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Class notes on liberalism
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An introduction to liberalism and how those who believe in the ideology think on how the international system works.
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LiberalismWhat is liberalism?
Described by Clark as the “tradition of optimism”.
Liberalism is centred on the liberty of the individual.
The state is established to preserve liberty either from harm by other individuals or by
other states.
The state is the servant of the collective will, which is guaranteed by democratic
institutions.
Domestic and international institutions are judged according to whether they further this
aim.
Human beings are not inherently sel sh but can be improved, if not perfected.
Democracy is necessary for these improvements to be made.
War is not the natural condition of world politics.
Liberalism questions the centrality of the state within world politics, instead seeing
multinational corporations, trans-national actors, and international organisations as
important actors.
National interest can be dif cult to de ne.
Co-operation is crucial for providing solutions to international issues.
International order results from interactions between many layers of laws, international
regimes, and institutional norms and rules.
World politics is not solely about military power, but rather about wider issues such as
economics, environmental concerns or technological developments.
Liberal internationalism
Immanuel Kant and Jeremy Bentham.
Popular from the Enlightenment to the end of the 19th century. Kant called for a new order
of “perpetual peace”.
Both argued this would require: human nature to change; a federal contract between states
to abolish war; and republican constitutionalism.
Liberal internationalism argue that a law-governed international society could emerge
without a world government.
There would be a natural order developing from a contract between the peoples of the
world, though such things as commerce and travel, which would produce less war and more
peace.
The natural order was a pursuit of self-interest that produced a common good.
Idealism
Idealism, which lasted from the early 1900s through to the late 1930s. This was motivated
by a desire for peace.
Idealists argued that capitalism produced con ict, highlighted by the competitive nature of
imperialism and the search for international pro ts, e.g., World War One.
Peace is not a natural condition but has to be constructed.
Presidents Woodrow Wilson’s fourteen point plan, argued that peace could only be
maintained with the creation of an international institution to regulate international
anarchy.
The League of Nations.
Collective security- each state accepts that the security of one is the concern of the others
and agrees to join together in a collective response to aggressions.
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