IR Theories: Overview

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IR Theories Overview
2
Classifying the Theories

• Major Theoretical Schools
• Realism (positivist)
• Liberalism (positivist)
• Constructivism (postpositivist)
• Other Schools
• Marxist variants
• Lenins Imperialism
• Dependency Theory
• World Systems Theory
• Historical Materialism

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Classifying the Theories

• Critical Theories (Interpretive, Postpositivist)
• Postmodernists
• Critical Theorists
• Feminists
• Neomarxists

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Realism

• the strong do what they can and the weak suffer
  what they must. Thucydides, The Melian Dialog

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Three Assumptions of Realism (Weber, 14)

• International politics is composed of sovereign
  nation-states.
• There is no world government, which means that
  there is no international orderer.
• The absence of a world government or orderer by
  definition means that international politics is
  anarchical.

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Realism (contd)

• Key thinkers
• Classical realism
• Philosophical Foundations Thucydides, Hobbes
• Modern theorists Hans Morgenthau
• Key work Morgenthaus Politics Among Nations
  The Struggle for Power and Peace
• Structural Realism
• Modern theorist Kenneth Waltz
• Key works Man, the State and War and Theory of
  International Politics

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Table 2.1 Realism vs. (Neo)Realism (Weber, 15)
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Classical v. Neo

• The major difference between classical realism
  and neo-realism (also called structural realism)
  is the way they look at the international system
  and the implications of anarchy and the
  importance of human nature.
• The natural explanation versus the social
  (see Weber, 16)

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Classical Realism
10
The Nature of Man (Thomas Hobbes)

• The Equality of man
• Equality of body For as to the strength of
  body, the weakest has strength enough to kill the
  strongest, either by secret machination or by
  confederacy with others that are in the same
  danger with himself.
• Equality of mind they will hardly believe
  there be many so wise as themselves

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State of Nature (Hobbes)

• if any two men desire the same thing, which
  nevertheless they cannot both enjoy, they become
  enemies and in the way to their end (which is
  principally their own conservation, and sometimes
  their delectation only) endeavour to destroy or
  subdue one another.

12
Law of Nature (Hobbes)

• A law of nature, lex naturalis, is a precept,
  or general rule, found out by reason, by which a
  man is forbidden to do that which is destructive
  of his life, or taketh away the means of
  preserving the same, and to omit that by which he
  thinketh it may be best preserved.

13
War (Hobbes)

• Hereby it is manifest that during the time men
  live without a common power to keep them all in
  awe, they are in that condition which is called
  war and such a war as is of every man against
  every man. For war consisteth not in battle only,
  or the act of fighting, but in a tract of time,
  wherein the will to contend by battle is
  sufficiently known and therefore the notion of
  time is to be considered in the nature of war, as
  it is in the nature of weather.

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Principle Number One

• Political realism believes that politics, like
  society in general, is governed by objective laws
  that have their roots in human nature (57)
• Implications
• Preferences arent the issue (the world is as it
  is, not as you might want it to be)
• Rational theory is possible.
• Truth can be distinguished from opinion
• Human nature is constant

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Principle Number Two

• The main signpost that helps political realism
  to find its way through the landscape of
  international politics is the concept of interest
  defined in terms of power (58).
• Implications
• Politics is to be understood apart from
  economics, ethics, aesthetics or religion.
• Assumption statesmen act in terms of interest
  and power.
• To search for the clue to foreign policy
  exclusively in the motives of statesmen is both
  futile and deceptive (59).

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Principle Number Three

• Realism assumes that its key concept of interest
  defined as power is an objective category which
  is universally valid, but it does not endow that
  concept with meaning that is fixed once and for
  all (59).
• Implications
• The exact definition of power may change over
  time or because of context.
• If change to the international system happens, it
  will be within the strictures of the perennial
  forces that have shaped the past and not because
  of some new innovation born of abstract
  theoretizing.

