What are the four levels of analysis?

Individual, group, state, and system

What is the focus of individual level of analysis?

Leaders and decision makers

What is the focus of group level analysis?

Parties, bureaucracies, corporations, movements, and interest groups

What is the focus of state level analysis?

Governments and countries

What is the focus of system level analysis?

The international structure

Why do levels of analysis matter?

Choosing a level affects the entire research process: -What you examine -Evidence you collect -Explanation you reach

What does vertical drift mean?

Moving between levels without clearly explaining the shift or using evidence appropriate to each level

(Man, the State, and War(1959)) Defined by Kenneth Waltz, what are the three major ways to explain international politics?

Individual-->State-->International system

What is polarity and what types are there?

Describes how power is distributed: -Unipolarity=one dominant power -Bipolarity=two dominant powers -Multipolarity=several major powers

State-centrism

Treating states as the primary actors in IR

Transnational

Interactions occurring across or beyond state borders