7/29(Tue)
Today we covered 'liberalism' which is also one of major international relations theories. Historically, Immanuel Kant and Woodrow Wilson are famous for advocates of liberalism.
Now let me show the overview of liberalism in brief here.
●Core belief - Spreding democracy, global economic ties, and strengthing peace
●Wars are not inevitable
●Wars can be reduced by institutional arrangement
●Collective security as a possible
●Interdependency
●Other actors such as NGO, international organizations, multinational coｒporations are included
●Democratic countries do not fight one another
Key Actors:
●States
●International institutions (UN, WTO, etc)
●Non governmental groups
●Multinational coporations
＊States are not unitary/autonomous actors as realists think because they have many intersts and layers in a domestic politics.
Classical liberalism:
Classical liberalism has a belief that human nature is good by nature, and that democracy and
capitalism are keys to make for peace. Kant explains that democracy, trade, and international institutions are essence of peaceful world.
As for trade, there are three reasons to analyze why trade is a good way for peace. First, it is because no one want to destroy their trade relations when trade due to war and military conflicts. Second, trade provides routine interactions between two countries
Third, countries go hand in hand with democracy.
Next, let me describe why international institutions are also the means to establish the peaceful world. It is because internatinoal institutions provide an arena for iterated interactions. And, international institutions have common rules to make each country obey. Also, international institutions provide information to all members. This brings transparency amon countries via international institutions.
Finally, the reason why democracy are needed for peace is because citizens can vote for electing their president, and thus, stop waging wars even if the president wanted to go to war. In other words, the president cannot go to war if he/she did not gain domestic support for war.
At first, I was confused with Kant's theory which capitalism is neccessary for peace because I had read Lenin's article 'From Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism' before I learned Kant's theory in the class. There are lots of theories in international relations, they are competing one another. We should pick up best theories which would apply for contemporary politics. And it is better to be flexible about applying theories to real situations happening in the world.
The class reading for today's content is 'Liberalism and World Politics' written by Michael W. Doyle. You can read the article by clicking the following URL.
http://homepages.stmartin.edu/fac_staff/rlangill/PLS%20300/Liberalism%20and%20World%20Politics%20Doyle.htm
7/29/2008
My Second Day of Class(Realism)
7/28(Mon)
Today is my second day of class. Its main argument is about Realism in IR.
Realism is one of major IR theories.
The instructor presented an overview of realism to us in the begging of the class.
The way of seeing the world politics for realism is:
1.War is natural and inevitable
2.International system is anarchy
3.States are fundamentally concerned with national interest
4.Power is key to national interest(survive, military strength, wealth, etc)
5.Relative gains is better than absolute gains for realism
6.Talk is cheap(because the strength to survive is much important for realism)
International System
●The international system is anarchic
●"No government over governments"
●No 911 in international system
●Self-help
These descriptions of international system suggest that there is no such people or organization like police and firefighters to protect you or save you in the world. In addition, there is no absolute authorities to restrict each state's behavior. Therefore, you cannot rely on any other states. That is why you should protect you by yourself and cannot ask for help when you need it because international system is anarchic.
Key Actors
●The states
●Rational, unitary actors calculating on the basis of their "national interest" ('Rational' in this context means that the states know the means to achieve their goals.)
●State power - the key means to seek for national interest
- the primary determinant of international relations
Balance of Power
●the ratio of power between states and alliance of states
●balancing occurs out of fear for survival
●war occurs due to imbalances
●balance of power creates three types of polarity
1.Biopolarity(like the U.S and Soviet Union during Cold War)
2.Multipolarity
3.Unipolarity
During the class we discussed which polarity is better for stability in world politics. Most students told that multipolarity is better because, according to one student, they can check one another.
The flaws of Realism
Realism neglects
●non-state actors such as NGO or individual people
●domestic politics
●morality
●weak states
●human rights
These are some parts of explanation of realism. I am quite convinced with its theory. We cannot deny the fact that the state as well as an individual has interest and desire. That is why we sometimes conflict each other and wage wars. What is impressed in the article 'One world, rival theories' is the sentence, "a ruthless pragmatism about power can actually yield a more peaceful world." I agree with the statement because just an ideal plan which is drawing a perfect world cannot help the conflicts in the world.
