1. WHY DO STATES DO WHAT THEY DO
WHY DO STATES DO WHAT THEY DO? LEVELS OF ANALYSIS AND FOUR MAJOR THEORIES
Some helpful terms:
States, nations, & regimes: What’s the difference?
IGOs, NGOs, and MNCs… Why are there so many acronyms Setzler?
What are “levels of analysis?” Ken Waltz’s idea that we need to look at (1) individual leaders, (2) political and economic systems, and (3) the intl system, the last of which is anarchical, self-help, and subject to “security dilemmas”
What are the two main approaches to IR? : Realism and liberalism (aka idealism)?
What other two will we look at?: Constructivism and Marxism (aka structuralism)

2. LEVELS OF ANLAYSIS
The international system…. Why does the balance of power and the number of key actors matter?
Imperial (empire) vs. unipolar (hegemony)
Bipolar hegemony
Multipolar (balance of power, usually between 4-6). In principle more peaceful; in practice, more dyads and less cooperation (think about politics SMD vs. PR partysystems)
Non- or a-polar systems… haven’t had those yet. Will globalization cause it to happen?
How institutionalized are the rules of our intl. system? How important are norms?
How does location in the intl. system shape behavior?
Proximity and relationships with hegemons

3. ARE THERE STATE-LEVEL FACTORS THAT DRIVE INTL. RELATIONS?
Why does regime type matter with respect to what states do? Authoritarian, totalitarian, and democratic regimes… They pick very different types of leaders who are subject to very different constraints.
How do economic systems shape foreign policy? Free-market vs. centralized (socialism, command) vs. mono-resource (export-oriented) economies vs. state capitalism
What are some of the main differences among democracies? Presidential (divided) vs. parliamentarian systems; direct/indirect elections, number of parties, open vs. closed party systems, fixed vs. non-fixed terms?
How do variations in bureaucracies (how capable, how political, how independent?) shape state action? VAdvisory systems, interest groups, standard operating procedures
How do different political cultures impact state behavior: Chinese vs. Americans: We both think we’re exceptional, but we act very differently as a consequence

4. ARE THERE INDIVIDUAL FACTORS THAT DRIVE INTL. RELATIONS?
Why do political scientists not study individuals very carefully (for example, presidential studies in PSC is sort of a backwater)?
When do individuals matter most? (1) When institutions are new or unstable or unable to impose constraints; (2) when SOP’s don’t apply
”Normal” personality traits/issues: Optimism & energy, worldview, need for power, distrust of others?
Decision-making styles: Delegator or hands on? Complexity of thought? Openness to new information and ideas? Sense of self and willingness to be wrong
Mental health issues / disorders… Three recurring issues paranoia, obsessive compulsiveness, and malignant narcissism
Why are we all predictably irrational? A sampling of our cognitive biases: Reliance on “bounded rationality” (using “heuristics”) leads to all kinds of irrational decisions by even the most normal of state leaders: accessibility bias, premature closure (satisficing), stereotyping, group think, selective screens that reinforce what we already believe (cognitive consistency), wishful thinking/ fundamental attribution, sunken costs/endowment principle, inaccurate analogies (evoked set)/discounting the future