debates of international realtions Flashcards
what was the first fight?
realism v utopian liberalism
who was angell and what did he argue?
published ‘the great illusion’ in 1909 and argues that the only reason states go to war is for economic expansion, and that economic interdependence means that war is unlikely to occur
(this argument was disproven by the fact that ww1 happened)
when was the first chair of international relations created?
aberystwith university in 1919
who was carr and what did he argue
published a very famous book called the ‘twenty year crisis’
- argued that international tensions can be reduced to the struggle between the haves and haves nots
- war occurs when the have nots have more power than the haves
- critiques angells idea that international law can benefit everyone as it is made by the state who has power and is therefore fundamentally politically
calls this the critique of utopian universalism
what are the foundational beliefs of realism
- power isnt just about economics its about human nature
- war cannot be avoided due to human nature and instread can only be mitigates
morganthau’s methods of mitigation
- balence of power
- prudence:
what did morgenthau believe about foreign policy
it should guarantee a country’s security to allow each citizen to be free
why is it often argues that international relations did not start in 1919
many argues that IR started way before 1919 but had a strong trie with colonial administration and therefore attempts to hid it with this new narrative
why was liberalism re-defined as neoliberalism
after the vietnam war and the detente of the cold war there was no explainations as to why non state powers and non military powers were gaining such emerging influecne
what are the 3 strands of neo-liberalism
1) democratic peace theory: spread democracy around the world was 2 democraices are unlikely to go to war with eachtoerh
2) interdependence: nei: economic interdependnece means less likely to got o war
3) neo-instutionalism: insittuions constrain the actions of states and give them more of a inscentive to sooperate as they have more to loose
issues with neo-liberalism
could cause agression against non-democratic states
- issues of a moral crusade
- can values be universial?
democracies dont og to war with echother but they often go to war with non-democratic states
what are the key beliefs of neo-realism
- moving away from human nature to stucutres
- waltzs theory of strcuutres became popular
- there are only 2 strcuutres in society which can occur. local politics is herarchical but international in anrachicial as all states have funcational equality but have different economic and miltiary capapbilities
