1/29/07
We expanded on the organizing metaphors of IR. The professor also showed us a general definition of IR which I had been wondrering myself what the difference between IR and world or international politics was but the definition from wikipedia was not perfect. The professor pointed out that it did not include a few things, including a global civil society (citizen action beyond one's own sovereign state). Balance or homeostasia is kind of an adjustment of power among sovereign states. Heirarchy could also be looked at as a balance, like American hegemony for example. Reciprocity is a state or relationship in whcih there is a mutual action , influence, giving and taking, correspndence, etc...Reciprocity seems most like my definition of IR; interdependence. System in IR refers to topology or the theory of connectedness,. I don't really see how this is a metaphor but the profesor claims it is. The topology of IR is relevant because of its ability to represent order in things in a way that leaves out unnecessary orr unessential features. e.g. a subway map-the stops and connections are the only important pieces, other things like the distance from stop to stop are irrelevant.