BLOC C: REGIMES, STRUCTURES, INSTITUTIONS AND ACTORS

Different components, institutions, actors, etc, that shapes the political system.
● Components: society, political elites, government.
● Institutions: parliament, etc.
● Actors: people, influential families, etc.

The different shapes that a political system can take

● Republics
● Democracies
● Monarchies
● Dictatorships

3 concepts of “política”
- Politics: referring to the process of debate, of competition of ideas, between parties.
- Policy: referring to the outcomes - public policies.
- Polity: referring to the structure of a state, a government.

Political System
What’s a “system”?
● Oxford Dictionary: a group of things, pieces of equipment, etc. that are connected or work together.
● The idea of a political system is a conceptual tool of the political science discipline to analyze how the different components of
political life (national, reginal, local, etc.) interact with one another, distribute resources, mobilize and orient energies and resources of
society to achieve certain objectives/ goals…
● Who participates in the political process? How do they participate in the political process?
● Who takes decisions?
● What are the decisions adopted and why?
● How and by whom they are applied?
● Within which kind of structures are these decisions adopted and is this political process taking place?

David Easton’s political system model (1965)

Toronto, 24 de junio de 1917 - 19 de julio de 2014
● The Easton model is a tool to analyze political systems. It’s a tool for analysis. A tool of political science that helps us analysts and
students understand how a system works.
● Original classic model: 1965
- David Easton tried to illustrate how political systems work.

Easton’s question
● How are people’s demands transformed into policies that give (at least to a certain point) an answer to those demands?
Easton’s original model of the political system:
- From the perspective of the citizens

A modified model of the political system

- From the perspective of the government
Issues of Easton’s Political System Model
● Russia invaded Ukraine
● Large amount of people are not in favor of a certain policy.
● “Black box”

Sistema polític d’Easton (model segons Caminal)

● By looking at society → we can understand how demands form, which values are behind those demands.
● By looking at political elites → we can see how different influence groups transmit social demands to the government.
● By looking at the government → we can see how a decision is taken into a particular policy.
● By looking at the environment → we can see in which context these processes take place (Western Europe, Confucian Asia, Islamic
world…)

You cannot change just one part of the system because that changes all of the others. All the parts of a political system are highly integrated
with each other. They work together, like all the organs are working together to keep an animal alive.

Regimes
What does regime mean?
● In politics, is the form of government or the set of rules, cultural or social norms, etc., that regulate the operation of a government or
institution and its interactions with society,

According to ancient Greeks, political regimes are divided into: Who holds the power?
 Answer to common interests Answer to the interests of few (corrupted
form)

One person Monarchy Tyranny

In a few hands Aristocracy Oligarchy

Many people Politeia (Republic Democracy

How do we classify political regimes?

We should seek to answer 3 questions
● How is the capacity to do politics distributed? (who can do politics? One-person, small group, all members of society?)
● How do you access resources and tools to participate in politics?
● What is the degree of agreement between political decisions and citizen preferences?

Types of political regimes

● The two ideal types (monocracy and democracy) form the opposed extremes of the continuum along which we classify real world
regimes.

Democratic U.S., West Transitional Egypt, Authoritarian Iran, China Totalitarian N. Korea,
Europe Russia Cuba

media free curbed obedient state-controlled

parties several one dominant none or one one

elections competitive flawed rigged fake or none

power alternates among parties rigid one man in hands of small group concentrated in one
leader

ideology many limited range none or pretend one militant

constitution restrains government selectively interpreted restrains individuals worship state

civil liberties protected vulnerable few none

interest groups many and autonomous few and cowed state-supervised no autonomous ones

economy market partly market partly state-run state-run

military subordinate to elected plays a political role intertwined with regime controlled by ruling party
officials

corruption minor widespread pervasive major

The reasons democracy was considered corrupt
● In the ancient world, democracy meant a government ruled by many, or “popular government”.
● Despite the experiences with democratic government in the Greek city-states between the 6th and 4th centuries BC, the term was not
necessarily positive.
● When Aristotle elaborated his typology of regimes (seen above) he distinguished 3 “pure” or good types: monarchy, aristocracy and
republic or politeia; and three corrupt types: tyranny, oligarchy and democracy.
● The Republic or Politeia was a government in which the many ruled for the benefit of the community (of the many). Democracy was its
corrupt version, where the many governed only for their own interest.

Characteristic of monocracy (ideal type)

● Political capacity is concentrated in a few hands (very few people hold power).
● Access to the means and resources that allow participation in the political process is difficult, arbitrary and selective.
● Political decisions are systematically adapted in favor of the group in power and are disconnected from the general preferences of the
citizens that have to obey them.

Characteristic of democracy (ideal type)

● All members of the community have the capacity to participate in politics.
● All members of the community have free and equal access to the means and resources to participate in the political process.
● Decision-making responds to the preferences of the majority of citizens.

Dictatorships
Common characteristics of dictatorial systems
Not all the dictatorship/democracy has the same degree

● Examples of 1st characteristic

- Ex 1: protests on the streets of Russia, against the invasion of Ukraine.
Aspect 1: Dictatorships denies the right of citizens to criticism and opposition. it doesn’t allow protest.
- Ex 2: Taliban remove the rights of going to school from girls.
Aspect 2: The majorities are marginalized from the decision-making process.

Dictatorship has exclusive concentration of power in very small nuclei (or a single person),

● Examples of 2nd characteristic

- Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-Il, Kim Jong-un.
- Dictator of Turkmenistan
- Idi Amin Dada (Uganda) → he gave himself the title of: “His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal al Hadji Doctor Idi
Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, CBE, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British
Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular”.

