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Comparing realism and liberalism
Compare liberalism and realism
Comparing realism and liberalism
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Realist Perspective- This perspective focuses on self-help, survival and the need for more power in order to maintain security and sovereignty. This perspective can create distrust towards other actors and inhibits the ability to cooperate. However, in situations of a real threat from another country. This perspective will take steps to “even up the power” or take necessary steps to protect one’s borders (Nau 2017, 22). Liberal Perspective – The liberal perspective focuses on the need for repeated negotiations and compromise as well as bargaining in order to avert crisis or problems with other countries. This perspective focuses on common objectives as well as cooperation in order to avoid the use of force (Nau 2017, 23). The liberal perspective views reciprocal behavior and interdependence among other actors more important than how much power one has or one’s beliefs. (Nau 2017, 53). …show more content…
Therefore, this determines how a country responds ‘to institutions, interests and interactions” with other countries (Nau 2017, 61). I believe this perspective is the most accurate and useful for understanding international relations because how a country or leader responds to power or negotiations depends on their history as well as their ideas, values and beliefs. I believe it is imperative for a country to not only recognize and understand their own identity, but also recognize and understand the identity of other actors in order to have discernment in negotiations as well as maintaining and protecting their own country’s
I take direct realism to be the better version of realism, as unlike Locke, it does not infer the existence of the external world, it just assumes it. Direct realism is the theory that suggests we perceive the external world directly, and that external objects exist in reality, furthermore these objects are independent to our experience. One of the merits of this view, is the way in which it responds to the sceptic, who will argue that the realist must somehow prove, with certainty, that their experiences as of a table are in fact caused by a table (1), not an evil demon (2). However, Devitt argues that a realist does not need certainty, but only needs to change the epistemological standard, and instead ask whether it is more reasonable to
New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. Shiraev, Eric B., and Vladislav M. Zubok. International Relations. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. Silver, Larry.
...aditions of certain cultural practices, but not to the extent of making it a political theory. In todays world, we need a solid foundation to each individual in order to have a working, non-oppressive, self-respecting society. The liberal approach respects the ideals of certain cultures, but not to the extent of the communitarian. Overall, the liberal theory of justice is a more relevant political theory in our globalized world.
In conclusion realist and liberalist theories provide contrasting views on goals and instruments of international affairs. Each theory offers reasons why state and people behave the way they do when confronted with questions such as power, anarchy, state interests and the cause of war. Realists have a pessimistic view about human nature and they see international relations as driven by a states self preservation and suggest that the primary objective of every state is to promote its national interest and that power is gained through war or the threat of military action. Liberalism on the other hand has an optimistic view about human nature and focuses on democracy and individual rights and that economic independence is achieved through cooperation among states and power is gained through lasting alliances and state interdependence.
American Realism came about as a rejection of romanticism, focusing on the scientific study and the influence of rational philosophy. Realism became prominent around the time of the Civil War and ended toward the beginning of the 19th century. Hugh Holman and William Harmon both describe Realism in their novel A Handbook to Literature as, "Where the romanticists transcend the immediate to find the actual or superficial to find the scientific laws that control its actions, realists center their attention to a remarkable degree on the immediate, the here and now, the specific action, and the verifiable consequence" (428). Charles W. Chesnutt, Frederick Douglass, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman are all American Realist authors who portray the culture of the people they're around through their stories. The common theme amongst these authors is the struggle the characters go through and the course in which they overcome it.
The discipline of international relations (IR) contains several theories that contain theoretical perspectives to the idea of power. Within the realist perspective there are two approaches that help paint the portrait of the realist theory, the classical approach to realism and the neo-realist approach. Classical realism and neorealism both have been subjected to criticism from IR scholars and theorists representing liberal and constructivist perspectives. The key tenets to realism contain three essential characteristics of international relations which are the state, anarchy and the balance of power. This essay will closely analyse all three characteristics with special regards to power being central to the realist perspective.
People’s ideas and assumptions about world politics shape and construct the theories that help explain world conflicts and events. These assumptions can be classified into various known theoretical perspectives; the most dominant is political realism. Political realism is the most common theoretical approach when it is in means of foreign policy and international issues. It is known as “realpolitik” and emphasis that the most important actor in global politics is the state, which pursues self-interests, security, and growing power (Ray and Kaarbo 3). Realists generally suggest that interstate cooperation is severely limited by each state’s need to guarantee its own security in a global condition of anarchy. Political realist view international politics as a struggle for power dominated by organized violence, “All history shows that nations active in international politics are continuously preparing for, actively involved in, or recovering from organized violence in the form of war” (Kegley 94). The downside of the political realist perspective is that their emphasis on power and self-interest is their skepticism regarding the relevance of ethical norms to relations among states.