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Principle Number Four

• Morality and state action Realism maintains
  that universal moral principles cannot be applied
  to the actions of states in their abstract
  universal formulations, but they must be filtered
  through the concrete circumstances of time and
  place (61).
• Note the Lincoln quote and the idea of outcomes
  as the issue.

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Principle Number Five

• The morality of a given states action cannot be
  linked to the moral laws that govern the
  universe (61).
• In other words God isnt on the side of
  specific state.

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Principle Number Six

• Politics is about power (just as economics is
  about wealth and the legal profession is about
  law).

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Structural Realism Why Conflict in the
International Arena?

• Neorealist see power as a means, not an end
  (63-64).
• The struggle for power arises simply because men
  want things, not because of the evil in their
  desires (64).
• (Contrast this with classical realism.)
• Neorealism contends that international politics
  can be understood only if the effects of
  structure are added to the unit-level
  explanations of traditional realism (65).

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More Structural Realism

• Its the very structure of the international
  system!
• Lack of central authority means states pursue
  their own interests, often forcefully and in
  conflict with the actions of other states.
• Hence, war occurs because there is nothing to
  prevent it (Waltz 1959188 as quoted on Weber,
  19).
• The stag hunt example (also on 19).

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Even More Realism (other varieties)

• Offensive
• assumes that nation-states want to maximize
  their aggregate power and will therefore be
  predisposed to expansionist policies
  (Sterling-Folker, 15).
• Key works Mearsheimer 2001 and Zakaria 1998.

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Even More Realism (other varieties)

• Defensive
• Defensive realism predicts great variation in
  internationally driven expansion and suggests
  that states ought to generally pursue moderate
  strategies as the best route to security. Under
  most circumstances, the stronger states in the
  international system should pursue military,
  diplomatic, and foreign economic policies that
  communicate restraint (source
  http//www.irtheory.com/know.htm)
• Examples of defensive realism include
  offense-defense theory (Jervis, Stephen Van
  Evera, Sean Lynn-Jones, and Charles Glaser),
  balance-of-power theory (Barry Posen, Michael
  Mastanduno), balance-of-threat theory (Stephen
  Walt), domestic mobilization theories (Jack
  Snyder, Thomas Christensen, and Aron Friedberg),
  and security dilemma theory (Thomas Christensen,
  Robert Ross, and William Rose). (Sources Jeffrey
  W. Taliaferro, 'Security-Seeking Under Anarchy
  Defensive Realism Reconsidered,' International
  Security, 25, 3, Winter 2000/2001 152-86 and
  John J. Mearsheimer, (2002), Tragedy of Great
  Power Politics, W.W. Norton, New York).
• (Source http//www.irtheory.com/know.htm)

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Even More Realism (other varieties)

• Neoclassical looks at the relationship between
  third and second image/level analysis (i.e., the
  structure of the international system and the
  internal policy-making of states)
• Examples Friedberg 1988, Schweller 1998,
  Sterling-Folker 2002, Taliferro 2004 and
  Wohlforth 1993
• Source Sterling-Folker 16 17.

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Liberalism

• Liberalism covers a fairly broad perspective
  ranging from Wilsonian Idealism through to
  contemporary neo-liberal theories and the
  democratic peace thesis. Here states are but one
  actor in world politics, and even states can
  cooperate together through institutional
  mechanisms and bargaining that undermine the
  propensity to base interests simply in military
  terms. States are interdependent and other actors
  such as Transnational Corporations, the IMF and
  the United Nations play a role.
• Some texts Relevant chapters in David A. Baldwin
  (ed), Neorealism and Neoliberalism The
  Contemporary Debate, and C. Kegley (ed)
  Controversies in International Relations Realism
  and the Neoliberal Challenge.
• Source http//home.pi.be/7Elazone/ir_theory_ove
  rview.html

