IR 131

International Regimes
 Regimes – rule governed activity within the International system
20th century phenomenon – states today have mutually accepted sets of rules
Regime theorists in two schools of thought – liberalism and realism
 Liberalism Vs Realism
 Common assumptions
1. States operate in anarchic system
2. States are rational unitary actors
3. States are units responsible for establishing regimes
4. Regimes are established based on cooperation
5. Regimes promote International order
 Liberal Institutionalists
1. Regimes enable states to collaborate
2. Regimes promote common good
3. Regimes flourish best when promoted and maintained by a benign
hegemon
4. Regimes promote globalization and a liberal world order
 Realists
1. Regime enable states to coordinate
2. Regimes generate differential benefits for states
3. Power is central feature of regime formation and survival
4. Nature of world order depends on underlying principles and norms of
regimes

 Why IR theory focus on regime formation in 1970’s?

1. Growing role of US as hegemon and fall of Soviet Union
2. USA due to its hegemonic position could establish and maintain complex
array of economic regimes in the West
3. Regimes important role in post WW2 prosperity
4. Liberals feel if USA loses hegemony then regimes will crumble. Realists
however argue that loss of USA hegemonic status would only mean shift
of balance of power to third world states that want new regimes on new
norms and values. Liberals today focus on USA loss of hegemonic power
and Realists focus on increasing different interests clashing in the
International system
 Nature of Regimes
 Conceptualizing – Definition and Classification/Typology
 Defining Regimes – Krasner – regime more than rules, it presupposes
a high level of institutionalization
 Defining elements of regime – Principles, Norms, Rules and
Decision-making procedures
 Classifying regimes –
 Vertical dimension – highlights formality of a regime – regime can be a
highly formalized agreement or even the emergence of a new
international organization. However, regimes can also be informal
agreements.
 Horizontal dimension – the extent to which states expect or anticipate
that their behavior will be constrained by their accession to the set of
agreements
 Full blown regimes – High expectation that formal rules will be observed
 Tacit regimes – low formality
 Dead letter regime – low convergence of expectation

 Globalization and International Regimes – regime theorists believe

that survival depends on our capacity to regulate global activity by means
of regimes – regimes focusing on wide array of concepts
1. Security Regimes – they permit states to escape from security dilemma.
Earlier examples like concert of Europe. Rush Bagot Agreement of 1817.
20th century with cold war you had more regular security regimes. SALT
1 and SALT 2 designed to control arms race between USA and SU were
dead letter regimes. This is as neither superpower expected the other to
stop making arms.
2. Environmental regimes – Climate change problems have led to them.
Convention on Biological Diversity December 1993. Basle convention
March 1993 to reduce hazardous waste. Climate Change summit
Copenhagen 2009 where major countries decided on 2 degree Celsius
limit.
3. Economic Regimes – They are more firmly entrenched than the other
regimes. They are contingent on communication regimes to exist. GATT
now WTO founded under liberal trading principles of the USA. IMF
promoted post 1945 to flourish trade.
 Competing theories of Regime formation –
1. Liberal institutionalist approach – Regimes help overcome problem of
anarchy – anarchy inhibits collaboration
 Impediments to regime formation – economic units pursue
competitive and self-interested strategies that result in goods being
bought and sold at optimum price. Market system is not effective
for public goods however and this is where state intervention plays
a role to make sure proliferation of public bads does not occur. The
anarchic structure of market gives way to hierarchal structure of
the state. – In international system there is no hegemon so we need
sovereign states to subscribe to a common policy – when they
don’t, we have global problems – where states collaborate instead
of competing in anarchic arena, we will have positive change.
Game theory is used to explain why anarchy inhibits collaboration
however this only focuses on two actors and not the many in
international system. Prisoners dilemma used to explain why even
though states know collaboration yields more benefit they still are
inhibited out of fear that the other state will defect.
 Facilitation of regime formation – if there is a dominant
hegemonic actor operating in the market then that actor may well
be prepared to sustain the cost of producing public good. The
greater actor can police the regime due to its greater hegemonic
status and make sure everyone else is in line. However even in the
absence of hegemon, states will compete and so regimes will
persist – mutually competitive strategies
Another explanation is that prisoner’s dilemma is played
repeatedly so it becomes worthwhile to take a risk pursuing a
future collaborative strategy – a state wont defect because if one
does everyone else does and every state will be fearful of defecting
– little incentive to defect. “Principle of reciprocity” is what
preserves regimes.