Personalization of the authority (effective and symbolic) on the figure of a leader. The leader is often described as having some
extraordinary abilities.

● Examples of 3rd characteristic

Nazi Germany WWII
- Closing or taking over anti-nazi newspapers
- Controlling what news appeared in newspapers, on the radio, and in newsreels
- Banning and burning books that nazis categorized as un-german
- Controlling what soldiers wrote home during WWII.
Nazis use censorship to control citizens
- Glorifying Adolf Hitler by using his image on postcards, posters, and in the press
- Spreading negative images and ideas about Jews in magazines, films, cartoons, and other media
- Making radios more affordable so that more Germans could listen to Nazi ideas and news
- Broadcasting Nazi speeches on the radio and public speakers
- Organizing large and celebratory Nazi Party rallies
- Creating groups, like the Hitler Youth and League of German Girls, that fostered Nazi ideals.

Mechanisms of citizen control (repression, censorship) play a key role.

 ● Examples of 4th characteristic
- Security officers surround Li Wnzu, center, the wife of detained Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang, as she
tries to deliver a petition protesting her husband’s treatment, to the Supreme People’s Court petition office in Beijing, Friday,
Dec. 28, 2018. Wang was tried for subversion of state power in a closed hearing Wednesday after being held without
access to his lawyers or family for more than three years. The court in the city of Tianjin has yet to announce a verdict.
(China: “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”).
- Iran’s regime has imprisoned women who protested a mandatory hijab law on charges of “propaganda against the state”.
Police detained this woman in Tehran in 2007 for wearing a loose-fitting hijab (Iran: “propaganda against the state”).

Instability of the legal framework. Arbitrary interpretation of laws.

Common characteristics of dictatorial systems

● Dictatorship has exclusive concentration of power in very small nuclei (or a single person), and it includes 2 aspects.
● Personalization of the authority (effective and symbolic) on the figure of a leader. The leader is often described as having some
extraordinary abilities.
● Mechanisms of citizen control (repression, censorship) play a key role.
● Instability of the legal framework. Arbitrary interpretation of laws.

Different types of dictatorship

● Who holds the power?
- North Korea: a family or a clan
- Thailand: military, the army. general Prayut Chan-o-cha of the Royal Thao Armed Force
- South Korea 1967-1976: Park Chung-hee, a bureaucratic-military coalition
South Korea 2013-2017: Park Geun-hye (daughter of Park Chung-hee) Democratic regime
- USSR: members of the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1939; JOseph Stalin, the Party’s General
Secretary, is shown at the top left.
- China: Politburo of 2017-2022
- Saudi Arabia: Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud 23 January 2015 - : absolute monarchy

● Classified according to the ideology of those groups in power

- Conservative → they want to preserve socioeconomic conditions
- Transformative → they seek to produce a change

Distinction between authoritarian and totalitarian regimes (Juan Linz)

Totalitarian Authoritarian

Show a greater intensity in the following aspects: Are similar, but they show a lower intensity on these factors:

● Concentration of power in a single person or a monolithic ● Power is concentrated in the hands of a reduced elite,
small group. among which there is a certain competition.
● Terror is systematically used to suppress the opposition. ● The use of repression is habitual.
● Justification of their political acts through a global doctrine ● Dictatorial rule is justified and legitimated in invoking great
that aims at directing all aspects of human life. principles (Patriotism, Order, Family, Progress, Justice…)
● Examples: Nazi Germany, Stalinist USSR (1936-53), ● Examples: China, Russia…
Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge… North Korea…

Polyarchy
Poly= many, and archy= rule. It describes a form of government in which power is invested in multiple people.

Different meanings of democracy

Throughout history:
● For the classics: democracy meant the power of the people, of the many, but for their own interests → not an optimal system.
● With the course of history, democracy has acquired a positive sense.
Common use:
● Countries like Spain, the US,... are democratic countries.
According to political scientist Robert Dahl:
● Democracy is the term we use to describe the ideal type of polyarchy

Classification of polyarchies
According to several political scientists, democracies can be:
● Instrumental democracies → focus more on the guarantees along the process.
● Substantive or material democracy → focus particularly on the outcomes of the process.
Most modern polyarchies are instrumental.

Common characteristics of polyarchies

● All members of the community have free and open access to participate in political activity.
● Authorities are chosen through regular electoral processes that are carried out in conditions of free competition.
● There is permanent control on what the authorities fo.
● Freedom of expression (right to criticism) is effectively guaranteed,
 ● There is a plurality of information sources available to the citizens.
Pay attention that these common characteristics refer, particularly, to the processes rather than to the objectives → today, we tend to emphasize
instrumental democracy.

According to the degree of consolidation:

● Consolidated democracies
● New democracies
● Semi-democracies

Democratic Waves (Samuel Huntington)

Huntington speaks of three democratic waves:

● 1828-1926: Some 30 states adopted universal
manhood suffrage (voting) after the end of WWI: France,
Canada, Australia, Italy, Argentina…
● 1943-62: The second big wave came with the
end of WWII - Japan, West Germany become
democracies, the State of Israel is established…
● 1974-91: End of dictatorial regimes in Europe
(Portugal, Spain), Latin America and parts of Africa,
democracies after the collapse of the USSR and the end of
the Cold War (Central and Eastern Europe).

Functional Distribution of Power

● The form of government. Which institutions hold political power, or how political power is distributed among all the institutions within
a political system.
● Territorial distribution of power: How power is distributed territorially; the form of states; unitary, federal.

