International Relations (IR) is one of the most influential fields in the world today. Everyone in the world falls under the scope of IR and is affected by it in some way. Therefore, everyone should make him or herself as aware of IR topics as possible. By becoming better educated on issues such as war, the environment, ethics, morals, and economics, we may better understand the world around us. With individual awareness will come positive change. If an issue, such as global warming, is portrayed to the public, then individuals acting collectively can bring the issue to the forefront of their governments agenda. From there, to ensure that the State’s policies are supported abroad, individual nations can work in harmony to help improve the world around us so that it is more peaceful and equal for those who inhabit it. This positive change however, starts at the individual level. To me, IR represents the framework for improving the global community, but in order for IR to be truly successful, the individuals who form the majority of a country must support State actions. Supporting local movements for positive change is the first domino to fall in the field of IR, because while individuals may not have direct control over the decisions leaders make, those same decisions are made on the behalf of the people the leaders represent. By making clear the positions society values, more effective leaders can be elected and more positive change can be expected. While this outlook on IR, as being intimately tied to the individual level as opposed to some distant field of study where a few in power make decisions, may be somewhat idealist, I think it is nevertheless important. From this perspective, people will be encouraged to stay up to date on world issues and help promote a better world. Something those in the IR field do everyday.
Afghanistan and International Financial Institutions (the World Bank) April 18, 2008
Afghanistan is considered to be, by many sources, one of the most poverty stricken countries in the world. On April 2nd 2008, the World Bank chief economist, Shanta Devarajan, for Asia stated that poor people in areas such as Afghanistan and other places are continually getting hurt economically by the increasing world food prices. Which as stated on the World Bank website at http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/SOUTHASIAEXT/0,,contentMDK:21712205~menuPK:158937~pagePK:2865106~piPK:2865128~theSitePK:223547,00.html says, “World food prices have been increasing rapidly since 2006, and the rate of increase during 2007 had been much higher than average. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), overall food prices have increased by 75 percent in dollar terms since 2000. “Most countries in South Asia are net importers of food and have suffered severe terms of trade shocks of 1 percent of GDP.” He also stated that he believes that this trend will continue to occur as a result of the rise in the cost of life in China and India. He further goes on to say that these food increases affect the poor the most in a negative way, because that is how most of people make and spend their money: on food.
As a result, he gives many solutions to help the struggling people of these poor nations such as Afghanistan to survive. The main point that he states is to “target subsidies” this can protect the poor people without causing the food to increase and allow the overall budget to decrease. Another solution is to borrow money from other countries as well as banks, but there is a side effect to this method in that it will cause price increases. However, his final solution in which he thinks will work the best is to increase efficiency in agriculture.
Another way in which the World Bank is aiding Afghanistan is with health care. On another pat of the World Bank website, http://siteresources.worldbank.org/SOUTHASIAEXT/Resources/223546-1174426445479/annex21.pdf, it states, “When the Taliban fell, Afghanistan had some of the worst health indicators in the world. It had an estimated under-five mortality rate of 256 per 1,000 births, compared to 92 for South Asia.” As a result the World Bank is making a conscious effort to improve health care in this poor country.
International Ethics April 4, 2008
There are two main forms of strategies for ethical decision making in foreign policy. The first is end-based (consequentialism) and the second is rules-based (deontology). Consequentialism stresses the importance of the overall outcome of the interaction. According to this line of thinking the conclusion that is the most moral/ethical choice available should be pursued, even if the means of reaching that conclusion are less than ideal. Conversely, deontology stresses the importance of adhering to a strict moral code. This means that the best outcome is flawed if in the process certain ethical and moral rules were not followed.
In an interview with Bob Abernerthy on PBS, reverend John Langan, a professor at Georgetown University spoke regarding ethics in Afghanistan. Father John Langan said that “the whole task of trying to stop this kind of terrorism — of restoring a sense of order and confidence in our society and the world at large — that’s morally quite important.” The following question by Abernethy raised the question of consequentialism versus deontology, “And it is important that the good likely to be done outweighs the harm that is being done, and how do you rate us on that?” Father John Langan responded by saying that he thought the good did outweigh the harm of war. (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week509/perspectives.html)
This is a classic instance of comparing ends-based and rules-based philosophies. Reverand John Langan took a ends-based approach to the problem of ending terrorism and persecution in Afghanistan. The means of eliminating those threats, war, were acceptable so long as the final moral goal was achieved. Deontologists would argue that subjecting an entire nation to the strife of war in which civilian casualties from weapons and famine would result would nullify the positive result of eliminating a terrorist threat. Deontologists would likely stress a more peaceful process, such as promoting international pressure on the Afghan government through the United Nations.