2. Realist approach – regimes are created in situations when uncoordinated

strategies interact to produce sub optimal outcomes
 Power and regimes – focus on third world demand for new regimes
because existing regimes work against their interests – unfair
economic forces
The third world regimes would only exist if balance of power
moved against the West – USA created regimes to promote its own
long-term interests. Hegemon can also make sure a regime does not
 exist if a balance of power is tilted in its favour – Satellite
surveillance by USA as an example
 Regimes and coordination – Like liberals use game theory to
explain why states work together. Use coordination problems to
explain – couple separated in a store need to be able to
communicate to find each other – aviation pilots around the world
must know English to communicate and thus coordinate – so
regimes exist to facilitate this coordination. We look for a Pareto
optimum – a point where both sides have a desirable outcome for
example a common language to communicate. French can argue
against use of English, but they have no alternative but to agree to
the policy. “Battle of the sexes game” is used to illustrate
coordination with link to power in an anarchic setting.

United Nations
Group of international institutions including specialized agencies such
as WHO, ILO, UNICEF, UNDP. Goal of creation of peaceful global
community. Created by states for states. UN has acquired important
moral status in International Society.
By 2013 – 193 member states that agree to accept obligations of UN
charter – an international treaty that sets out basic principles of
International relations
 4 purposes of UN –
1. maintenance of international peace and security
2. developing friendly relations between states
3. cooperation in solving international problems and promotion of
respect of human rights
4. to be center for harmonizing the actions of nations
 The Security Council – Main responsibility of maintaining
international peace and security. 15 member states which includes
five permanent members – Russia, UK, France, USA and China
along with 10 non-permanent members. Veto power of permanent
members. There is tension between this veto power and the
universal ideals of the UN. However, reform is very difficult.
Security council tries for a ceasefire when there is conflict and may
have peacekeeping mission to help parties maintain the truce and
keep opposing parties apart. They can also under chapter 7 of
 charter impose sanctions or arms embargo. In unique scenarios
may allow member states to use all necessary means including
military intervention.
 The General Assembly – follows universalist principles and is
seen as a “parliament of nations”. Discusses worlds most pressing
issues. Simple majority required for matters to be discussed that are
not key issues. Here the budget is also decided in the assembly’s
fifth committee. Any matter within scope of UN charter can be on
agenda. When Palestine was not recognized the GA made Palestine
a non-member observer state. They cannot force action but can
make recommendations. General assembly has subsidiary bodies
such as UNHRC and DISEC under it.
 The Secretariat – does administrative work and is led by secretary
general. Total staff of 40’000 globally. Primarily bureaucratic work
and lacks political power. Exception is secretary general power to
bring necessary issues to agenda.
 Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) – Coordinates
economic and social work of the UN. Works with NGOs and
thereby is the link with civil society. Has functional and regional
commissions under it. Works with specialized agencies like WHO
and ILO that are self-contained institutions. Also manages
Programmes and Funds which are funded on voluntary basis.
These include UNDP and UNICEF.
 The Trusteeship Council – Provides international supervision to
the administration of eleven trust territories administered by seven
member states to prepare these territories for self-government and
independence
 International Court of Justice – Main judicial organ of the UN
consisting of 15 elected judges jointly elected by UNSC and
general assembly. Court decides disputes between countries.

