This presentation describes some of the major theories in international relations and their subsets including liberalism, realism, constructivism, and critical issues theories.

1. Selected
Theories in
International
Relations
Soraya Ghebleh

2. Liberalism
 Neoliberalism
 Functionalism
 Regime Theory
 Collective or Public Goods Theory

3. Liberalism - Overview
 Human nature is essentially good and people can
always improve the moral and material conditions of
their existence
 States are made of people who are rational and law
abiding, who can therefore improve society and live in
a just environment where states can interact peacefully
 Major contributors to Enlightenment and Liberal thinking
include: Hugo Grotius, Immanuel Kant, Woodrow Wilson
 Liberalism promotes democracy, free trade and with
“economic liberalism” promoted by Adam Smith and
Jeremy Bentham, states will grow interdependent and
begin to rely on each other and interact with each
other, and will be less likely to fight war because of the
economic costs

4. Liberalism - Overview
 Liberals believe cooperation will grow
because of “constant interactions” between
individuals and states composed of these
individuals
 Mutual interests between states will increase
with greater interdependence, knowledge,
communication, and spread of values
 Liberals support international organizations
and international law (instrumental in
maintaining international order)

5. Liberalism: Neoliberalism
 Post WW II – Realism dominated international relations ->
Neoliberalism developed in the 1970s as an offshoot of
liberalism
 Willingness of states to cooperate and work together with
the assistance of international institutions
 Cooperation is in individual state’s self-interest
 States that have “continuous interactions” with each other
provide “motivation for international institutions that
provide framework for interaction, monitoring behavior,
and facilitating transparency,” which will eventually be
beneficial and efficient for all states
 Neoliberals are more willing to address realist topics such as
power
 Recognition that not all efforts will necessarily yield good
results and not all cooperation’s will end in success

6. Liberalism: Functionalism
 Governance arrangements arise out of functional needs of
people and states
 International economics and social cooperation are
prerequisites for political cooperation and eliminating war
 Bring countries “actively together” not “peacefully apart”
 By addressing international problems that affect all countries it
will bring countries towards cooperation
 Economic integration will render war less likely
 IGOs could be classified as “functional” -> many are specific,
with links to economic issues, have limited membership often
restricted by region, and as they grow in functions and
specificity
 Criticisms: Does not address causes of war outside of economic
deprivation, illiteracy, hunger, disease, and there is an
assumption that political and nonpolitical issues can be easily
separated

7. Liberalism: Regime Theory
 Emerged from international law
 Consists of informal norms and rules of behavior –
“regimes”
 Shaped by liberalism and realism
 Shows how states create frameworks to coordinate
actions with those of other states
 Regimes allow scholars to look at informal patterns
that enhance international cooperation
 Study of international regimes is ambiguous but
helps link institutions and governance by making
clear that governance and order involve more than
just organizational structures

8. Liberalism: Collective or Public
Goods Theory
 “Tragedy of the Commons”
 When individuals (states) utilize common resources for their
own gain with no regard to the collective group, collectivity
suffers and eventually everyone suffers if there is no regulation
 Collective goods are available to everyone regardless of
contribution
 Use of these goods = Activities and choices that are
interdependent, decision by one state affects decisions and
choices by other states and may have negative
consequences
 Smaller groups that share collective goods are more likely to
utilize resources more responsibly and efficiently than a larger
group because there is less room for exploitation and more
monitoring and discussion and violations are noticed more
easily

9. Liberalism: Collective or Public
Goods Theory
 Creation of international organizations to monitor
these goods but these organizations need effective
policing power that will be respected by all nations
otherwise it will not work
 Creation of system of rewards and punishments, ex:
offering incentives to states from refraining of using
goods or limiting use and taxing those who violate
 Sees international organizations as crucial in
facilitating cooperation and managing public
goods

10. Realism
 Neorealism
 Strategic/Rational Choice Theory
 Hegemonic Stability Theory

11. Realism - Overview
 Individuals are power seeking and act in a rational
way to protect their own interests
 States are primary actors and act only to promote
their own national interests to maximize power and
security
 Absence of authoritative hierarchy in international
affairs
 Few rules or norms that restrain states
 Morgenthau: father of modern realism
 Believes international law and government are
weak and ineffective
 International organizations are tools of states and
are only as strong as states allow them to be

12. Realism - Overview
 No independent effect on state behavior and
will not change the system
 Does not acknowledge the importance or the
strength of non-state actors (NGOs, MNCs) and
does not accept the idea of IGOs as
independent actors in the global arena
 Does not claim that cooperation is impossible
but believes that states don’t have an
incentive to cooperate or enter international
arrangements

