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PO219 (Theories of International Relations) - Notes (Term 2)
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PO219 (Theories of International Relations) - NotesWeek 1: Introduction
Week 2: Classical Realism & Structural Realism/Neorealism
Introduction:
- State = Main actor/Focal point when analysing events
- Hobbes (Leviathan 1651): pure state of nature: natural condition of mankind where equally powerful/intelligent
men are willing to fight one another under the laws of nature
Realism emergence (WW2):
Morgenthau (Politics Among Nations 1948): Political Realism principles:
- 1. Politics governance = objective laws with unchanging human nature roots (“All politics is a struggle for power
that is inseparable from social life itself”)
- 2. National Interest = Defined in terms of power (“A political realist always thinks in terms of interest defined as
power, as an economist thinks of interest defined as wealth”)
- 3. National Interest = Dynamic/Changes
- 4. Belief = International Politics autonomy
- 5. Universal/Local principles tension (moral aspirations ≠ universally shared)
- 6. Successful political action = Political analysis benchmark (law/moral)
® CONC: Political Realism: benchmark = “interest defined as power”, IR = struggle for power among nations, study
of policies factors/consequences > motives, foreign policy based upon national interest > moral principles
® OR: Ignores key important actors & Restrictive State/Military-centricity (e.g. leaves conflict causes, organizations)
Neorealism/Neoclassical debate (Emergence 70s/80s)
- Debate Analysis: Structure > important than unit, Understanding the system units interact in (Domestic vs. Political
structure, Organization Hierarchy vs. Anarchy, Performance vs. Military, Units goals/nature)
- Offensive Realism: Anarchic International system, Offensive military capabilities, Uncertainty = others' intentions,
Main objective = survival, States = rational actors
- Defensive Realism: Waltz (Theory of International Politics 1979): Safety/Security prioritized over power ®
Security competition ≠ intense (e.g. states question = worth the risk to chase ultimate power?), Cooperation
occurrence = both interest benefited
- Mearsheimer (Structural Realism 2006): Hegemony tentative since no punishment in international system,
Conquest/Domination ≠ necessary good, Goal = survival ® Great powers = struggle for hegemony (Assurance =
overwhelming power, Balancing = opportunities to aggressors)
- USA case: Neo-realism = Military/Competition abilities focus, Defensive Realism: Isolation idea = Being selective
in relations, Offensive Realism: Unipolar system expansion idea since economic/military dependency
Week 3: Liberalism & Neoliberalism
Introduction:
- Liberalism: political theory from the 18th century European enlightenment recognising = 1. capacity for human
reason to overcome constraints on human thought/action through knowledge/science/progress & states (socially
adaptive/collective/rational actors that transcend anarchy) ® Functionalists: IOs = Response to interdependence
- Liberal-institutionalism (liberalism as political/economic theory): IR theory from the 70s recognizing =
IOs/morality improve cooperation/progress between states (rational actors operating in an international political
system in which hierarchy cannot be enforced) ® Mechanists: IOs = Mechanisms supporting state efforts
- Authors: John Locke, Hugo Grotius, Immanuel Kant, Joseph Schumpeter
® Political Transformation = Liberalist Democracy/Capitalist Free-trade/Networks of communications
- Kant (Perpetual Peace 1795): Perpetual Peace: confederation = international security resolution (“republican
constitutions, commercial exchange embodied in cosmopolitan law, and international law among republics would
provide sustained peace”)
Democratic Peace Theory:
- Cobden (The International Man, 1919): Free trade = effective/peaceful mean to create wealth/interaction ®
interruptions = against state interests
- Doyle (Kant, Liberal Legacies, and Foreign Affairs 1983): Democratic Peace Theory: "theory of peace" outlining
that democracies are hesitant to engage in armed conflict with other identified democracies
® Liberal states = Monadic variant (inherently peaceable) & Dyadic variant (ideological/cultural/practical similar) ®
≠ war with other Liberal states
- Clinton (Address on the State of the Union 1994): “the best strategy to ensure our security and to build a durable
peace is to support the advance of democracy elsewhere. since democracies don’t attack each other”