 UN and maintenance of peace and security –

Cold war hampered functioning as Soviet Union or USA vetoed
anything against their interests. East West rivalry also made the
creation of a standing UN army hard. New mechanisms created for the
UN to give mandate to a member state to act as an agent on its behalf
such as in the Korean war 1950.
Classical peacekeeping also exists involving a UN force under UN
command. They only use weapons in self-defense. Mechanism first
used in Suez Canal crisis of Egypt. Newer kind of peacekeeping is
peace enforcement after cold war. They are likelier to use force to
achieve humanitarian ends. Problems are of having neutral image and
not being attacked by belligerent forces. 97’000 uniformed personnel
in 2009.
Now UN has increased interest in conditions within states such as civil
wars. Ensuring “human security” is important. Why this outlook?
Statehood should not be absolute, and states are conditional entities
that must be on a criterion to be considered so. Threats to international
peace also come from civil conflicts. Recently terror threats and
proliferation of arms have a more prominent place on UN agenda.
Preventive diplomacy – involve confidence building measures, fact
finding and preventive deployment of UN authorized forces
Peacemaking – designed to bring hostile parties to agreement through
peaceful means
Peace enforcement – without consent of parties enforcing peace
Peacekeeping – deployment of UN presence in field with consent of
all parties (classical peacekeeping)
Post conflict peacekeeping – to develop social, political and economic
infrastructure to prevent further violence and consolidate peace

 UN and intervention within states

Traditionally sovereignty seen as very important however many states
did not agree to this. Soviet Union (Brezhnev doctrine), USA and UK
(slave trade) disagreed. In 2005 the UN agreed that if you fail to
protect your people from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and
crimes against humanity then you are inadequate state and
international community can take collective action. The application of
this has been limited. It happened with Kosovo in 1999. Then later
Libya in 2011. US case of Afghanistan in 2001 was recognized as an
instance when US can respond to its own defense. Iraq war was
questionable and contested. Syrian conflict was vetoed by Russia and
China. Overall a move towards global governance and away from
unconditional sovereignty.
  United Nations and Economic + Social Questions
Economic and social problems in one part of the world affect others so
now increasing focus on civil conflict. UN charter talks about
promoting social progress and better standards of life in larger
freedom. Institutions focusing on these problems have increased. But
main contributor states give less and less to this problem. Several
global conferences by UN such as Human rights conference in
Vienna, population questions at conference in Cairo and women’s
issues at Conference in Beijing.
Also, at domestic level the rise of Country Strategy Notes – statements
about overall development process, tailored to needs of individual
countries. Also, domestically you have Resident coordinator under
UNDP that is responsible officer at country level with enhanced
authority. In 2000 we had UN millennium summit where heads of
state committed themselves to Millennium Development Goals.
Progress towards these goals has been uneven.

