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International Relations Theory - Summary Part 2: Classes
- Instelling
- Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)
International Relations Theory by Prof. Lesage. Summary of all the classes (slides notes).
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INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS THEORYSUMMARY
PART 2: CLASSES (SLIDES + NOTES)
Prof. D. Lesage
Academic year 2019-2020
, CLASS 1: INTRODUCTION
WHY INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS THEORY?
à Also see Chapter 2
Overview of the main currents
- The theories offer conceptual frameworks and explanations for events and developments
- Each theory adopts a specific lens, highlighting certain factors/dimensions/dynamics
examples
- Emphasis on perpetual competition between states à Realism
- Emphasis on potential for cooperation à Liberalism
- Emphasis on economic interests, class struggles à Marxism
- Emphasis on ideas à Constructivism
à Potential for eclecticism
normative assessment and policy relevance
Relevance of theory can change over time or space
Provide a general introduction to main traditions and theories.
- Consult the literature for sophisticated variants
Theories provide insight in the motivations of actors
- Empathy, understanding
Theories provide insight in the political possible
study material
- Mandatory textbook
o Classes are complementary to the textbook
o Both are equally important
- Slides
- Notes
- Follow the news
EXAM
- Learning material
- The paper will not be discussed on the written exam
o But consists of 25% of the grade à see separate document on the assignment
2
,ASSIGNMENT
à See document on UFORA
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, CLASS 2: LIBERALISM (PART I)
The class mostly follows the structure of the book.
- Starts with liberalism
o The first universities starting up a research program regarding IR were clearly inspired
by liberalism
- After that: realism
o Lots of theory building has occurred as a reaction or opposition against realism
§ They took realism as a starting point and wanted to improve it or reject it
- It is a matter of order
BASIC CLAIMS
Every school of thought consists of basic assumptions.
Liberalism, realism, and Marxism are large paradigms that internally consist of several smaller
(sub)schools, theories, etc. The author distinguished different currents and within, different theories
- Grand theories, sub-theories, concrete theories, …
Starting from the basic claim which most liberals share and break it up to more concrete and specific
theories and specific scientific claims that are not shared with the rest of the school.
Overall, liberals have an optimistic worldview
- Human reason: people are able to shape their destiny and international relations
o Reason: the recognition that individuals are mostly self-centered
§ But cooperation in function of self-interest is not necessarily bad, it can be
integrated in this philosophy
- People are able to learn, develop, improve (also in moral, ethical sense), use their mind to do
good things in the world
- Fostering development, welfare, and peace
- Human kind is able to learn from mistakes to avoid similar failures in the future
o Belief in the possibility of historical progress in the moral sense of the word
Liberals don’t hold a theological view
Strong appreciation for the interplay between domestic and international politics (more than other
schools such as realism)
Cfr. Francis Fukuyama
State-society linkages
- Kant: Perpetual Peace
o Democracies are more peaceful
§ See Class 3: democratic peace theory
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, ® Democracies almost never engage in war among each other
® Democracies across the world are more peaceful than non-
democracies
® One of the most powerful established theories in international
relations
® Has to do with the domestic set-up of a state
Economic interdependence à conducive to peace
- The more they are economically entwined, the more peaceful relations you will see among
those countries
Belief in international law and institutions
- Belief that institutions can be sustainable/enduring and that they also foster peaceful
relationships
- International law and institutions matter in a sustained manner
o They transformed world politics in an evolution of progress
GENEALOGY
à Where does it come from?
