International Relations 101 (#4): Proximate versus Underlying Causes

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What type of causal relationships do we want to identify? Did World War I begin because a man with a funny mustache was shot or because of perceived first strike advantages? Did World War II start because of Hitler's actions in Europe or because of war reparations Germany was forced to pay?

Broadly, there are two types of explanations: proximate and underlying causes. We value underlying causes much more than proximate causes because underlying causes give us useful policy recommendations.

However, finding underlying causes is a difficult process. The next video will develop a game plan.

0:00 Introduction
0:18 Proximate Causes Definition
0:55 Underlying Causes Definition
1:52 Why Underlying Causes Are More Valuable
2:44 Example: Dead Driver
4:31 Example: Pandemic Death
5:40 Example: Causes of World War I
7:17 Example: Causes of World War II
9:10 Conclusion

Historical photos of German inflation are licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 DE: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...