Perspectives on International Relations Power Institutions and Ideas 5th Edition
Nau Solutions Manual
Chapter 7: The Identity Perspectives on Today’s World Instructor Chapter Overview
Chapter 7 focus on explantion of contemporary events from the identity perspective. The chapter reviews several particular explanations for contemporary events, all of which share an empahsis on identity based ideational factors. In particular, the chapter focuses on the role of democracy, religion, ethnicity, and human rights based political action from the identity perspective. The identity perspective is inclined to focus on the ideologies of the involved actors, examining the role of radical Islam, the victory of democracy over communism, and the growing consensus on human rights to explain global integration and terrorism, amongst other phenomenon.
The chapter begins with a focus on an identity based approach to understanding the democratic peace. Notice that the explanation does not emphasize the role of democratic institutions in peacefully resolving interest based conflicts in society as would be the case in a classical liberal treatment of the democratic peace. Instead, democracy is seen as inculcating a series of social values that cause democratic societies to recognize one another as being “like us.” As an exemplar of this view, the chapter considers Francis Fukuyama’s “End of History” argument that democracy supplied something that neither communism nor any other political identity could,namelyasenseofequalrecognitionamongindividualsandgroupsofhumanbeings thatendedthehistoricalquestfordominationofonegroupbyanother.
Identity arguments were made in support of the Bush Administration’s efforts to democratize the Middle-East, starting with Iraq, based on the idea that tyrannical regimes in that region fostered terrorism. On the other hand, identity arguments have also been marshalled to say that the values of secular democracy are fundamentally at odds with the values of Islamic societies. Accordingly, US efforts to spread democracy actually feed into the hands of radical extremists who seen Western values as a challenge to the identities of muslim societies. The chapter considers Samuel Huntingtons “Clash of civilizations” thesis as an exemplar of this type of identity perspective, where societal values are seen essental unchanging aspects of identity communities.
The chapter discusses religious, national, and ethnic identities as motivations for international political outcomes in some depth. The discussion of religion includes an extended discussion of Wahhabism and contrasts that with more mainstream approaches to Islam. The nationalism section includes discussion of the emergence of civic identities, and discusses the cases of Afghanistan and Iraq in particular.
The development of the idea of universal human rights in international politics over the last two centuries is also examined as an example of an identity based, ideational shift. Universal rights based identities provide a challenge to a state based international system centered around national identities. The chapter introduces the UN Declaration on Human Rights, the Convention on Political and Civil Rights, the Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and
the Convention on Human Rights. The UN Human Rights Committee and the European and Latin American Human Rights systems are also covered in the chapter.
Talking points for discussion
1. Are identities “primordial” (are they hard-wired into humans) or are they constructed? If they’re constructed, who constructs them?
2. Is it possible to have overarching solutions to ethnic conflicts? Or does this type of conflict necessitate responses that depend on the specific situation?
3. What are positive and negative consequences of international involvement in ethnic conflicts? Does international intervention solve or exacerbate conflict?
4. Which do you think is the greater threat in today’s world, ethnic conflicts or terrorism? Why?
5. Which perspective offers the best solutions for the conflicts covered in this chapter (China-Taiwan, Israel-Palestinian, and Afghanistan and Iraq)? Why?
Student Chapter Overview
This chapter introduces students to the study of terrorism and ethnic, religious, and national conflicts. The chapter delineates the causes of and solutions for these conflicts as perceived by the three perspectives. The chapter also discusses the idea that democracy itself can create a sort of identity. If we see citizens from other democratic states as part of our tribe, this can be the basis for a much more ordered, less violent, international system where conflicts are resolved through negotiation and shared understanding of fair processes.
Identity perspectives focus on religious, ethnic, and national differences and on the role of political reform in integrating different groups and promoting tolerance. The identity perspective sees ethnic conflicts as socially created and advocates tolerance and democratization as the most effective answers.
Ethnic, religious, and national conflicts are a common occurrence in today’s world, and how we view their causes largely determines what we will suggest as the best possible solution. The realist perspective, for example, often claims that ethnic conflicts are the result of hard-wired psychological needs. Since these are enduring features in human society, the realist perspective often suggest accommodating different identities through partition and a stable balance of power are the only ways to end these struggles. The liberal perspective, meanwhile, often sees elite manipulation as a source of ethnic conflict and therefore suggests reconciliation and institutional solutions, like federalism, as an alternative to conflict. The identity perspective, finally, sees ethnic, religious, and national conflict as ideationally constructed and believe that the creation of new norms – like tolerance and democracy – can provide solutions to these problems.
Study Questions
1. What is the difference between viewing terrorism as war, terrorism as crime, and terrorism as ideological conflict? What policies are suggested by each of these views?
2. Where do identities come from? Are they primordial and “hard-wired,” or are they constructed (and who constructs them)? Which interpretations are favored by the different perspectives?
3. How do liberal perspectives view ethnic conflicts and what solutions would they likely propose?
4. What is nationalism? What are the differences between ethnic and civic nationalism?
5. According to the liberal and identity perspective, what are the domestic or local causes of terrorism?
Another random document with no related content on Scribd:
EPICUREAN SAUCE.
