Monday, February 1st, 1999
Announcements: None

Lecture notes:
I. Current Events
    A. Killings in South Africa
    B. Problems with the nobly zone in Iraq
    C. NATO agrees to have air strikes on Kosovo, if the peace talks are unsuccessful
II. Conflict is part of dealing with international relations.
    A. Countries are the most important actors in international relations.
    B. Although, countries aren't the only actors in international politics; groups such as the PLO,
        Kosovo, are also actors.
III. Why do countries exist?
    A. At one point in history there were no countries, but about 10,000 years ago the first
        civilization organized in the Mediterranean region.
     B. Before this time there were two groups of people:
            1. Peasants- they stayed in one place and were subject to being robbed by the Roaming
                Bands.
            2. Roaming Bands- they wandered from place to place and took what they needed to
                survive from peasants.
    C. Peasants started to under produce so that the Roaming Bands won't have anything to take.
    D. This caused the Roaming Bands to settle down and claim land.
    E. The Roaming Bands then told the peasants will protect them from other roaming bands if they
        paid them taxes and provided for their needs.
        1. The Roaming Bands  wanted to have a productive region, so they let the peasant keep
            some of the goods.
    F. Endogenous rational- explains why countries exist.
IV. The United States
    A. "We are a they, not an it," Graham Allison said; they problem with international relations is that
        people are referred to as an it, instead of as them.
    B. Our government was created with 3 branches: legislative, judicial, and executive.
    C. It was created as a "they" to prevent a central authority.
    D. Each of the three parts affects the others.
        Example: Pope John Paul II is ill, thus affects international relations
    E. Allison does not think you need to look at each individual when dealing with international and
        national  policy.
    F. The United States Government is unique because it is created with branches that have equally
        important, but different jobs.
    G. United States government intentionally breaks up policy making policies; most democracies are
        more centralized.
    H. Usually people in international relations look at countries at face value and not at all the details
        that go on inside it.
    I. More often when people look at countries, they are looking at the leaders of those countries.
V. Fast Track
    A.  It is a policy that the United States Senate created to help pass treaties in a shorter
        amount of time.
    B. United States Congress can ratify treaties, but needs a 2/3 votes
    C. This power is unique to the US Congress
    D. Senators usually propose changes to legislation, this causes legislation to become
        grind locked; but with Fast Track, Senators agree not to propose changes.
    E. They apply the closed rule-- they either accept it or reject it.