Humankind is not born as inherently bad, egoistic, and violent
- You can see solidarity, a desire for peace, respect à these ideas have been around for ages
and among the few who reflected them as we can refer to as international relations have also
been present for ages
Predecessors:
Immanuel Kant
- He provided one of the first systematic studies based on this liberal program
Liberal economists, activists in the UK (18th-19th C)
- Forerunner IR
- Societal transformation with other social groups than the clergy and nobility emerging
(industrialists, capitalists, traders, workers)
o Opposing interests but they also have common interests vis-à-vis agricultural business
à the noblemen owned the majority of the land
§ Land owners have an interest to sell at a high price, but the others have an
interest to have access to cheaper wheat
§ Conflict with industrial sector advocating cheaper good and to achieve this to
allow international competition
- By advocating trade liberalization, they fostered their interests and adopted a liberal program
advocating free trade
o E.g. Adam Smith, J. S. Mill, etc. came up with liberal economic ideas and linked it to
the argument that this would foster peace
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, § Create wealth by trade instead of war
- They found the problem to be the autocratic monarchy, dominance of the landowners
o The key cause of war? The competition between those states, the greed of the classes
in power, they monopolize the state power for their own interests in a fierce
competition among each other
o Reduce the power of the state
§ The role of the state (state interventions) in economics is mainly in the
interests of the elites and the maximization of the wealth of the higher classes
at the detriment of the other classes, adopting a policy of mercantilism
Liberal politicians proposed an alternative à minimal state intervention with less power to the state
and the elites, and open economic markets
- Free flow of goods with a price setting according to market laws of supply and demand
o Optimal allocation of resources (neoclassical economic theory)
- More interdependent states
- Traders industrialists will have more and more interests in other countries as well (e.g. raw
materials, etc.
o More constructive, harmonious relations among countries
à Very influential ideas in several parts of the world, but they have been contested as well
- These ideas and their impacts have remained important
Big paradox: economic crisis that led to the rise of protectionism
- But the last 20 years before WWI à interconnectivity between economies was still quite high
o The last thing to be expected was a world war, yet it happened
§ It gave a blow to liberalist theorizing in international relations
§ There must have been other, more important factors at play, which liberalism
has overlooked
During WWI: what is the academic/scientific value of these ideas?
World War I: ‘Utopian Liberalism’
à Liberalists didn’t give up
Reaction against Balance of Power politics, secret treaties and war
President Woodrow Wilson
- One of the key individuals to also contribute to theorizing
- Don’t underestimate his influence on the international debate during/after WWI
o Peace conference in Paris
- Key aspect: international institutions stressing international law à collective security
- Signature initiative: League of Nations
o Supranational organization that had to watch over war and peace in the world
§ Legal powers to decide and settle disputes
® Based on the system of collective security (cfr Article 5 NATO)
6
, § Break with the 19th C custom to rely on the balance of power
o 19th C: balance of power: never enacted à completely failed in the run-up to WWI
§ The idea that great powers together take care of peace, order, and stability
showed restraint à it was not sustainable
- Wilson believed that setting up the League of Nations would turn into a mechanism to defeat
the demons of interstate competition and anarchy in the international system
o Great aversion against secret diplomacy
§ Secret agreements between powers implying clauses for military assistance in
cases of attack, etc.
o Wanted to abolish all that and let everything happen through the League of Nations
- In favor of free trade, democratization and believed that one of the causes of war are that one
of the major powers have non-democratic regimes
o Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia à non-democratic
o It is among them that the conflict arose
o They didn’t care about their population which suffered the most from the war
§ Cfr Kant: govs that are responsive to the population and bear the burden of
war, will keep the leaders more peaceful and less prone to warfare
- His determination on the self-determination of peoples à rather moral norms
University chairs and institutes
- Aberystwyth, Geneva
BUT: ‘the Twenty Years’ Crisis’ (1919-1939)
- The interwar period put into question the liberal theorizing about IR à WWI showed that it
didn’t work
à Should we discard of the idea or include more critical reflections and perspectives?
à Wilson was extremely influential, yet politically unsuccessful
- How to interpret this?
POST-WORLD WAR II LIBERALISM
There have been difficult times for liberal theorizing à attempts to give it a new life
Be aware that there is always a connection between the academic and what is happening in the real
world
- Realism: more sobering, pessimistic view on world politics
o More popular
- Liberal school losing traction during the interwar years
after world war ii
New multilateral institutions
- NATO, Bretton Woods institutions, GATT, etc.
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