INTRODUCTION TO INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

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INTRODUCTION TO INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

• PS 145
• MR DOUG PERKINS

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TODAYS AGENDA

• Administrative Stuff
• Get your exam if you have not
• Challenges due Thursday (extension)
• Website of the Day

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RELIGION AROUND THE WORLD
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IMPORTANT TERMS

• Transnationalism Extension beyond the borders of
  a single country applies to a political
  movement, issue, organization, or other
  phenomenon.
• Postmodernism This theory holds that reality
  does not exist as such. Rather, reality is
  created by how we think and our discourse
  (writing, talking). As applied to world
  politics, postmodernism is the belief that we
  have become trapped by stale ways of conceiving
  how we organize and conduct ourselves.
  Postmodernists wish, therefore, to deconstruct
  discourse.

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SOURCES OF TRANSNATIONALISM

• Global Interaction
• Human Thought we can think beyond our personal
  experiences/ construct larger identities
• Stoics thoughts of themselves as civilized
  humans
• Early Christians universal view of mankind,
  transnational identity
• Liberals and Communists were transnationalists
• Postmodernists also market transnationalism
• Recognize plethora of potential identities
• Are transnational identities real, or potential
• If potential, why should they be realized?

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TRANSNATIONAL OCCURANCES

• Economics Bring People Together
• But does this create transnational identities
• Communication
• Hard to control, democratizes
• Allows protesters from many places to work
  together (evidence of tr. Identities?)
• Transportation
• But does it create a new identity?
• Organizations
• Huge growth in number of NGOs
• Example of International Womens Movement
• (next page)

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TRANSNATIONAL WOMENS MOVEMENT

• Women are second class citizens
• How? Why do they put up with it?
• 70 of the poor, 35 of earned income, 80 of
  refugees
• Is this new? No, but now there is a greater
  awareness of it due to increased communication
  and travel.
• People work through NGOs to lobby for gender
  equality
• Womens Movement
• Stigma of feminism? What is the shared goal?
• Is the diversity among the movement problematic?

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FEMINISM AND IR

• Existing IR is a product of the male point of
  view and ignores or underrepresents the role of
  women, their concerns, and their perspectives.
  (p. 167)
• Women experience societies and their
  interactions differently than do men (ibid)
• Peace more than the absence of war (positive)
• Security more than military (security from)
• Normative in Goal (relationship to science?)
• Equality of representation, change policies
• Improve entire society

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TRANSNATIONAL RELIGION

• What is the role of religion in international
  politics?
• Churches as transnational (international) actors
• Religion as a transnational identity
• How should we deal with religious fundamentalism?
  How does it affect international relations?
• Islam and the World
• Triumphant past (then decline)
• Conflict with Christianity
• Pan-Islamicism?
• Must take religion into account, but dont
  overstate it

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THE FUTURE

• Jihad Vs. McWorld

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SUMMARY

• This chapter explores the bases and evidence of
  transnationalism in the world. Transnationalism
  includes a range of loyalties, activities, and
  other phenomena that connect humans across
  nations and national boundaries.
• Some streams of transnational thought are
  referred to as globalism, cosmopolitanism, or
  some other such encompassing word. Other
  transnational movements, such as religion and
  gender, have a more limited focus.
• The development of transnationalism springs from
  two sources human thought and global
  interaction.
• The lineage of the globalist strain of
  transnational thought extends in Western culture
  back to the Stoics of ancient Greece and Rome and
  to Buddhism in Eastern culture. Transnationalist
  thought is evident today in idealism,
  postmodernism, and postinternationalism.
• Transnational interaction is increasing, as
  evident in changes in economics, communications,
  transportation, and organizations. International
  economic interdependence, mass communications,
  the ease of travel across borders, and the growth
  of transnational organizations are all helping to
  break down national barriers.
• An important modern trend in international
  relations is the growth of transnational
  movements and organizations that are concerned
  with global issues. This includes the
  transnational women's movement and its associated
  organizations.
• Though women's attitudes and emphases may vary,
  the transnational women's movement shares a
  similar philosophy and goals. These center on the
  idea that women around the world should cooperate
  to promote gender equality and to transform the
  way we think about and conduct politics at every
  level, including the international level.
• Feminists, both women and the men who support
  gender equity, are pursuing numerous projects and
  making progress. The fourth World Conference on
  Women and its follow-up Beijing 5 Conference are
  just examples of activity in this area.
• Most religions have a strong transnational
  element. Some religions assert universalistic
  claims other religions create an urge to unite
  all the members of that religion across
  countries.
• Religion has played many roles in world politics.
  The roles have been both positive and negative.
  The current rise in religious fundamentalism in
  many areas of the world is worrisome.
• To understand the role of religion in world
  politics, a case study of Islam discusses the
  global impact of a transnational religion.
• Transnational culture is both bringing the world
  together and dividing it. The movement of goods,
  ideas, and people across national boundaries is
  helping to create what is perhaps the beginning
  of a common global culture. Some people see this
  as a positive development others oppose it.
• Some observers believe that we are not moving
  toward a common culture but, instead, toward a
  future in which people will identify with and
  politically organize themselves around one or
  another of several antagonistic cultures or
  so-called civilizations.

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QUESTIONS???