HOW DOES

THE WORLD WORK?

SEEING THE WORLD THROUGH
THEORETICAL LENSES

Dr. Siwapon Chompupun

Faculty of Social Sciences,
Srinakharinwirot University
“WITHOUT THEORY, WE ARE REDUCED TO EDUCATED
GUESSES ON HOW TO RESOLVE CRISES OR HOW
TO CONSTRUCTIVELY ADVANCE HUMAN VALUES
SUCH AS JUSTICE AND PEACE.”

KAREN A. MINGST, HEATHER ELKO MCKIBBEN

AND IVAN M. ARREGUIN-TOFT
Thinking Theoretically
• A theory is a collection of propositions that combine to explain phenomena
by specifying the relationships among a set of concepts.
• Good theories are generalizable. They can explain events across space (e.g.,
this explanation for war works just as well in Europe as it does in Africa) and
time (e.g., it works just as well today as it did in the tenth century). Theories
that can explain patterns across space and time are powerful theories.
• Yet in neither natural nor social sciences do we ever consider theories to be
“proven” or “settled” or “fact.”
COMPONENTS OF
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS THEORIES

• Within each perspective, different theories focus on different factors in

international politics.
• Some of these factors are material entities (entities with a physical presence)
such as states, international institutions, multinational corporations, and
individuals.
• Some are more conceptual factors and include an idea of an international
system, as well as ideas about norms and identities.
The Meaning of Anarchy

This—the absence of a supreme power—is what is meant by the anarchic

environment of international politics. Anarchy is therefore said to
constitute a state of war: When all else fails, force is the ultima ratio—the
final and legitimate arbiter of disputes among states.

Anarchy in IRT views / realist/ liberalist/ constructivist

Survival – self-help – security dilemma – balance of power

Realism In Brief
Realism/Neorealism
Key actors States (most powerful matter most)
Characteristics of Insecure. Selfish, power seeking
Individuals

Characteristics of Unitary actors, rational, power seeking

States

haracteristics of the Anarchic (implies perpetual threat of war)

International System

Beliefs about Possibility of perpetual peace logically precludes; emphasis shifted to

Changes managing the frequency and intensity of war
Anarchy and the
Struggle for Power
• Why State Pursue Power
• Calculated Aggression
• Hegemony’s Limits
• Power and Fear
• The Hierarchy of State Goals
• Cooperation among states
 Kenneth Waltz
Structural Realism
“ Great powers, I argue, are always searching for
opportunities to gain power over their rivals, with
hegemony as their final goal. This perspective
does not allow for status quo powers, except for
the unusual state that achieves preponderance.
Instead, the system is populated with great
powers that have revisionist intentions at their
core. This chapter presents a theory that explains
this competition for power. Specifically, I attempt
to show that there is a compelling logic behind my
claim that great powers seek to maximize their
share of world power. . . .”
Liberalism In Brief
Liberalism/Institutional Liberalism
Key actors States, nongovernmental groups, international organizations
Characteristics of Basically good; social; capable of cooperating
Individuals
Characteristics of States States are rational; states have relationships (enduring
friends and rivals); state characteristics ( democratic- liberal,
authoritarian- autarkic) matter; actors within states can influence
state actions
Characteristics of the Anarchy abridged by interdependence among actors; an
International System international order

Beliefs about Changes Self- interest managed by structure (institutions) leads to

possibility of cooperation and peace
 Liberalism and IR
• Liberalism and IR after the first
World War
• Liberal Internationalism
• Woodrow Wilson’s 14 points –
Open Covenants of peace/
removal of economic barriers/
national self-determination/ a
general of association of Nations –
the Leagues of Nations
• The Paris Peace Settlement 1919
 เสรี นิยมเชิงพาณิชย์ (Commercial Liberalism)
• free trade and a market or capitalist economy as the way towards
peace and prosperity.
• global financial institutions
• Free trade, private property rights and Free market – richer, more
Liberalism innovative, more tolerant world.

as IR Theory เสรี นิยมเชิงสังคมวิทยา (Sociological Liberalism)

in • The notion of community and the process of interdependence are

important elements.

Contempora
• People in distant lands are linked and their governments become
more interdependence.

ry World เสรีนิยมเชิงสถาบัน Institutional Liberalism (Regulatory Liberalism)

• Integration theory: transnationalism/ Complex Interdependence
• International regimes/ international institutions

เสรี นิยมเชิงประชาธิปไตย (Republican Liberalism)

• Democracies states are less likely to go to war.
Institutional Liberalism
• States are the main actors in the
international system
• States are rational actors interested in
maximizing gains
• States operate in condition of
international anarchy …. But cooperation
is possible in anarchic system.
• States cooperate through International
Regimes/Institutions.
• Absolute gains are more important to
states than ‘relative gain.’
 ทฤษฎีเสรีนย ิ มเชงิ สถาบ ัน
ิ มใหม่/เสรีนย

• สถาบันระหว่ างประเทศ (international institutions) เป็ นกฎ กติกา หลักการ

บรรทัดฐานตลอดจนกระบวนการดำเนินการทั้งที่เห็นได้ ชัดและไม่ เห็นได้ ชัด
• สถาบันระหว่ างประเทศ
• องค์ การระหว่ างประเทศ เช่ น องค์ การการค้ าโลก
• กฎหมายระหว่ างประเทศ
• ข้ อตกลงทีร่ ัฐมีร่วมกัน หรือ ระบอบระหว่ างประเทศ เช่ น ระบอบการไม่
เผยแพร่ อาวุธนิวเคลียร์ (NBT)
 • Reducing transaction
State A
costs
• Monitoring the
State
B behavior of signatories
International to an agreement
Institutions • Providing information:
mediator and means to
achieve cooperation
decreasing defection
and committing to
State
cooperate
C
State • Punishing the
D defectors
Constructivism In Brief

Key actors People, elites, cultures

Characteristics of Key actors in creation of meaning; bound by education,
Individuals socialization, and culture; their identities matter
Characteristics of States Artifacts whose significance is socially constructed through
discourse; their identities matter

Characteristics of the An artifact whose significance is socially constructed through

International System discourse; distribution of identities matters

Beliefs about Changes Possible through socialization, diffusion of ideas, or

internationalization of norms
 Ideas

Identity Interests Actions

international relations is a product of human action

Constructivism and IR
• Focusing ‘ideas and beliefs’ that inform
the actors on the international scene.
• Shared understanding/ Intersubjectivity
• Structure and actors (agents) are
mutually constructed
• Identity, interests and actions /process
of socialization
“Anarchy is what states make of it”
 Alexander
Wednt
Social Constuctivism
in IR
Wendt’s Cultures of Anarchy

• Anarchy need not to lead to ‘self-help’

according to neo-realism
• Wendt suggests 3 major ideal type of anarchy
• Hobbesian – enemies – war and violence
conflict are the way of survival
• Lockean – rivals – not seek to eliminate,
recognize state’s right to exist
• Kantian – friends