“In the place where idealism and realism meet, that is where there is the greatest evolutionary tension.” Idealism prioritizes ideals, social reforms and morals, by wanting to benefit not just yourself, but the world around you, believing people are generally good. On the contrary, realism gives priority to national interest and security with emphasis on promoting one’s own power and influence by assuming that people are egocentric by nature. Based on the definitions stated above, idealism and realism are significantly different from each other and their divergence of thought is more apparent when various proponents of each such as Woodrow Wilson, Henry Lodge, Barack Obama and George W. Bush have varied outlooks on comparable issues in politics. Subsequently, an idealist’s reaction to a particular issue would be a lot different than a realist’s response. Therefore, idealism deals with normative ideas and allows for improvements in the progress of not only a single state, but the whole world, however realism solely focuses on the benefits of one’s own nation.
To conclude, there are four main components of the realist approach to international relations, they are: state which includes egoism as the states are composed by the selfish people, self-help which includes balance of power as power is used to enhance the survival rate, survival which includes hegemony in order to maintain its position and anarchical system which related to lust for power and led to security dilemma.
To start, Liberalism traces its roots back to the Enlightenment period (Mingst, 2008) where many philosophers and thinkers of the time began to question the established status quo. Such as the prevailing belief in religious superstition and began to replace it with a more rational mode of thinking and a belief in the intrinsic goodness of mankind. The Enlightenment period influenced Liberalism’s belief that human beings are thinkers who are able to naturally understand the laws governing human social conduct and by understanding these laws, humans can better their condition and live in harmony with others (Mingst, 2008). Two of the most prominent Liberal Internationalists of the Enlightenment period were Immanuel Kant and Jeremy Bentham who both thought that international relations were conducted in a brutal fashion. It was Kant who compared international relations as “the lawless state of savagery” (Baylis and Smith, 2001, pp 165). It was also Kant who believed nations could form themselves into a sort of united states and overcome international anarchy through this (Mingst, 2008). This was probably the beginning of a coherent belief in a sort of union of sovereign states. Toward the end of the seventeenth century William Penn believed a ‘diet’ (parliament) could be set up in Europe, like the European Union of today (Baylis and Smith, 2001). We can see much of this liberal thinking today in organizations such as the United Nations.
Diplomacy is “a major ingredient of power” (1). States use diplomacy to achieve the purposes of “their foreign policy without resort to force or law” (Ibid). This book covers all essential aspects of diplomacy, from the procedure, methods, instruments, and institutions involved in conducting diplomacy. It provides step by step directions on carrying out diplomacy. Throughout the book author supports his ideas with sufficient evidences from political history.
From the realist perspective of international relations, states responsibility to protect civilians is the legitimating of military intervention by strong states against weak ones. According to Hans J. Morgenthau, one of the assumptions of classical realism is that all human beings inherently seek to increase their power . The power-seeking human nature creates a situation where statesmen struggle for power over other states: “Politics is a struggle for power over men…the modes of acquiring, maintaining, and demonstrating it determine the technique of political action.” In international politics, states are always concerned about national interests such as security and wealth. To preserve their interests, intervention could be an option.
Epistemology is the branch of philosophy concerned with the theory of knowledge. Epistemology studies the nature of knowledge, justification, and the rationality of belief. Much of the debate in epistemology centers on four areas: the philosophical analysis of the nature of knowledge and how it relates to such concepts as truth, belief, and justification, various problems of skepticism, the sources and scope of knowledge and justified belief, and the criteria for knowledge and justification. Epistemology addresses such questions as "What makes justified beliefs justified?", "What does it mean to say that we know something?" and fundamentally "How do we know that we know?"
Different theories of international relations seek to best explain and predict the whole spectrum of international relations. Some theories are better than others, if one wants to fully understand the spectrum of international relations. The Reductionist theory and the Structural theory both seek to predict the outcomes of international relations, however each leads to a different level and approach of explaining states behavior and ambitions in international relations. When studying and expanding the two theories to its full potential one can conclude as does Kenneth Waltz that one theory is better than the other overall in explaining I.R., this theory being the structural theory in that it explains what the Reductionist theory cannot.
Every nation considers its own interest, and it is a natural phenomenon that no one could blame. The declaration they made contains endless connotations, and that’s why we should be careful when we accept it. The point is, the country made an official speech to introduce their ultimate goal. And we regard it as an attempt of connection. As if each language differently express the same sound, the common sentence can be understood various way. These gap sometime lead to serious conflict between nations, however, we could separate this issue from the concept of the diplomacy. It’s because the first definition of diplomacy should be the important bridge among the countries, and effort to communicate one another. It must be a start point of every interaction of