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126-692: Customs duties have existed in Sweden since the twelfth century, and the current organisation was created in 1636. During this period, the Swedish administration was being developed as Sweden was then a great power . The first Collector-General or Head of Customs was Mårten Augustinsson . Customs duties , known as "fiscal tolls", were first introduced to raise revenue for the state. Other tolls were introduced later to protect Swedish industry, so-called " protective tariffs ". In earlier times, most goods were transported by sea . Vessels arriving in Sweden had to pass through

252-652: A critical theory approach to international relations (IR), and is a non-mainstream area of international relations scholarship. Post-colonialism focuses on the persistence of colonial forms of power and the continuing existence of racism in world politics. Feminist international relations theory applies a gender perspective to topics and themes in international relations such as war, peace, security, and trade. In particular, feminist international relations scholars use gender to analyze how power exists within different international political systems. Historically, feminist international relations theorists have struggled to find

378-464: A sovereign state and does not have its own foreign affairs or defence policies; these remain largely with the member states , which include France, Germany and, before Brexit , the United Kingdom (referred to collectively as the " EU three "). Brazil and India are widely regarded as emerging powers with the potential to be great powers. Political scientist Stephen P. Cohen asserts that India

504-486: A " logic of appropriateness ". The theory emerged from debates concerning the scientific method of international relations theories and theories role in the production of international power. Emanuel Adler states that constructivism occupies a middle ground between rationalist and interpretative theories of international relations. Constructivist theory criticises the static assumptions of traditional international relations theory and emphasizes that international relations

630-531: A core of modern industrialized countries which exploit a periphery of exploited "Third World" countries. These ideas were developed by the Latin American Dependency School . "Neo-Marxist" or "New Marxist" approaches have returned to the writings of Karl Marx for their inspiration. Key "New Marxists" include Justin Rosenberg and Benno Teschke . Marxist approaches have enjoyed a renaissance since

756-558: A critic of democratic peace theory, points to America's behavior towards left-leaning democracies in Latin America during the Cold War to challenge democratic peace. One argument is that economic interdependence makes war between trading partners less likely. In contrast, realists claim that economic interdependence increases rather than decreases the likelihood of conflict. While the democratic peace theory claims that democracy causes peace,

882-610: A definition of a Great power that it must be able to maintain itself against all others, even when they are united, then Frederick has raised Prussia to that position." These positions have been the subject of criticism. In 2011, the US had 10 major strengths according to Chinese scholar Peng Yuan, the director of the Institute of American Studies of the China Institutes for Contemporary International Studies. However he also noted where

1008-573: A determination to support the arrangement agreed upon, and to turn the general influence and if necessary the general arms against the Power that shall first attempt to disturb the Continental peace." The Congress of Vienna consisted of five main powers: the Austrian Empire , France , Prussia , Russia , and Great Britain . These five primary participants constituted the original great powers as we know

1134-603: A discipline, is believed to have emerged after World War I with the establishment of a Chair of International Relations, the Woodrow Wilson Chair held by Alfred Eckhard Zimmern at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth . The modern study of international relations, as a theory, has sometimes been traced to realist works such as E. H. Carr 's The Twenty Years' Crisis (1939) and Hans Morgenthau 's Politics Among Nations (1948). The most influential IR theory work of

1260-543: A functionalist theory when he argued that the Westphalian international political system arose to secure and protect the developing international capitalist system. His theory is called "functionalist" because it says that an event was a function of the preferences of a system and not the preferences of an agent. Functionalism is different from structural or realist arguments in that while both look to broader, structural causes, realists (and structuralists more broadly) say that

1386-888: A fundamental human need for identity – the way in which a person or a group is, or wishes to be known by others. The resulting identity formation dynamics can contribute to conflicts between and among groups. Scholars of international relations have drawn on insights in social psychology to explore the dynamics of conflict among and between groups as well as processes of conflict management and resolution. More recently, scholars of international relations have started drawing on emotion research in psychology to shed light on issues in world politics. Research in psychology suggests that affect and emotions are core drivers in decision making and behavior. This has significant consequences for our understanding of foreign policy, escalation to war, conflict resolution, and numerous other issues in world politics. For example, Rose McDermott and Jonathan Mercer were among

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1512-528: A great power with an important position in some spheres of influence. Others suggest India and Brazil may even have the potential to emerge as a superpower . Permanent membership of the UN Security Council is widely regarded as being a central tenet of great power status in the modern world; Brazil, Germany, India and Japan form the G4 nations which support one another (and have varying degrees of support from

1638-494: A great power. As a nation will seldom declare that it is acting as such, this usually entails a retrospective examination of state conduct. As a result, this is of limited use in establishing the nature of contemporary powers, at least not without the exercise of subjective observation. Other important criteria throughout history are that great powers should have enough influence to be included in discussions of contemporary political and diplomatic questions, and exercise influence on

1764-402: A market for its exports worldwide). Another assumption is that absolute gains can be made through co-operation and interdependence —thus peace can be achieved. The democratic peace theory and interactive model of democratic peace argue that democracies have fewer conflicts among themselves. This is seen as contradicting especially the realist theories and this empirical claim is now one of

1890-508: A more humanistic perspective. Thus, Tickner was critical of the ways in which the study of international relations itself excludes women from participating in international relations theorizing. This piece of Tickner's was met with criticism from multiple scholars, such as Robert Keohane , who wrote "Beyond Dichotomy: Conversations Between International Relations and Feminist Theory" and Marianne Marchand , who criticized Tickner's assumption that feminist international relations scholars worked in

