International Political Economy

The Global Security Structure

Professor Yu Xunda

2013. 05.

Chap. 9

Suggested Readings

Michael Barnett. Eyewitness to Genocide: The United Nations and Rwanda. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2000.

David Calleo. Follies of Power: America’s Unipolar Fantasy. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009.

Amy Chua. World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability. New York: Anchor Books, 2003.

Chalmers Johnson. The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the Republic. New York: Metropolitan Books, 2004.

Brigette Nacos. Terrorism and Counterterrorism: Understanding Threats and Responses in the Post-9/11 World. New York: Pearson Longman, 2006.

Joseph Nye. The Paradox of American Power: Why the World’s Only Superpower Can’t Go It Alone. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Thomas E. Ricks. Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq. New York: Penguin, 2006.

1. Introduction

2. Actors, Interests, and Roles

3. States At The Top or On The Rise

4. International Organizations

5. Poor And Failed States Come Undone

CONTENT

6. Trade As a Foreign Policy Tool

1. Introduction

1. Introduction ---(1)

The security structure is the most important structure in the international political economy.

-----because trade, finance, and technology networks need a stable and secure foundation on which to operate.

Major players the structure connects

----nation-states, IOs, NGOs, international businesses,

and subnational groups.

The ways that they are connected by

----formal treaties, conventions, arrangements, rules,

and informal norms meant to protect people from violent and nonviolent threats.

1. Introduction ---(2)

During the Cold War (1947-1990), security issues were understood primarily in terms of national defense. ------actually, this period is quite stable

The watershed events----

A. the Collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990 (stable to unstable)

　　 resulting in a good deal of violence: civil wars, ethnic and religious conflicts, and genocide

B. September 11 Terrorist Attack (traditional to nontraditional)

　　 Terrorism was believed to replace nuclear war as the greatest threat to global peace

The emerging nontraditional security issues involve not only states but specific groups of people and individuals in different societies.----Results:

poverty, underdevelopment, famine, scarcity of energy resources, and environmental damage

1. Introduction ---(3)

Three fundamental questions:

　　 1. What accounts for the recent shift to a more unstable and violent international security structure?

　　 2. How do the rules of this structure reflect the interests of various actors ？

　　 3. What are some of the implications of these developments for managing this critical structure?

Five major theses:

　 1. Geopolitics----which emphasizes protecting national borders.

　　 2. A low threat of total war between the major military powers.

　　 3. Globalization has engendered many security problems: human rights violations, diseases spread, environmental damage.

　　 4. Globalization and global financial crisis weakened the economic and political power of the U.S. and other major actors.

　　 5. States have begun to share management of the global security structure with IOs, NGOs, international businesses, and even subnational groups.

　　

Result: a world security order with a much broader post-Cold War agenda.

2. Actors, Interests, and Roles

2. Actors, Interests, and Roles

In realism, a hierarchy of nation-states reflects the distribution of power in the global political economy.

Three layers:

At the top: the U.S and several other major economic and military powers.

--------they have thought about security issues primarily in terms of “great power” wars.

On the next level down in the hierarchy are the relatively weaker powers of Western Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa, especially those emerging economies such as China, Brazil, Indonesia, and India.

-------they focus on traditional security interests.

At the bottom of the hierarchy of power are the majority of poorer developing nations and weak states that oft

en lack the hard-and soft-power resources to deal with internal and external security problems, epidemic diseases, a

nd environmental problems.

3. States At The Top or On The Rise

3.1 Context

In realism, the most powerful states are often concerned with the distribution of wealth and power in th

e global security structure.

Depending on their wealth, power, and historical circumstances, they may prefer a unipolar, bipolar, or

multipolar balance of power, each usually complementing a distinct behavior such as “unilateralism”, and ”

multilateralism”.

In the late 1940s and 1950s, a bipolar balance of power: the U.S. Vs the Soviet Union

In the 1960-1970s, the distribution of power appear to be increasingly multipolar.

