THE INTERPARADIGM DEBATE

MAINSTREAM INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS THEORIES

THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES
MAINSTREAM Liberalism Realism Neorealism Neoliberalism RADICAL Modernization Structuralism
Marxism Dependency World Systems

LIBERALISM- ADVOCATES
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-78) John Locke (16321704) Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) Alfred Zimmerman Norman Angell Woodrow Wilson in the post-WWI era (1856-1924) President (1913-1921 Great Philosophers

LIBERALISM

Rousseau

John Locke

Immanuel Kant

Woodrow Wilson

LIBERALISM
Reason Universal Ethics
Order Peace Justice Cooperation

LIBERALISM
War inadequate as a guide to the future Liberal scholars (Woodrow Wilson) discredited power politics Collective security can lead to Peace Came to be pejoratively called idealists or utopians Hopes of peace invested in International organizations
Concert of Europe League of Nations World Bank International Monetary Fund

International anarchy and war mitigated by

International organizations Law

An optimistic way of looking at the world Concerned with how the world ought to be, not with how it is

REALISM
A paradigm based on the premise that world politics is essentially and unchangeably a struggle among self-interested states for power and position under anarchy, with each competing state pursuing its own national interests For realists, the world is characterized by conflict not cooperation Focuses on how the world is, not on how it ought to be Dominant theory in IR

REALISM

REALISM
Advocates E.H. Carr (1939) (The First Great Debate) (18921982) George F. Kennan (1951, 1954), (1904-2005) Hans J. Morgenthau (1948) (1904-1980) Reinhold Niebuhr (1947) (1892-1971) Kenneth Thompson (1960). These were influenced by the early writings of Thucydides (431-404 B.C.E.) Kautilya (>2000 yrs ago) Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), Niccolo Machiavelli (17th century) (1469-1527)

REALISM E.H. Carr (Twenty Years Crisis (1939) and Hans Morgenthau (Politics Among Nations (1948) are considered the fathers of classical realism A pessimistic approach to analyzing world politics

REALISM
The state is the most important actor on the world stage and the state should answer to no higher authority Conflicts of interests among states are inevitable The anarchical nature of the int. system dictates the choices that foreign policy makers should make as rational problem solvers who must calculate their interests in terms of power The principle of self-help is important- the principle that in anarchy actors must rely on themselves

REALISM
Summary Emphasis should be on how the world is, not how it ought to be Pessimistic about how the extent to which the int. political system can be made more peaceful and just The int. system was/is characterized by conflict, competition and suspicion based on an assessment of human nature

LIBERALISM - SUMMARY
LIBERALISM
ETHICAL PRINCIPLES INSTITUTIONS INT POLITICS IS A STRUGGLE FOR CONSENSUS DEMOCRACY FREE TRADE COLLECTIVE SECURITY

REALISM
PURSUIT OF POWER MILITARY CAPABILITIES INT POLITICS - A STRUGGLE FOR POWER AND PRESTIGE ARISTOCRACY AUTARKY BALANCE OF POWER SYSTEM

NEOREALISM

NEOREALISM
Two strands: Structural (systemic) realism (Kenneth Waltz, Man, the State and War, 1979) -Focuses on a system of interacting units (states) Post-Classical (state-centered) realism (Fareed Zakaria, From Wealth to Power: The Unusual Origins of America's World Role, 1998) looks inside the states and focuses on foreign policy. Statesmen, not states make foreign policy. Decision-makers and state apparatus (executive, judiciary, bureaucracy, congress, legislature, even elites are important)

NEOREALISM
ASSUMPTIONS States are the most important actors in the system Int system is anarchic (not chaotic or driven by disorder but involves a system comprised of states with no central authority or world govt States are potentially dangerous to each other

NEOREALISM
States can never be certain about the intentions of other states. States are mistrustful The most basic motive driving states is survival cause states want to maintain their sovereignty States in the int. system fear each other Each sate in the int. system operates in a self-help system aiming to guarantee its own survival

NEOREALISM
States seek to maximize their relative power positions over other states States seek relative gains. Attempts to cut down the attempts of other states to maximize their capabilities because it means less gains for them States inherently possess some offensive military capability which gives them the wherewithal to hurt and possibly destroy each other