13. Realism: Neorealism
 Difference between traditional realists and
neo-realists = emphasis was placed on the
structure of international system for explaining
world politics
 Structure determined by ordering principle
and distribution of capabilities among states
 Most important thing in global interaction is
states capabilities, material possessions, state
identities and interests
 Neorealist: Kenneth Waltz

14. Realism: Neorealism
 Actors with common interests try to maximize
absolute gains
 Relative gains are more important in security than
economic gains
 Power distribution shapes state behavior and
provides order in international power, order is a
product of system structure not interactions and
international institutions
 Many recognize emergence and amount of
international institutions but believe that they are
not that important in international affairs
 Belief that institutions are another area for power
projection between states to take place

15. Realism: Strategic/Rational
Choice Theory
 Preferences are deduced from objective and
material conditions of the state
 Markets are the most efficient mechanism of
human behavior
 Microeconomics are the basis for much of rational
choice arguments
 State actions are based on rational calculations
about subjective expected utility
 Belief in international institutions as existing to
promote self-interest of state actors by reducing
uncertainty of interactions and providing stability
 Institutions are responses to problems international
actors face

16. Realism: Hegemonic Stability
Theory
 Realist traditions, draws from neoliberalism, regime
theory, and public goods theories
 Open world economy created and maintained
through power and leadership of a hegemonic
state
 Hegemony needs liberal international economy,
liberal commitment to market economy, tends to
push political and economic restrictions on less
powerful countries
 Open market economy = common good that can
ONLY be sustained with actions of a dominant
economy
 Predominant state exercises leadership not just
economically but politically as well

17. Constructivism
 Behavior of individuals and states is shaped by
shared beliefs, socially constructed rules, and
cultural practices
 Humans are capable of changing the world by
changing ideas
 Interests of actors are “socially constructed”
 Wendt – argues that political structure shows
little about state behavior
 Ability to cooperate depends on whether state
identities generate interests shared with other
states

18. Constructivism
 Institutions are important
 Sovereignty is changing and is influenced by both
state and nonstate actors
 Constructivists look at the social content of
international organizations, norms that govern
behavior and shape interests, and decipher how
these interests influence actors
 Believe that international organizations can serve as
agents of social construction
 IGOs have the potential to be major actors with
independent effects on international relations
 Transnational networks of experts can shape
understanding of more and more collective issues

19. Critical Theories
 Marxist and Neo-Marxist Theory
 Dependency Theory
 World-Systems Theory

20. Critical Theories - Overview
 Group of overarching theories of
international relations that challenge
conventional wisdom and provide
alternative frameworks for understanding
the world

21. Critical Theories: Marxist and
Neo-Marxist Theory
 Grounded in history, economic forces explaining
political and social phenomena, production
process, capitalism, and importance of social or
economic classes to define individual actors
 Clash of capitalist class vs. workers (bourgeoisie
and proletariat)
 A new world order would develop and emerge
from this class struggle
 Hierarchal Structure – by-product of spread of
global capitalism and countries have expanded
economically and others developing countries
have been constrained and become dependent
on actions of developed

22. Critical Theories: Marxist and
Neo-Marxist Theory
 Techniques of domination and suppression arise
from uneven economic development inherent in
capitalist system
 Neo-Marxism – Global overnance is predictable
response to the logic of industrial capitalism
 International law and organizations are products
and serve the interests of the capitalist class
 Normative in their orientation – capitalism is bad
and its structure and mode of production is
exploitative with clear positions on how to
ameliorate inequalities

23. Critical Theories: Dependency
Theory
 Basic terms of trade were unequal between
the developing and developed world
 Believes that IGOs, especially banks and
MNCs, are established to maintain
dependency relationships and promote
exploiter-exploited relationships
 Argue that development cannot take place
without changes in international economic
relations to redress inequalities of power and
wealth

24. Critical Theories: World-
Systems Theory
 Wallerstein defined three classes of states (Core,
Periphery, and Semi-periphery)
 Core = Most advanced, agricultural sector able to
provide sustenance for industrial workers
 Periphery = Cheap, unskilled labor and raw
material extraction, prevented from developing by
developed core
 Semi-periphery = NICs, cheap skilled and semiskilled
labor to global economy (existence of a middle
area that indicates change is posible)
 Shares Marxist ideas that IGOs exist to support and
maintain capitalism and are there only for the
benefit of core states