The globalisation of World politics (textbook) - chapter 7 Liberalism

Question 1

What are the three progressions of liberal thinking/internationalism?

Answer 1

The first dates back to the enlightenment in which the concepts of liberalist thought and the way of describing relations between nations began. Here it was believed that war could be solved through the development of a body of international rules and laws constraining the self-interest of states.

This then progressed past the first World War in which the League of Nations was created in reaction to the war. This was done to solve disputes between countries and managing each countries colonies.

The third wave takes us to present day. This is seen with the rise of non-western countries such as China, Indonesia, Brazil and Russia. Can other states and institutions take up the mantle of leadership following the US decline in recent times. Do other countries see this responsibility as relevant to world order.

Question 2

What is at the core of Kant and Bentham’s ideas?

Answer 2

The belief that reason could deliver freedom and justice in international relations.

Question 3

What did Bentham put forward as his utilitarian maxim?

Answer 3

The greatest happiness of the greatest number. This was thus the task for a judge for a legislator for the family of nations.

Question 4

What did Kant require as necessary for perpetual peace?

Answer 4

The transformation on individual consciousness, republican constitutionalism and a federal contract among states to abolish war - like a permanent peace treaty.

Question 5

What is liberal internationalism?

Answer 5

The supporting of international institutions, open markets, cooperative security and liberal democracy.

Question 6

What is the theory of democratic peace?

Answer 6

A central plank of liberal internationalist thought, the democratic peace thesis makes two claims: first, that liberal polities exhibit restraint in their relations with other liberal polities (the so-called separate peace), and second, that they are imprudent in relations with authoritarian states. The validity of the democratic peace thesis has been fiercely debated in the IR literature.

Question 7

What are the limitations of of the democratic peace?

Answer 7

It is not aware as to why democratic institutions are less likely to engage with conflict. Possible explanations include that it is because the decision is made by the people through the electorate and that democratic countries are wealthier meaning they have less to gain and more to lose. The most convincing explanation is that of amity between liberal nations.

Question 8

How did did the failure of interdependence between Britain and Germany (economic) before the first World War shift liberal thinking?

Answer 8

It shifted the thinking of peace from a natural condition to one that must be constructed and maintained. This was further supported by Woodrow Wilson with the advocacy of an international authority. This was supported with mechanisms that addressed disputes and dealt with them appropriately if a non-violent solution could not bear fruits.

Question 9

What were some of the key mechanisms of the League of Nations?

Answer 9

Collective security in which an attack on one nation concerns all nations, ceasing relations with offending states, imposing sanctions on these states and self-determination.

Question 10

What is self-determination?

Answer 10

A principle ardently, but selectively, espoused by US President Woodrow Wilson in the peace negotiations that followed the First World War: namely that each ‘people’ should enjoy self-government over its own sovereign nation-state. Wilson pressed for application of this principle to East/Central Europe, but did not believe that other nationalities (in colonized Asia, Africa, the Pacific, and the Caribbean) were fit for self-rule.

Question 11

What issues arose out of self-determination?

Answer 11

Contradictory support for different nations i.e. not applying self-determination equally to all nations.

Question 12

Why did the League of Nations collapse?

Answer 12

The fact that the US and the Soviet Union failed to join undermined its validity significantly. This was followed by the Manchurian crisis and the Ethiopian crisis in the 30s. It was killed off by Hitler’s decision to take back the Rhineland.

Question 13

How could some of the thinking in the inter-war period be looked at as Conservative?

Answer 13

This stems from the opposition to the idea of the League having coercive authority and this should only be reserved for sovereign states, as a change in the structure of the system rises non-western powers taking control. This was a radically imperialist point of view that was hospitable to empire and inhospitable to big alterations of democracy and to the subordination of states to the rule of law.

Question 14

What changes did the UN implement and add to the League of Nations after 1945?

Answer 14

One of the biggest changes was the power of veto - this was the acknowledgement of the need for consensus among great powers for the enforcement of action. This means any of the great powers could veto any coercive action proposed by the others.

Question 15

What is the ‘indispensable nation’?

Answer 15

The US.

Question 15

What is collective security?

Answer 15

The recognition that security for any one state in a system means security for all states in the system, and an agreement to collectively respond to aggression against any state in the system.

Question 16

How has liberalism and internationalism been viewed as a failure in the recent times?

Answer 16

Disagreements within the multilateral institutions, violence in the Middle East, Africa and Europe, the lack of effect that liberal foreign policies have had, the lack of hegemonic power in the fall in the US in which global risk is harder to manage, the rise of states wanting greater power - these have now turned the attention from talk of liberalism’s ascendency to its downfall.

Question 17

What is the issue in the relationship between liberal and illiberal democracies?

Answer 17

Liberal democracies have a tendency to be paternalistic and impose their viewpoint onto other countries. In practice, this leads to intervention, foreign policy activism, scrutiny of other states, and the pursuit of universal principles.

Question 18

How does John Ikenberry describe the three phases of the liberal internationalism?

Answer 18

Phase 1 corresponds with the inter-war period and the failed attempt to replace the old balance of power with the rule of law.

Phase 2 refers to the creation of the UN post- 1945 while building other institutions for the international system. It also includes an American-led international order.

Phase 3 requires a movement away from a sovereignty-based order towards one where global institutions become the new rulers of the world.

Question 19

What is the argument for an informal Imperialism today?

Answer 19

This argues for Western powers to take great control of world order by inflating states that are in need of more liberal views and where there is a demand for liberal imposition worldwide.