The process of globalization has converted this world into a global village resulting in mass movement of people for education, employment, and residence turning the countries into borderless nations. This has resulted in mixture of culture with different people expressing their view about the national and international policies formulated by the domestic and international bodies. Citizens attitude are the elements which create a political culture that play major role in the behavior and actions of persons. Various cultures across countries provide sociological account of political cultures within each country. According to Kegley and Blanton (2010) world’s political realities may be built on illusions and misconceptions and it is necessary to recognize changes in the world as the worlds future will be determined not only by the changes in the objective ‘facts’ of world politics but also by the meaning that people ascribe to those facts, the assumptions on which people base their interpretations, and the actions that flow from these assumptions and interpretations.
It is further pertinent to mention that policy makers look for information that reinforces the pre-existing beliefs about the world, assimilate new data into familiar images, equate the decisions with what one knows and believes and deny that contradictions the information one knows and most of the time rely on intuition than analysis (Kegley and Blanton, 2010). However culture is merely the aggregate the individual disposition and its meaning and significance are limited to the behavior (Street, 1997). It is because of its culture upon which the politics of United States is built and dominates the global politics. World politics follows accepted legal conventions about distinction which is powered by the culture of population around the world that perform various day to day activities who compete with each other because frequently they have different goals and objectives (Kegley and Blanton, 2010). Kegley and Blanton (2010) further elaborates the importance of culture in global politics mentioning the chronicle of interactions among states that remain the dominant political organizations in the world wherein the world affairs are also influenced by the new, big players in international affairs. The global level of analysis is one of the major factors affecting global politics which refers to the interactions of states and non state actors on global stage whose behaviors ultimately shape the international political system and the levels of conflict and cooperation that characterize world politics. Kegley and Blanton (2010) further presents the liberal and constructivist perspectives on war and peace, armed aggression and international security which are fundamentally shaped by the importance attached to shared ethics and morality in world politics.
Political Analysis Political analysis is the method by which the judgement upon any political event, in any part of the world, is performed. It is based on the perception of the political reality of the region or the country in question and the perception of the relationship of this political reality with international politics. In order to perceive the international situation and international politics, it is imperative to have general outlines that explain the political reality of every state and the relationships of these states with the other states of the world, especially the major powers that influence the progress of events in the world. Since the Islamic Ummah is commanded to carry the Islamic Da'wah to all people, it is therefore obligatory upon the Muslims to be in touch with the world with awareness of its conditions and perception of its problems. The Muslims must acquaint themselves with what motivates the states and the peoples and pursue the political actions that occur in the world.
In no field other than politics does the justification for action often come from a noteworthy event and the true cause stays hidden behind the headlines. The United States’ transformation from a new state to a global superpower has been a methodical journey molded by international conditions (the global terrain for statecraft), the role of institutions and their programmed actions, and ultimately, the interests of actors (the protection of participants in making policy’s items and i...
Political globalization is “carried out by institutions and systems, whether formal or informal, that transcend national or regional interests and address global issues.” (Davies 1). To understand political globalization, one must understand what falls under the category of politics, which involves the government, laws, and bureaucracies. Government allows for there to be stability in a country or region, as well as having agreements with the people.
The chosen level of analysis and international relation theory to explain this event are the individual-level of analysis and realism. This level of analysis focuses on the individuals that make decisions, the impact of human nature, the behavior of individuals acting in an organization, and how personality and individual experiences impact foreign policy...
In conclusion realist and liberalist theories provide contrasting views on goals and instruments of international affairs. Each theory offers reasons why state and people behave the way they do when confronted with questions such as power, anarchy, state interests and the cause of war. Realists have a pessimistic view about human nature and they see international relations as driven by a states self preservation and suggest that the primary objective of every state is to promote its national interest and that power is gained through war or the threat of military action. Liberalism on the other hand has an optimistic view about human nature and focuses on democracy and individual rights and that economic independence is achieved through cooperation among states and power is gained through lasting alliances and state interdependence.
Realism is the contrast of the Idealist conception that society can change on the foundation of an idea. The “Clash of Civilizations” by Samuel Huntington is a brilliant illustration that exhibits the power of ideas that has vastly influenced both foreign policies of countries, but also the discipline of International Relations. Samuel Huntington's “the clash of civilizations,” is based on the hypothesis: “In the post-Cold War world the most important distinctions among people are not ideological, political, or economic. They are cultural”. (Huntington, 1996, p. 21) Huntington recognizes the significance of the realist approach that the nation states will stay as the most influential actors in international relationships, but he refutes that nations’ interests can be described without any reference to culture (Huntington, 1996, p. 34). Instead, he suggests the civilization paradigm in which “supra-national civilizations” that act principally as nation states and practice their own civilization’s interests in a global setting that is structurally comparable to that portrayed by neo-realism (Milani & Gibbons, 2001). He claims that the clash of civilizations will dictate international politics and relationships, in particular, between the West and Islam (Huntington, 1996, p. 208). In this essay, I attempt to analyze how well Huntington's notion applies to present world scenario of international Jihadist terrorism and the United States' and other states' “war on terrorism”. - 8
To understand the international relations of contemporary society and how and why historically states has acted in such a way in regarding international relations, the scholars developed numerous theories. Among these numerous theories, the two theories that are considered as mainstream are liberalism and realism because the most actors in stage of international relations are favouring either theories as a framework and these theories explains why the most actors are taking such actions regarding foreign politics. The realism was theorized in earlier writings by numerous historical figures, however it didn't become main approach to understand international relations until it replaced idealist approach following the Great Debate and the outbreak of Second World War. Not all realists agrees on the issues and ways to interpret international relations and realism is divided into several types. As realism became the dominant theory, idealistic approach to understand international relations quickly sparked out with failure of the League of Nation, however idealism helped draw another theory to understand international relations. The liberalism is the historical alternative to the realism and like realism, liberalism has numerous branches of thoughts such as neo-liberalism and institutional liberalism. This essay will compare and contrast the two major international relations theories known as realism and liberalism and its branches of thoughts and argue in favour for one of the two theories.