And finally, Calvin voices his support for consequentialism…
http://www.rsrevision.com/Alevel/ethics/kant/calvin_ethics.jpg
United States Moral Foreign Policy in Afghanistan March 28, 2008
When the United States decided to invade Afghanistan in the fall of 2001, it can be argued that morality played a supporting role in the United States decision. While the main goal of the invasion was to eliminate the Taliban regime which had been supporting terrorist groups, including Al Qaeda, the invasion also served to free the Afghan people from Taliban oppression.
According to the Institute for Afghan Studies in 2000 (http://www.institute-for-afghan-studies.org/AFGHAN%20CONFLICT/TALIBAN/intro_kakar.htm), the Taliban committed many heinous and unjust crimes against the Afghans, especially women: “The Taliban initially banned all girls’ schools, although more recently they have opened a handful of schools for girls under the age of 12. They have prevented women from working, except in health care centers; if they leave their houses they have to be covered from head to foot with a veil or a “chadaree”. Besides being veiled, women are usually required to be accompanied by a male relative when they go out on the streets. Taxi drivers have been admonished not to give ride to women unless they are covered fully. And women caught violating these rules have been beaten.” The laws passed to restrict the personal freedoms of women represent only one aspect of the Taliban’s oppression.
However, the restrictions that the Taliban forced on the Afghan people were not just towards women but also thrust upon men. “… [They] are required to grow untrimmed beards (considered to be Sunnah, something practiced and thus imitated from the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH)) and pray five times a day (one of the five pillars of Islam). They have also cut the hands of thieves and stoned to death those who are convicted for adultery (as outlined, they maintain, by Islamic law). They have also banned kite flying, chicken fights, keeping pigeons and gambling (since they believe that this will lead to moral corruption) as well as many other restrictions such as the celebration of certain holidays and other forms of entertainment including music.” These restrictions limited the freedom of the Afghan people and were used by the United States as further evidence supporting the invasion of Afghanistan. The use of moral foreign policy in conjunction with regular foreign policy helped to bolster the United States argument for invasion.
The State of Afghanistan February 27, 2008
Afghanistan is seen to be a fairly liberal state as a result of the power and influence that the United States as well as the United Nations has on it. Afghanistan can be seen as liberal as a result of the 4 main points that encompass the foundation of a liberal state. These four points are: a process involving contending interests, a reflection of both governmental and societal interests, the repository of multiple and changing national interests, as well as the possessor of fungible sources of power. Afghanistan is moving towards a more democratic society where the majority and the people inhabiting the state have a lot of say.
Afghanistan is a weak state which therefore leads them to focus more on internal reconstruction and affairs as opposed to externally. Afghanistan as a states needs to work on helping themselves before being able to aid other nations. Right now, the nation is working on rebuilding its government. Without a strong central government to guide the national interest Afghanistan must rely on the people to have more say as to how their future government should be assembled.
Part of the reason of why Afghanistan is a weak state is because of their lack of natural sources of power. Their land is arid and mountainous which hampers agricultural production. Although Afghanistan has a reasonable amount of natural resources they lack the infrastructure to take full advantage of them. Additionally, Afghanistan’s population of roughly 32 million people at the lower end of the economic spectrum does not provide a large enough consumer market to garner interest from the international community. In terms of tangible sources of power, according to http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/profiles/Afghanistan.pdf, “all of Afghanistan’s industrial sector had stopped producing or was producing at a substantially reduced rate” as of 2004. This was a result of the United States invasion. Consequently, Afghanistan does not have significant industrial capabilities to support itself.
The final area of State Power Potential comes from intangible sources of power. Afghanistan’s national image has been severely damaged by it’s acceptance of terrorist networks, most notably, Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. Also, Afghanistan lacks prominent leaders to galvanize public support of the new government.
The International System February 15, 2008
The United States is the hegemonic power in the world. Afghanistan’s lack of power left a power vacuum in the nearing regions. In order to prevent other states from competing over that power, the United States being the strongest power went into fix it. Afghanistan is an anarchic state which means that no authority exists and that the state is sovereign. Since Afghanistan has no prominent governmental structure we will focus on the United States’ interaction with Afghanistan and its impact on the international system.
The United States while dealing with Afghanistan took on a realist approach in the international system. The United States proved that the current international system is one dominated by unipolarity and thus it was their responsibility to use their force in Afghanistan to increase stability. The United States continued with its realist approach by interacting with Afghanistan on a state level. In contrast, their interaction with Afghanistan through the United Nations represented a liberal approach.
Afghanistan has played a role in the international system for decades now. During the Cold War there was a bipolar system in which the Soviet Union and the United States were the two main powers. When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan during the late 1970’s they were seeking to gain power in the international system. In contrast, in today’s unipolar system dominated by the United States, their invasion sought to increase global and regional stability by both removing a terrorist threat and a volatile government in the Middle East region.