スライド 4 スライド 4
Today is my second day of class. Its main argument is about Realism in IR.
Realism is one of major IR theories.
The instructor presented an overview of realism to us in the begging of the class.
The way of seeing the world politics for realism is:
1.War is natural and inevitable
2.International system is anarchy
3.States are fundamentally concerned with national interest
4.Power is key to national interest(survive, military strength, wealth, etc)
5.Relative gains is better than absolute gains for realism
6.Talk is cheap(because the strength to survive is much important for realism)
International System
●The international system is anarchic
●"No government over governments"
●No 911 in international system
●Self-help
These descriptions of international system suggest that there is no such people or organization like police and firefighters to protect you or save you in the world. In addition, there is no absolute authorities to restrict each state's behavior. Therefore, you cannot rely on any other states. That is why you should protect you by yourself and cannot ask for help when you need it because international system is anarchic.
Key Actors
●The states
●Rational, unitary actors calculating on the basis of their "national interest" ('Rational' in this context means that the states know the means to achieve their goals.)
●State power - the key means to seek for national interest
- the primary determinant of international relations
Balance of Power
●the ratio of power between states and alliance of states
●balancing occurs out of fear for survival
●war occurs due to imbalances
●balance of power creates three types of polarity
1.Biopolarity(like the U.S and Soviet Union during Cold War)
2.Multipolarity
3.Unipolarity
During the class we discussed which polarity is better for stability in world politics. Most students told that multipolarity is better because, according to one student, they can check one another.
The flaws of Realism
Realism neglects
●non-state actors such as NGO or individual people
●domestic politics
●morality
●weak states
●human rights
These are some parts of explanation of realism. I am quite convinced with its theory. We cannot deny the fact that the state as well as an individual has interest and desire. That is why we sometimes conflict each other and wage wars. What is impressed in the article 'One world, rival theories' is the sentence, "a ruthless pragmatism about power can actually yield a more peaceful world." I agree with the statement because just an ideal plan which is drawing a perfect world cannot help the conflicts in the world.
7/27/2008
Obama's speech in Berlin
In my first day of class, the instructor told us that reading a good news paper such as New York Times and Wall Street Journal will help us understand some current IR issues in class. Therefore, I tried to read some articles on New York Times website.
And I want to show you three pictures from the website.
You can notice Barack Obama in the picture. Then, do you know where he is? He is not in the U.S, but in Berlin, Germany. I can hardly believe my eyes! Such incredible number of people gathering together to listen to his speech! When I see these pictures, I think as if he was in the U.S. You can listen to his speech by accessing to the below URL.
http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=03fd064efe9f97792bbaa5fa6c33f3a17a188833
Three of these pictures were taken from 'The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/07/24/world/0724-OBAMAGERMANY_index.html)'
7/25/2008
My First Day of Class
7/24(Thu)
Today was my first day of class. My class is held at from 2:20 p.m. to 4:50 from Monday through Thursday. The instructor wraped up today's lecture earlier than the normal time.
My instructor is Korean and in PhD course in Political Science.
By the way, he distributed a sheet of syllabus and carefully explained it. According to the syllabus, I have midtem exam on 7 August, final exam on 21 August, and pop-up quiz. Pop-up quiz is going to be like what is the argument of Kant or what is the argument of Jervis. He told us that it is easy to solve if we read the articles in the textbook.
Then, let me write about today's content. After we looked over the syllabus, we thought about International Relations(IR), theory, and the step for theorizing. First, what is IR? Before answering for the question, the instructor gave us an idea that this course 'Introduction to IR' is for answering WHY do things happen the way they happen in that way. Then, he explained us that IR is the scientific study of the interaction of people or states across state borders. In this sentence, the word 'the interaction' makes a difference between IR and comparative politics. Second, the instructor gave us a question about what is a theory. After a few second, two students in a class suggested that it is an explanation or an educated guess. As they suggested, the instructor told us that theory is an attempt to find general and causal explanation.
