Liberal and social theories, Slides of International Relations

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Liberal & Social Theories,

Liberalism, Social Constructivism, Peace, Gender,

The Search for Truth  (^) Theory searches for what really happens in IR  (^) IR theories are developed by scholars, not politicians  (^) Each theory explains political behaviour in a different way  (^) Major theories: 1.Realism 2.Idealism 3.Marxism 4.Feminism 5.Constructivism

IDEALISM – Peace through

Cooperation

Idealism: Power politics not ideal No guarantee that peace can be preserved Alternatives to power politics: necessary How can cooperation achieve peace? World Government? Collective security

IDEALISM: World Government

How can world government achieve peace? 1.Address anarchy 2.Eliminate the security dilemma 3.Take away from states the capacity for war Good solution for peace in theory Unattainable in practice: lack of

IDEALISM – Collective Security

Problems with collective security: Identification of ‘aggressor’ Biased in favour of status quo and those who favour it Only works of major powers share interest in upholding it States must counter threats to peace even when their interests are not affected

War and Democracy

What is the relationship between democracy and war?

Democratic Peace: Theory & Evidence  Immanuel Kant: German Enlightenment philosopher (1724-

 ‘Democratic Peace’: originates in Kant’s Perpetual Peace   Idea that peace can be permanently established over a certain area, called democratic pacific union (League of Free Republics /Commonwealths)  Kant: Republics (democracies) will

Democratic Peace: Theory & Evidence Variants of Democratic Peace theory:  Rational public thesis: democratic publics usually prefer peace to war  governments reflect this preference  Cultural thesis: democracies tend to be unwilling to wage war because of their ideas and values on how conflict should be managed  Institutional thesis: checking and controlling political power makes it difficult for democracies to go to war  (^) Constructivist thesis: democracies define themselves as states that do not wage war

Democratic Peace Theory: the Test  What are the problems of Democratic Peace? 1.Depends on how we define ‘democracy’ and ‘war’ 2.Refuted by facts: World War I (controversy) 3.Does not address the problem of civil war 4.‘Statistical insignificance’: it is too soon to have enough evidence 5.Democratic hostility towards other democracies

Democratic Peace theory: the future  Test of realism vs. liberalism/idealism  Democracies today have many more opportunities to fight each other  New policy questions: 1.Should we work to spread democracy as a means of promoting peace? 2.Should we view other democracies as potential threats?

Does human nature lead to war?

Puzzle: Why do humans engage in such destructive practices? 1.Uncontrollable drive that leads to war (flawed human nature) 2.War is culturally learned Nature-versus-nurture debate: Debate over which human behaviours are determined by biology and instinct, and which are socially or structurally conditioned

Culture, Social Learning, and War II

Social learning: war is a social construction Stimulus and response: people engage in those behaviours for which they receive social rewards, and refrain from behaviours that receive social punishment. Socialisation about violence: acceptable and unacceptable Propaganda: images and messages conducive to war 1.Dehumanisation: portrayal of people as less human 2.Pseudo-specification: portrayal of humans as not members of their species (e.g. animals, insects)

MARXISM

‘Class conflict is important to understand social relations, including international politics’  Emancipatory theory: ‘Let’s create a world order free of inequality, domination, and injustice’  Major thinker: Karl Marx (1818-1883)  Bourgeoisie (capitalists class) vs. proletariat (working class)  relationship of exploitation  Non-neutrality of the state: ‘state serves, protects, advances, the interests