Form of government
Depending on the relationship between the executive and the legislative
● Parliamentary system
● Semi-presidential system
● Presidential system
● …
Depending on the type of head of state
● Republics
● Monarchies
● …

What’s government
● It implements policies
● It’s normally headed by the Chief of Government (a President of a Prime Minister).
● It has a Cabinet = group of ministers
● It embodies the executive power

They can be combined

● Parliamentary system
● Presidential system
● Semi-presidential system
● Republics
● Monarchies
Exception, there is no presidential, semi-presidential monarchies

What’s parliament?
● It’s a representative body that takes decisions collectively. (Collegiate body)
● It represents, somewhat proportionally, the preferences of citizens expressed through elections.
● Collegiate body = it’s an alliance of different groups.

Functions of Parliaments
● Legislative function (parliament make laws)
- Parliaments bring an element of legitimation of political decisions through the production of law. Law is the product, the
result of parliamentary agreements.
● Legislative initiative function (parliaments can make a law proposal)
● Government control function
- The parliament approves, rejects or amends bills
 - It acts as a permanent control over government action
- It is involved in the appointment of senior officials
- It influences the very existence of the executive: election/ investiture, votes of confidence (in parliamentary systems,
particularly)
- It can end the existence of the executive: disapproval/ motion of no confidence (Rajoy was removed as Prime Minister
through a motion of no confidence).

Type of parliaments
● Unicameral: Taiwan, South Korea
● Bicameral: they predominate in democratic Europe and in countries with an Anglo-Saxon tradition. This is also the case in Japan.
- The presence of two chambers has historically been due to:
- Conservative reasons (UK) → to give laws a second reading (more conservative). Example: UK House of Lords.
- Territorial reasons → to use the upper chamber to represent territories, rather than voter proportionally.

Bicameral or Unicameral?
● Two-thirds of legislatures in the world have bicameral systems (two houses).
- In general, lower houses are much more powerful
- Only in the United States are the two houses of the legislature co-equal, and some would argue that the US Senate is more
powerful than the House of Representatives.

Parliamentary systems
Characteristics of Parliamentary Systems

● In parliamentary systems, the head of state is weak,

symbolic, and distinct from the head of government.
- The head of state: the king (Spain)
- The head of government: Pedro Sanchez
(Spain)
● Citizens vote only for the legislature, not for the chief
of government, who is a member of parliament and is the head
of the party that holds a majority.
- As a consequence, the government is
directly responsible to the majority in the legislature and the
government can fall if the majority does not support its policies.

Semi-Presidential systems Presidential systems

● Presidential systems show most clearly the idea of separation of powers between legislative and
executive branches.
- Contrary to what most Americans believe, presidential systems are a minority of the world’s
systems.
● President combines the roles of head of state and head of government, which in effect makes them the
symbolic leader of the country in addition to the chief architect of the structure of public policy.
● Has normally strong executive powers.
● Presidents are elected (more or less) directly by the people.
● Presidents in general have a lot of power.
- More importantly, they are not responsible to the legislature for their power or their term of office
and as a result they are extremely difficult to remove from office.
- Even impeachment does not guarantee results, as evidenced by efforts to impeach Bill Clinton.

Territorial Distribution of Power

How power is distributed territorially; the form of states; unitary, federal

The first level of territorial divisions (sub-national divisions)

● Comunidades autónomas in Spain: catalunya, madrid…
● Departments in France: department of the midi-pyrénées, Île-de-France…
● Prefectures in Japan: tokyo, hokkaido, osaka fu…
● Provinces in China: hebei Sheng, Shandong Sheng…
● States: US: pennsylvania, NY, Wyoming…, Germany: Hessen, Berlin, Bavaria…, Brazil: Sao paulo, bahia, Rio de Janeiro…

Unitary system
● Unitary states are states where the component units (Departments, Provinces, Comunidades autónomas…) are subordinate
(dependent) to the national government.
● Careful! Do not mistake decentralization with Federalism. States can have some decentralization (like Spain, or the UK) but they are
still Unitary States.
Center periphery tensions
During the 1970s many unitary states experienced center-periphery tensions. Different states handled these tensions differently. Let’s look at 2
cases:
● The Uk → devolution
- Westminster Parliament - the national parliament created home-rule powers (their own parliament and government) for
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
- So since this home rule was “given” by the central power, the UK remained a unitary nature. Meaning, Westminster could
theoretically “take back” those home-rule systems.
● Autonomy in Spain
- After Franco’s death, there was urgent to create a new system that could bridge regional and historical resentments
- Centralizers attempted to override diversity between Basques, Catalans, and Castilians
- They created seventeen regional comunidades autonomas with control over local matters.

Pros and Cons of Unitary Systems

● Unitary systems are just a choice of how to distribute power in government and as such they come with pros and cons.
● Pros of unitary systems
- Clear lines of authority, the ability of the national government to direct the economy, uniform taxation levels, education
standards…
● Cons of unitary systems
- Over-centralization of authority and a lack of local control could lead to people ignoring politics and feeling disconnected
from politics.

Federal Systems
● Federal systems divide power between the national government and the component units (States - Pennsylvania, California, Bavaria,
Rio de Janeiro…)
● Component units have a great deal of autonomy from the national government. The component states have powers that cannot be
easily overridden by the central government.
● History - the creation of the state is very important.
● The national government does retain exclusive control in areas of foreign affairs, defense, and currency.
● Federalism is a choice that is dictated by many things, including concerns about national defense, culture, economics, and national
unity.