Third, what was most interesting topic was studying the step for theorizing. Here, he introduced us the term 'Dependent Variable' and 'Independent Variable.' The first thing for us to theorize about a phenomenon is finding a puzzle, reserch question. For example, let's think about the puzzle of WHY the percentage of those who are saying the U.S is ready to have Black president is rising. In this puzzle, dependent variable is the rising persentage of people who are supporting for black president. During class, the students examined what independent variable is. Some guesses were raised. For instance, rising gas price, dislike of the other candidates, global influence, generation change, media, or good looking.
The important thing of theory is defining independent valiable. It is because the world would be disaster if we failed to define the correct independent variable. In short, independent variable is like the cause of the happening or accident. If we misdefined the cause in the process of solving the happening or accident, we could bring another disaster to the world.
That is all about today's class. I have no class on Friday. So, I will spend time preparing for the next class on Monday.
Misaki
Today was my first day of class. My class is held at from 2:20 p.m. to 4:50 from Monday through Thursday. The instructor wraped up today's lecture earlier than the normal time.
My instructor is Korean and in PhD course in Political Science.
By the way, he distributed a sheet of syllabus and carefully explained it. According to the syllabus, I have midtem exam on 7 August, final exam on 21 August, and pop-up quiz. Pop-up quiz is going to be like what is the argument of Kant or what is the argument of Jervis. He told us that it is easy to solve if we read the articles in the textbook.
Then, let me write about today's content. After we looked over the syllabus, we thought about International Relations(IR), theory, and the step for theorizing. First, what is IR? Before answering for the question, the instructor gave us an idea that this course 'Introduction to IR' is for answering WHY do things happen the way they happen in that way. Then, he explained us that IR is the scientific study of the interaction of people or states across state borders. In this sentence, the word 'the interaction' makes a difference between IR and comparative politics. Second, the instructor gave us a question about what is a theory. After a few second, two students in a class suggested that it is an explanation or an educated guess. As they suggested, the instructor told us that theory is an attempt to find general and causal explanation.
Third, what was most interesting topic was studying the step for theorizing. Here, he introduced us the term 'Dependent Variable' and 'Independent Variable.' The first thing for us to theorize about a phenomenon is finding a puzzle, reserch question. For example, let's think about the puzzle of WHY the percentage of those who are saying the U.S is ready to have Black president is rising. In this puzzle, dependent variable is the rising persentage of people who are supporting for black president. During class, the students examined what independent variable is. Some guesses were raised. For instance, rising gas price, dislike of the other candidates, global influence, generation change, media, or good looking.
The important thing of theory is defining independent valiable. It is because the world would be disaster if we failed to define the correct independent variable. In short, independent variable is like the cause of the happening or accident. If we misdefined the cause in the process of solving the happening or accident, we could bring another disaster to the world.
That is all about today's class. I have no class on Friday. So, I will spend time preparing for the next class on Monday.
Misaki
7/24/2008
7/23/2008
My Roommate
I moved to my dormetory today at 5:30 p.m.
My roommate is HSIAO-FANG PENG from Taiwan. She is 22 years old and studying English at the UW.
What surprised me most was that she gave me a welcoming card and a gift from Taiwan.
Please take a look at the pictures.
7/21/2008
Realism, Liberalism, and Constructivism
In the morning, we studied for two hours at the Cafe on the Avenue.
On Sunday every library opens at 1 p.m. So, we descided to study at the cafe in the morning and at the Asian library in the evening.
In two pictures on the left side, you can see Yuri and Fumi for each picture. Do you see Yuri on the left side of the picture? And Fumi on the right? On every Sunday, we are commuting to this cafe. The best thing for studying here is that we can access to the Internet freely at any Cafe. In Japan, I feel very incovenient to study outside like Cafe because I cannot serch the Web. In contrast, it is very convenient here to study at Cafe or libraries at the UW.
Today I reread Jack Snyder's article 'One World, Rival Theories.'