Afghanistan and International Relation Theory February 7, 2008
The United States took a realist approach when invading Afghanistan on October 7, 2001. The United States was seeking to eliminate their national security threat of terrorists acts by attacking and eliminating Al Queda, who they saw responsible for the attacks on September 11. As a result, the United States, along with Britain, used decisive military force to invade and destroy the Taliban. After removing the threat, the United States removed the majority of its troops which were then transported to Iraq. The remaining troops are continuing their fight against Al Queda and trying to capture Osama Bin Laden instead of trying to establish a democratic government.
Afghanistan is located at number 8 according to the website http://www.fundforpeace.org/web/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=229&Itemid=366 on the list of places most likely to become a failed state. After invading Afghanistan, the United States never made a full-hearted, prolonged attempt to establish a democratic government in Afghanistan, resulting in political turmoil. Had the United States actively sought to make Afghanistan a democracy, it could be argued that the United States was taking a liberal stance. However, the United States primary focus switched to Iraq following the completion of their main objective in Afghanistan and therefore their actions indicate a realist policy. The United States unilateral, with the exception of Britain, invasion is another indicator of a realist approach. While other nations have since joined in helping stabilize Afghanistan, their reasons for doing so are to ensure stability in the region.
While the United States had a large impact on Afghanistan from a military perspective, the United Nations has also intervened in the region to try and both aid and stabilize a fledgling Afghan government. The United Nations is taking a liberal approach,with some idealistic elements, in Afghanistan. On March 28th, 2002 the UN Security council passed resolution 1401 establishing the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) according to http://www.unama-afg.org/about/overview.htm. According to this website, there are “six main elements” composing UNAMA. They are:
providing political and strategic advice for the peace process; providing good offices; assisting Afghanistan’s government towards implementation of the Afghanistan Compact; promoting human rights; providing technical assistance; and continuing to manage all UN humanitarian relief, recovery, reconstruction and development activities in coordination with the government.
The Main actor in this example is an international organization, the United Nations. It is seeking to provide aid and help rebuild Afghanistan for the benefit of all nations. This approach varies significantly from the United States approach. Firstly, it has been conducted by the United Nations, they are seeking to rebuild the country, and the action being taken is meant to be beneficial to all nations.
In sum, the United States invaded Afghanistan with military force to eliminate a national threat, suggesting a realist approach. When the United Nations intervened, they did for more moral and ethical reasons which represented a more liberal approach.
Topic Choice January 28, 2008
We are interested in finding out more about the Middle East. It appears that over the course of the last few decades, the Middle East has become a hotspot for international politics. However, seeing as the Middle East covers a large area, we would like to try and focus on Afghanistan and the United States’ interaction with it. After the US invaded Iraq, there has been hardly any coverage on Afghanistan, yet it seems that is where Al Qaeda is concentrated. We will focus on current events in the area, and try to understand the underlying themes/issues creating the tension there, and what is being done to solve the problems.
How international relations affects our everyday lives and how we affect international relations. January 22, 2008
International relations affects our everday lives by influencing us through the products we buy, the ideas we value, and the well-being of our family abroad and at home. The value of the U.S. dollar is based upon economic policies the U.S. has with other nations. Therefore, if these policies are weak so is the dollar which affects our standing in the global economy. U.S. relations with foreign states affects the price of products we buy. For example, U.S. taxes on foreign products influences whether consumers spend their money on foreign or domestic products. International relations also affects the buisness industry because many companies are outsourcing jobs to other nations because their labor is cheaper.
We affect international relations through the cars we drive. By choosing to drive less fuel efficient cars, we cause the U.S. to depend more on oil producing countries. Also, the U.S. citizens can influence which type of foreign policy the U.S. promotes by voting for a particular Presidential candidate. In addition, the United States tends to have better relations with nations that hold the same values as the U.S. public and worse relations with nations that have opposing values.
Significant Moment January 18, 2008
If I could choose one event in my life that had a remarkable impact on me, it would be 9/11/2001. This event made such a lasting and permanent impression on me because it changed my life in a way that made me reconsider everything I had previously thought to be true. An example of this was the new found vulnerability of the United States and that my family was not invincible. That day, my cousin came out with 3rd degree burns from the fire in the world trade center and is only alive because of the kindness of a stranger that carried her down 20 flights of stairs after she was wounded. Also, my mother would have been walking through that building at that time if the bus she was on during her normal commute had not broken down that particular day. This event made me think of how timing was so important and that nothing is ever what it seems and how much we take for granted in this country (such as our safety and the benevolence of other people). The day the twin towers were brought down was the day that everything changed.
-Holly Taubman