2016-418: A multitude of different agendas that come to the forefront. The line between domestic and foreign policy becomes blurred in this case, as realistically there is no clear agenda in interstate relations. Finally, the use of military force is not exercised when complex interdependence prevails. In other words, for countries among which a complex interdependence exists, the role of the military in resolving disputes

2142-465: A nation's great power status has also been a criterion for being a great power. As political scientist George Modelski notes, "The status of Great power is sometimes confused with the condition of being powerful. The office, as it is known, did in fact evolve from the role played by the great military states in earlier periods... But the Great power system institutionalizes the position of the powerful state in

2268-412: A number of methodologies and theories such as post-positivism , constructivism , postmodernism , and post-colonialism . Jean Bethke Elshtain is a key contributor to feminist international relations theory. In her seminal book, Women and War , Elshtain criticizes gender roles inherent in mainstream international relations theory. Particularly, Elshtain decries international relations for perpetuating

2394-590: A place within international relations theory, either having their work ignored or discredited. Feminist international relations also analyzes how the social and the political interact, often pointing to the ways in which international relations affect individuals and vice versa. Generally, feminist international relations scholars tend to be critical of the realist school of thought for their strong positivist and state-centered approach to international relations, although feminist international scholars who are also realists exist. Feminist International Relations borrows from

2520-494: A political force exerting an effect co-extensive with the widest range of the society in which it operates. The Great powers of 1914 were 'world-powers' because Western society had recently become 'world-wide'." Other suggestions have been made that a great power should have the capacity to engage in extra-regional affairs and that a great power ought to be possessed of extra-regional interests, two propositions which are often closely connected. Formal or informal acknowledgment of

2646-522: A recent phenomena in political science scholarship. Thompson distinguished between "normative" IR theory, "general" IR theory, and IR theory as the "basis of action." In recent years, several IR scholars have remarked on what they see as a trend away from IR theory in IR scholarship. The September 2013 issue of European Journal of International Relations and the June 2015 issue of Perspectives on Politics debated

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2772-711: A role in international relations whether this work is recognized or not, working as labourers, wives, sex workers, and mothers, sometimes within army bases. J. Ann Tickner is a prominent feminist international relations theorist with many notable written pieces. For example, her piece "You Just Don't Understand: Troubled Engagements Between Feminists and IR Theorists" examines the misunderstandings that occur between feminist scholars and international relations theorists. Specifically, Tickner argues that feminist international relations theory sometimes works outside of traditional ontological and epistemological international relations structures, instead analyzing international relations from

2898-464: A system of collective security. These thinkers were later described as "Idealists". The leading critique of this school of thinking was the "realist" analysis offered by Carr. However, a more recent study, by David Long and Brian Schmidt in 2005, offers a revisionist account of the origins of the field of international relations. They claim that the history of the field can be traced back to late 19th century imperialism and internationalism. The fact that

3024-552: A tradition of armed civic culture that automatically excludes women/wives. Instead, Elshatin challenges the trope of women as solely passive peacekeepers, using drawing parallels between wartime experiences and her personal experiences from her childhood and later as a mother. Thus, Elshtain has been lauded by some feminist international relations theorists as one of the first theorists to blend personal experience with international relations, thus challenging international relation's traditional preference for positivism . Cynthia Enloe

3150-454: A very local area. However, a variety of evolved psychological mechanisms, in particular those for dealing with inter group interactions, are argued to influence current international relations. These include evolved mechanisms for social exchange, cheating and detecting cheating, status conflicts, leadership, ingroup and outgroup distinction and biases, coalitions, and violence. In a 1955 article, Kenneth W. Thompson characterized IR theory as

3276-480: A web of rights and obligations." This approach restricts analysis to the epoch following the Congress of Vienna at which great powers were first formally recognized. In the absence of such a formal act of recognition it has been suggested that great power status can arise by implication by judging the nature of a state's relations with other great powers. A further option is to examine a state's willingness to act as

3402-502: Is anarchy , and 2) the distribution of capabilities across units. Waltz also challenges traditional realism's emphasis on traditional military power, instead characterizing power in terms of the combined capabilities of the state. Waltz's version of neorealism has frequently been characterized as " Defensive Realism ", whereas John Mearsheimer is a proponent of a different version of neorealism characterized as " Offensive Realism ." The precursor to liberal international relations theory

3528-545: Is a 'society of states' at the international level, despite the condition of "anarchy", i.e., the lack of a ruler or world state. Despite being called the English School many of the academics from this school were neither English nor from the United Kingdom. A great deal of the work of the English School concerns the examination of traditions of past international theory, casting it, as Martin Wight did in his 1950s-era lectures at

3654-401: Is a social construction. And constructivism is critical of the ontological basis of rationalist theories of international relations. Whereas realism deals mainly with security and material power, and liberalism looks primarily at economic interdependence and domestic-level factors, constructivism concerns itself primarily with the role of ideas in shaping the international system; indeed it

3780-461: Is an emerging power, but highlights that some strategists consider India to be already a great power. Some academics such as Zbigniew Brzezinski and David A. Robinson already regard India as a major or great power. Former British Ambassador to Brazil, Peter Collecott identifies that Brazil's recognition as a potential great and superpower largely stems from its own national identity and ambition. Professor Kwang Ho Chun feels that Brazil will emerge as

