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Jack Donnelly states that “Theories are beacons, lenses of filters that direct us to what, according to the theory, is essential for understanding some part of the world.” These various theories, or lenses for viewing the world help us understand the way in which countries interact and why things occur in the field of international relations. The two main schools of thought in the field are Realism and Liberalism. One must understand these theories in order to be able to understand what is happening in the world. Understanding the filters that are Liberalism and Realism, one can look to make some sort of understanding as to what is happening right now between the Ukraine and Russia. The subsequent annexation of the province of Crimea by Russia …show more content…
According to Christopher Spencer, “Vladimir Putin has calculated that he possesses superior power to Ukraine and thus can act as he chooses in relation to that country.” Putin, by annexing the province of Crimea is acting on Russia’s self-interests as Crimea is of great geo-political importance given its access to the Black Sea. Crimea holds the hugely important naval base of Sevastopol which was held by Russia until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the Early 1990’s. The Realist view on the Crimean crisis would hold that Russia is merely trying to regain the power it once had during the time of the USSR. Crimea is an area of economic importance due to its extensive natural gas resources. For example, the Skifska field in the Black Sea, holds an estimated 200 to 250 billion cubic meters of natural gas which could bring Russia huge economic benefit should they gain control of control of it. A Realist views this event as somewhat of an inevitability and one that is explainable by the existence of a state of nature theorized by Thomas Hobbes to be one in, “which all enjoy freedom from restraint but in which, in consequence, life was ‘nasty, brutish and short.” Russia is clearly acting without restraint in this situation as they have ignored the many warnings from the international bodies such as the European Union, NATO and the …show more content…
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International politics as one may imagine includes foreign affairs. This is why the topic and focus of this paper revolves around the current event within Eastern Europe. It will focus on both Russia, Ukraine, and the world, and from it, it will be analyzed by using the resources provided within class. After all it is a International Politics course, and one of the best ways to effectively put the skills and knowledge to use is to focus on an event or current event. The paper will attempt to go over in a chronological order of the events that has happened, and what is happening currently over in Ukraine. Afterwards, an analyzed input will be implemented providing reasoning behind Russia's actions, and actions of the world, and potentially some solutions.
In a recent White House brief, President Obama called the Russian invasion of Crimea a clear violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and international law. When assessing the Russo-Ukrainian crises in Crimea, the commander of European Command (EUCOM) and the Supreme Allied Commander of European Forces (SACUER) must account for U.S. interests in the region before deciding a proper course of action. This essay aims to assess four of the United States’ national interests through the perspective of EUCOM and SACUER. The first section will outline the role of EUCOM and SACUER in the European region and assess the overall problem of Russia invading Crimea. The second section will outline four of the United States’ national interests at stake: international order, trade and economic prosperity, energy supply, and freedom of the seas. In doing so, this assessment of U.S. interests in Crimea supports the options of non-intervention and a non-provocative stance in order to maintain long-term stability because the Russian invasion has only violated peripheral interests of EUCOM and SACUER.
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The information war between the West and Russia had intensified once again and reached levels higher than the levels of Russo-Georgia war (2008). Russian media naturally is defending its annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol as a democratic referendum and justifying the military intervention as the protection of rights of the Russian population of Crimea. The referendum was very controversial since it had an unusually high voter turnout and the Pro-Russian vote has created speculations that the referendum has been falsified by the Russian government. The Western media condemns Russia for the anne...
The big crisis in Ukraine is starting to get out of hand. The government cannot even figure out what to do, and is getting kicked out of office. There are street protests happening all over Ukraine, especially at Kyiv’s Independence Square. There is civil unrest against Yanukovych because he did not do what the people wanted. After everything is starting to cool down, Russian troops start to enter the country.
World Facts and Figures - GDP per capita by country. (n.d.). World Facts and Figures. Retrieved November 28, 2010, from http://www.worldfactsandfigures.com/gdp_country_desc.php
Most Western products and services are in demand in Russia. Of particular interest are: consumer goods, including poultry and meats, paper industrial chemicals, telecommunications equipment, medical equipment and pharmaceuticals, building construction equipment and materials, food processing equipment, and oil and gas mining equipment. Business in Russia is regional, and so is third country competition.