Mix well, by shaking them in a bottle, a wineglassful of Indian soy, half a pint of chili vinegar, half a pint of walnut catsup, and a pint and a half of the best mushroom catsup. These proportions make an excellent sauce, either to mix with melted butter, and to serve with fish, or to add to different kinds of gravy; but they can be varied, or added to, at pleasure.
Indian soy, 1 wineglassful; chili vinegar, 1/2 pint; walnut catsup, 1/2 pint; mushroom catsup, 1-1/2 pint.
TARRAGON VINEGAR.
Gather the tarragon just before it blossoms, which will be late in July, or early in August; strip it from the larger stalks, and put it into small stone jars or wide-necked bottles, and in doing this twist some of the branches so as to bruise the leaves and wring them asunder; then pour in sufficient distilled or very pale vinegar to cover the tarragon; let it infuse for two months, or more: it will take no harm even by standing all the winter. When it is poured off, strain it very clear, put it into small dry bottles, and cork them well. Sweet basil vinegar is made in exactly the same way, but it should not be left on the leaves more than three weeks. The jars or bottles should be filled to the neck with the tarragon before the vinegar is added: its flavour is strong and peculiar, but to many tastes very agreeable. It imparts quite a foreign character to the dishes for which it is used.
GREEN MINT VINEGAR.
Slightly chop, or bruise, freshly-gathered mint, and put it into bottles; fill them nearly to the necks, and add vinegar as for tarragon: in forty days, strain it off, and bottle it for use. The mint itself, ready minced for sauce, will keep well in vinegar, though the colour will not be very good. The young leaves stripped from the stems, should be used for this preparation.
CUCUMBER VINEGAR.
First wipe, and then, without paring, slice into a stone jar some young and quickly-grown cucumbers; pour on them as much boiling vinegar as will cover them well, with a teaspoonful of salt, and twothirds as much of peppercorns to the pint and a half of vinegar: it may remain on them for a month, or even for two, if well defended from the air: it should then be strained, allowed to settle, and poured quite clear into small dry bottles, which should be well corked. A mild onion can be intermixed with the cucumbers, when its flavour is considered an improvement.
CELERY VINEGAR.
Throw into a pint and a half of ready boiling vinegar a few grains of cayenne, or half an ounce of peppercorns, a large saltspoonful of salt, and a pint of the white part of the roots and stems of some fine fresh celery sliced up thin: let it boil for two or three minutes, turn it into a stone jar, and secure it well from the air as soon as it is cold. It may be strained off and bottled in three or four weeks, but may remain as many months in the jar without injury.
ESCHALOT, OR GARLIC VINEGAR.
On from four to six ounces of eschalots or on two of garlic peeled and bruised, pour a quart of the best vinegar; stop the jar or bottle close, and in a fortnight or three weeks the vinegar may be strained off for use: a few drops will give a sufficient flavour to a sauce, or to a tureen of gravy.
Eschalots, 4 to 6 oz.; or, garlic, 2 to 4 oz.; vinegar, 1 quart: 15 to 21 days.
Obs.—These roots may be used in smaller or in larger proportion, as a slighter or a stronger flavour of them is desired, and may remain longer in the vinegar without any detriment to it.
ESCHALOT WINE.
This is a far more useful preparation even than the preceding one, since it can be used to impart the flavour of the eschalot to dishes for which acid is not required. Peel and slice, or bruise, four ounces of eschalots, put them into a bottle, and add to them a pint of sherry; in a fortnight pour off the wine, and should it not be strongly flavoured with the eschalots, steep in it two ounces more, for another fortnight; a half-teaspoonful of cayenne may be added at first. The bottle should be shaken occasionally, while the eschalots are infusing, but should remain undisturbed for the last two or three days, that the wine may be clear when it is poured off to bottle for keeping. Sweetbasil wine is made by steeping the fresh leaves of the herb in wine, from ten to fifteen days.
Eschalots, 4 oz.; sherry, 1 pint: 15 days, or more.
HORSERADISH VINEGAR.
On four ounces of young and freshly-scraped horseradish pour a quart of boiling vinegar, and cover it down closely: it will be ready for use in three or four days, but may remain for weeks, or months, before the vinegar is poured off. An ounce of minced eschalot may be substituted for one of the horseradish, if the flavour be liked.
CAYENNE VINEGAR.
Put from a quarter to half an ounce of the best cayenne pepper into a bottle, and pour on it a pint of pale vinegar. Cork it closely, and shake it well every two or three days. It may remain any length of time before it is poured off, but will very soon be ready for use.
Good cayenne pepper, 1/4 to 1/2 oz.; vinegar, 1 pint: infuse from 2 weeks to 12 months.
LEMON BRANDY.
(For flavouring sweet dishes.)
Fill any sized wide-necked bottle lightly with the very thin rinds of fresh lemons, and cover them with good brandy; let them remain for a fortnight or three weeks only, then strain off the spirit and keep it well corked for use: a few apricot-kernels blanched and infused with the lemon-rind will give it an agreeable flavour.