Pros and Cons of Federal Systems

● Pros of FS
- It helps to keep the government close to citizens, which helps prevent apathy.
- The component units provide laboratories for policy experimentation.
● Cons of FS
- The component units often lack the resources with which to deal with specific problems.
- Corruption and incompetence among officials
- A duplication of services by the national government and the component units.

Differences between FS and US

Federal Unitary

A federal system divides power between national and local forms of A unitary system is composed of one central government that holds
government. all the power.

Power may be diffused in the federal system. Very little political power exists outside the central government.

States or provinces are given considerable self-rule, usually through Standardization of laws and their implementation across the country.
their own legislatures

Conflict between the two governments is inevitable, and change This style of government effects change quickly but is vulnerable to
comes slowly, but abuse is more easily prevented. abuse.

Individual and Collective Political Participation

What’s political participation?
● Politics is not an exclusive activity of politicians.
● There is an individual component (the actions of individuals) and a collective component (because individual actions tend to
aggregate).

Individual Political Participation

Many ways to participate in politics (multiple ways of doing politics)
● For most people, participation is usually sporadic, irregular
- Party membership, about 30% in our country.
- Political action from holding representative positions (+ - 2%)
● Conditioned by the opportunities offered by the system itself.
Classification by intensity of participation: in the systems of liberal-democratic tradition we can classify the citizens according to the intensity with
which they participate in the political process:
● apathetic
● spectators
● gladiators

Different elements affect individual participation:

● age
● gender (there are still inequalities)
● level of education
● social status
● social participation in other areas (trade union, cultural…)

Different ways of participating (doing politics)

● Citizens can participate in politics both individually and collectively
● How can we classify their participation
- Spontaneous
● Making a graffiti
● Writing a letter in the newspaper supporting or criticizing the mayor.
- Coordinated
● Become a member in a party, union, neighborhood association.
- Unconventional
● Squatting, interruption of traffic, unauthorized demonstrations.
- Conventional
● Voting, joining an organization, discussing politics…

Voting as a form of participation

● Electoral behavior → A key issue for political science

2 questions citizens need to face

● Do I vote or abstain?
- Turnout in western Europe, South Korea usually exceeds 50% of the electorate
- Exceptions: USA, Switzerland…
- Compulsory to vote: Belgium, Australia or Brazil

● When I decide to participate, whom I vote for=

- There are many options!
- But only a few parties (a few options) end up getting voted.
Because of a process of simplification

Other factors that influence the vote:

● Context
● The number of cleavages
● How important do voters think elections are 1st or 2nd order
● Voter’s personal situation
● The voters’ electoral record (tradition, electoral zapping)

Plebiscites (referendums)
● Referendums are an instrument of direct democracy.
● They play an important role, even though today’s democratic systems are representative.
- In some political systems they are of special relevance: e.g., Switzerland
● In some matters they may be mandatory (political power must consult the people), or optional.
● In addition, they can be binding or consultative.

Collective Political Participation

What’s collective political actors? What’s their function?
● Collective political actors are those who aggregate individual behaviors in order to maximize their impact and influence.

Characteristics of collective political actors

There are a variety of collective actors, but we can identify some common characteristics that they all share:
● Joining is voluntary → membership is an individual choice that is not imposed by political power.
● They are relatively stable → collective actors tend to have a duration in time
● They are a community of interests and objectives → members tend to have similarities. The collective actor that they form represents
the interests and objectives that they share.
● They act in a coordinated and organized way

Main types of collective political actors

There are 3 main types of collective actors:
● Social movements
● Interest groups or lobbies
● Political parties
Political Parties
What’s political parties?
Definition: political parties are voluntary associations, which propose a global program of action (encompass all sorts of issues) and compete
electorally for the exercise of institutional power.
To this end, they have a stable organization (inverted pyramid) and a vocation to be lasting (beyond a single electoral contest).

Common characteristics of political parties

Political parties are collective actors:
● With a strong, stable and hierarchical structure
● Their discourse is global/systemic: it embraces a wide range of issues (from labor policies to welfare to education…) and tries to
appeal to the most people possible.
● They aim to act within the institutions (their ultimate aim is to reach and exercise power).
● They are central figures in the political process.
● They connect individuals and groups with institutions.
● Even though they are so important, many citizens in democratic countries are critical to the parties. Because of different reasons:
fragmentation, representation of the common interest, and so on.

Political parties - evolution and types

Over the last 200 years, political parties have followed different models. This historical evolution allows us to classify the parties in 3 types:
● Party of “cadres” or elites
- Reduced composition, articulated around personalities of groups of local relevance.
● Mass parties
- Emerge in 19th century europe
- It is the variant adopted by communist parties, the Nazi and Fascist parties, Christian Democrats, nationalists in
post-colonial contexts…
- Its model was based on mass affiliate recruitment (quantity>quality)
- Very ideologized
- Despite democratic organization, some problems: lack of rotation, isolation…
● Catch-all parties
- Today

Catch all parties (CAT: partits escombra)

● They are the result of the evolution of mass parties (mid 20th century).
● Their goal is to get as many votes as possible
● Their political programs become more flexible and more diffused → statements appealing mainly to principles that everyone can
agree with: freedom, justice, change, progress, security…
● Their discourse and priority interests are modulated according to the context.
● Affiliation or membership becomes less relevant than before. What they seek is to appeal to the voters.
● They are financed through public funds, donations…
● Professionalization of politics.

