LECTURE 4 - liberalism Flashcards
Western Europe at the founding time of liberalism
- Nobility made decisions and gave the poor just enough to survive
- nobility made decisions
how do the political and authority practices of France align or disalign with “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité’?”
- no freedom for people in destitution
- nobility seen as “above” others
- little sense of comradery (even though all are supposedly considered part of the ‘human family’)
the development of liberalism due to colonization
Jesuit practice of learning languages, engaging in
debate to convert
* French practice of ‘divide and conquer’, local
alliances
* Value of skill as orator, debater to elites, intellectuals
* Exposure to new ideas from alien cultural contexts
* Massive desire to consume these ideas in form of
books in Europe
* Not a relationship of the ‘virtuous’ French and
backwards ‘savage’ despite French beliefs
* Native Americans travelled to France and did pass
judgement on what they saw
* Europeans ‘adopted’ by American nations rarely
wanted to go back to Europe when offered chance
relationship between: Louis-Armand de Lom d’Arce de Lahontan (1666-1716) Baron de La
Hontan, and Kandiaronk of the Wendat (chief)
- Lahonton’s vision - vision of egalitarianism
- we don’t get the idea of questioning automatic authority
- the transnational and transcultural comms between native Americans and europeans allows us to have debates about liberalism and democracy today
native american thought to liberalism
- native American thought to liberalism:
- YOU are individual but we won’t advance unless we ALL advance
- US rules go back to british empire
- liberalism ≠ unique to europe - it is an alteration of something else
cultural clash between french european and american ways of liberalism
Central sticking appoint was relation to Authority
* Jesuits required submission to God and hierarchy,
which made no sense to Americans
* Lahontan argued idea of equality before law to
which Kondiaronk countered this required
submission to a sovereign
* Fundamental difference was social cohesion/order
with Americans came from consensus-building
debate and the peer pressure of social norms. For
French/Europeans order came from coercion
* Material wealth as a source of power non-sensical
to Americans, but everything to Europeans
* Melding of American notions of freedom and
accountability with European notions of hierarchy
and wealth accumulation leads to liberalism
* Notable that the communitarian aspects of
American political order addressed, but not in a
manner that makes them a central societal
norm/anchor
native american vs european liberalism
EU Liberalism of Enlightement:
* liberty,
* rationality,
* individuality,
* progress,
* sociability,
* the general interest, and
* limited and accountable power
NA: (esp. Huron)
* No natural rulers, and leadership only by
consent,
* Everything debated orally with skill in this
conferring influence
* Each individual equal to all others
* The individual does need the collective to
survive
* Esteem comes from helping those in need;
unthinkable to allow someone to go hungry or
without shelter,
* No basis for conferring wealth in material
possessions into power over others
importance of studying liberalism:
Forms the backbone of global international order
* International law built up from the principles of liberalism
* Embedded within liberalism is a sense of hierarchy
* Also carries an explicit sense that society/community matters
* History of liberalism also shows that it is not static
* It is not a European invention, but rather a Western interpretation
* New actors can bring change to core ideas, laws, order
The State ‘Reinvented’ and the State as center of international life
state becomes guarantor of a set of rights:
* Includes freedom of trade, property
rights
* Generates explicit economic role for
state
* Not as director of economic
activity, but as referee
* Interdependence creates possibility for
positive-sum games: mutual cooperation for
mutual benefit
* Values & norms can form basis for mutual
cooperation
embedded liberalism
1945-54 moment of genius - they build international architecture to permeate and cement liberal values during a time of recalibration. * This embeds interests of main post-World War 2 Western powers at the heart of the international system
Relates back to the philosophical basis for international law
* Grounded broadly in thinking of Scottish Englightenment
* An extension beyond conscious, to unconscious ‘rules’
* The language you use creates path dependency (past events or decisions constrain later events or decisions)
* How you construct and organize institutions creates
path dependency
* Implication is that while details are argued about in
international politics, the basic liberal path is still followed
- MDGs (Millennium Development Goals - by the U.N.) and SDGs (sustainable dev goal) an attempt to reframe this logic and use it to combat poverty
why has liberalism so successfully become embedded in societal and international order
- A theory of restrained power aimed at protecting
individual rights and securing the space in which
people can live without governmental oppression . - A theory of economic interactions and free
markets enabling individuals to benefit from the
mutual exchange of goods. - A theory of human progress over time intended to
enable individuals to develop their potential and
capacities as long as they do not harm others. - A theory of mutual interdependence and state-
regulated welfare that is necessary for individuals
to achieve both liberty and flourishing. - A theory that recognizes the diversity of group life-
styles and beliefs and aims for a plural and tolerant
society
Liberal Institutionalism and Collective Security
- Liberalism:
* Interdependence creates possibility for positive-sum games:
mutual cooperation for mutual benefit
* Values & norms can form basis for mutual cooperation - Key to peaceful, prosperous, world order is
institutions of collective security (Wilson)
* Overcome security dilemma through international
institutions
* Basis for creation and adherence to international law - Key institutions of collective security
* League of Nations, United Nations
* International Criminal Court
* Tension with state sovereignty
- autarchy - economically independant state/country
- complex interdependance - trade
- peace BETWEEN DEMOCRACIES
Where do we go with Liberalism in International Politics? (leads into lecture 5)
Things that are coming in the course:
* Complex interdependence
* i.e., globalization, regionalism
* Theories of democratic peace
* International organizations
* International law
* Collective security
* Centrality of norms and ideas
* i.e. constructivism
7 central concepts of liberalism
- liberty,
- rationality,
- individuality,
- progress,
- sociability,
- the general interest, and
- limited and accountable power
The point of contention… where does authority sit?