This article explains three international relations theories in the world. These theories exhibit each distinct characteristics. Please let me remind you and me about each characteristic and flaws. Thw author displays three international relations based on Stephen M. Walt's article 'One World, Many Theories' from Foreign Policy published in 1998. Stephen M. Walt sketched out three dominant theories: Realism, Liberalism, and Constructivism. Briefly, according to Jack Snyder, realism is the school of international relations theory which believes that 'international affairs is a strrugle for power among self-interested states.' What strikes me is that his emphasis on the effectiveness of cruel pragmatism about power. He thinks that it produce a more peaceful world than other ways. In case of liberalism, it is the other school of international relations theory which expect that 'democracies will not attack each other and will regard each other's regimes as legitimate and nonthreatning.' However, it is not always true as you might think so. I forgat to write that realism also has the flaws. One more school of international relations theory is constructivism which believe that 'foreign policy is guided by ethical and legal standards.' In other words, it consider debates about ideas as the fundamental building blocks of internatioinal relations. It is because everything comes from thoughts and theories. However, constructivism also has flaws as same as other schools. It is important to know each frame of theories as a way to look at the tendency for the world politics. In addition, Jack Snyder addresses the pliability of these international relations theories. He introduces Condoleezza Rice's remark that 'the new Bush doctrine is an amalgam of pragmatic realism and Wilsonian liberal theory.' He demands the necessity of filling up the gap each theory is facing now.
San Juan Islands
We spent our whole day in San Juan Islands on Saturday.
We went around a town, Friday Harbor, located in the island, ate lunch there, watched alpacas, observed some whales, and viewd
beatiful scenery. Mike, my friend in Seattle, took us to the Islands by car to Anacortes. And then, we left Anacortes to Friday Harbor by Ferry. Other major islands in San Juan County are Orcas Island, Lopez Island, and Shaw Island.Except shopping mall, you can see the scenery of countryside there. Long street in the middle of prairie, meadow districts, alpacas(Look at the upper picture), the oceans, lots of flowers... I felt relaxed there.
As is written in a guidebook, the main purpose for people to go there is to see the whales right before your eyes. We also had expected so before we left from Seattle. And finally we ........... saw four whales moving slowly in front of us!! It was amazing!!
I sank myself into nature at that time. I highly recommend you for visiting San Juan Islands when you have chance to come to State of Washington.
I met a little girl there after I observed whales. I asked her if I can take a photo with her. And she said 'Sure.'(Look at the lower picture)
Misaki
7/19/2008
7/18/2008
I am in Seattle!
Hi, everybody! We got to Seattle at 9:30 a.m. on 17 July. Seattle 16 hours behind Tokyo.After we got out of Tacoma-Seattle International Airport, we took Shuttle Express and got to our hotel.
And then, we visited Housing and Food Services located in the Schmitz Hall. There we found lots of problems about our housing. In my case, my room has not been assigned yet because I cancceld it once and did not complete deposit payment online. However, the woman in the office solved my problem, and I can get a room during b-term. It was a big relief!! Yuki and Yuri also had problems, but both of them managed to get their rooms, too. The picture shows the scene which they were strrugling for solving the problem. We are supposed to know our room number and roommate tomorrow.
In the evening we went to Odegaard Undergraduate Library and Suzzallo & Allen Library.
We had dinner at Thai restaurant. And we ate 'sticky rice pudding' that is my favourite dessert.
Before the dinner, we went to the bookstore and bought our textbboks or other stuffs for our study here.
I stop writing here. Thank you for reading my blog.
Misaki
7/17/2008
At last!!
Tomorrow we are departing for Seattle from Sendai!
I am very glad to welcome the day that four of us can go to the UW to take a course.
Everyone did a great effort to get 500 PBT TOEFL score. Yuri and Yuki spent their time for preparing for TOEFL over 5 months or moreover. Fumi also tried her best within a quite short time.
And finally, they achieved their goals!
By the way, we are landing at Seattle at about 9 a.m. on 17 July.
This is my third time to attend a course at the UW.
I try to report my daily activity in the class on my Blog and to join in classes actively.
Please wait for a while for my updating you.
I appreciate Araki-sensei, Lee-sensei, and Yuto for taking care of us and shareing their precious time for our presentation!
Thank you very very much!!
I am very glad to welcome the day that four of us can go to the UW to take a course.
Everyone did a great effort to get 500 PBT TOEFL score. Yuri and Yuki spent their time for preparing for TOEFL over 5 months or moreover. Fumi also tried her best within a quite short time.
And finally, they achieved their goals!
By the way, we are landing at Seattle at about 9 a.m. on 17 July.
This is my third time to attend a course at the UW.