3906-567: Is another influential scholar in the field of feminist international relations. Her influential feminist international relations text, Bananas, Beaches, and Bases , considers where women fit into the international political system. Similar to Jean Bethke Elshtain , Enloe looks at how the everyday lives of women are influenced by international relations. For example, Enloe uses banana plantations to illustrate how different women are affected by international politics depending on their geographical location, race, or ethnicity. Women, Enloe argues, play

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4032-421: Is based on the aspect of 'international dialogue and intercourse." Therefore, the English School highlights the assiduous interaction between the main strands of IR theory in the understanding of interstate relations. In Hedley Bull's The Anarchical Society, a seminal work of the school, he begins by looking at the concept of order, arguing that states across time and space have come together to overcome some of

4158-591: Is considerable debate on the exact criteria of great power status. Historically, the status of great powers has been formally recognized in organizations such as the Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 or the United Nations Security Council , of which permanent members are: China , France , Russia , the United Kingdom , and the United States . The United Nations Security Council, NATO Quint ,

4284-452: Is extracted from her discussion of these three dimensions, including all of the citations. Early writings on the subject tended to judge states by the realist criterion, as expressed by the historian A. J. P. Taylor when he noted that "The test of a great power is the test of strength for war." Later writers have expanded this test, attempting to define power in terms of overall military, economic, and political capacity. Kenneth Waltz ,

4410-566: Is from the third century, when the Persian prophet Mani described Rome , China , Aksum , and Persia as the four greatest kingdoms of his time. During the Napoleonic wars in Europe, American diplomat James Monroe observed that, "The respect which one power has for another is in exact proportion of the means which they respectively have of injuring each other." The term "great power" first appears at

4536-402: Is in turn determined by the state's military, economic, and political capabilities. Some realists, known as human nature realists or classical realists , believe that states are inherently aggressive, that territorial expansion is constrained only by opposing powers, while others, known as offensive / defensive realists , believe that states are obsessed with the security and continuation of

4662-401: Is most notably felt in the re-interpretation of the concepts of sovereignty and autonomy . Autonomy becomes a problematic concept in shifting away from a notion of freedom, self-determination , and agency to a heavily responsible and duty laden concept. Importantly, autonomy is linked to a capacity for good governance. Similarly, sovereignty also experiences a shift from a right to a duty. In

4788-409: Is negated. However, Keohane and Nye go on to state that the role of the military is in fact important with respect to an "alliance's political and military relations with a rival bloc." One version of post-liberal theory argues that within the modern, globalized world, states in fact are driven to cooperate in order to ensure security and sovereign interests. The departure from classical liberal theory

4914-430: Is not limited to the political/security (" high politics "), but also economic/cultural (" low politics ") whether through commercial firms, organizations or individuals. Thus, instead of an anarchic international system, there are plenty of opportunities for cooperation and broader notions of power, such as cultural capital (for example, the influence of films leading to the popularity of the country's culture and creating

5040-526: Is possible that there is some overlap between constructivism and realism or liberalism, but they remain separate schools of thought. By "ideas" constructivists refer to the goals, threats, fears, identities, and other elements of perceived reality that influence states and non-state actors within the international system. Constructivists believe that these ideational factors can often have far-reaching effects, and that they can trump materialistic power concerns. For example, constructivists note that an increase in

5166-560: Is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power influence, which may cause middle or small powers to consider the great powers' opinions before taking actions of their own. International relations theorists have posited that great power status can be characterized into power capabilities, spatial aspects, and status dimensions. While some nations are widely considered to be great powers, there

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5292-415: Is sometimes called "modern realism". Waltz's neorealism contends that the effect of structure must be taken into account in explaining state behavior. It shapes all foreign policy choices of states in the international arena. For instance, any disagreement between states derives from lack of a common power (central authority) to enforce rules and maintain them constantly. Thus, there is constant anarchy in

5418-413: Is termed "spillover". Although integration can be resisted, it becomes harder to stop integration's reach as it progresses. This usage, and the usage in functionalism in international relations , is the less common meaning of functionalism . More commonly, however, functionalism is an argument that explains phenomena as functions of a system rather than an actor or actors. Immanuel Wallerstein employed

5544-410: Is the belief that "International politics is shaped by persuasive ideas, collective values, culture, and social identities." Constructivism argues that international reality is socially constructed by cognitive structures, which give meaning to the material world. Whereas rational choice approaches assume that actors follow a "logic of consequences", constructivist perspectives suggest that they adhere to

5670-569: Is the growing trade with other countries with the aid of new technology, such as the internet. Goods ordered from countries outside the EU through the internet are also subject to duty and other charges. Upon joining the European Union in 1995, Sweden also joined the EU customs union , which means the customs regulations are standardised throughout the EU. The joint customs union is slightly different from that of

5796-455: Is usually done via the Customs declarations which are processed when goods are released through Customs. Customs Director General Department Operations Management Border Department of Border Department Officer Chief Group Chief Inspector, 5 years Inspector Trainee Great power List of forms of government A great power is a sovereign state that

5922-408: Is what states make of it". Constructivists also believe that social norms shape and change foreign policy over time rather than security which realists cite. Marxist and Neo-Marxist international relations theories are structuralist paradigms which reject the realist / liberal view of state conflict or cooperation; instead focusing on the economic and material aspects. Marxist approaches argue

