Chapter 6- International Relations by Joshua S. Goldstein
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Chapter3
Liberal and Social Theories
Liberal Theories
Although realists see the laws of power politics as relatively timeless and unchanging, liberal
theorists generally see the rules of IR as slowly, incrementally evolving through time and
becoming more and more peaceful. This evolution results primarily from the gradual buildup
of international organizations and mutual cooperation (reciprocity) and secondarily from
changes in norms and public opinion (identity).
Kant and Peace
Liberal theories of IR try to explain how peace and cooperation are possible. The
German philosopher Immanuel Kant 200 years ago gave three answers. The first, based on
the reciprocity principle, was that states could develop the organizations and rules to
facilitate cooperation, specifically by forming a world federation resembling today’s
United Nations. Kant’s second answer, operating at a lower level of analysis, was that peace
depends on the internal character of governments. Kant’s third answer, that trade
promotes peace, relies on the presumption that trade increases wealth, cooperation, and
global well-being—all while making conflict less likely in the long term because
governments will not want to disrupt any process that adds to the wealth of their state.
Moreover, as trade between states increases, they will find that they become mutually
dependent on one other for goods. This mutual dependence between states is referred to as
economic interdependence.
Liberal Institutionalism
Liberal theories treat rational actors as capable of forgoing short-term individual
interests in order to further the long-term well-being of a community to which they
belong—and hence indirectly their own well-being. The core principle of reciprocity lies
at the heart of this approach, because international institutions operate by reciprocal
contributions and concessions among formally equal members (peers). To Kant,
international cooperation was a more rational option for states than resorting to war. Thus, in
realist conceptions of rationality, war and violence appear rational (because they often
advance short-term state interests), but in liberal theories, war and violence appear as
irrational deviations that result from defective reasoning and that harm the (collective,
long-term) interests of warring states.
The neoliberal approach differs from earlier liberal approaches in that it concedes to realism
several important assumptions—among them, that states are unitary actors rationally
pursuing their self-interests in a system of anarchy. Neoliberal scholars try to show that
even in a world of unitary rational states, the neorealist’ pessimism about international
cooperation is not valid. States can create mutual rules, expectations, and institutions to
promote behavior that enhances cooperation.
In particular, reciprocity in IR helps international cooperation emerge despite the absence of
, central authority. Through reciprocity, not a world government, norms and rules are enforced.
Neoliberals argue that reciprocity can be an effective strategy for achieving cooperation in a
situation of conflicting interests.
Neoliberals use the Prisoner’s Dilemma (PD) game (see pp. 76–78) to illustrate their
argument that cooperation is possible. Each actor can gain by individually defecting, but both
lose when both defect. Similarly, in IR, states often have a mix of conflicting and mutual
interests.
But side by side with the potential for eliciting cooperation, reciprocity contains a danger of
runaway hostility. When two sides both reciprocate but never manage to put relations on a
cooperative footing, the result can be a drawn-out, nasty, tit-for-tat exchange of punishments.
Thus, for neoliberals the emergence of international institutions is key to understanding how
states achieve a superior rational outcome that includes long-term self-interest and not just
immediate self-interest.
International Regimes
Achieving good outcomes is not simple, though. Because of the contradictory interpretations
that parties to a conflict usually have, it is difficult to resolve conflicts without a third party to
arbitrate or an overall framework to set common expectations for all parties. An
international regime is a set of rules, norms, and procedures around which the
expectations of actors converge in a certain issue area.
Participants in the international system have similar ideas about what rules will govern their
mutual participation: each expects to play by the same rules. Regimes can help solve
collective goods problems by increasing transparency— because everyone knows what
everyone else is doing, cheating is riskier.
The most common conception of regimes combines elements of realism and liberalism.
States are seen as autonomous units maximizing their own interests in an anarchic
context. Regimes come into existence to overcome collective goods dilemmas by
coordinating the behaviors of individual states. Although states continue to seek their
own interests, they create frameworks to coordinate their actions with those of other
states if and when such coordination is necessary to realize self-interest.
Because regimes depend on state power for their enforcement, some IR scholars argue that
regimes are most effective when power in the international system is most concentrated—
when there is a hegemon to keep order. Although hegemony may be crucial in establishing
regimes, it is not necessary for maintaining them.
Collective Security The concept of collective security, which grows out of liberal
institutionalism, refers to the formation of a broad alliance of most major actors in an
international system for the purpose of jointly opposing aggression by any actor. Kant
proposed, the majority of states could unite to punish any one state that committed
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