I try to report my daily activity in the class on my Blog and to join in classes actively.
Please wait for a while for my updating you.
I appreciate Araki-sensei, Lee-sensei, and Yuto for taking care of us and shareing their precious time for our presentation!
Thank you very very much!!
7/15/2008
The Latest News
The article, "First Guantanamo video released", has been reported from BBC.
It shows us the videotape filmed for the first time through an air duct at the US prison camp in Guantanamo Bay. In the video 16-years-old man is interviewed by Canadian officials.
You can read more closery at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7507216.stm
7/07/2008
7/06/2008
Sunni and Shia Muslim
The diversion of Sunni and Shia dates back to the argument after prophet Muhammad dead in 632.
Sunna(followers of the custom of the caliphate) group appointed Abu Baker as the next Caliph after Muhammad's death. In contrary, Shia(followers of Ali) appointed Ali ibn Abi Talib who was Muhammad's a paternal cousin and son-in-low.
About 90% of the world's Muslims are Sunni and about 10% Shia.
Their disagreement is stil persistent today.
(http://www.islamfortoday.com/beliefs01.htm)
Sunna(followers of the custom of the caliphate) group appointed Abu Baker as the next Caliph after Muhammad's death. In contrary, Shia(followers of Ali) appointed Ali ibn Abi Talib who was Muhammad's a paternal cousin and son-in-low.
About 90% of the world's Muslims are Sunni and about 10% Shia.
Their disagreement is stil persistent today.
(http://www.islamfortoday.com/beliefs01.htm)
7/05/2008
Three Types of Muslim Diversity
In his article, he thinks that the generalization of Muslim is not possible. And he confirms that the scholar should be cautions when they talk about Muslims.
It is because Muslim diverse depending on the environment around them, the nations, and beliefs they have.
He introduces three examples of the diversity of Muslims.
The first example is the difference between Sunni and Shia.
The second one is the urban-rural difference.
The third one is the difference among nations.
Because of the several elements among Muslims to identify them, we cannot simply generize them.
It is because Muslim diverse depending on the environment around them, the nations, and beliefs they have.
He introduces three examples of the diversity of Muslims.
The first example is the difference between Sunni and Shia.
The second one is the urban-rural difference.
The third one is the difference among nations.
Because of the several elements among Muslims to identify them, we cannot simply generize them.
7/04/2008
My Presentation
Tonight I gave a presentation on a Carl von Clausewitz's idea, 'War as an instrument of Policy.'
It was hard time for me to make his idea understood among the participants of the schlarship program and Dr. Araki Suguru.
What was the most confusing topic was an example of an expression of fencing in Clausewitz's work. He applys the expression of fencing to explain the relationship between war and politics.
I found it very interesting expression to understand what he analyzes about war.
If you want to read that part, please go to http://www.clausewitz.com/CWZHOME/VomKriege2/Bk8ch06.html#B
During my presentation Yuto, the senior and the last time participant of the scholarship program, gave me a question. He said to me that 'I cannot believe that war as an instrument of politics will bring states interests and assets what they want. In addition to his opinion, Yuri, Yuki, Humi told me their opinions and impressioins for my presentation. Dr.Araki stated that there is no way but war to make their opponents vanish and pass from view. However, no person or states should conduct wars as a way to seek their interests.
Wars can never be justified like atomic bombs.
It was hard time for me to make his idea understood among the participants of the schlarship program and Dr. Araki Suguru.
What was the most confusing topic was an example of an expression of fencing in Clausewitz's work. He applys the expression of fencing to explain the relationship between war and politics.
I found it very interesting expression to understand what he analyzes about war.
If you want to read that part, please go to http://www.clausewitz.com/CWZHOME/VomKriege2/Bk8ch06.html#B
During my presentation Yuto, the senior and the last time participant of the scholarship program, gave me a question. He said to me that 'I cannot believe that war as an instrument of politics will bring states interests and assets what they want. In addition to his opinion, Yuri, Yuki, Humi told me their opinions and impressioins for my presentation. Dr.Araki stated that there is no way but war to make their opponents vanish and pass from view. However, no person or states should conduct wars as a way to seek their interests.
Wars can never be justified like atomic bombs.
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