This document discusses the key actors and influences in international relations. It describes state actors such as governments, leaders, and populations. It also discusses non-state actors including intergovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, multinational corporations, terrorists, and substate actors. Additionally, it covers the international system and how states interact within the system. The document also introduces the concept of levels of analysis for understanding influences on state actions from the global, interstate, domestic, and individual levels.

1. International relations
ACTORS AND INFLUENCES

2. State Actors
 State
 is a territorial entity controlled by a government
and inhabited by a population
 Answers to no higher authority; exercises
sovereignty
 Population
 Forms a civil society to the extent that it has
developed institutions to participate in political life
or social life
 Shares a group identity called nation

3. State Actors
1. State leaders
 Head of the government or the head of the state
or both
 The most powerful political figure
 The key individual actors in IR, regardless of
whether these leaders are democratically elected
or dictators
2. Bureaucratic organizations (such as foreign
ministers) that act in the name of the state.

4. State Actors
 International system
 The set of relationships among the world’s states,
structured according to certain rules and patterns
of interaction.
 Rule may be explicit or implicit
 Rules include who is considered a member of the
system, what rights and responsibilities the
members have, and what kind of actions and
responses normally occur between states

5. The International system
Before then, people were
organized into more
mixed and overlapping
political units such as city-states,
empires, and
feudal chiefs
Modern
international
system
existed for
less 500
years
In the past 200 years,
nations began asserting as
states, increase their
number during the
decolonization, substate
nationalism and breaking
up of large multinational
states

6. Population of States
 Population varies dramatically
 China and India with more that 1 billion against
San Marino with fewer than 100,000.
 Today, majority of states have population fewer
than 10 million
 15 states with populations more than 70 million
people together contain about 2/3 of the world’s
population

7. Economy of States
 States differ tremendously in the size of their
total annual economic activity (GDP)
 US has $12 trillion against tiny states such as
the Pacific island of Vanuatu with $600
million
 The world economy is dominated by a few
states, just as the world powers

8. Largest Countries
Largest Population
Pakistan
Bangladesh
Nigeria
Vietnam
Philippines
Turkey
Both
China
India
United States
Indonesia
Brazil
Russia
Japan
Mexico
Germany
Largest economy
France
Britain
Italy
Canada
Spain
South Korea

9. Great Powers and Superpowers
Great powers Compose of few large states which
possess especially greater military and
economic strength and influence
Superpowers Most powerful of great powers with
truly global influence
Generally meant USA and Soviet Union
during Cold War and now only the
United States

10. Other Political Entities
 States or countries but not formally recognize as
states
 Taiwan
 Operates independently but is claimed by China and is
not a UN member
 Former colonies and possession like Puerto Rico
(USA), Bermuda (British), Martinique (French), French
Guiana, the Netherlands Antilles (Dutch), Falkland
Islands (British, and Guam (US)
 Hong Kong reverted from British to Chinese rule in
1997 under “one country, two systems” formula
 Vatican’s (Holy See) status is ambiguous
 Other would-be states are Kurdistan (Iraq),
Abkhazia (Georgia), and Somaliland (Somalia)

11. Non-State Actors
 Non-state actors are also called transnational actors
1. Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs)
 Organizations whose members are national governments
 Fulfill a variety of functions and vary in size from just a few
states to virtually the whole UN membership
 More than 5,000
2. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
 Private organizations, some of considerable size and
resources
 Some have political purpose, some economic or technical
one
 More than 25,000

12. Non-State Actors
3. Multinational Corporations (MNCs)
 Companies that span multiple countries
 Often control greater resources and operate
internationally with greater efficiency, than many
small states
 May prop up (or even create) friendly foreign
governments but may also provide poor states with
much-needed foreign investments and tax revenues
 Depend on states to provide protection, well-regulated
markets, and a stable political
environment

13. Non-State Actors
4. Terrorists
 During the 9/11 attack, demonstrated the
increasing power that technology gives terrorists
 al Qaeda
 Can place suicide bombers in world cities,
coordinate their operations and finances through
the Internet and global banking system, and reach a
global audience with videotaped appeals

14. Non-State Actors
5. Substate Actors
 Exist within one country but either influence that
country’s foreign policy or operate internationally,
or both
 Example
 Ohio, an entirely US entity but operates an
International Trade Division to promote exports and
foreign investments, with offices in Belgium, Japan,
Canada, China, Israel, and Mexico

15. HOW ARE STATE AND NON-STATE
ACTORS AFFECTED BY THE
REVOLUTION IN INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGIES?

16. Types of non-state actors
Type Who are they? Examples
IGOs –
Members are national
Intergovernmental
governments
Organizations
United Nations, Arab
League, Nato
NGOs –
Nongovernmental
Organizations
Members are individuals
and groups
Amnesty International,
Lions Club, Red Cross
MNCs – Multinational
Corporations
Companies that span
borders
ExxonMobil, Toyota, Wal-
Mart
Others Individuals, cities,
constituencies, etc.
Bono, Iraqi Kurdistan, al
Qaeda

17. The IGOs
EU NATO AU ASEAN MERCOSUR

18. The ICRC (INGO)

19. The MNCs

20. Others
al Qaeda Basque Fatherland and Liberty Dallas Taliban

21. LEVELS OF ANALYSIS

22. Definition
 One of sorting out the multiplicity of
influences, actors, and processes
 It is a set of similar actors or processes that
suggests possible explanations to “why”
questions

23. The levels of analysis
Individual level
Domestic (or state or
societal) level
Interstate (or
international or
systematic)
Global level
Levels of
analysis

24. Individual level
 Concerns the perceptions, choices, and
actions of individual human beings
 Example of influences:
 Without Lenin, there might well have been no
Soviet Union
 If few more college students voted for Nixon
rather than Kennedy in the razor-close 1960
election, the Cuban Missile might have ended
differently

25. Domestic level
 Concerns the aggregation of individuals within
states that influence state actions in the
international arena
 Includes interest groups, political organizations, and
government agencies
 These groups operate differently in different
kinds of societies and states
 Examples:
 democracies and dictatorships may act differently
from one another
 Democracies and dictatorships may act differently in
an election year from the way they act at other times

26. Interstate level
 Concerns the influence of international
system upon outcomes.
 Focuses on the interactions of state
themselves, without regard to their internal
makeup or the particular individuals who lead
them
 It pays attention to states’ relative power
positions in the international system and the
interactions (e.g., trade) among them
 The most important level of analysis

27. Global level
 Seeks to explain international outcomes in
terms of global trends and forces that
transcend the interactions of states
themselves
 Evolution of human technology
 Transnational integration through scientific,
technical, and business communities

28. Triad Activity
 Identify the influences of the following levels
of analysis in IR:
 Global
 Interstate
 Domestic level
 Individual level

29. Levels of analysis
Global
level
North-South gap, world regions, European
imperialism
Religious fundamentalism, Terrorism, world
environment, technological change
Information revolution, global telecommunications,
worldwide scientific and business communities
Interstate
level
Power, balance of power, alliance and information
dissolution
War, treaties, trade agreements, IGOs
Diplomacy, Summit meetings, bargaining,
reciprocity

30. Levels of analysis
Domestic
level
Nationalism, Ethnic conflict, type of government,
democracy
Dictatorship, domestic coalitions, political parties and
elections, public opinion
Gender, economic sectors and industries, military-industrial
complex, foreign policy bureaucracies
Individual
level
Great leaders, crazy leaders, decision making in crises
Psychology of perception and decision, learning,
assassinations, accidents in history
Citizen’s participation (voting, rebelling, going to war,
etc.)

31. END