- Neoliberalism: IR theory from the 70s recognizing = international institutions facilitate cooperation benefits by
allowing utility-maximizing states to overcome collective action impediments to efficiently obtain cooperative
outcomes
, Neorealism/Neoliberalism Debate:
- Neorealism: World studied = High Politics, Gains = Relative, Anarchy = State survival not a goal, Cooperation =
Difficult to achieve/maintain (dependent on power), Power = Capabilities prioritised (others’ intentions uncertainty
= security/independence essential), Globalisation: State focused/Security concern ® FOCUS: Power/Security
- Neoliberalism: World Studied = Low Politics, Gains = Absolute, Anarchy = Interdependence/Globalisation handle
interaction, Cooperation = Easy to achieve/maintain (dependent on mutual interests), Power = Intentions prioritised
(preferences), Globalisation = State benefits ® FOCUS: Economy/Institutions/Cooperation
Neoliberalist Institutionalism:
- Neoliberal Institutionalism: Keohane (After Hegemony 1984): Neoliberalism adding Neorealist basic assumptions
(states = primary actors/rational egoists in difficult international cooperation)
® Neo-Liberalism CRITICISM: Western-centric, Colonial/Imperialistic, Over-optimism (cooperation/progress),
Economic Order (“Harmony of interests” = elite interests promotion behind equality/justice values)
® Mill (On the Treatment of Barbarous Nations 1874): “Nations which are still barbarous have not got beyond the
period during which it is likely to be for their benefit that they should be conquered and held in subjection by
foreigners”
Contemporary challenges:
- Global Governance: ¯Government ability to direct society & Non-state actors non-regulatory policy instruments
- Eberlein & Kerwer (New Governance in the European Union 2004): Interaction 4 types = Coexistence, Merger,
Competition, Replacement (e.g. European Coal and Steel Community: 1951, European Economic Community:
1957)
Week 4: English School
Introduction:
- English school: IR theory from the 70s recognizing = “international society of states” despite anarchy (no central
authority) & ideas (theory/history/morality/power/structure) rather than material capabilities shape international
politics & sociological (history/philosophy) distinctive approach from scientific methods in 70s
(realism/pluralism/structuralism)/80s (neoliberalism)
- Linklater & Burchill (Theories of International Relations 1996): English school: “seeks to understand how
culturally different states can agree on the principles of international order and justice”
- Authors (Political/Legal theory): Hugo Grotius (states solidarity), Emmerich de Vattell (states plurality)
- Authors (IR theory): Herbert Butterfield (The British Committee, 1959) Martin Wight (Why is there no
International Theory?, 1960 - Western Values in International Society, 1966), Hedley Bull (The Anarchical
Society, 1977)
Hedley Bull (The Anarchical Society 1977):
- International society: “group of states, conscious of common interests and values, conceive themselves to be bound
by a common rules in their relations, and share in the working of common institutions”
- Focus = Order: (1) What is order in world politics? (2) How maintained within system of sovereign states? (3)
System of sovereign states = viable path to world order?
- Order (p.3-4): “A pattern [in the relations of human individuals or groups] that leads to a particular result, an
arrangement of social life such that it promotes certain goals or values”
- Hugo Grotius (De jure bellis ac pacis 1625): principles of international law objective = ¯Conflict through moral
consensus ® ‘just war’ (jus ad bellum and jus in bello)
Hobbesian tradition (Realism) Grotian tradition (English Kantian tradition
School) (Liberalism)
International Permanent suspicion/conflict state Moral space of restraint Perpetual peace (conflict
Politics = (possible order) eradicable)
States = Pursue interests without Pursue interests limited by Harmony of interests (Interest
moral/legal restrictions institutions = ultimately same)
Moral = Instrumental (legitimate Shape Interests/identities Inherent to people-loving
interest/stigmatize others) people
Focus = International system/Power International society/Order World society/Peace
Pluralism (Order) Solidarism (Justice)
States conception = Minimalist: agreements on minimum Maximalist: potential solidarity through
purposes (no grounds for cooperation) law enforcement
Rules = Followed (shared interest in order) Followed (Institutional arrangements for
order/justice)
IOs Priority = Independence (non-intervention) Priority = human rights
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