Liberalism

Question 1

Who was an early liberalist?

Answer 1

Immanuel Kant

Question 2

Kant’s essay argued that if the whole world consisted of states with _____________ there would be no aggressors

Answer 2

popular representation

Question 3

Why were liberalists criticized by early realists?

Answer 3

• for being “idealists”, “utopian”
• portrayed the world how it should be not how it is, can lead to dangerous misunderstanding and can leave you exposed
• says its an ideology, not a theory

Question 4

Why are early realist critiques not justified?

Answer 4

-not a critique of real Liberalism, critique of stereotypical liberalism

Question 5

Moravcsik argues that liberalism claims to describe what three factors?

Answer 5

• the nature of fundamental social actors (domestic-level actors)
• the nature of the state
• the nature of the international system

Question 6

Which factor of liberalism does realism not account for?

Answer 6

-nature of social (domestic) actors

Question 7

What factor does Moravcsik argue makes liberalism more accurate?

Answer 7

-analysis/description of domestic-level actors

Question 8

What is has the biggest influence according to liberalism?

Answer 8

preferences

Question 9

___________ act at the domestic level and are transmitted from the domestic level to ________ _______

Answer 9

preferences, state decision

Question 10

Preferences can be shaped by what three things

Answer 10

-societal ideas, interests, and institutions

Question 11

preferences shape ___________________

Answer 11

strategic calculations of governments

Question 12

while realism is based on state capabilities, liberalism considers ______ to determine state behaviour

Answer 12

preferences

Question 13

Is liberalism a mid-level theory or general theory?

Answer 13

General theory

Question 14

liberalism shows us which ________ cause a given ________

Answer 14

independent variables cause a given dependent variable

Question 15

What is realism’s key weakness?

Answer 15

doesn’t explain change in world politics

Question 16

How does liberalism explain change in world politics?

Answer 16

argues that change in preferences explain these shifts

Question 17

Is liberalism a bottom-up view or top-down view?

Answer 17

Bottom-up view: people shape the state, not vice-versa

Question 18

Moravcsik argues that liberalism is __________

Answer 18

analytically prior

Question 19

What does analytically prior mean in terms of liberalism?

Answer 19

• “socially differentiated individuals define their material and ideational interests independently of politics and then advance those interests through political exchange and collective action”
• ie preferences come before behaviour
• peoples political preferences (either materoal or ideas) are formed separate from politics and can be held in human nature

Question 20

What is a similarity between liberalism and realism?

Answer 20

• individuals are assumed to be rational, risk-averse actors

- however, liberalism acknowledges that some individuals might be risk-acceptant or irrational

Question 21

Liberalism posits that individuals will cooperate where ________

Answer 21

incentives to do so exist

Question 22

individual cooperation leads to _______

Answer 22

State-level: cooperation and harmony

Societal level: the formation of interest groups, political parties, NGOs

Question 23

the ____________, the more likely harmony is

Answer 23

greater the perceived gain

Question 24

According to liberalism, why do conflict and violence occur? (3 reasons)

Answer 24

• diverging fundamental beliefs
• conflict over scarce material goods
• inequalities in political power

Question 25

States represent _________

Answer 25

a subset of domestic society

Question 26

state officials define state interests on the basis of ___________

Answer 26

the interests of the most influential domestic group

ex. winning political party in a democracy
ex. winning communist party in authoritarian states like USSR or Cuba

Question 27

states transmit preferences and social power of individuals and groups into _________

Answer 27

state policy

Question 28

Preferences are transmitted through _________ and lead to ________

Answer 28

strategies and tactics, lead to different outcomes

Question 29

What leads to states not always acting in a unitary or rational fashion?

Answer 29

States often pursue particular interpretations and combinations of security, welfare, and sovereignty preferred by powerful domestic groups
-these interpretations and combinations of preferences can vary greatly

Question 30

What is an example of non-unitary decision making?

Answer 30

US under Trump

• -removing troops from Syria
• divergence between Trump’s views from democrats + republicans (ex. Lindsay Graham, Pat Robinson)

Question 31

Liberalism argues that states’ interest are neither naturally______ nor partially _________

Answer 31

naturally conflictual (realism) nor partially convergent (institutionalism)

Question 32

Where preferences are ________ everyone gets along

Answer 32

compatible

Question 33

Where states preferences __________, it leads to conflict

Answer 33

impose costs on another

Question 34

What are some examples of preferences overruling capabilities?

Answer 34

-if based on capabilities, US would have won in wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and in Iraq as they were more militarily powerful

Question 35

If a state wants an outcome badly enough, strong preferences can compensate for ____________

Answer 35

a deficiency in capabilities

Question 36

Who is the liberalist scholar we studied?

Answer 36

Moravcsik

Question 37

What does liberalism being a general theory entail?

Answer 37

needs to be fully comprehensive and well articulated paradigm that can describe everything
-only allowed a few key assumptions

Question 38

liberalism provides a “limited number of microfoundational assumptions that _________________”

Answer 38

link a broad rand of previously unconnected theories and hypotheses

Question 39

shifts in preferences imply _______

Answer 39

possibility of shifts in the international state system