Political parties - functions

● Today’s political parties (catch-all parties), as we have said, are an evolution of the mass parties.
● They play a key mediating role in the political process:
- They recruit and train agents that later will become elected representatives
- They simplify social demands and aggregate them in the form of a political program (proposals)
- They are mechanisms of political socialization. They “educate” their followers into a certain view of politics and society.
- They are key channels of communication between the rulers and the ruled.
- They frame voters’ preferences within the political process → for example, parties (organized in political groups) are key
actors in Parliamentary activity.

Party systems
● 3 main types of party systems:
- Dominant party systems: e.g. Japan (LDP), India (BJP), Sweden for much of the 20th century
- Bipartisan systems: USA (Democrats and Republicans), UK (Labor and Conservative, although lately is increasing in
complexity), Spain until the 2010s (PSOE-PP).
- Multi-party systems: Spain, the Netherlands, Germany

Factors that determine the number of parties

● What factors determine the number of parties in a society and which parties are relevant? Mainly 2 factors:
- The number of cleavages in the political debate
- The electoral system

Electoral System
What's the electoral system? Why is important?
● It is a set of rules that determine how representatives are elected in each political system.
● Why are they important?
- They determine the number of parties with chances obtaining representation
- They help the formation of parliamentary majorities
 - This type of electoral system can determine how easy or how difficult it is to make government. It can also be very
important to determine the representation of minorities.

Items to consider
When studying electoral systems, there are several items to consider:
● The electoral district (constituency)
- Local election in Spain: municipalities
- Election for Cortes General: provinces
- EU parliamentary election: the whole of Spain.
● Distribution formula:
- Majority formulas (such as the first-past-the-post)
- Proportional formulas (such as D’Hondt method)...
● Electoral threshold or barrier
- Minimum votes required in Germany: 5%
- Minimum votes required in Spain: 3%
● Voting method:
- Categorical (1 candidate)
- Preferential (list, order, by elimination…)

Main electoral systems

● There are 2 main types of families of electoral systems, with many variations:
- Proportional representation systems
- Single-member systems

Characteristic of Single-Member System

● Single-member districts are the simplest electoral systems.
● They are often referred to as first-past-the-post systems
● A single member is elected from each district by winning a plurality of votes
● These systems favor bipartisan party systems (2 main parties), third parties exist, but they generally don’t stand a chance
● Many of these systems tend to give a clear parliament majority to one party (majoritarian).
● Used in the UK, the US and to a certain extent in Japan (mixed proportional and single-member).

Advantages and disadvantages of single-member system

● Advantages:
- They make politics “more centrist”
- They provide clear majorities because they magnify electoral gains and make agreements.
● Disadvantages:
- The majority that is created is artificial and doesn’t accurately reflect the desires of voters
- Risk of gerrymandering: redrawing districts in a way that it benefits one party.

Proportional system
● Proportional representation (PR) systems are quite more complicated than single-member-district systems.
● Instead of only one member, each electoral district can elect more than a single person to Parliament.
● Voters select party lists and parties win seats roughly equivalent to the percentage of votes they have obtained.

Advantages and disadvantages of proportional system

● Advantages of proportional representation
- Parliaments are much more likely to reflect and represent the views and opinions of the public.
- Small parties can compete and win seats.
● Disadvantages of proportional representation
- They give place to a multiparty system where no single party has a clear governing majority → they need coalitions to
govern
- This greater fragmentation can mean higher degrees of instability.

Introduction to the Discipline of International Relations

What are IR?
● IR (international politics): the interactions between States and/or other international actors (in reality)
● IR: the academic discipline (field of study) that analyzes the interactions between States and/or other international actors (abstract).

States, nations, nation-states

● States: sovereign actors in IR.
- Nation: a group of people that recognize each other as sharing a common identity, one which is usually attached to a
homeland.
- Nation-state: in Spanish/ French language literature, this term is used to denote when the population of a state forms a
nation. In English, it is used to simply mean State.

We know that nation and the state may not necessarily coincide, so in IR we talk about STATES.

What’s state?
● If we look at domestic politics:
 - A political entity that has sovereignty over a permanent population and within stable borders -minimum requirments.
● If we look at international politics:
- According to the International Law there are two main theories used to determine what a state is:
● Constitutive theory of statehood
● Declaratory theory of statehood

Constitutive theory
● According to the constitutive theory of statehood, a state comes into existence when it is recognized by at least another state. Only
through recognition does a state become a subject of international law - that is, an international actor. In other words, to exist, a state
needs to be recognized by others.
Declaratory theory
● A state is considered a “subject of international law” if it meets four criteria:
- Having a permanent population
- Possessing a defined territory
- Having authority or sovereignty, that is, the monopoly of coercion upon its population and territory
- Having the capacity to conduct relations with the other states.

The appearance of modern states

● Throughout history there have been political structures: tribal communities, city-states, imperial states, religious domains, etc., and
finally, the current form: sovereign States.
● The current form of sovereign States is forged from the Treaty of Westphalia of 1648.
● However, this does not mean that the world map has remained stable since the emergence of the modern state. For example, before
the reunification of Germany in 1871, German territory was divided in 39 states.
● the map of the world has changed remarkably in just half a century: decolonization processes, the Cold War, 9/11…

Other actors in international relations

● International organizations/Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) - membership is only available to states.
- Universal: UN, UNESCO
- Regional: EU, ASEAN, the Arab League
● International non-governmental actors (INGOs are commonly linked to associations that raise critical voices in society or fight for
certain rights or good deeds.)
- International non-governmental organization: red cross, amnesty international, or greenpeace.
- Transnational corporations (TNCs(: general electric, volkswagen or microsoft.
- Transnational social movements: globalization movement, the anti-globalization movement and the anti-nuclear movement.
- Transnational criminal or terrorist groups: Al Qaeda.
● Governmental non-central actors (primarily local or regional governments that carry out international activities): Barcelona is a sister
city of Kobe, or Lleida is a sister city of Hefei. Scotland or catalonia that have some foreign policy of their own-
● Single-country non-governmental organizations: Swedish Academy, which grants the Nobel prize.
● Individuals: Dalai lama.

