Professional Documents
Culture Documents
in IR ‐ Notes
Perspectives in IR are:
1. Realism
2. Liberal Idealism
3. Marxism/Dependency Theory
4. Mercantilism
5. Constructivism
6. Feminism
Basic Values and theories of International Relations:
Focus Theories
Security: Power politics, conflict and War Realism
Freedom: Cooperation, peace and progress Liberalism
Order and Justice: Shared interests, rules and institutions International Security
Welfare: Wealth, poverty and equality IPE Theories
Comparison of Perspectives in International Relations:
Dependency Theory
Major Actor Realist State Idealist State
State/MNCs
Nature of Relations Conflictual Harmonious Conflictual & Harmonious
Key Issues National Security Peace & Prosperity Vulnerability/Dependence
Key Symbols Soldier Diplomat Diplomat & Businessman
Type of Politics High High Low
Role of Forces High Low Low
Role of International
Limited/Selective Significant Moderate
Organizations
Political Implications Maximize Power Role of Law Decrease Economic Vulnerability
Realism:
Realism explains international relations in terms of power and not morality.
Fundamentally conflictual. Survival is the most fundamental aim of the state.
Assumes that human nature alone does not produce peace and cooperation.
National Security is narrowly defined as defense and military capability.
Unilateralism is preferred.
Rejects multilateralism and international cooperation where unilateral action will suffice.
State Centric Approach.
Idealism:
Idealism also termed liberalism in IR parlance.
Idealism in IR usually refers to the school of thought personified in American diplomatic history by
Woodrow Wilson.
Idealism in the Wilsonian context holds that a state should make its internal political philosophy
the goal of its foreign policy, i.e. the support or imposition of its political system on neighboring
and/or rival states.
Idealism is also marked by the prominent role played by international law and international
organizations in its conception of policy formation.
Idealism is fundamentally is peaceful assumes human are rational and capable of peace.
Defines national security in broad terms include education, anti‐poverty programs, development
aid and health care as means of stabilizing the international order.
Emphasizes peace and prosperity through international cooperation and organizations.
Asserts the need for moral principles in political affairs which includes security, freedom, order,
justice and welfare.
Marxism:
Wealth of the North is a direct by product of the poverty of the South
IR synonymous to International Political Economy
Reduced in prominence but not eliminated
May also be referred to Communism, World System theory Digital Divide
Marxism is an economic and social system based upon the political and economic theories of Karl
Marx and Friedrich Engels.
“A theory in which class struggle is a central element in the analysis of social change in Western
societies.”
Marxism is the antithesis of capitalism. Marxism is the antithesis of capitalism which is defined “an
economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and distribution of
goods, characterized by a free competitive market and motivation by profit.”
A digital divide is an economic and social inequality with regard to access to, use of, or impact
of information and communication technologies.
Marxism has three main players:
1. The Proletariat.
2. The Bourgeoisie.
3. The State.
The state, in classical Marxism, is simply policy response to the socio‐economic issues of the
proletariat. The bourgeoisie would no longer exist after the revolution; therefore, it would no
longer rule over the proletariat.
Mercantilism:
Mercantilism is an economic theory that holds the prosperity of a nation is dependent upon its
supply of capital.
Mercantilism emphasizes the use of economic policy to increase state power relative to that of
other states. It mirrors realism in many ways.
Mercantilists favor trade policies that produce a trade surplus for their own state. Such a positive
trade balance generates money that can be used to enhance state power.
Mercantilism falls under the realist school of thought.
Mercantilism arose from the ashes of feudalism as a way for states to unify territory.
An important belief of mercantilism is that it is a zero‐sum situation. In order for one state to
gain, another must lose.
Mercantilists favor trade policies that produce a trade surplus for their own state. Such a positive
trade balance generates money that can be used to enhance state power.
Constructivism:
Most phenomena found in world politics –‐ such as state sovereignty, national identity, political
institutions ‐– are the result of social action (i.e. they are “constructed”).
Central Elements of world politics are:
1. Ideas (e.g., anarchy, America, Islam, Christianity, freedom)
2. Identities (e.g., American, Westerner, evil‐doer, foreigner)
3. Norms (e.g., that democracy is the appropriate form of political organization)
In the discipline of international relations, constructivism is the claim that significant aspects of
international relations are historically and socially constructed, rather than inevitable
consequences of human nature or other essential characteristics of world politics.
Alexander Wendt calls two increasingly accepted basic tenets of Constructivism "that the
structures of human association are determined primarily by shared ideas rather than material
forces, and that the identities and interests of purposive actors are constructed by these shared
ideas rather than given by nature".
Feminism:
Claim that the traditional IR theories have ignored the role of gender, preferring instead to
examine the roles of military and political figures.
They contend that this framework assigns women to domestic roles, ignoring their contributions
to issues of international politics and world affairs.
Tries to understand the reasons for the devaluing of women’s contributions to the world and new
ways to use feminist thinking to improve the lives of women.
Liberal Feminists hold that women in powerful positions make decisions and exercise power in
ways that are essentially the same as men.
Difference Feminists argue that traditional IR theories reflect male‐centered descriptions of
aggressive states controlled by men.
They claim that the world will become a less violent place if women had greater power in
international affairs.