6048-629: The Schengen Area covering free-travel. Approximately 75 million travellers, ships, containers and vehicles cross Sweden's frontiers every year. Swedish Customs works in the midst of this flow of goods and people. The work of Swedish Customs within the law enforcement field extends across the entire chain of a criminal investigation, from intelligence and checks at the customs channel to a completed preliminary investigation. Border protection officers, customs investigators and customs prosecutors work together to combat criminal activity. Customs officers have

6174-662: The G7 , the BRICS , and the Contact Group have all been described as great power concerts. A 2017 study by the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies qualified China, Europe, India, Japan, Russia and the United States as the current great powers. With continuing European integration , the European Union is increasingly being seen as a great power in its own right, with representation at

6300-487: The G7 , the BRICS , and the Contact Group have all been described as great power concerts. The term "great power" was first used to represent the most important powers in Europe during the post- Napoleonic era. The "Great Powers" constituted the " Concert of Europe " and claimed the right to joint enforcement of the postwar treaties. The formalization of the division between small powers and great powers came about with

6426-827: The Locarno Treaties , which made it a member of the League of Nations, and later left (and withdrew from the League in 1933 ); Japan left, and the Soviet Union joined. When World War II began in 1939, it divided the world into two alliances: the Allies (initially the United Kingdom and France, and Poland, followed in 1941 by the Soviet Union , China, and the United States) and the Axis powers ( Germany , Italy, and Japan). During World War II,

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6552-507: The London School of Economics , into three divisions: In broad terms, the English School itself has supported the rationalist or Grotian tradition, seeking a middle way (or via media) between the power politics of realism and the "utopianism" of revolutionism. The English School rejects behavioralist approaches to international relations theory. One way to think about the English School is that, while some theories identify with just one of

6678-680: The Risorgimento era , Japan during the Meiji era , and the United States after its civil war . By 1900, the balance of world power had changed substantially since the Congress of Vienna. The Eight-Nation Alliance was an alliance of eight nations created in response to the Boxer Rebellion in China. It formed in 1900 and consisted of the five Congress powers plus Italy, Japan, and the United States, representing

6804-559: The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons , and maintain military expenditures which are among the largest in the world. However, there is no unanimous agreement among authorities as to the current status of these powers or what precisely defines a great power. For example, following the Cold War and the two decades after it, some sources referred to China, France, Russia and

6930-478: The United Nations Security Council . Since the end of the World Wars, the term "great power" has been joined by a number of other power classifications. Foremost among these is the concept of the superpower, used to describe those nations with overwhelming power and influence in the rest of the world. It was first coined in 1944 by William T. R. Fox and according to him, there were three superpowers: Great Britain,

7056-525: The WTO and at G7 and G-20 summits. This is most notable in areas where the European Union has exclusive competence (i.e. economic affairs). It also reflects a non-traditional conception of Europe's world role as a global "civilian power", exercising collective influence in the functional spheres of trade and diplomacy, as an alternative to military dominance. The European Union is a supranational union and not

7182-542: The territorial peace theory claims that the direction of causality is opposite. In other words, peace leads to democracy. The latter theory is supported by the historical observation that peace almost always comes before democracy. Neoliberalism, liberal institutionalism or neo-liberal institutionalism is a more recent branch of liberal international relations theory. Unlike traditional liberal theories of international politics, which focus on individual-level or domestic-level explanations, liberal institutionalism emphasizes

7308-642: The third and fourth largest economies respectively) rather than their strategic and hard power capabilities (i.e., the lack of permanent seats and veto power on the UN Security Council or strategic military reach). Germany has been a member together with the five permanent Security Council members in the P5+1 grouping of world powers. Like China, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom; Germany and Japan have also been referred to as middle powers. In his 2014 publication Great Power Peace and American Primacy , Joshua Baron considers China, France, Russia, Germany, Japan,

7434-509: The "Great Sea Toll" where customs duties were paid. There was also a domestic toll, known as the "Little Toll". In the case of the Little Toll, Swedes were forced to pay duty on goods they brought into towns to sell, an important source of income for the Swedish monarchy . In line with the arrival of duties, so came the rise of smuggling . Different goods have been smuggled at different times. From

7560-464: The 18th Century to the mid 19th Century, it was common to smuggle cloth . This was because the government was keen to encourage a textiles industry in Sweden and introduced customs duties and an import ban to prevent foreign cloth coming into the country. In the period between the two world wars, 1920–1939, alcohol was the item most smuggled. From the 1960s drug smuggling started to become a problem in Sweden, and remains one today. Another clear trend

7686-516: The 1970s, scholars of world politics started drawing on new research in cognitive psychology to explain decisions to cooperate or compete in international relations. Cognitive psychology had assigned cognition a central role in the explanation of human decision-making. It found that people's behavior often deviates from the expectations of the traditional rational choice model. To explain these deviations, cognitive psychologists developed several concepts and theories. These include theories of misperception,

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7812-413: The 1990s, in particular with works by James Fearon , such as the bargaining model of war . There are also " post-positivist / reflectivist " IR theories (which stand in contrast to the aforementioned " positivist / rationalist " theories), such as critical theory . Early international relations scholarship in the interwar years focused on the need for the balance of power system to be replaced with

7938-418: The Cold War, Japan, France, the United Kingdom and West Germany rebuilt their economies. France and the United Kingdom maintained technologically advanced armed forces with power projection capabilities and maintain large defense budgets to this day. Yet, as the Cold War continued, authorities began to question if France and the United Kingdom could retain their long-held statuses as great powers. China, with