International System
● It’s the conceptual (imagined) space in which international relations are developed. International arena.
● It’s characterized for being anarchical: Anarchical means that there is no authority- no ruler. And this is a fundamental concept in
IR.
● Theoretically, all States are equally sovereign. but this theory has limits: the US does not have the same economic, military, and
influential power as Andorra.

International system is a football game without referees

● Pitch: the international system
● The players= states and other international actors: some are strong and big while others are small and weak. Formally speaking
they are all equal)
● No referee in the game: anarchy of the system

→ It’s down to the players to provide for their own safety and carry out their interests.

National Interests and power

National Interests
● National interests are very subjective and determined by a range of factors. Different states see its interests differently.
- Currently one of the national interests of Russia is to expand their territory.
- US, spread democracy.
- China, regaining status and a certain power.

The pursuit of National Interests

● With power
- Each country has different power mechanism: military power, economic power, soft power
- Consistent and coherent state actions: ex: european countries stop the war between Russia and Ukraine by putting
economic sanctions on Russia, etc.

Conclusion:
 - Each state has its own interest, and they define it as they want.
- There will be a series of coherent and consistent actions following up.
- Each state/nation pursues national interest with power.

What’s power?
● A general definition: It's the ability or capacity of a political actor - in this case an actor in international relations - to achieve its goals.
● Another common definition: it’s the ability of one actor to influence others within the international system

=> The relevance of the concept of power varies across the different paradigms (School of thought) in IR theory.

● According to realists: it’s resources, military assets, the size of a state, economy, population… hard power
● According to liberalist: it’s state’s ability to exert influence over others by means of persuasion, attraction, emulation or by bringing
them to agree with one’s position rather than using forceful means such as coercion or military threat… soft power

Since when are there international relations?

- Do IR appear together with the modern State?
- NO

Reasons:
● In all human societies, historically, there have been relations of power, of wealth, of conquest of territories, and different sorts of
“diplomatic” mechanisms to solve problems or disputes…
● Among those: Treaties, agreements, international law of war, political marriages, capturing of hostages, slavery…

Realism, liberalism and constructivism

3 major paradigms (model/pattern. We use the word paradigm to describe the series of abstract premises and analytical methods that are
shared by a group of specialists within a field.

Realism
● How does Realism see human nature? Men are selfish and ambitious for power, wealth and it is violent by nature (like the law of the
jungle, in a sense).

Anarchy → No higher authority → States can only rely on themselves → International system is a self-help system

Q: If it’s a self-help system, what’s the best way to minimize the consequences of anarchy?
● In this system, every government has the right to decide what is just or necessary for itself and to take up arms to pursue or enforce
that decision.
● In this system, the best way to achieve security is to be powerful (both militarily and economically).
● Then this leads to power-maximizing behavior.
● War is normal. War is the primary means states resolve conflicts of interest.

Balance of power: Anarchy → No higher authority → States can only rely on themselves → International system is a self-help system

A: the best way for states is to maintain the balance of power.

Goal of States
- Realists believe that all the actors in this system are rational. And states have many national interests.
Minimal goal: to achieve their own survival → (develop): Expansive or hegemonic intentions → Maximal goal: to seek world
domination → (When it’s unable to achieve) Preserve the status quo

● Hegemony means dominance or preponderance above others - the most powerful state.
● Status quo means “keeping things as they are”

Pursuit of balance of power

● Internal level: enhancing the capabilities of the state.
● External level: forging alliances with others
- Realists recognize the possibility of cooperation.
- Any kind of cooperation will be based on rational self-interest, and that it will be contextual.
- Cooperation doesn’t last long: “today’s friend may be tomorrow’s enemy

Conclusion: realists admit making alliances, but for them alliance is not written in stone. It can change when national interest
changes. They think the international system conditions you to conflict. because it’s anarchical and because states can only rely
on themselves. And you don’t want to be tied up with others.

Other strategies
To adapt to a changing environment, smaller states can:
● “Buck passing”: Ex: when Uk, France refused to confront Nazy Germany in the 1930s, they pushed the problems to the Soviets or
the US, hoping they would deal with it.
● Bandwagoning - “if I cannot beat you, I join you”. Ex: weaker southeast Asian countries may choose to side either with the US or with
China if there was a confrontation, depending on which choice can be better for their national interest.
 ● Appeasement: trying to keep the stronger power “calm” to avoid conflict and preserve the status quo. This has failed during WWII as
well.

Question for discussion

● What’s the consequence from the pursuit of power balancing strategies? hint: what has happened between the USSR and the US
during the cold war? How is China and the US nowadays?

Security Dilemma & A zero-sum game

● We can use this model to explain arm race.

● Realists see security as something that cannot be beneficial to several states at the
same time.

One realism or many?

● Twentieth-century classical realism
● Neorealism
● Neoclassical realism

Neorealism
● Neorealism emphasizes the structure of the international system.
● Neorealists don’t care about the domestic politics of states (the main criticism they
receive).
● They focus on the anarchy of the system, and the distribution of capabilities among
the different states.
● The most defining feature of the structure of the international system is the number
of Great Powers.