Russia is the largest country in the world in terms of area and the world’s ninth most populous nation with 143 million people. Due to its large area the country is situated in 4 different climate zones and has vast natural resources. Russia also has a unique geographic position with the 14 border countries, bounded by 3 out of 4 world oceans, facilitating the build of international and domestic supply chains. Russia is one of the most technologically advanced economies in the world with a very big and well-educated work force and one of the largest consumer markets. The Russian economy is commodity-driven and is the world’s largest producer of oil (12%), natural gas (18%) and nickel (20%).
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe, that borders Russia north and northeast. Lately Ukraine has been making international headlines; the country is in complete and total turmoil or for lack of better words a crisis. What started as a request from the Ukrainian citizens for a change in government, limit the powers of the president, restore the country constitution back to its original form from 2004-2010, and get closer ties to the EU. Peaceful protesting turned in to a nightmare, when the then president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych failed to make good on his word. Instead, he made a deal with Russian president and late sought refuge in Russia. A few weeks later, he was ousted from this prompted the Ukraine revolution and the annexation of Crimea also known as the Crimean crisis. A revolution in Ukraine took place in February 2014 for a period of 5 days in Kiev the capital of Ukraine, after a series of violent events in the capital culminated with the ousting of the then-President of Ukraine. Immediately following the ousting of Yanukovych, immediate changes took place in Ukraine’s sociopolitical system. Starting with the a new interim government being installed and the constitution was restored to its original state, and plans to hold impromptu presidential elections in the months to follow. Before the revolution, Ukraine had been sunken by years of corruption, mismanagement, lack of growth economically , their currency value had dropped , and they had the inability to secure funding from public markets. Because of this, president Yanukovych wanted to establish closer relationship with the European Union (EU) and Russia in order to attract the money necessary to maintain Ukraine's standard of living without a...
Realism can be described as a theoretical approach used to analyze all international relations as the relation of states engaged in power (Baylis, Owens, Smith, 100). Although realism cannot accommodate non-state actors within its analysis. There are three types of realism which include classical (human
Smith, T. General Liberalism and Social Change in a Post-WWII America, http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF00287217#close, November 30th 1999
Realism is one of the important perspectives on global politics, it is a notion about the conservative society and political philosophy (Heywood 2011: 54; Shimko 2013: 36). Besides, Gilpin (1996) claims that “realism…, it is not a scientific theory that is subject to the test of falsifiability, therefore, cannot be proved and disproved.” (Frankel 1996: xiii). The components of the realist approach to international relations will be discussed.
The conflict between the Ukraine and Russia is the Ukraine's most long-standing and deadly crisis; since its post-Soviet independence began as a protest against the government dropping plans to forge closer trade ties with the European Union. The conflict between Russia and the Ukraine stems from more than twenty years of weak governance, the government’s inability to promote a coherent executive branch policy, an economy dominated by oligarchs and rife with corruption, heavy reliance on Russia, and distinct differences between Ukraine's population from both Eastern and Western regions in terms of linguistics, religion and ethnicity (Lucas 2009).
Liberalism assumes that the war and can be policed by the institutional reforms that empower the international organizations and law.
The study of international relations takes a wide range of theoretical approaches. Some emerge from within the discipline itself others have been imported, in whole or in part, from disciplines such as economics or sociology. Indeed, few social scientific theories have not been applied to the study of relations amongst nations. Many theories of international relations are internally and externally contested, and few scholars believe only in one or another. In spite of this diversity, several major schools of thought are discernable, differentiated principally by the variables they emphasize on military power, material interests, or ideological beliefs. International Relations thinking have evolved in stages that are marked by specific debates between groups of scholars. The first major debate is between utopian liberalism and realism, the second debate is on method, between traditional approaches and behavioralism. The third debate is between neorealism/neoliberalism and neo-Marxism, and an emerging fourth debate is between established traditions and post-positivist alternatives (Jackson, 2007).