NEOLIBERALISM

NEOLIBERALISM

Complex Interdependence International Regimes

NEOLIBERALISM
1. Complex Interdependence (Keohane and Nye, Power & Interdependence 1977, 2001): States increasing dependence, sensitivity and mutual vulnerability to one another in ways that were eroding their sovereign control and independence. 1970s New perspective called transnational interdependence emerged challenging realist view that states are the only important actors in the international system

ASSUMPTIONS
States are key actors in the int. system but not the only actors States are rational or instrumental actors always seeking to maximize their interests in all issue areas States seek to maximize absolute gains through cooperation Rational behaviour leads states to see value in cooperation States are less concerned with gains or advantages achieved by other states in cooperative arrangements

ASSUMPTIONS
The nature and consequences of anarchy: Unlike neorealists who argue that anarchy does not matter much, for neoliberals, it is a big problem that can be reformed through the creation of strong global institutions. The role of institutions is crucial to world politics International Cooperation: Cooperation can be expected because it produces rewards that reduce the temptation to selfishly compete Absolute Gains: Rather than get ahead of their competitors through relative gains states do not try to thwart the attempts of other states to maximize their capabilities since they are motivated by the search for cooperation through which all states can benefit

ASSUMPTIONS (CONT)
Economic Welfare Unlike neorealists who stress security, neoliberals give priority to economic welfare States intentions - seen as most influential in determining their behavior (as well as interests, information and ideals) instead of the distribution of states capabilities as the neorealists argue Complex Interdependence Increasing interaction across traansnational boundaries Institutions and Regimes For neoliberals international regimes create norms that are binding on their members and can change patterns of international politics. Neorealists see these institutions as arenas where states carry out their traditional competition and political rivalry for dominance

COMPLEX INTERDEPENDENCE
Increasing linkages among states and nonstate actors A new agenda of international issues with no distinction between low and high politics A recognition of multiple channels for interaction among actors across national boundaries The decline of the efficacy of military force as a tool of statecraft Globalization represents and increase in linkages and channels for interactions as well as in the number of interconnectedness

INTERNATIONAL REGIMES
Regimes are a set of implicit or explicit principles, norms, rules and decision-making procedures around which actors expectations converge in a given area of international relations such as the environment or human rights (Krasner, International regimes,1983) A governing arrangement regulated by a variety of treaties, trade agreements, scientific and research protocols, market protocols, and the interests of producers, consumers, and distributors (such as those which controls the production of coffee, sugar,climate, aviation, time)

INTERNATIONAL REGIMES
Regimes emphasize the ways in which norms influence states to behave according to more global than national interests. Eg. Global trade and monetary rules established after WWII to facilitate the free flow of goods and services eg. the GATT (now WTO), IMF and World Bank: www.wto.org, www.imf.org, www.worldbank.org

STRENGTHS OF REALISM/NEOREALISM
It gained credibility from the prevailing patterns of state behavior (at the time) which threatened the international system through: Incessant competition unceasing attention to preserving peace (through focus on power politics showing that military security was the essence of world politics Explains why prospects for cooperation remains so dim (anarchical system compels states to be sensitive to their relative position)

STRENGTHS OF REALISM/NEOREALISM
It suits the needs of the times. It describes a pessimistic age -1940s (WWII) 1950s, Cold War thereby confirming The inevitability of conflict The poor prospects for cooperation The divergence of national interest among selfish, power-seeking state Much of the world continues to think about world politics in terms of global tension

WEAKNESSES OF REALISM/NEOREALISM
Contradictions in the use of terms like power, national interest and balance of power Only considers big powers when there are a majority of smaller states in the system Many of its assumptions are not testable No methodology for resolving competing claims Does not account for significant new developments in world politics end of Cold War, social change, int. cooperation (UN), globalization Disregards ethical principles and social costs to military expenditure

STRENGTHS OF LIBERALISM/NEOLIBERALISM
Offers a moralistic and optimistic image of international affairs through cooperation Promotes ideas of free trade, democracy and open covenants Attempts to avoid war by promoting democracy Democracies do not fight each other Considers changes in the system end of Cold War, information revolution, technology Considers social changes -issues of low politics and their increasing significance in the system

WEAKNESSES OF LIBERALISM/NEOLIBERALISM
Neglects the realities of power politics Fails to explain conflict in the system (Iraq war) Does not take into account competition within institutions such as EU and UN Does not represent a cohesive intellectual movement or school of thought Different theorists have different focus free trade, human rights, democracy, globalization, interdependence