The creation of the study of international relations in the early 20th century has allowed multiple political theories to be compared, contrasted, debated, and argued against one another for the past century. These theories were created based on certain understandings of human principles or social nature and project these concepts onto the international system. They examine the international political structure and thrive to predict or explain how states will react under certain situations, pressures, and threats. Two of the most popular theories are known as constructivism and realism. When compared, these theories are different in many ways and argue on a range of topics. The topics include the role of the individual and the use of empirical data or science to explain rationally. They also have different ideological approaches to political structure, political groups, and the idea that international relations are in an environment of anarchy.
People’s ideas and assumptions about world politics shape and construct the theories that help explain world conflicts and events. These assumptions can be classified into various known theoretical perspectives; the most dominant is political realism. Political realism is the most common theoretical approach when it is in means of foreign policy and international issues. It is known as “realpolitik” and emphasis that the most important actor in global politics is the state, which pursues self-interests, security, and growing power (Ray and Kaarbo 3). Realists generally suggest that interstate cooperation is severely limited by each state’s need to guarantee its own security in a global condition of anarchy. Political realist view international politics as a struggle for power dominated by organized violence, “All history shows that nations active in international politics are continuously preparing for, actively involved in, or recovering from organized violence in the form of war” (Kegley 94). The downside of the political realist perspective is that their emphasis on power and self-interest is their skepticism regarding the relevance of ethical norms to relations among states.
...e power with which powerful states can rule the weak preserving their status as a regional and global hegemony. Finally, it is incorporated the democratic system. Although debatable for some people, democracy serves to spread the altruistic and moralistic rhetoric of a free and peaceful world. Additionally, Western states do not hesitate about the rice of new powerful nations or the threats of the mass destruction weapons, they are constantly monitoring their menaces and evaluating what is the most accurate strategy to maintain at least the status quo in this respect. The Western states need the realist approach in order to be well prepared to cope with any threat. In a final conclusion, all of these reasons have been assimilated by Western states in order to restructure a strategic doctrines with the purposes of counteract any possible threat before they emerge.
The international system is an anarchical system which means that, unlike the states, there is no over ruling, governing body that enforces laws and regulations that all states must abide by. The International System in today’s society has become highly influential from a number of significant factors. Some of these factors that will be discussed are Power held by the state, major Wars that have been fought out in recent history and international organisations such as the U.N, NATO and the W.T.O. Each of these factors, have a great influence over the international system and as a result, the states abilities to “freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social, and cultural development”.
Kaufman, D., Parker, J., Howell P., Doty, G., (2004). Six Principles of Political Realism. In Understanding International Relations: The Value of Alternative Lenses. Morgenthau, H. J.; New York: McGraw-Hill.
The study of international relations takes a wide range of theoretical approaches. Some emerge from within the discipline itself others have been imported, in whole or in part, from disciplines such as economics or sociology. Indeed, few social scientific theories have not been applied to the study of relations amongst nations. Many theories of international relations are internally and externally contested, and few scholars believe only in one or another. In spite of this diversity, several major schools of thought are discernable, differentiated principally by the variables they emphasize on military power, material interests, or ideological beliefs. International Relations thinking have evolved in stages that are marked by specific debates between groups of scholars. The first major debate is between utopian liberalism and realism, the second debate is on method, between traditional approaches and behavioralism. The third debate is between neorealism/neoliberalism and neo-Marxism, and an emerging fourth debate is between established traditions and post-positivist alternatives (Jackson, 2007).
Since the late twentieth century, the world has experienced a vast transformation with regards to world economies, culture, and politics. The great advancements in technology and communication since the late twentieth century has served a catalysts for what is known today as globalization. The ambition to develop a single global economy along with a universal culture are the promises of globalization. Perhaps the clearest evidence that demonstrates globalization is a reality is the fact that at this point in time very diverse cultures form around the world closer to each other than ever before. That being said, when it comes to the spreading of democracy and human rights, having world cultures closer to each other can prove to be beneficial
We cannot stop the phenomenon of globalization due to strong interdependence of our lives on those things which are a product of globalization. It has complicated the process of education but has also created many opportunities for countries to break out of the traditional models of education. The idea of global citizen is seen as a person who can act locally but think globally, is a goal that keeps an eye on maintaining cultural diversity while exposing a country’s citizen to the benefits of globalization. Cultural diversity can be strengthened through globalization by providing means and resources to support cultural groups attempting to make a difference in society while maintaining their distinctive set of values and