8064-511: The Congress of Vienna in 1815. The Congress established the Concert of Europe as an attempt to preserve peace after the years of Napoleonic Wars . Lord Castlereagh , the British foreign secretary , first used the term in its diplomatic context, writing on 13 February 1814: "there is every prospect of the Congress terminating with a general accord and Guarantee between the Great powers of Europe, with

8190-735: The International Support Group for Lebanon (ISG) grouping of world powers. Some analysts assert that Italy is an "intermittent" or the " Least of the Great Powers ", while some others believe Italy is a middle or regional power. International relations academics Gabriele Abbondanza and Thomas Wilkins have classified Italy as an "awkward" great power on account of its top-tier economic, military, political, and socio-cultural capabilities and credentials - including its G7 and NATO Quint membership - which are moderated by its lack of national nuclear weapons and permanent membership to

8316-494: The People's Republic of China. China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States are often referred to as great powers by academics due to "their political and economic dominance of the global arena". These five nations are the only states to have permanent seats with veto power on the UN Security Council. They are also the only state entities to have met the conditions to be considered " Nuclear Weapons States " under

8442-544: The Postwar Period', the French historian Jean-Baptiste Duroselle spoke of the concept of multi-polarity: "A Great power is one which is capable of preserving its own independence against any other single power." This differed from earlier writers, notably from Leopold von Ranke , who clearly had a different idea of the world situation. In his essay 'The Great Powers', written in 1833, von Ranke wrote: "If one could establish as

8568-638: The School of International Relations and Professor of Strategic Studies at the University of St. Andrews , criticizes the concept of a great power, arguing that it is dated, vaguely defined, and inconsistently applied. He states that the term is used to "describe everything from true superpowers such as the United States and China, which wield the full spectrum of economic, technological, and military might, to better-than-average military powers such as Russia, which have nuclear weapons but little else that would be considered indicators of great power. " O'Brien advocates for

8694-509: The Treaty of Neuilly, with Bulgaria; the Treaty of Trianon, with Hungary; and the Treaty of Sèvres, with the Ottoman Empire . During the decision-making of the Treaty of Versailles , Italy pulled out of the conference because a part of its demands were not met and temporarily left the other three countries as the sole major architects of that treaty, referred to as the "Big Three". The status of

8820-433: The UN Security Council. In addition to these contemporary great powers mentioned above, Zbigniew Brzezinski considers India to be a great power. However, there is no collective agreement among observers as to the status of India, for example, a number of academics believe that India is emerging as a great power, while some believe that India remains a middle power. The United Nations Security Council, NATO Quint ,

8946-486: The US had recently slipped: All states have a geographic scope of interests, actions, or projected power. This is a crucial factor in distinguishing a great power from a regional power; by definition, the scope of a regional power is restricted to its region. It has been suggested that a great power should be possessed of actual influence throughout the scope of the prevailing international system. Arnold J. Toynbee , for example, observes that "Great power may be defined as

9072-596: The US, UK, USSR, and China were referred as a "trusteeship of the powerful" and were recognized as the Allied " Big Four " in Declaration by United Nations in 1942. These four countries were referred as the " Four Policemen " of the Allies and considered as the primary victors of World War II. The importance of France was acknowledged by their inclusion, along with the other four, in the group of countries allotted permanent seats in

9198-564: The United Kingdom as middle powers. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union , its UN Security Council permanent seat was transferred to the Russian Federation in 1991, as its largest successor state . The newly formed Russian Federation emerged on the level of a great power, leaving the United States as the only remaining global superpower (although some support a multipolar world view ). Japan and Germany are great powers too, though due to their large advanced economies (having

9324-455: The United Kingdom and the United States as the current great powers. Italy has been referred to as a great power by a number of academics and commentators throughout the post-WWII era. The American international legal scholar Milena Sterio writes: The great powers are super-sovereign states: an exclusive club of the most powerful states economically, militarily, politically and strategically. These states include veto-wielding members of

9450-551: The United Nations Security Council (United States, United Kingdom, France, China, and Russia), as well as economic powerhouses such as Germany, Italy and Japan. Sterio also cites Italy's status in the Group of Seven (G7) and the nation's influence in regional and international organizations for its status as a great power. Italy has been a member together with the five permanent Security Council members plus Germany in

9576-644: The United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc , which began following World War II. The term " cold " is used because there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two superpowers , but they each supported major regional conflicts known as proxy wars . The conflict was based around the ideological and geopolitical struggle for global influence by these two superpowers, following their temporary alliance and victory against Nazi Germany in 1945. During

9702-418: The United States, and the Soviet Union. But after World War II Britain lost its superpower status. The term middle power has emerged for those nations which exercise a degree of global influence but are insufficient to be decisive on international affairs. Regional powers are those whose influence is generally confined to their region of the world. The Cold War was a period of geopolitical tension between

9828-504: The anarchic world system in International Relations, no overarching, global, sovereign authority is created. Instead, states collectively abandon some rights for full autonomy and sovereignty. Another version of post-liberalism, drawing on work in political philosophy after the end of the Cold War, as well as on democratic transitions in particular in Latin America, argues that social forces from below are essential in understanding

9954-418: The assessor. However, this approach has the disadvantage of subjectivity. As a result, there have been attempts to derive some common criteria and to treat these as essential elements of great power status. Danilovic (2002) highlights three central characteristics, which she terms as "power, spatial, and status dimensions," that distinguish major powers from other states. The following section ("Characteristics")