Defensive Realism vs Offensive Realism

● Defensive: to have security and calmness, it is necessary to accumulate force and power: the more force you have, more respect and
recognition you shall get from your opponents.
● Offensive: it tries to achieve as maximum power as possible, at any cost.
- Satisfying the National Interest is not enough
- Can never be sure of the intentions of the other states.

1. North Korean nuclear threat

Why is NK so willing and so focused on developing nuclear weapons? Try to give an answer using Realism:
- NK is defending itself from possible threats. They feel threatened by the US other powers (that’s what Defensive Realists
would argue)
- NK is just trying to maximize its national interest: to be safer and therefore, to be powerful (that’s what Offensive Realistis
would argue)
2. Realism against war
During the Cold War, the dominant logic was “Mutually Assured Destruction”: each superpower had so much nuclear power that it
could totally destroy the other. At that time, the number of nuclear weapons in the world peaked to 70,500. That is approximately 25
times more than what could destroy the Earth! How is this possible, when it seems completely illogical? Try to explain using Realism.
- This is an extreme example of the balance of power. When superpower A increases its power, superpower B feels
threatened and increases its capabilities… it’s a never ending chain.
The US is often criticized for “making wars everywhere” in order to “spread or promote democracy”. However, many US Realists are
against the US fighting wars abroad for things that do not directly suppose a threat. Using realism, why do you think it’s the case?
- Realism emphasizes conflict, but this does not mean they are actively seeking war. Realists do not go around picking fights.
They see war as somehow unavoidable because of the anarchy of the system and because states pursue their national
interests. So, a war is a loss of resources, life, etc. for the US, and thus is against its national interest. Better to stay at home
and let the rest of the world “be wild”.

Global context Anarchy → IR take place within an anarchic context

Objective of the paradigm Explain and describe the situation in the world

Unit of analysis The State/ national state

Questions/ Interests security, power and balance of power

keywords realism, survival, power, independence, self-reliance

Globalizations For them, globalization does not change the fact that States are the
main actors in the system

Strong points Their arguments are very relevant when there is a conflict situation,
because they are very good at explaining them

Weak points They do not take into account domestic politics, the role of agents
 (politicians, etc.)

Hobbies Fight with the liberalists

Liberalism
● Liberalism is associated with thinkers of the Age of Enlightenment, and this set the philosophical foundations of modern democracy.
Liberalism is both:
- A theory of domestic government: the one inspired the US declaration of independence.
- In the context of the IR discipline, it has been regarded as the traditional alternative to realism.

How does Liberalism see human nature?

● People are ambitious and competitive
● Human beings act in a rational way
● Human interactions should not necessarily end up in conflict.
● Humans are often able to define common interests and come up with cooperative solutions.

Liberalism in IR
● States also act in a similar way as human: they change the way they behave, according to their preferences
- Possible to reach a state of security through coordination and cooperation. Liberals see cooperation as causing
interdependence.
- The more cooperation between states gets developed, interdependence grows and gets reinforced.
- International community is an essential concept of liberalism.
● The international system is made up of many actors.
- States have a dominant position.
- But they give great importance to the study of IGO’s, transnational corporations and international NGO’s.

Profile of Liberalism
● Global context: anarchy → according to liberalism, international relations also take place within a framework of anarchy.
● Objective of the paradigm: observe the situation of the world and describe its evolution.
● Unit of analysisi → the states/ nation-state and also international organizations, corporations, NGos…
● Questions/ interests → human rationality, the development of states and international politics.
● Keywords: coordinated national interest, collective security, interdependence
● Globalizations: they see globalization as the evolution of international politics (this means, that there are many interconnections and
relations of interdependence in the world)
● Strong points: international conflicts still continue to exist, and the concept of “power” is very important.
● Hobbies: to deny the claims of the realists.

Interdependence and cooperation

● In the model proposed by liberalism, the state is not the only actor: besides the state, liberalism puts great importance to international
organizations, international corporations…
● As interdependence increases and cooperation among the different actors grows, the cost of starting a conflict is higher.
- This favors cooperation and to seek the resolution of disputes through diplomatic means or by developing shared
institutions.

Origins of Liberalism
● John Locke (Two Treaties of Government, 1689)
- Complex interdependence
- Explores the possibilities of cooperating through organizations/ international regimes
● Jeremy Benthan (“Principles of Morals and Legislation”, 1789)
- Utilitarianism
- Rational dimplomacy: respect for international law (conflict has high costs)
● Immanuel Kant (“The Perpetual Peace”, 1795)
- There is a moral obligation to transcend the natural state (to civilize)
- Equality among human beings, mutual respect between States
- International Law → permanent Peace
● Woodrow Wilson (“The 14 Points, 1918)
- As the end of WWII, US president Wison posed, through his 14 points, the establishment of the League of Nations (first
attempt at creating a global international organization like the UN)

Neoliberalism
Heohane and Nye (“Power and Independence”, 1977)
Complex interdependence → four assumptions about today’s world
1. Increased links between state adn non.state actors
2. Anew agenda of international issues that does not put so much emphasis on high politics as realism does, but in which “low politics”
have also become very important.
- High politics: security and survival
- Low politics: trade, environment, fighting against transnational crime, regional cooperation, as in the EU…, global
pandemics…
3. Multiple channels of interaction between actors that go beyond national borders.
4. Decline of military force as an instrument of foreign policy.
Neorealism vs Neoliberalism (agreement and disagreement
Agreement:
● The international system is anarchical
● States play a very important role in international relations
Disagreements:
● The state is a very important actor in international relations, but certainly not the only one
● Domestic politics do matter for neoliberals. Especially if they are democracies.
● Neoliberals do not see the anarchy of the international system as an obstacle to establishing durable cooperative arrangements.
Cooperation can be achieved through:
- Establishing international regimes
- Establishing international organizations
● Neoliberals argue that actors can cooperate if gains can be distributed among different states
- Neoliberals care about absolute gain
- Neorealists care about relative gains.

