POL 2103 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Liberal Internationalism, Politics Among Nations, Hans Morgenthau
17 Oct 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
POL2103 – Midterm Review
School of
Thought
Concept
Theorist
Importance to IR
Liberal
Internationalists
- created post WW1 after shock
of the war (causalities)
- achieve global structures
within the international system
that promote liberal world order
- ex: global free trade, liberal
economics and liberal political
systems
Woodrow Wilson
- american politician and president
during the great depression
- 14 points article:
-> private diplomacy = bad
-> public diplomacy = more
peaceful world/happier
citizens bc politicians would
make their decisions knowing
that they were being watched
by the public
-> people do not want to go to
war
-> leaders reap the benefits
while the civilians suffer
- creation of the League of
Nations
- “power of politics” between
nations
- successes: helps Germany
with debt crisis from WW1
through international
investment
- failures: indecision, LON
often fails to intervene in
many political issues
(Hitler’s rise to power –
claims the Rhineland,
annexes Austria, Hungary,
Czech, declares war)
- used to educate people
that war is not in the
interests of the people, that
the civilians are the ones
that pay the consequences
of war
Classical
Realism
- belief that international
relations are rooted in human
nature
- human nature is chaotic and
unstable and therefore is
reflected in the states decisions
E.H. Carr
- book: The Twenty Years Crisis
- two traditions of IR:
a) utopians/idealists
b) realists
- two different kinds of states:
- gives us a way of
understanding international
relations through the eyes of
human nature
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
and in international relations
- states work as single units and
have clearly defined
characteristics
a) haves
- strong, sovereign
- always want to stay in power
- feel no need to go to war because
they are already stable
b) have not’s
- weak, dependent
- always want to change the power
dynamic and be like the “haves”
- blamed liberal internationalists for
WW2 because the “have nots”
wanted to go to war
Hans Morgenthau
- book: Politics Among Nations
- liberalism stresses what “ought to
be” good intentions are not enough
of a reason
- realism stresses “the world as it is”
- universal features of classical
realism:
1) constant state of war bc states
are rooted in human nature
2) lasting peace is temporary
3) balance of power: ensures that
one single state does not
dominate the others
- national security is enhanced
when military capabilities are
distributed so that no one state
is strong enough to dominate
all the others
- states will ally against
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
potentially powerful states to
strike down the balance of
power
Neo-Realism
history
- classical realism dominates
until Vietnam
-> loss in Nam causes world
to rethink international
relations strategies
- creation of neo-realism in
hopes of bringing realist
thought back to international
relations
logics of neo-realism
1) anarchy
international political system is
anarchic as there is no
supranational authority that can
enforce rules over the states
2) self-help
- states are the central actors in
international politics rather than
individuals or international
organizations
3) security
- states desire power so that
they can ensure their own self-
preservation
4) relative gains
- maximizing gains in
comparison to other states
(through trades, agreements)
Waltz
- critiques classical realism: claims
that it is not scientific enough
- claims that human nature is
problematic (human nature is a fixed
idea and international relations is
constantly changing)
how IR should work (three levels
of analysis):
1) individual level
- rooted in human nature
2) state and society
- type of government will
determine conflict
3) international system
- focus on system as a whole
and then we will be able to
understand individual states
- structure of the international
system based on two organizing
principles:
a) hierarchy
- units (states) have different
functions aka specialization
b) anarchy
- no “world government”
creates anarchy because
there is no one to enforce the
rules to other states
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
American politician and president during the great depression. > public diplomacy = more peaceful world/happier citizens bc politicians would make their decisions knowing that they were being watched by the public. > people do not want to go to war. > leaders reap the benefits while the civilians suffer. Successes: helps germany with debt crisis from ww1 through international investment. Failures: indecision, lon often fails to intervene in many political issues (hitler"s rise to power claims the rhineland, annexes austria, hungary, Used to educate people that war is not in the interests of the people, that the civilians are the ones that pay the consequences of war. Gives us a way of understanding international relations through the eyes of human nature. Created post ww1 after shock of the war (causalities) Achieve global structures within the international system that promote liberal world order. Ex: global free trade, liberal economics and liberal political systems.