10080-416: The assumption that states are the only units. It is through these channels that political exchange occurs, not through the limited interstate channels that are the focus of realist theory. Moreover, Keohane and Nye argue that there is not, in fact, a hierarchy among issues, meaning that not only is the martial arm of foreign policy not the supreme tool by which to carry out a state's agenda, but that there are

10206-550: The collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. Criticisms of Marxists approaches to international relations theory include the narrow focus on material and economic aspects of life, as well as assuming that the interests pursued by actors are derived from class. The " English School " of international relations theory, also known as International Society, Liberal Realism, Rationalism or the British institutionalists, maintains that there

10332-512: The complex shifts currently underway in IR. Constructivism or social constructivism has been described as a challenge to the dominance of neo-liberal and neo-realist international relations theories. Michael Barnett describes constructivist international relations theories as being concerned with how ideas define international structure, how this structure defines the interests and identities of states and how states and non-state actors reproduce this structure. The key element of constructivism

10458-430: The concept of International Society (which is the concept most associated with English School thinking). The English School maintains that "the most distinguished theories of international politics can be divided into three basic categories: realism, which emphasises the concept of 'international anarchy'; revolutionism, which concentrates on the aspect of the 'moral unity' of the international society, and rationalism, which

10584-511: The concept of a "full-spectrum power", which takes into account "all the fundamentals on which superior military power is built", including economic resources, domestic politics and political systems (which can restrain or expand dimensions of power), technological capabilities, and social and cultural factors (such as a society's willingness to go to war or invest in military development). Various sets of great, or significant, powers have existed throughout history. An early reference to great powers

10710-571: The conditions of possibility for pursuing alternatives. It states that "Every understanding of international politics depends upon abstraction, representation and interpretation". Scholars associated with post-structuralism in international relations include Richard K. Ashley , James Der Derian , Michael J. Shapiro , R. B. J. Walker , and Lene Hansen . Post-modernist approaches to international relations are critical of metanarratives and denounces traditional IR's claims to truth and neutrality. Postcolonial international relations scholarship posits

10836-420: The conventional Westphalian system of states. This manifests itself in many forms ranging from informal governmental ties to multinational corporations and organizations. Here they define their terminology: interstate relations are those channels assumed by realists; transgovernmental relations occur when one relaxes the realist assumption that states act coherently as units; transnational applies when one removes

10962-488: The danger and uncertainty of the Hobbesian international system to create an international society of states that share certain interests and ways of thinking about the world. By doing so, they make the world more ordered, and can eventually change international relations to become significantly more peaceful and beneficial to their shared interests. Functionalism is a theory of international relations that arose principally from

11088-452: The dawn of the 20th century had served to create an entirely different balance of power. Great Britain and the new German Empire (from 1871), experienced continued economic growth and political power. Others, such as Russia and Austria-Hungary, stagnated. At the same time, other states were emerging and expanding in power, largely through the process of industrialization. These countries seeking to attain great power status were: Italy after

11214-931: The existing permanent members) in becoming permanent members. The G4 is opposed by the Italian-led Uniting for Consensus group. There are however few signs that reform of the Security Council will happen in the near future. International relations theory International relations theory is the study of international relations (IR) from a theoretical perspective. It seeks to explain behaviors and outcomes in international politics. The three most prominent schools of thought are realism , liberalism and constructivism . Whereas realism and liberalism make broad and specific predictions about international relations, constructivism and rational choice are methodological approaches that focus on certain types of social explanation for phenomena. International relations, as

11340-422: The experience of European integration . Rather than the self-interest that realists see as a motivating factor, functionalists focus on common interests shared by states. Integration develops its own internal dynamic: as states integrate in limited functional or technical areas, they increasingly find that momentum for further rounds of integration in related areas. This " invisible hand " of integration phenomenon

11466-499: The extent of its overseas empire , which ushered in a century of Pax Britannica . The balance of power between the Great Powers became a major influence in European politics, prompting Otto von Bismarck to say "All politics reduces itself to this formula: try to be one of three, as long as the world is governed by the unstable equilibrium of five great powers." Over time, the relative power of these five nations fluctuated, which by

11592-515: The first to use these new findings to argue that affective experience can have adaptive functions by facilitating quick and effective decision-making. Thomas Dolan has drawn on affective intelligence theory to show that some emotional responses leaders may have to new events during wartime, such as joy or anxiety, tend to bring about change in their approaches to war, while others, like contentment or frustration, are prone to produce resistance to change. Combining insights from experimental psychology and

11718-471: The form of colonial administration, race science, and race development. Realism or political realism has been the dominant theory of international relations since the conception of the discipline. The theory claims to rely upon an ancient tradition of thought which includes writers such as Thucydides , Niccolò Machiavelli , and Thomas Hobbes . Early realism can be characterized as a reaction against interwar idealist thinking. The outbreak of World War II

11844-423: The founder of the neorealist theory of international relations, uses a set of six criteria to determine great power: population and territory, resource endowment, military strength, economic capability, political stability and competence. John Mearsheimer defines great powers as those that "have sufficient military assets to put up a serious fight in an all-out conventional war against the most powerful state in

11970-410: The global economy, international organizations hold sovereign states to account, leading to a situation where sovereignty is co-produced among "sovereign" states. The concept becomes a variable capacity of good governance and can no longer be accepted as an absolute right. One possible way to interpret this theory, is the idea that in order to maintain global stability and security and solve the problem of

