IB Global Politics HL cheat sheet

Power is the capacity to affect others' behaviour; hard power uses coercion (military, sanctions), soft power uses attraction (culture, values, legitimacy), smart power combines both.

Sovereignty has four components: territory, population, government, and capacity to enter relations with other states; internal sovereignty is supremacy within borders, external sovereignty is formal equality among states.

Realism (Morgenthau, Waltz) treats states as unitary rational actors in an anarchic system; liberalism (Keohane, Nye) emphasises institutions, interdependence and complex interdependence.

Constructivism (Wendt) holds that interests and identities are socially constructed through norms and interaction, so anarchy is 'what states make of it'.

The UN Security Council has five permanent members with veto power (China, France, Russia, UK, US) and ten elected members serving two-year terms.

Levels of analysis: individual, state, and systemic/international - the same event can be explained differently at each level.

Bipolarity, multipolarity and unipolarity describe the distribution of power; polarity affects alliance formation and the likelihood of balancing behaviour.

Sovereignty is contested by humanitarian intervention (R2P), transnational corporations, supranational bodies like the EU, and secession movements.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) is non-binding; the two binding covenants are the ICCPR and ICESCR (1966), together with the UDHR forming the International Bill of Human Rights.

Three generations of rights: first (civil and political, ICCPR), second (economic, social and cultural, ICESCR), third (collective/solidarity, e.g. development, self-determination).

ICCPR obligations are immediate; ICESCR obligations are progressive, subject to 'maximum available resources'.

Key monitoring bodies: Human Rights Council (47 members, Universal Periodic Review), treaty bodies such as the Human Rights Committee, and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Universalism holds rights apply to all persons everywhere; cultural relativism argues rights must be read through local cultural context - the 1993 Vienna Declaration reaffirmed universality.

The ICC (Rome Statute, 2002) tries individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and aggression; it is complementary to national courts.

Derogation: states may suspend certain rights in declared public emergencies, but non-derogable rights include freedom from torture and slavery.

Responsibility to Protect (2005 World Summit) comprises pillars: state protection, international assistance, and timely collective action through the Security Council.

GDP per capita measures average output, not distribution; GNI includes net income from abroad; GDP growth can coexist with rising inequality.

The Human Development Index combines life expectancy, education (mean and expected years of schooling) and GNI per capita on a 0-1 scale.

The Gini coefficient ranges 0 (perfect equality) to 1 (perfect inequality); the Lorenz curve plots cumulative income share against cumulative population.

Modernisation theory (Rostow's stages) predicts linear growth through industrialisation; dependency theory (Prebisch, Frank) argues core-periphery structures extract surplus from the periphery.

The Millennium Development Goals (2000-2015, 8 goals) were replaced by the Sustainable Development Goals (2015-2030, 17 goals).

ODA target is 0.7% of GNI, set by the UN in 1970; few donors meet it consistently.

Structural adjustment programmes (IMF/World Bank, Washington Consensus) conditioned loans on liberalisation, privatisation and fiscal austerity.

The multidimensional poverty index counts overlapping deprivations in health, education and living standards rather than income alone.

Galtung distinguishes direct violence (visible acts), structural violence (systemic deprivation) and cultural violence (legitimising narratives); positive peace means absence of structural violence, negative peace only absence of war.

Conflict stages: latent, emergence, escalation, stalemate, de-escalation, settlement, post-conflict reconstruction and reconciliation.

Conflict resolution seeks to address root causes; conflict management seeks to contain violence without resolving causes; conflict transformation changes relationships and structures.

Third-party roles: mediation (facilitated agreement), arbitration (binding ruling), adjudication (courts), peacekeeping (consent-based monitoring) and peace enforcement (Chapter VII).

Peacekeeping principles are consent of parties, impartiality and minimum use of force; Chapter VII mandates permit force beyond self-defence.

Just war theory: jus ad bellum (just cause, legitimate authority, proportionality, last resort, right intention) and jus in bello (discrimination, proportionality).

The democratic peace thesis holds democracies rarely fight each other; critics point to definitional issues and short historical record.

Transitional justice mechanisms: tribunals, truth commissions, amnesties, reparations and institutional reform.

The HL engagement project requires a political issue, a defined engagement activity, and a written analysis linking the activity to course concepts - not a description of volunteering.

The engagement activity should be political in nature (e.g. campaign, advocacy, consultation, simulation, NGO work) and involve interaction beyond the classroom.

The written report must analyse the issue using global politics concepts, evaluate the engagement, and reflect on the student's own political agency.

Political participation forms: voting, party membership, protest, petition, boycotts, digital activism, civil society membership, standing for office.

Conventional participation is institutional (elections, parties); unconventional participation is extra-institutional (protest, direct action, online campaigns).

Voting turnout is shaped by compulsory voting, registration rules, electoral system (PR vs FPTP), age, education and efficacy.

Social movements use framing, resource mobilisation and political opportunity structures; digital tools lower coordination costs but raise slacktivism concerns.

Civil society (NGOs, unions, faith groups, media) mediates between state and citizen; a strong civil society is associated with accountability and deliberation.

Hegemonic stability theory holds that a dominant power supplies public goods (security, stable currency) that underpin order.

Balance of power and bandwagoning are opposing responses to a rising power; balancing may be internal (arming) or external (alliances).

International organisations can be intergovernmental (UN, WTO; decisions by states) or supranational (EU in some areas; binding decisions above states).

The 'national interest' is contested and constructed, not objectively given; different domestic groups define it differently.

Regional systems: European Court of Human Rights (binding judgments), Inter-American Court, African Court and Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights.

Naming and shaming by NGOs (Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch) relies on information politics and reputational costs.

The death penalty, LGBT rights and freedom of expression remain contested areas where universalism and relativism clash.

Economic sanctions and conditionality are used to enforce rights but raise questions about collective punishment and sovereignty.

The Brandt Line divides a wealthier global North from a poorer South; critics note it oversimplifies and is outdated.

Terms of trade measure export prices relative to import prices; declining terms of trade for primary commodities underpin dependency arguments.

Microfinance, remittances and FDI are alternative financing flows to ODA; remittances often exceed aid for many states.

Debt relief initiatives (HIPC, MDRI) aim to free fiscal space but raise moral hazard and conditionality questions.

The conflict trap (Collier) describes how poverty and weak institutions make civil war recurrence likely.

Spoilers are actors who undermine peace processes; ripeness theory holds that settlement occurs when a mutually hurting stalemate exists.

Peacebuilding includes security sector reform, elections, rule of law, and economic reconstruction; sequencing is debated (security first vs institutions first).

Arms control and disarmament regimes (NPT, CWC, ATT) rely on verification, transparency and reciprocity.

The engagement report should identify the issue, explain why it is political, describe the activity, analyse with concepts, and evaluate outcomes and limits.

Agency refers to the capacity to act politically; structure refers to institutions and norms that constrain action - the project should discuss both.

Reflection should address what the student learned about power, participation, and their own positionality, not merely what they did.

Evidence for the report can include interviews, observation notes, campaign materials and secondary data, cited consistently.