During this Module the major question is, are international actors
capable of fundamental change? I believe this is certainly true. Furthermore, I
believe that agency is the largest factor contributing to fundamental change. I
want to delve into what agency means and examine physical as well as cultural
limitations of agency for international actors.
Currently states all have autonomy and some have minimal agency. Factors
affecting agency include physical constraints due to resources and accepted
norms. As Professor Jackson stated , in His lecture for part A of Module 3, cultural values define scope of acceptable behaviors. This is similar to what Nicholas
Greenwood Onuf talks about in Making
sense, Making worlds. “The Freedom that agents do have depends on their
ability to recognize the material and social limits that apply to them. They
must also be able to evaluate the consequences of exceeding those limits” pg. 9.
Actors may have autonomy in all situations but they clearly often do not have
choice. It’s easy to see how constraints based on resources affect choices. Most
industrialized countries to include the United States and Europe need
significant amounts of oil to meet their needs for consumption. This clearly
drove the U.S. Policy in regards to relations with Iran and Saudi Arabia. The
U.S. Did not have much agency in regards to it’s interests in obtaining crude
oil. Again, we can examine Iran and the
current climate in the middle east to see how current actors intrinsically
exhibit certain social factors reducing agency. Clearly no Muslim state could
ever elect a female leader due to the limitation of current societal standards,
this would no doubt lead to a falling out among allied neighbors. Now that I
have covered the background I would like to go into factors within the
international environment promoting agency in both physical constraints as well
as societal.
Physical constraints are the most difficult to adjust as they
depend largely on resources and technology. I think the largest factor creating
an increase in agency for states and actors is technology. Since 1979 there have
been major clashes between the U.S. and multiple middle eastern states that center
around oil and our dependence on it. Solar power is nothing new but the
interest and push the develop has skyrocketed due to recent environmental
concerns. Alternative energy technologies have cropped up all over the united
states where huge wind turbines now stand out against the deserts of California
and planes of Texas. Electric cars and the Obama administration’s push to
provide government incentives to buyers is aimed at removing this demand and
dependency on oil. This increase in agency created by the United States changes
the dynamic with the Middle east allowing another option for policy decisions.
In The Rational Design of
International Institutions Snidal, Koremos, and Lipson
identify several factors that play a
major role in the stability of international organizations. “Taken together, these factors-distribution,
enforcement, large numbers, and uncertainty-suggest that cooperation can be
very brittle in the real world” pg. 766. When this book adressess uncertainty it
hits a very important point for international cooperation. Why would an actor
take a risk without true assurance in order to behave in a cooperative manner? I
think that here, technology can play a role in reducing uncertainty and
overcoming some physical boundaries that used to affect communication. With the
rise of the digital age every document can be scanned and uploaded to a data
base. The ease of information access has created an age of transparency unheard
of in human history prior. Wikileaks is an example of how government policy and
corruption can be published to the masses with ease. Additionally, Facetime and
other web-based video conference programs can be used to increase transparency
of communications. Not only can an actor hear the voice of the person they are communicating
with but their can see them and read their body language. This increase in
transparency obviously helps to significantly reduce the uncertainty. This
increase in technology not only helps to overcome some physical constraints of
agency, it also opens doors for societal constraints.
Societal
constraints are sometimes harder to clearly define. A lot of societal
constraints can be unwritten rules that govern social behaviors as is touched
upon in Making Sense, Making Worlds. it
is easy to segue off of the topic I was just discussing regarding technological
advances that increase interstate communication. We can observe international
movements for women’s rights as an example of a unifying cause that can spread across
borders due to the information age. The iconic band “pussy Riot” gained
international attention for their protests in Russia. Their documentary “Pussy Riot a Punk Prayer” was released in many countries but notable in the U.S. on
HBO in 2013. They all wore knitted balaclavas to protect their identities. In the recent marches in Washington D.C. many
women were seen wearing pink knitted hats While it may not be directly attributed
to the influence of “Pussy Riot” it is clear that those within this movement
fall around similar symbols. This international pressure and movement has even
affected our own military and caused fundamental changes. International pressure
has led to redefining actors’ interests worldwide creating more autonomy for
actors in choosing intrastate policy. Individuals in power affect the policy choices
that are made therefore; opening more powerful positions to women opens and
entire population that can bring unique thought processes to the process of
international politics.
Barbara
Koremenos, Charles Lipson, and Duncan Snidal, “The Rational Design of International Institutions,” International Organization 55:4
(2001).
Nick Onuf, “Constructivism: A User’s Manual,” in Making Sense, Making Worlds (Routledge,
2013).
HBO
Documentary Films presents ; Goldcrest Films and Roast Beef Productions, in
association with BBC, Bertha/Britdoc ; a film by Mike Lerner, Maxim Pozdorovkin
; produced and directed by Mike Lerner, Maxim Pozdorvkin. Pussy Riot : a Punk
Prayer. [United States] :Docuramafilms : Cinedigm Entertainment, 2014.
I agree with your stance that in the contemporary international environment, technology has provided an increase in agency, but since I first read this right before the class debate I took a stab at what a rationalist/realist might have to say about the role of technology in agency. I think a realist would be the first to note that technology creates a whole new front on which states have to defend their security. Security risks like viruses, data breaches, identity theft are all an opportunity for outside (and inside!) actors to chip away at state security. One could also argue that in this technologically focused era, it has become more commonplace to expect quicker decision making. Because we have the ability to communicate so much faster, actors have come to expect less of a delay in reaction time, consequently leaving less time for deliberation and ultimately limiting agency.
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