12096-409: The great disputes in political science. Numerous explanations have been proposed for the democratic peace. It has also been argued, as in the book Never at War , that democracies conduct diplomacy in general very differently from non-democracies. (Neo)realists disagree with Liberals over the theory, often citing structural reasons for the peace, as opposed to the state's government. Sebastian Rosato ,

12222-424: The great powers at the beginning of the 20th century. Shifts of international power have most notably occurred through major conflicts. The conclusion of World War I and the resulting treaties of Versailles , St-Germain , Neuilly , Trianon , and Sèvres made Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and the United States the chief arbiters of the new world order. The German Empire was defeated, Austria-Hungary

12348-564: The hegemony that capitalism holds as an ideology. Marxist approaches have also inspired Critical Theorists such as Robert W. Cox who argues that "Theory is always for someone and for some purpose". One notable Marxist approach to international relations theory is Immanuel Wallerstein's World-system theory which can be traced back to the ideas expressed by Lenin in Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism . World-system theory argues that globalized capitalism has created

12474-466: The history of the field is presented by " great debates ", such as the realist-idealist debate, does not correspond with the historic evidence found in earlier works: "We should once and for all dispense with the outdated anachronistic artifice of the debate between the idealists and realists as the dominant framework for and understanding the history of the field". Their revisionist account claims that, up until 1918, international relations already existed in

12600-410: The importance of beliefs and schemas in information processing, and the use of analogies and heuristics in interpreting information, among others. Scholars of international relations took up these insights and applied them to issues in world politics. For example, Robert Jervis identified patterns of leaders' misperception in historical cases that led to unwanted escalation, failures of deterrence, and

12726-454: The influence of systemic factors. Its proponents focus on the role of international institutions in allowing nations to successfully cooperate in an anarchic international system. Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye , in response to neorealism, developed an opposing theory they dubbed " complex interdependence ." They explain that "... complex interdependence sometimes comes closer to reality than does realism." In explaining this, they cover

12852-418: The international system that makes it necessary for states to obtain strong weapons to guarantee their survival. Additionally, in an anarchic system, states with greater power have a tendency to increase their influence further. According to neo-realists, structure is considered an extremely important element in IR and is defined in a twofold manner as: 1) the ordering principle of the international system, which

12978-437: The legal flow to ensure that customs duties and taxes are paid correctly and in time. This work involves not only collecting duties but also the supervising of customs warehouses, special procedures, import or export licenses and authorisations necessary for the declared goods. Furthermore, Swedish Customs have a role to help other authorities to collect certain information e.g. to produce trade statistics on import and export. This

13104-504: The nature of the state and the international system. Without understanding their contribution to political order and its progressive possibilities, particularly in the area of peace in local and international frameworks, the weaknesses of the state, the failings of the liberal peace, and challenges to global governance cannot be realised or properly understood. Furthermore, the impact of social forces on political and economic power, structures, and institutions, provides some empirical evidence of

13230-495: The outbreak of war. Deborah Welch Larson and Rose McDermott have referred to belief systems and schemas as central drivers of information processing and foreign policy decision-making. Keren Yarhi-Milo has investigated how policy-makers rely on cognitive shortcuts called "heuristics" when they assess the intentions of their adversaries. In addition to cognitive psychology, social psychology has long inspired research in international relations. Social psychologists have identified

13356-485: The outcome and resolution. Historically, when major political questions were addressed, several great powers met to discuss them. Before the era of groups like the United Nations, participants of such meetings were not officially named but rather were decided based on their great power status. These were conferences that settled important questions based on major historical events. Historian Phillips P. O'Brien , Head of

13482-441: The position of historical materialism and make the assumption that the economic concerns transcend others; allowing for the elevation of class as the focus of study. Marxists view the international system as an integrated capitalist system in pursuit of capital accumulation . A sub-discipline of Marxist IR is Critical Security Studies . Gramscian approaches rely on the ideas of Italian Antonio Gramsci whose writings concerned

13608-667: The post-World War II era was Kenneth Waltz 's Theory of International Politics (1979) , which pioneered neorealism . Neoliberalism (or liberal institutionalism) became a prominent competitive framework to neorealism, with prominent proponents such as Robert Keohane and Joseph Nye . During the late 1980s and 1990s, constructivism emerged as a prominent third IR theoretical framework, in addition to existing realist and liberal approaches. IR theorists such as Alexander Wendt , John Ruggie , Martha Finnemore , and Michael N. Barnett helped pioneer constructivism . Rational choice approaches to world politics became increasingly influential in

13734-508: The primary actors in international affairs. Thus, states, as the highest order, are in competition with one another. As such, a state acts as a rational autonomous actor in pursuit of its own self-interest with a primary goal to maintain and ensure its own security—and thus its sovereignty and survival. Realism holds that in pursuit of their interests, states will attempt to amass resources , and that relations between states are determined by their relative levels of power . That level of power

13860-441: The right to stop and search individuals, interview, investigate and to search premises. Customs officers can also be trained to be a Search Dog handler. When the dog retires, at about 10 years of age, the customs officer is offered the dog as a gift, and then can continue, either as a dog handler with another dog, a dog handling instructor, or a regular customs officer. Alongside law enforcement there are many officers who work in

13986-530: The same ontological reality and epistemological tradition in her piece "Different Communities/Different Realities/Different Encounters". Psychological approaches to international relations focus on the impact of cognition and emotion on world politics. Through the analysis of political decision making, scholars have examined a broad spectrum of issues ranging from nuclear strategy and nuclear proliferation to deterrence, reassurance, signaling, and bargaining, as well as conflict management and conflict resolution. In