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More Liberalism

• Key intellectual progenitors Locke, Rousseau,
  Kant
• Variants
• Neoliberalism
• Complex Interdependence
• Idealism/ Liberal Internationalism A political
  theory founded on the natural goodness of humans
  and the autonomy of the individual. It favours
  civil and political liberties, government by law
  with the consent of the governed, and protection
  from arbitrary authority. In IR liberalism covers
  a fairly broad perspective ranging from Wilsonian
  Idealism through to contemporary neo-liberal
  theories and the democratic peace thesis. Here
  states are but one actor in world politics, and
  even states can cooperate together through
  institutional mechanisms and bargaining that
  undermine the propensity to base interests simply
  in military terms. States are interdependent and
  other actors such as Transnational Corporations,
  the IMF and the United Nations play a role.
  (Source http//www.irtheory.com/know.htm)
• Democratic Peace Theory (Kant)

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Table 3.2 What Can Realism Explain and What
cant Realism Explain? (Weber, 40)
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A Liberal Variant Idealism (Broadly
Defined)(Table 3.1 in Weber)
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Kegleys Definition of the Idealist Worldview

• Bad behavior is because of bad institutions and
  structural arrangements
• War is not inevitable. Less anarchy will equal
  less war

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Kegleys Definition of the Idealist Worldview
(contd)

• Human nature is good/altruistic
• Human concern for the welfare of others makes
  progress possible.
• War and injustice require multilateral/collective
  solutions
• International society must reorganize itself to
  eliminate anarchy

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Kegley, Idealism and Levels of Analysis

• Violence and war are never finally located in
  any of the three images for Kegley. This is
  because war and conflictbad behaviorcan be
  eliminated if only political and social
  arrangements are better organized (41).

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Table 3.3 Waltz v. Kegley
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Constructivism

• Constructivism is a structural theory of the
  international system that makes the following
  core claims (1) states are the principal units
  of analysis for international political theory
  (2) the key structures in the states system are
  intersubjective, rather than material
• (3) state identities and interests are in
  important part constructed by these social
  structures, rather than given exogenously to the
  system by human nature or domestic politics.
• (edited passage from Alexander Wendt,
  "Collective Identity Formation and the
  International State," American Political Science
  Review, 88 (June 1994), pg 385.)
• Source http//home.pi.be/lazone/Constructivism_
  def.htm

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Intro to Constructivism

• The issue is not the core nature of states
  (e.g., good or bad). The issue is whether how
  states act and why they do so (see 60).
• In other words states determine the nature
  of international anarchy (60).
• what states do depends on what their identities
  and interests are, and identities and interests
  change (60).

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Intro to Constructivism (contd)

• Favors process over structure.
• Rejects rationalism
• Rationalists (means ends logic,pptimized by use
  of institutions)
• Constructvists (action is influenced by
  environment)
• Source http//home.pi.be/7Elazone/construct-sl
  ides.html
• Rejects the notion of international anarchy
• Wendt focuses on the role of practice over
  structure.
• If we focus on practice and process, then
  anarchy is what states make of it.

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Box 4.1 Whats Wrong with Rationality?

• Rationalism takes the identities and interests of
  states as given because it only recognized
  changes in state behavior but not changes in the
  states themselves (i.e., their identities and
  interests)
• Rationalism also takes the identities of and the
  interests generated from international anarchy as
  given. For rationalists, neither the structure
  of international anarchy nor the self-help system
  it is said to produce can be changed.
• Overall, rationalism limits theoretical
  understandings of change in agents and structures
  because it only examines changes in behavior and
  excludes an examination of changes in identities
  and interests.

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Box 4.2 Three Fundamental Principles of
Constructivist Social Theory

• People act toward objects, including other
  actors, on the basis of the meanings that the
  objects have for them SOCIAL KNOWLEDGE
• The meaning in terms of which action is
  organized arise out of interaction SOCIAL
  PRACTICE
• Identities and interests are produced in and
  through situated activity SOCIAL IDENTITIES
  AND INTERESTS
• Source Wendt 1995 (Weber, 65)

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