Democratic peace theory

● This is an important theory in Liberalism
● It proposes that conflict (understand mainly in the sense of war) doen not occur between democracies.
● 2 reasons:
- Democratic states in their domestic political systems have mechanisms in place to restrict the exercise of power (checks
and balances)
- Democracies normally see each other as legitimate and non-threatening actors that emphasize cooperation over conflict
more than non-democratic regimes do.

Criticism of Democratic Peace Theory

● Which definition of democracy should we adopt?
● Is economic interdependence what causes peace, rather than democracy?
● What about recent or non-consolidated democracies?
● How do we explain cases in which there is peace but there is no democracy?

Dimension of power - soft and smart power

● Soft power describes a state’s ability to exert influence over others by menas of persuasion, attraction, emulation or by bringing them
to agree with one’s position rather than using forceful means such as by military threat.
● Smart power: a power preojection strategy that mixes hard and soft power mechanisms.

Collective security
Why is there an arrangement like NATo? What drives states living under anarchy to create such a collective defense organization? Using
liberalism, try to give an answer.
1. Nato members are all democracies, and therefore they understand they will never be a threat to one another
2. They can see a benefit to joining forces and “being stronger” towards and aggressor. Here we see an example of absolute gains. For
example, right now, NATO members clore to the Russian border are “benefiting” more from the alliance than for example, the US;
Canada or Portugal. But still, this does not bring the US, Canada or Portugal to want to quit the organization.

EU members states give up some of its sovereignty to the Union. For realists this is unthinkable, because sovereignity is the most sacred thing
for a State. Try to use liberalism, explain why this is possible.
● The EU is an example of States that see they can have shared interests. They can cooperate in many issues in a mutually beneficial
way, even though they do not always benefit equally.
● Also, the democratic factor.
● Counterpoint: (more realist) the EU is failing because every state ultimately thinks of their own interests.

Constructivism
Origins
● Max Weber (“The Nature of Social Action” 1922)
- Human society is very differents from natural phenomen
- To understand society, we should understand that it has a subjective, personal, or ideational component which is very
important.
● NIcholas Onuf (“A World of Our Making, 1989)
- Words, norms, power control mechanisms, etc., are used depending of its advantatge for those who use them
- Norms: are often very valid elements is all parts/ all states see them this way, and obey them
- A fact, a reality, is often “constructed” by repetition
● Alexander Wendt (“Social Theory of International Politics” 1992)
- “Anarchy” is only what States want to make of it (it demends on them)
- USA-USSR: after decades of confrontation, one day, Reagan and Gorbachev sat down and say “we are no longer enemies”
→ and Cold War was over.

Profile: Constructivism
● Global context: human society = it is all a social construction (it is imagined, cocnept, ideas)
● Objective of the paradigm: to describe the reality as a “constructed process (it is all human’s definitions, ideas)
● Units of analysis: the structures of States and of the international community
 ● Questions/ interests: philosophy, discourse, rhetoric and percetions in IR
● Keywords: structure, ideas, beliefs, norms, interests, perceptions
● Globalization: globalization is a chance, an opportunity, to change the world
● Strong points: it can explain very well the contradictions that exist in previous paradigms, specially in realism
● Weak points: it is sometimes criticized for being “too abstract” or “too philosophical”
● Hobbies: philosophy

Questions for discussion

● France and germany fought 3 major wars from 1870-1945. After this history, people in their society, especially their leaders, though
they should cooperate instead of more wars. How do we explain the cooperation between France and Germany with these realism,
liberalism and constructivism?
- Realists will think it’s because after WWII, the power of both countries have been weakened, they have reached the
balance of power.
- Liberalists will think it’s because they have become interdependent.
- Contructivists are more focused on the ideas of people and leaders, they creation of new meaning that become shared by
everyone reshape the reality.

Main differences
● Constructivism understands that the role of individual people - normally the leader, but not only - and their understanding of reality
plays a very important role in explaining international relations.
● National interest, the balances of power or perceptions of threat are all constructed realities.
● Constructivists understan that human behaviour is sometimes “irrational” or “not always rational”
- They almost always prefer qualititve methods (language analysis) and almost never quantitative methods (numbers).

Constructivist criticism to toda’ys IR Discipline

● Why IR Theory is not able to predict exactly the behavior of states? Why couldn’t realists and liberalists predict the end of the Cold
War?
● When it comes to realism:
- Security Dilemma, balances of power
- According to this way of thinking: the biggest threats for Japan would be 1) the US and 2) Russia. NK or China should not
be on the list, because they have less power and less weapons.
● What are the limits of realism, say constructivists?
- Forece and Power are important, yes, but the perceptions that one has of the other, is even more important to explain
realities (like the example above of Japan).

Cosntructivism “in practice”

● How can it be that for us, countries like the UK that has 180 nuclear weapons, or the US has 3700 are perceived as a friendly. But NK
has 20 is perceive as a threat to word security?