INTRODUCTION TO INTERNATIONAL

RELATIONS

IEP Rennes

Yves Lavarde

Course introduction

« The best way to make peace is to make business.»

MONTESQUIEU

• Business is a peace-maker in IR : ex. European Union is based first on business.

• Business can be also a war-maker : economic war for oil, for information, etc. (ex. Prism, Echelon Program…)

5 lessons for understanding the new IR.

• Lesson 1 : New economical and political structures in IR.

• Lesson 2 : New process of globalization in IR

• Lesson 3 : New powers in IR.

• Lesson 4 : New conflicts.

• Lesson 5 : New importance of regions & crisis : Brittany in IR.

1. Changing production systems, changing political systems: what

impact on international relations?

IEP Rennes – CEP Program

2013-2014

Introduction

• « production systems » : market economy • « political systems » : State-Nation • Context :

– « information revolution » (Internet, mobile technology) : the whole world is connected and changing.

– Consequence : - New production systems : market economy is still the most relevant system ? – new political systems : State-nation is still the best level of

governance ?

• Problem : how the information revolution is changing the

international political systems ?

Course Plan

I. Changing production systems A. The two industrial revolutions B. The third industrial revolution

II. Changing political systems A. The making of the State-Nations at XIX and XX B. The making of metropolis at XXI?

III. Changing international relations ? A. New economical relations B. New political relations

Conclusion

I. Changing production systems A. The two industrial revolutions

• First industrial revolution : Steam engine (WATT, 1776) : Railway steel industry Steam boat textile Mettre carte Europe industrialisation - textile : Manchester/Roubaix - Sidérurgie : Le Creusot - Transport : carte réseau ferré /

toile Turner (bateau+train) + Monet (gare de Saint-Lazare).

Consequences of the first industrial revolution

• New social group: the working-class

• Urbanization

• Reduction of distance :

– globalization /colonization

2. Second industrial revolution

- Born in the US

- 2 main innovations :

- Combustion engine

- Electricity

- New society : mass consumption

- Fordism

- welfare state : boom of services

- Consumer society

I. Changing production systems A. The two industrial revolutions

birthlplace

Date Innovation Leader sectors Social impact

First industrial revolution

Second industrial revolution

How to explain those industrial revolutions ?

• Economic cycles

– Expansion

– Contraction (depression or stagnation)

– Ex. « Kondratieff waves »

Cycles

Beginning

Expansion

Crisis

Depression

1. Kondratiev 1789/1790 1780-1814 1810-1817 1814-1849

2. Kondratiev 1844-1851 1870-1873 1870/1875 1873-1896 GreatDepression

3. Kondratiev 1890-1896 1896-1929 Belle époque

1928-1932 1929-1945 Great Depression

4. Kondratiev 1941-1950 1945-1973 Trente Glorieuses

1973-1975 1975-?

How to explain those economic cycles ?

• The role of innovation (Schumpeter)

– « creative destruction »

– ex. railway and the diligence.

• The role of « Innovative entrepreneur » :

– ex. Edison : inventor (1093 patents) & businessman (14 companies, included GE).

Course Plan

I. Changing production systems A. The two industrial revolutions B. The third industrial revolution

II. Changing political systems A. The making of the State-Nations at XIX and XX B. The making of metropolis at XXI?

III. Changing international relations ? A. New economical relations B. New political relations

Conclusion

B. The third industrial revolution

• Based on innovation :

– Microprocessor

– Moore’s law : the power processor is doubling every 2 years.

• Based on new infrastructures

– Internet network

– Technopoles and Silicon valleys

What is the impact of information revolution ?

• Social impact : – Information society

– « collaborative economy » (carsharing, couchsurfing) and «peer production » (Wikipedia, Linux), crowdsourcing

• Political impact : – Creative Common : the end of

copyright ?

– Which intellectual property ? Videos sharing on Megaupload, music-sharing on Deezer, Youtube…

• Geographical impact – Transnational networkls (Anonymous,

WikiLeaks)

– New site for innovation Ex. Silicon Valley (conséquence : brain drain).

• Creative common

• Covoiturage

Conclusion - Part I.

• « knowledge economy »

– New power : information, innovation

– New structures : social networks….

Transition : changing production systems provoke changing political systems

Course Plan

I. Changing production systems A. The two industrial revolutions B. The third industrial revolution

II. Changing political systems A. The making of the State-Nations at the XIX and XX B. The making of metropolis at XXI?

III. Changing international relations ? A. New economical relations B. New political relations

Conclusion

II. Changing political systems. A. The State-Nations building

• « State » : a population + a government + a territory (CARRE MALINVAUD, 1921)

• « State-Nations » : since the end of the 18th century (French revolution).

