Theories of Global Politics (Liberalism)

Question 1

When was the Liberal position influential?

Answer 1

In the West after WW1. Liberal ideas attracted attention 1970s onwards, often in the form of neoliberal institutionalism. The end of the Cold War (‘liberal moment’ in world affairs) saw growing impact of globalisation and a new wave of democratisation in 1990s each gave liberal theory additional impetus.

Question 2

What is neoliberal institutionalism?

Answer 2

A school of thought within liberalism that emphasizes the scope for cooperative behaviour within the international system while not denying its anarchic character.

Question 3

What is Democratization?

Answer 3

Transition from authoritarianism to liberal democracy, reflected in the granting of basic freedoms and political rights, the establishment of competitive elections and the introduction of market reforms.

Question 4

What is the key Liberal belief?

Answer 4

• Notion of harmony/balance amongst competing interests: individuals, groups and states may pursue self-interest but a natural equilibrium will tend to assert itself.
• Competing interests complement one another; conflict is reconcilable. Just as natural or unregulated equilibrium tends to emerge in economic life, a balance of interests tends to develop amongst states of the world, disposing liberals to believe in the possibility of peace and cooperation.
  
  • John Locke: individuals act rational and this is how the natural equilibrium is reached - people are harmonious.

Question 5

How is Liberalism similar to Realism?

Answer 5

• Both accept world affars are shaped by competition amongst states implying the international system is decentralised. ✅
• Liberals assume competition within the system is conducted in the wider framework of harmony - inclines them to believe in internationalism. Realists underestimate the scope for cooperation and integration within the decentralized system. ❌

Question 6

What is Commercial Liberalism?

Answer 6

Form of liberalism that emphasizes the economic and international benefits of free trade, leading to mutual benefit and general prosperity as well as peace amongst states.

Question 7

What does interdependence liberalism see as the benefits of free trade?

Answer 7

Key theme within commerical liberalism is free trade.

Benefits:

• Allows each country to specialise in the production of goods and services that it is best suited to produce (‘comparative advantage’).
  
  • this does allow for a relative gain position (protectionist economy).
• Draws states into a web of economic interdependence - means material costs of international conflict are so great warfare becomes unthinkable.
• Draws people of different races, creeds and languages together (Cobden - “bonds of eternal peace”).
• Maintains peace for neg reasons (fear of being deprived of necessities).
• Ensures different people are united by shared values and common commercial culture - so we have a better understanding of one another (war, thus, becomes irrational as it would ruin trade bonds - FT keeps peace).

Question 8

What do Keohane and Nye mean by Complex Interdependence?

Answer 8

The extent to which people and gov’t in the modern world are affceted by what happens elsewhere (particularly by the actions of thier counterparts in other countries).

This applies to…

• Economics (through globalisation)
• Climate change
• Development
• Poverty reduction
• HR

Suggests realists view of military and diplomatic international politics (‘high-politics’) is being misplaced by ‘low-politics’ of welfare, environmental protection and political justice. Relations amongst states prioritize trade over war and tend twards cooperation or integration (e.g. the EU).

Question 9

What is meant by ‘high-politics’?

Answer 9

Issue areas that are primary importance, usually taken to refer to define and foreign policy generally, and particularly to matters of state preservation.

Question 10

What is meant by ‘low-politics’?

Answer 10

Issue areas that aren’t seen to involve a state’s vital national interests, whether in the foreign or the domestic sphere.

Question 11

What are the disagreements between interdependance liberals?

Answer 11

• Strong liberals: believe qualititative changes have taken place in international system which have modified the impact of anarchy, self-help and the security dilemma - it’s created a tendency towards peace, cooperation and integration (Burton 1972; Rosenau 1990).
• Weak liberals: accept neorealist assumptions (particularly the implications of international anarchy) - highlights the extent to which modern realist and liberal theory sometimes overlap (Axelrod 1984; Stein 1990).

Question 12

What belief does Republican liberalism share with realists?

Answer 12

• Adopts ‘inside-out’ approach. ✅
• Both agree in viewing states as essentially self-seeking actors (each state poses a potential threat to others). ✅
• Stresses peace and international harmony of international system, but realism is power politics. ❌
• External behaviour of state is crucially influenced by its political and constitutional make-up.❌
  
  • e.g. authoritarian/autocratic states seen to be inherently aggressive/militaristic, which use force to maintain power (keep control with scare mongering about break out of war) (Doyle 1986, 1995).
  • Authoritarian states are unstable - lack institutional mechanisms for repsonding to popular pressure and balancing rival interests, so are impelled towards foreign policy. If support can’t be ensured by popular consent, ‘patriotic war’ may provide the only solution.

Question 13

What is the Democratic Peace Thesis?

