liberty and equality.[1] Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally they support ideas such asfree and fair elections, civil rights, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, free trade, and private property.[ Words such as liberal, liberty, libertarian, and libertine all trace their history to the Latin liber, which means "free".[13] One of the first recorded instances of the word liberal occurs in 1375, when it was used to describe the liberal arts in the context of an education desirable for a free-born man.[13] The word's early connection with the classical education of a medieval university soon gave way to a proliferation of different denotations and connotations. Liberal could refer to "free in bestowing" as early as 1387, "made without stint" in 1433, "freely permitted" in 1530, and "free from restraint"—often as a pejorative remark—in the 16th and the 17th centuries.

Socialism is a social and economic system characterised by social ownership of the means of production and co-operative management of the economy,[1][2] as well as a political theory and movement that aims at the establishment of such a system.[3][4] "Social ownership" may refer to cooperative enterprises, common ownership, state ownership, citizen ownership of equity, or any combination of these.[5] There are many varieties of socialism and there is no single definition encapsulating all of them.[6] They differ in the type of social ownership they advocate, the degree to which they rely on markets or planning, how management is to be organised within productive institutions, and the role of the state in constructing socialism.[7]

Conservatism as a political and social philosophy promotes retaining traditional social institutions. A person who follows the philosophies of conservatism is referred to as a traditionalist or conservative. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others, called reactionaries, oppose modernism and seek a return to "the way things were".[1][2] The first established use of the term in a political context originated with François-René de Chateaubriand in 1818,[3] during the period of Bourbon restoration that sought to roll back the policies of the French Revolution. The term, historically associated with right-wing politics, has since been used to describe a wide range of views. There is no single set of policies that are universally regarded as conservative, because the meaning of conservatism depends on what is considered traditional in a given place and time. Thus conservatives from different parts of the world—each upholding their respective traditions—may disagree on a wide range of issues. Edmund Burke, an 18th-century politician who opposed the French Revolution but supported the American Revolution, is credited as one of the main theorists of conservatism in Great Britain in the 1790s.[4] According to Quintin Hogg, the chairman of the British Conservative Party in 1959, "Conservatism is not so much a philosophy as an attitude, a constant force, performing a timeless function in the development of a free society, and corresponding to a deep and permanent requirement of human nature itself.

Political philosophy is the study of topics such as politics, liberty, justice, property, rights, law, and the enforcement of a legal code by authority: what they are, why (or even if) they are needed, what, if anything, makes agovernment legitimate, what rights and freedoms it should protect and why, what form it should take and why, what the law is, and what duties citizens owe to a legitimate government, if any, and when it may be legitimately overthrown, if ever. In a vernacular sense, the term "political philosophy" often refers to a general view, or specific ethic, political belief or attitude, about politics that does not necessarily belong to the technical discipline ofphilosophy. In short, political philosophy is the activity, as with all philosophy, whereby the conceptual apparatus behind such concepts as aforementioned are analyzed, in their history, intent, evolution and the like.[1]