In the 1980s, the Reagan administration reimposed a bipolar framework.

In the 1990s (after collapse of the Soviet Union), the Clinton administration chose a multilateral approach.

3.2 Bush and Iraq War --(1)

After the 9/11 Terrorist Attack in 2001, the second Bush administration adopted an unilateralist policy.

Reasons-------

Many U.S. Officials felt strongly that the 9/11necessitated

that the U.S. fight terrorism proactively.

-- Make a list of rogue states

-- Preemptive strikes

-- Dissatisfaction with many IOs

The U.S. and its Atlantic partners were divided on the Security Council and in NATO.

Event: adopting a unilateralist policy, the U.S., backed only by Great Britain, invaded Iraq on March 19, 2003, and removed Saddam Hussein from power, with that no WMDs were found.

3.2 Bush and Iraq War --(2)

The result ---- by 2006, the Iraq War had become a quagmire.

Reasons: Strong resistance from a number of insurgent groups

Failure to identify the nature of the threat

Failure to adopt an appropriate strategy to “win the war”

Poor tactics

Lack of a coherent nation-building plan for Iraq

The political ends of terrorism can not be countered by fighting a broad war

3.2 Bush and Iraq War --(3)

Criticism about Bush administration’s unilateral outlook------------

A policy of preemption without imminent military threats would conflict with international norms and the interests of close U.S. allies.

Producing a costly and ruinous empire

The U.S did not devise an overall joint military-political strategy to win over the “hearts and minds” of the Iraqi people, especially lack of attentions to religious differences.

Adverse impact

------U.S. prestige diminished.

Torture

Withdraw from 1972 IBM Treaty

3.3 Critiques of Bush Administration Security Policies

Those criticisms of structuralists and realists focused on four major issues:

The Empire Thesis

---------- British historian Niall Ferguson: Colossus

The New crusade against Islam

The military-industrial complex

---------- the U.S. Weapon Sales

The relationship of globalization to security

3.4 Globalization: the Financial Crisis and Global Security

As realist-mercantilists note, wealth and power always complement one another.

By the time Bush administration left office 2009, a growing number of realist critics and many HILs and structuralists were suggesting that the U.S. was losing much power.

The impact of the integrated financial markets and neoliberal policies from the Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, and Bush II administrations:

Benefits:

A. helped grow the economies of many LDCs by way of trade and foreign investment.

B. America itself benefited from the open and minimally regulated global economic structure

----”hegemony on the cheap”.

Issues:

A. Poorer nations with more poverty and violence, had stronger hostility toward the U.S and its allies;

B. The debt the U.S. continued to accumulate against the rest of the the world.

3.5 The Obama Administration and Multilateralism --(1)

Obama administration shifted its outlook toward multilateralism based on understanding that the global security structure manifests a multipolar distribution of power.

In 2009, Obama’s multilateral outlook &security agenda included:

Working more positively with all U.S. allies and potential partners, especially given the administration’s decision to continue the war in Afghanistan.

Renewing efforts (especially with Russia) to decrease the number of strategic nuclear weapons and other WMDs.

Continuing the war against terrorism, but at reduced cost and without making enemies our of Middle Eastern and heavily-populated Muslim states such as Pakistan or Indonesia.

Renewing talks with Cuba, Iran, and other “rogue states” like Venezuela.

Supporting efforts to halt the global proliferation of WMDs

Dealing with Iran and North Korea’s efforts to (re)build their nuclear-processing facilities.

Promoting international efforts to deal with climate change and global warming.

Obama administration also shifted from an emphasis on hard power to a combination of hard &soft power.

3.5 The Obama Administration and Multilateralism --(2)

The real challenges:

1). The resistance from Iran and North Korea to complying

with the IAEA

2). Russia’s effort to reestablish itself as a global power

3). The rise of China needs to increase its military powers

and strengthen mutual political interests

4). The global financial crisis is undermining U.S. credibility

all of the world.

So it will be difficult to manage a multilateral security structure. While the security system management is not a given but a role states must actively attend to.

