GOVT 314 Lecture 21: International Politics Notes
23 Jun 2016
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Document Summary
Key point: there is an inescapable link between the abstract world of theory and the real world of policy. Policymakers rely on their ideas on how the world works in order to make decisions both domestically and internationally. Competition between theories helps reveal their strengths and weaknesses. The study of international affairs is best understood as a protracted competition between the realist, liberal, and radial (constructivist) traditions. A struggle for power among self-interested states and is generally pessimistic about the prospects for eliminating conflict and war. Dominant theoretical tradition throughout the cold war- provided simple but powerful explanations for war, alliances, imperialism, obstacles to cooperation, and other international phenomenon. Classical realists (hans morgenthau, rein niebuhr) believed that states had an innate desire to dominate others, which led them to fight wars, and that the multipolar balance-of-power system is a virtue in international affairs, seeing hegemony as dangerous.
