2.
What is theory?
Why we need to study theory?
Introduction
3. 1. Basic Ideas
Human nature is basically good
Injustice, aggression and war are products
of inadequate or corrupt social institutions
These can be eliminated through collective
or multilateral actions and institutional
building.
The expansion of human freedom is a core
liberal belief that can be achieved through
democracy and market capitalism.
I. Liberalism
4. 2. Roots of Liberalism
I. Liberalism
Hugo Grotius (1583-1645): Father
of international law
Enlightenment: Individuals are rational human beings and have
capacity to improve their condition by creating a just society.
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804):
perpetual peace among democracy
states
5. 2. Roots of Liberalism
Adam Smith: free trade could create interdependencies
Woodrow Wilson: collective security,
international institution.
I. Liberalism
Woodrow Wilson, 28th President
of the US (1913-1921)
6. 3. Sociological Liberalism
I. Liberalism
IR is not only about states and states relations,
but about transnational relations (pluralism).
Karl Deutsch: Interconnecting activities helps
create common values and identities among
people from different state and paves the way
for peace.
James Rosenau: IR have been supplemented by
relations among private individuals, groups, and
society, referred to as mobius-web of global
governance.
7. 4. Interdependence
Through trade, investment, people-to-
people contact, interdependence
among states is increasingly high.
War is more costly.
Keohane & Nye:
“even if … anarchy constrains the willingness
of states to cooperate, states nevertheless can
work together and can do, esp. with the
assistance of international institutions”
I. Liberalism
8. 5. Institutional Liberalism
With a high degree of interdependence, states often
set up international institutions/rules to deal with
common problems.
Woodrow Wilson: transformation from a jungle of
chaotic power politics to a zoo of regulated and
peaceful intercourse through the building of IGOs.
I. Liberalism
9. 6. Republic Liberalism
Democracies never go to war with each other
due to three reasons: (1) peaceful conflict
resolution (2) common moral values or ‘pacific
union’ and (3) interdependence.
Francis Fukuyama: “The End of History and the
Last Man”- the triumph of Western democracies,
which is the final form of government.
I. Liberalism
10. 1. Basic Ideas and Assumptions
Human nature: bad, selfish, power-seeking
Actors: Nation-states (rational and unitary)
International system: anarchic and conflictual
John Mearsheimer: International cooperation is
impossible due to the problems of cheating and relative gain.
Thucydides: … the standard of justice… is the fact that
the strong do what they have the power to do and the weak
accept what they have to accept…
International Law and IOs: tools to maximize interests
II. Realism
11. Hans Morgenthau:
IL and IOs are largely weak and
ineffective, tool of states, and reflect
the distribution of power.
Main issues: national security, survival and
existence, balance of power, security
dilemma
Future of IR: no progressive change
12. 2. Neo-realism/Structural Realism
II. Realism
Kenneth Waltz:
“Theory of International Politics
A basic feature of IR is the structure of anarchy.
State leaders are prisoners of the structure as there is
no room for foreign policymaking.
All states are equal only in a formal-legal sense; they
are unequal, profoundly in a substantive or material
sense.
To ensure peace and stability, it is needed to maintain
the balance of power.
Bipolar system (CW system) is more stable.
13. 3. Hegemonic Stability Theory
II. Realism
It is believed that international economic system
is most likely to be open and stable when there
is a single dominant or hegemonic state, which
has a sufficiently large share of resources and is
willing to take a leadership and provide public
goods
Pax Britannica during 19th
century Pax Americana
after the WWII Pax
Sinica???
14. III. Marxist Theory
The evolution of the production process is a basis for
explaining how patterns of social relations develop
between those who control the production and those who
execute the tasks of production.
Every society divides into two main classes: a small class of
those who own the means of production and a large class
with nothing. Ex. in the Capitalist system: bourgeoisie
><proletariat.
So, IL and IOs are just products of a dominant group of states,
dominant ideas, and the interests of the capitalist class.
Dependency Theory???