Answer 13

Notion that there is an intrinsic link between peace and democracy, in particular that democratic states don’t go to war with one another.

Question 14

How does democratic peace thesis work?

Answer 14

Resurfaced after collapse of communism. Wider acceptance of liberal-democratic principles and structures (+ extension of market capitalism) promised to create a more stable and peaceful global order - supported by the fact there’s never been a war between 2 democratic states.

In short:

• 2 democracies won’t go to war because they have too much to lose - upset electorate and break trade deals with the country. Organisations, e.g. EU, thus keep peace between countries.

Question 15

What is Liberal interventionism?

Answer 15

Idea that democracy can and should be promoted through military imposed ‘regime change’.

Question 16

Why has liberalism interventionism caused ‘deep controversy’?

Answer 16

Liberal intervention is based upon what is morally right, but doesn’t acknowledge the consequences of the actions.

For example:

• ISIS sprung up in Iraq after the Iraq war saw dictator Saddam Hussein killed.
  
  • This meant that the new gov’t in Iraq was relying upon the US army who remained there for a while, but Iraqi people were not invested in gov’t.
    
    • When the US troops left ISIS took advantage of the lack of gov’t and took over, which saw many Iraqi people to run away.

Question 17

What do liberals hope for from international institutions?

Answer 17

Constrain the ambitions of soveriegn states. They should act as an arbiter that provides fair outcomes for both bodies in the negotiation process.

Question 18

How does Social Contract Theory influence them?

Answer 18

Developed by Hobbes and Locke (1632-1704) - the construction of a sovereign power can safegaurd citizens from chaos and barbitary of the ‘state of nature’.

Question 19

What does Woodrow Wilson mean by his ‘turning a Jungle into a Zoo’ analogy?

Answer 19

Construction of sovereign power provides the basis for the establishment of the rule of law, which would turn the ‘jungle’ of international politics (states, as animals, are free to do whatever) into a ‘zoo’ (states are confined to their cages, what the rule of law allows them to do).

Question 20

How have they gone about achieving this (social contract theory) in practice?

Answer 20

• League of Nations.
• UN - attracted more support and established itself as permanent feature of global politics.
  
  • Liberals looked at such bodies to establish a rule-goverened international system that would be based on collective security and respect for international law.
  • Neoliberals built on this approach and practise neoliberal institutionalism - institutions are mediators, to facilitate cooperation among states on matters of common interest.

Question 21

Why have Neoliberals put their faith in Absolute Gains to secure international cooperation?

Answer 21

Argue cooperation is difficult and prone to break down because of the emphasis by states on ‘relative gains’, but neoliberals assert that states are more concerned with absolute gains - instead of engaging in one-upmanship, states are willing to cooperate if they calculate that they will be better off in real terms as a result.

Question 22

For what reasons did interest in liberal theory re-emerge from the 1970s onwards?

Answer 22

Emergence of a series of trends in global politics that appeared to correspond closely with liberal thinking:

• Globalisation generated interest in interdependence liberalism (particularly as liberal political economy cast globalisation in a positive light - associated it with economic dynamism and the prospect of worldwide prosperity).
• Wave of democratization in late 1980s (fall of Berlin wall and communism) caused resurgence of republican liberalism, reviving debates that had originated in the aftermath of WW1 about the link between democracy and peace.
• Growing prominence of international organisations helped establish neoliberal institutionalism as a major rival to neoliberalism, seemingly bearing out the possibility of ‘cooperation under anarchy’.

Question 23

What has happened post-1990s to challenge liberalism?

Answer 23

Other trends emerged that defy liberal analysis:

• Political Islam and wider tendency towards religious revivalism.
• New developments ran counter to liberal belief that modernization and secularization come hand in hand, as religious belief is either weakened by advance of rationalism, or is increasingly confined to the private sphere.
• Challenges to liberal theory have arisen due to its multifarious and complex character - the coherence of liberal theory is questioned.
  
  • liberalism’s 3 main sub-traditions don’t necessarily support one another, and may be contradictory (Griffiths 2011). Thus support for free trade and integration of national economies into a single global economy (interdependence liberalism) may undermine quality of domestic democracy (core concern of republican liberalism).

Question 24

What are the tensions within Liberalism?

Answer 24

• Advancement of globalisation highlights divisions within liberal political economy between those who placed faith in untrammelled workings of global markets, and those who argue that global capitalism needs to be protected from itself through a framework of regulation.

Growth of international organisations exposes tensions within liberalism between its internationalist and its cosmopolitan tendencies.

• Liberal internationalists seek to use international organisation as a mechanism through which sovereign nation-states can cooperate.
• Liberal cosmopolitans advocate supranational governance and may insist that the norm of state sovereignty is subordinated to the norm of human rights.