Nuclear Proliferation
Nine countries are thought to possess nuclear weapons, five nuclear
weapon states (USA, Russia, Britain, China and France) along with
India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel.
 What is a Nuclear Programme?
Nuclear technology is dual use – energy and weaponry
Fission and Fusion methods lead to heat and generation of energy.
Very technology extensive process. You need weapon grade fissile
material such as uranium or plutonium. Through a process called
enrichment – uranium enriched at 20% is highly enriched uranium
and at 90% is called weapons grade uranium.
Plutonium is by product of waste nuclear processes and is reprocessed
to be used in a nuclear warhead.
This material needs to be weaponized into a warhead. Nuclear
weapons are considered Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD).
Along with chemical, biological and radiological weapons (CBRN).
Globalization has led to heightened concern of a non-state actor such
as terror group acquiring nuclear weapon or radiological material for a
dirty bomb. Global proliferation network of A.Q. Khan from Pakistan
raises concerns.
 Proliferation since 1945
Strategic nuclear weapons such as ICBMs or Inter Continental
Ballistic Missiles and SLBMs or Submarine-launched Ballistic
Missiles were created. MIRV or Multiple independently targetable
re-entry vehicles meant you could have a single missile carrying
different warheads to target different targets. We primarily saw
nuclear weapons in bipolar terms and examined Nuclear Deterrence.
Conventional attack can escalate to Nuclear attack so reduced risk
taking by going into conventional conflict. Two nuclear targeting
strategies used by the USA against Soviet Union –
Counterforce strategy – targeting military assets
Countervalue strategy – targeting assets of social value such as cities
with large populations
US also developed extended deterrence – threat of nuclear response to
deter attack on its allies
 Theoretical Debates about Nuclear Proliferation
Definitions – What is nuclear proliferation?
Nuclear opacity – policy of Israel who has not signed NPT and has
also never confirmed that it possesses nuclear weapons. Nuclear
ambiguity is what Israel employs.
Latent Nuclear Capacity – describes country that possesses the
infrastructure, material and technical capabilities to quickly assemble
a nuclear weapon but has never done so for example Japan is seen to
be 5 mins from a nuclear weapon.
 Examining Motivations – Why do states build nuclear
weapons?
1. Security Model – states build nuclear weapons to increase national
security against foreign threats, especially nuclear threats
2. The domestic politics model – states build nuclear weapons
because these weapons advance parochial domestic and
bureaucratic interests
3. The norms model – states build nuclear weapons because
weapons acquisition, or restraint in weapons development provides
an important normative symbol of a state’s modernity or identity.
4. Psychology model – States build nuclear weapons because
political leaders hold a conception of their nations identity that
leads them to desire the bomb.
5. Political economy model – states build nuclear weapons because
the nature of their country’s political economy – mostly whether or
not it is globally integrated – gives their leaders different incentives
for or against having nuclear weapons
6. The strategic culture model – states build nuclear weapons
because their strategic culture leads them to hold certain ideas
about how valuable the acquisition and use of nuclear weapons will
be
 Effects of nuclear weapons –
Nuclear weapons offer strategic advantage – Existential deterrence –
even one warhead can threaten existence of a state – with the presence
of nuclear weapons disputes are less likely to escalate to war –
Kenneth Waltz
However, security risks such as risk of accidents and newer nuclear
powers having weaker civilian control.
Some argue nuclear weapons create a stability instability paradox
meaning that nuclear armed countries feel safe from large scale
retaliatory attack because they have nuclear weapons and so they feel
free to engage in low scale provocations against other countries. This
means that countries with nuclear weapons are more likely to be
involved in small conflicts but more likely to be involved in bigger
ones.
Beyond nuclear possession your nuclear posture also matters.
Effective deterrence is not only about having nuclear weapons but also
what a country does with them when it has them. Some nuclear
postures will be better at deterring conflict than others. Types of
nuclear postures are catalytic (Israel), Assured retaliation (India and
China) and Asymmetric escalation (Pakistan and France)
 Evolution of nonproliferation efforts -
1946 – UN Atomic Energy Commission
1953 – Eisenhower’s Atoms for Peace
1957 – International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
Horizontal proliferation – spread of nuclear weapons to new
countries
Vertical Proliferation – when nuclear weapon states increase the size
of their nuclear arsenals
o During cold war – Trilateral agreement between US, Soviet
Union and Britain moratium on nuclear testing from 1958-61.
In 1963 the Partial Test Ban Treaty was signed. France and
China declined these and later tested their own weapons in 1960
and 1964. In late 1970’s the five nuclear weapons states issued
negative security assurances with regard to not using nuclear
weapons against non-nuclear states. By mid-1960’s IAEA
implemented its safeguards programme. In 1967, the Tlatelolco
Treaty created first weapons free zone in Latin America. In
1987, a group of states also signed an agreement to limit the
export of nuclear capable ballistic or cruise missiles, called for
Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR)
Most major was the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. NPT was
opened for signatures in 1968 and entered into force in 1970.
Five states were recognized as nuclear weapon states and all
other states agreed to forego the development of nuclear
arsenals in exchange for an agreement by the five nuclear
weapons states to move towards the elimination of their
arsenals, in exchange for non-nuclear weapon states peacefully
obtaining nuclear energy.
1972 – Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT 1) between
Soviet Union and USA – limited ballistic missile defenses
1979 – SALT 2
o Post-cold war –
1991 – Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START)
1993 – START 2
Moscow Treaty / SORT / Strategic Offensive Reductions
Treaty in 2002 – both USA and Russia agreed to reduce their
stockpiles
SORT replaced in 2010 by new START treaty which commits
two countries to additional reductions
190 states have signed the NPT today
 Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban treaty CTBT also signed

 New approaches – counter proliferation and a return to

disarmament
 Counter proliferation - efforts aim to eliminate or reduce the
threats caused by the development and spread of WMD – this is
done by discouraging interest by states, terrorist, or armed
groups in developing, acquiring or mobilizing resources for
WMD purposes. Also includes roll back or elimination of
WMD programmes of concern. Deter weapons use by those
possessing these weapons and their means of delivery. And also
mitigate the consequences of any use of WMD against the USA
or its allies.
 Global Zero movement has started and bolstered by Obama in
Prague 2009 that calls for complete disarmament.