International Relations

International Relations

1. Realism

   • Neo-Realism
     • K. Waltz' Structural Realism
       • systemic theory
         • present system anarchic
           • units that are similar in nature (but differ in capability) conduct relations with each other
           • self-help system
             • main aim: survival
               • Balance of Power
                 • through adjusting movements depending on reading of strategy of other states
                   • states react to the signals sent by int. system to avoid losing independence -> all states have military capability
                     • defensive (Waltz)
                       • achieve appropriate amount of power to ensure survival
                         • in balance with others - too much power leads to less security
                     • offensive (Mearsheimer)
                       • as much power as possible
                         • overwhelming power best way to ensure survival
   • liberalism is wrong, because
     • Hitler and Mussolini came to power in quasi-democracies
       • popular support THOUGH they glorified war
         • is there a harmony of REAL interest?!
     • "Moral Man, Immoral Society" Niebuhr
     • Carr - there's always conflict between the 'haves' and 'have nots' - scarcity as central feature of global relations
       • haves try to secure their status by establishing laws that keep the have nots under their thumb
       • LoN - unjust status quo
       • France/UK built their empires without following laws
   • key claims - Hans Morgenthau
     • IR is about STATES pursuing INTERESTS defined in terms of POWER
       • self-help system
         • fragility of common bonds, selfish human nature, alliances trigger huge participation in conflicts

2. Liberalism

   • Neo-Liberalism
     • Hobbesian definition of the situation
       • international anarchy
       • rational egoism of actors
     • anarchy can be mitigated by institutions and regimes
       • how can rational egoists cooperate in international anarchy?
         • international regimes
           • exchange of information
             • formalised commitments
         • reduction of 'security dilemma'
         • international interdependence
     • concerned with absolute gains
       • extensive network of international institutions shows that states are willing to cooperate
     • rational choice theory
   • liberal institutionalism
     • what went wrong in 1914?
       • failure of diplomacy
         • slowness of great powers to address problems in the balkan
       • Woodrow Wilson's 14 Points
         • Solutions
           • domestic
             • people don't want war, are dragged into it because of a lack of democracy
             • Promote democratic political systems
               • national self-determination
           • Institutional
             • League of Nations
               • provide security 'collective security' 'one for all and all for one'
         • underlying harmony of REAL interests
   • positive human nature, perfectible under democracy
     • war is neither inevitable nor natural, may be triggered because of the preference for democracy
       • underlying harmony of REAL interest (peace, democracy)

3. The English School

   • focus on society of states/international society
     • focus on states
       • when states interact, its not simply in form of an international system
         • norm-governed relationship between those involved
           • responsibility to one another and the society as a whole
             • summarised in practices of international law and diplomacy
     • Tim Dunne
       • states pursue their interest in the international, but not at all costs
         • international relations take place in anarchy, but 'anarchical society'
           • states act within a system of norms which constrains their strive for own interest
   • Main claims
     • absence of authority but high level of order
       • states form anarchical society of sovereign states
         • Hedley Bull - The anarchical society
           • creation of shared norms and values at centre of IR theory
         • violence is endemic, but regulated by law and morality
           • international politics as moral space of restraint that limits state's strive for own interest
       • priority to international responsibility and maintaining oder
         • international criminal court
         • war as means to enforce international law and order

4. Social Constructivism

   • distinction between brute facts/social facts (Searle)
     • challenge 'anarchy' and 'rationality' as given
       • 'Anarchy is what states make of it' (Wendt)
         • anarchy no natural value, does not have to imply chaos
           • norms can be developed
             • emergence of 'anarchic society' possible
             • role of institutions
               • 'teachers' of norms through socialisation
                 • WTO, IMF...trade liberalisation
     • 'world of our making' Onuf
       • no pre-made, fixed reality
   • co-constitutive structure and agency
     • doesn't imply structure is easy to change
     • ideas are structural
   • identities matter (Ruggie)
     • important for cooperation between states
       • Logic of appropriatness (March and Olsen)

5. Poststructuralism

6. Critical Theory

   • Key claims
     • human nature isn't fixed but shaped by social conditions
       • all humans share an interest in emancipation
         • normative and universalist theory!!
         • CT is interested in the knowledge that can lead to emancipation
   • reform of Marxism
     • emancipation as global project
     • Habermas
       • move away from economic determinism
       • engagement with Kantian ethics
     • after WW2 welfare state; proletarian revolution never happened
       • CT concentrates on the role of culture, ideology and social/political forces in perpetuating and legitimising unequal hierarchical global relations
   • Robert Cox
     • "Theory is always for someone and for some purpose" R.Cox
       • highlights the central importance of ideology to maintain social/political control
         • three types of forces interact in any 'historic bloc'
           • material capabilities
             • Marxist element; wealth that commands production and technological advances that impact on social relations
           • ideas
             • two kinds, durable ideas (the state) and competing ideas held by different groups
               • have the potential to change the system into a new structure of widely accepted ideas
           • institutions
             • used to perpetuate a particular international order and facilitate hegemony
           • transnational ruling class organises a view of how the world economy 'is supposed to be'
     • Antonio Gramsci
       • Hegemony = coercion + consent
         • manufacturing of consent