How to build State-Nation ?

• « National novel » (Ernest GELLNER) thanks to :

– history : national myths (Vercingétorix, Charlemagne, Jeanne d’Arc… re-written by Michelet)

– Art : Wagner (The ring of Nibelung, Parsefal)

– Religion : orthodoxy for Serbs

– Folklore : hungarian legends for Hungary…

Two visions of Nation in Europe

• Extensive vision (jus soli) – France

– Ernest Renan : « Nation is a desire to live together ».

• Exclusive vision (jus sanguinis) – Germany

– Fichte, 1808 : « Nation is based on objective facts : a same language, a same culture… ».

Nation building in history

• 19th century – Italian unification – German re-unification

• 20th century : «self determination » -W. Wilson – Fall of European Empires

(Austrian, Ottoman) – Fall of colonial empires

• End of 20th century : – « Balkanization », ex.

Monténégro, Kosovo, Bosnia…

– « Failed states » : ex. Somaly => Somaliland, Pountland.

The State-Nation : a weakening concept ?

• Limited at supranational level

– Regional organization : EU

– International organization : IMF

• Limited at infranational level

– Provinces with new ambitions : Scotland, Catalonia

– Metropolis…

Transition : Passage of world based on the states, to a world based on metropolis and metropolitain area ?

Course Plan

I. Changing production systems A. The two industrial revolutions B. The third industrial revolution

II. Changing political systems A. The making of the State-Nations at the XIX and XX B. The metropolis-building at the XXIth?

III. Changing international relations ? A. New economical relations B. New political relations

Conclusion

B. The building of metropolis

• Etymology : « mother-city » in relation with colonies.

• In history : the Greek city that establishes colonies outside the Greek world.

• Now : « a city that concentrates economic and politic functions ».

What is metropolisation ?

• How to build a metropolis ?

– marketing : creation of identity, to make the city attractive

– International connection : highspeed railway, international airport

– Metropolitan facilities: opéra, metro

A new political actor?

• In History « City-States » are old

– Mesopotomian cities

– Greek cities

– Italian cities : Venice/Genoia

• « Global Cities » (Saskia Sassen)

– « center of globalization »

– 3 Global cities : NY, London, Tokyo…

Consequence of metropolisation

• Dispersion of low-level activities – Specialization of small towns. Ex.

Vitré

• Over-concentration – Population : Tokyo -35million

– High level activites: R&D, management, strategy consulting

• New « outskirts » : - forgotten region of Globalization

- FN vote in suburbs located far from metropolitan centers).

Transition : what these economic and political changes cause in International relations ?

Course Plan

I. Changing production systems A. The two industrial revolutions B. The third industrial revolution

II. Changing political systems A. The making of the State-Nations at XIX and XX B. The making of metropolis at XXI?

III. Changing international relations ? A. New economical relations B. New political relations

Conclusion

III. Changing international relations A. New economic and politic relations • Disapearance of

economical intermediaries ?

– Market crisis ?

– more and more direct selling (against markets) in agriculture (CSA – or AMAP in French), in Internet (Leboncoin)

– « Local Food Movement » : consumer buy products 200km around

Direct-selling in CSA

The end of intermediaries ?

• Media more and more criticized

– Homosexual marriage in France : massive use of social networks (Twitter, Facebook) for organizing against demonstrations…

– Arab spring

– Conspiracy theories : 9/11 Truth Movement

The end of polical intermediaries ?

• Crisis of representative democracy

– « divorce between power and politics » - Zygmunt BAUMAN.

– Abstention

• Direct democracy is still possible ?

– Local votation in Switzerland

Course Plan

I. Changing production systems A. The two industrial revolutions B. The third industrial revolution

II. Changing political systems A. The making of the State-Nations at XIX and XX B. The making of metropolis at XXI?

III. Changing international relations ? A. New economic and political relations B. New international relations

Conclusion

B. New international relations

• New transparency ?

– PRISM, WikiLeaks : all comes out in one day…

– In France : Jérôme Cahuzac

– Eric Schmidt, 2009 : « If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing in the first place »

B. New international relations

• Transnational movements

– Terrorist movements : Al Qaeda

– Revolutionary movements : Arab Spring

– NGO Networks

Arab spring

Conclusion • History is full of revolutions :

• « The World is flat » (T. Friedman) : transparent and horizontal world… But flat doesn’t mean boring. It’s an exciting and moving period. The « Belle Epoque » ?

Agricultural revolution Around 10,000 B.C.E (Neolithic)

Revolution of writing Around 3,200 B.C.E (History)

Invention of printing Around 1450 (Renaissance)

Industrial revolutions Mid.18th.

Information revolution End of 20th Entry in a New World ??

Surf this wave or sink ?