Kant And His Legacy In IR (liberalims 1)

Question 0

Liberalism in IR

Answer 0

As a political theory (liberal values such as natural right to life and liberty guaranteed freedoms )
As a political theory turned ideology (liberalist triumphalism after the end of Cold War : end of history- liberal democracy and capitalism prevailed)

As an analytic theory
Inside out, or bottom-up view of politics
What is inside a state (forms of government, modes of interest representation, decision-making procedures) decided upon outward policies
States are not enduringly trapped in the anarchical system

Why do wars still occur?
Undemocratic, non representative government with vested interests in occasionally waging war
Aggressive instincts of unrepresentative elites
Was as a means of extending control over people within, extracting resources from them

Usurpation of power through warrior classes a/o a collision of interests between governing elites, the military, (some) business interests
Imperialism

Outdated policies are being pursued (balance of power instead of collective security systems )

Question 1

Kant on perpetual peace

Answer 1

Herman philosopher (1724-1804)

Contributions to metaphysics, epistemology (what can we know)

Enlightenment 
Use your own mind (sapere aude) 
Human rationality (reason) 
Individual freedoms/liberty as a natural right 
Idea of human progress 

Two core assumptions
If the consent of the citizens is required to decide whether or not war is to be declared, it is very natural that they will have great hesitation in embarking on so dangerous an enterprise..

Citizens are risk/averse
War affects their lives negatively (death, lose property, suffer in all sorts of ways)
Except for very specific circumstances (defense), they will decide against war, when asked
Representation (government), ways of influencing decision-making : wars less likely

2) peace can neither be inaugurated nor secured without a general agreement between the nations, thus a particular kind of league, which we call a pacific federation, is required.

Creation of a foedus pacificum(an international, collective security organization in today’s terms) necessary
Mutual guarantee of peacefulness, mutual recognition as peaceful republics
(From an IR perceptive, this would dramatically weaken the security dilemma)

Question 2

Expansion of the liberal zone of peace

Answer 2

Waves of democratization (observation)

Question 3

Democratic peace as a theory

Answer 3

From mere observation of some correlation
To a theory which is specify why democracy might led to peace
Russett 1993: grasping the democratic peace

Structural
Inner-state structures
Institutional constraints : representation -electoral retribution,
Governmental ambitions checked by public opinion

Normative
Norms and values of democracies ( and their impact)
Preference for compromise and peaceful conflict resolution inside
Mutual recognition as being of similar nature, peaceful (shared values weaken security dilemma)

Question 4

Democratic peace and some contradictions

Answer 4

Double result
Democracies may not wage war against each other
In relation to non-democracies, democracies are as aggressive as any other state

Czempiel 1996: why are democracies not (yet) peaceful

Müller:PRIF (2000-2009) antinomies of democratic peace

Question 5

Czempiel’s reasoning

Answer 5

The question is not why democracies use military means to defend themselves
It is why they still wage wars against small states, and why structural constraints can hardly be felt in cases where governments of democratic states argue that some other state is a threat that as to be countered

Argument: we may think, it is a democracy, but it is not democratized enough
Particular interests might have captured decision-making
Public opinion is uninformed (media), may be subject to manipulation

In addition, the link between citizens who are to decide and at the same time have to bar the costs of war is weakened (professional armies, recruitment patterns)

Question 6

Antinomies of Demokratie Peace a

Answer 6

The conduct of democracies in respect of the use of force and Arms shows striking variations
Militant democracies conceive of their entire relation to non-democracies as antagonistic, and frequently flight wars to dethrone dictators
Pacifistic democracies believe in a modus vivendi with autocracies and try to assist their transformation into democracies

Janus-like quality of democratization: without democratization, democracy is inconceivable; But for all sorts of reasons, processes of democratization have either been accompanied by violence or have triggered it

Question 7

Criticism of democratic peace

Answer 7

Definition of core concepts decides whether relationship holds or not
Democracy: threshold?
War: formal declaration, number of casualties, all forms of militarized disputed, covert actions?

Nonsense correlation: rather capitalist peace (weede)

Realistic critique
Structure not accounted for in the model
Key assumptions unfounded
Implications in terms of means -democratization