14112-417: The signing of the Treaty of Chaumont in 1814. Since then, the international balance of power has shifted numerous times, most dramatically during World War I and World War II . In literature, alternative terms for great power are often world power or major power . There are no set or defined characteristics of a great power. These characteristics have often been treated as empirical, self-evident to

14238-517: The size of the U.S. military is likely to be viewed with much greater concern in Cuba, a traditional antagonist of the United States, than in Canada, a close U.S. ally. Therefore, there must be perceptions at work in shaping international outcomes. As such, constructivists do not see anarchy as the invariable foundation of the international system, but rather argue, in the words of Alexander Wendt , that "anarchy

14364-480: The sociology of emotions, Robin Markwica has developed " emotional choice theory " as an alternative model to rational choice theory and constructivist perspectives. Evolutionary perspectives, such as from evolutionary psychology , have been argued to help explain many features of international relations. Humans in the ancestral environment did not live in states and likely rarely had interactions with groups outside of

14490-596: The state's existence. The defensive view can lead to a security dilemma , where increasing one's own security can bring along greater instability as the opponent(s) builds up its own arms, making security a zero-sum game where only relative gains can be made. Neorealism or structural realism is a development of realism advanced by Kenneth Waltz in Theory of International Politics . It is, however, only one strand of neorealism. Joseph Grieco has combined neo-realist thinking with more traditional realists. This strand of theory

14616-524: The structure gives incentives to agents, while functionalists attribute causal power to the system itself, bypassing agents entirely. Post-structuralism differs from most other approaches to international politics because it does not see itself as a theory, school or paradigm which produces a single account of the subject matter. Instead, post-structuralism is an approach, attitude, or ethos that pursues critique in particular way. Post-structuralism sees critique as an inherently positive exercise that establishes

14742-400: The term today. Other powers, such as Spain, Portugal, and Sweden, which were great powers during the 17th century and the earlier 18th century, were consulted on certain specific issues, but they were not full participants. After the Congress of Vienna, Great Britain emerged as the pre-eminent global hegemon, due to it being the first nation to industrialize , possessing the largest navy, and

14868-409: The three baseline assumptions in realist thought: first, states are coherent units and are the dominant actors in international relations; second, force is a usable and effective instrument of policy; and third, there is a hierarchy in international politics. The heart of Keohane and Nye's argument is that, in international politics, there are, in fact, multiple channels that connect societies exceeding

14994-575: The three historical traditions (Classical Realism and Neorealism owe a debt to the Realist or Hobbesian tradition; Marxism to the Revolutionist tradition, for example), English School looks to combine all of them. While there is great diversity within the 'school', much of it involves either examining when and how the different traditions combine or dominate, or focusing on the Rationalist tradition, especially

15120-503: The victorious great powers were recognised by permanent seats at the League of Nations Council, where they acted as a type of executive body directing the Assembly of the League. However, the council began with only four permanent members – Great Britain, France, Italy, and Japan – because the United States, meant to be the fifth permanent member, never joined the League. Germany later joined after

15246-454: The world's largest population, has slowly risen to great power status, with large growth in economic and military power in the post-war period. After 1949, the Republic of China began to lose its recognition as the sole legitimate government of China by the other great powers, in favour of the People's Republic of China. Subsequently, in 1971, it lost its permanent seat at the UN Security Council to

15372-451: The world." As noted above, for many, power capabilities were the sole criterion. However, even under the more expansive tests, power retains a vital place. This aspect has received mixed treatment, with some confusion as to the degree of power required. Writers have approached the concept of great power with differing conceptualizations of the world situation, from multi-polarity to overwhelming hegemony . In his essay, 'French Diplomacy in

15498-480: Was " idealism ". Idealism (or utopianism) was viewed critically by those who saw themselves as "realists", for instance E. H. Carr . In international relations, idealism (also called "Wilsonianism" because of its association with Woodrow Wilson ) holds that a state should make its internal political philosophy the goal of its foreign policy. For example, an idealist might believe that ending poverty at home should be coupled with tackling poverty abroad. Wilson's idealism

15624-544: Was a precursor to liberal international relations theory, which would arise amongst the "institution-builders" after World War I. Liberalism holds that state preferences, rather than state capabilities, are the primary determinant of state behavior. Unlike realism, where the state is seen as a unitary actor, liberalism allows for plurality in state actions. Thus, preferences will vary from state to state, depending on factors such as culture, economic system or government type . Liberalism also holds that interaction between states

15750-523: Was divided into new, less powerful states and the Russian Empire fell to revolution . During the Paris Peace Conference , the " Big Four " – Great Britain, France, Italy, and the United States – controlled the proceedings and outcome of the treaties more than Japan. The Big Four were the architects of the Treaty of Versailles which was signed by Germany; the Treaty of St. Germain, with Austria;

15876-670: Was seen by realists as evidence of the deficiencies of idealist thinking. There are various strands of modern-day realist thinking. However, the main tenets of the theory have been identified as statism, survival, and self-help. Realism makes several key assumptions. It assumes that nation-states are unitary, geographically based actors in an anarchic international system with no authority above capable of regulating interactions between states as no true authoritative world government exists. Secondly, it assumes that sovereign states , rather than intergovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations , or multinational corporations , are

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