4. International Organizations

4.1 the United Nations

Not only are major powers active in the UN, but so are the less powerful states since they always can not successfully

protect themselves.

The UN first played a decisively important but indirect role in promoting peace and security by serving as a for

um for negotiations that resulted in several treaties covering different security issues.

E.g The Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons of 1968 (NPT),

The Biological and Toxis Weapons Convention (BTWC)

The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)

The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC)

Function:----------------

Their efforts increase awareness about programs and transparency, thereby enhancing political and security condition

s,

Also, these arrangements help generate new norms and promote cooperation.

4.2 NATO Peacekeeping

Today, NATO has a total of 26 members, seven of whom had been in the Partnership for Peace (PfP) program.

Criticism-------------

1). NATO has been questioned about the utility and high cost in a changing security atmosphere.

2). Some also question NATO’s willingness to act as a coherent unit under military duress and its resolve to protect newer (Eastern Europe) members.

3). Nationalism and ethnic and religious rivalry in member states

4). Whether NATO can deal adequately with drugs, terrorism, weapons proliferation, and immigration issues

Important Event:

NATO’s role in Kosovo in the late 1990s

4.3 UN Peacekeeping

UN Peacekeeping is an integral part of the global security structure that involves the periodic use of member-state

troops to help settle disputes and resolve conflicts.

The UN Peacekeeping has involved not only military operations but also efforts to deal with a variety of other politi

cal, social, and cultural conflicts.

The shift of the role: peace keeping → peace making

Apart from sanctioning NATO’s efforts, the UN played only minor roles in conflicts in Rwanda,

Kosovo, East Timor, and most recently, in Iraq.

Increasingly, critics question the UN’s ability to produce peace in a civil-war environment

Furthermore, the cost of operations often exceeded estimates, while member states used the

UN to substitute for their more expensive campaigns.

4.4 Human Rights and the ICC

The connection between security and human rights issues has become stronger in the new global securit

y structure and IPE studies.

By 2000, 138 nations has signed a treaty to create a permanent

International Criminal Court(ICC) to hear cases on genocide,

war crimes, and crimes against humanity from anywhere in the

World after July1, 2002.

2009, the U.S had refused to ratify the treaty, even though some

111 nations had either ratified or acceded of it.

5. Poor And Failed States Come Undone

5. Poor And Failed States Come Undone ---(1)

What sets the weak powers apart from major powers or minor powers is their poverty and inability to deal with many internet and external threats to their security.

Weak states often depend on UN peacekeeping forces and NGOs such as the Red Cross and Red Crescent to help them mitigate security problems.

Many studies over the year attribute violence or the lack of development which is a hotly debated issue.

Other studies focus on how the pursuit of economic liberal policies in poorer countries contributes to ethnic tensions and violence and weakens the chances for democracy.

Arms sale

-------stimulate trade and generate income

-------the source of conflict and even more intense warfare.

5. Poor And Failed States Come Undone ---(2)

Failed states like Afghanistan are hotbeds for both subnational groups and transnational terrorist groups.

One of the clearest trends in poorer states is the growing importance of NGOs.

Finally, one factor that accounts for some of the success of NGOs has been the powerful images of war and human rights violations that are easily recorded and communicated via satellite around the world, helping to personalize these issues.

Discussion Questions

• Discuss some of the main structural features of the new global security structure.

• Discuss several ways in which economic developments in the last 20 years have contributed to a weakening of U.S. power.

• Would you prefer to see the Obama administration pursue a multilateral strategy or unilateral strategy to manage the global security structure? Note the benefits and drawbacks of each approach.

• Outline some of the security threats and issues that international organizations deal with. Discuss why IOs do not have more success in these sorts of issues and what it would take for them to be more successful.

• Choose a security threat of your own and assess the IOs dealing with that issue.

• Choose a security threat in the developing nations and examine.A. The primary political, economic, and social causes of the conflict

B. The extent of other state and IO involvement in the issue

C. Some possible solutions to the problem