The belief that the State should be the primary referent object for security studies has for many, become outdated. With the failure of the Westphalian system in the late 20th century , under which States were the primary institutional agents, international debate sparked over issues of sovereignty and the State became less relevant as the primary referent object. The world was changing and as Dr. Javier Solana, Secretary General of NATO said in 1998, humanity and democracy, two principles at the fore of international debate, and essentially irrelevant to the original Westphalian system, now serve as guideposts in crafting a new international order, one better adapted to the security realities, and challenges, of today. The Westphalian system essentially gave the international community an effective method to divide territory and recognize the boundaries of States and In the Westphalian system the goals of the State and what were thought to be in the best national interest and were considered to out way any needs of individual citizens or groups.
However, in the interconnected world in which we live today and with the advent of technologies linking people across the globe with the click of a button, traditional identities and the roles of States as the primary referent object in security studies have failed. Non-traditional security threats have emerged over the recent decades and are increasingly accorded more attention and importance than some traditional security threats because they threaten the people and the nation itself, as opposed to traditional threats directed solely against the State. This essay will discuss the debate over traditional and non-traditional security threats as viewed in the schools of realism and libe...
... middle of paper ...
...Studies, Washington, District of Columbia.2008. pp 10. Retrieved 6 December 2011
E, Carr. 'The Twenty-Years' Crisis 1919-1939: Introduction to the Study of International Relations'. New York: Harper-Collins, 1964. pp. 161
iBid. pp. 153
T, Shiping. 'From Offensive Realism to Defensive Realism: A Social Evolutionary Interpretation of China's Security Strategy'. Paper No. 3. The S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technical University, Singapore. 2007. pp. 31. Retrieved 7 Dec 2011 < http://www.rsis.edu.sg/publications/SSIS/SSIS003.pdf>
S, Craig. 'Chinese Perceptions of Traditional And Non-traditional Security Threats'. Strategic Studies Institute, US Army. March 2007. pp. 101. Retrieved 7 December 2011 < http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/pub765.pdf>
iBid.
Steven Hook and John Spanier's 2012 book titled “American foreign policy since WWII" serves as one of the most important texts that can be used in understanding the underlying complexities on American foreign policies. Like the first readings that are analyzed in class (American Diplomacy by George Kennan and Surprise, Security, and the American Experience by John Lewis Gaddis), this text also brings history into a more understandable context. Aside from being informative and concise in its historical approach, Hook and Spanier also critiques the several flaws and perspectives that occurred in the American foreign policy history since World War II.
International organizations such as NATO and the UN are essential not only for global peace, but also as a place where middle powers can exert their influence. It is understandable that since the inception of such organizations that many crises have been averted, resolved, or dealt with in some way thro...
Schuman, Michael. "Why Do We Fear a Rising China?" Time Magazine, 7 June 2011. Web. 1 Oct. 2013.
But every coin has two side, so does war. Some people think war will always around us because the country need develop. “The prominent University of Chicago political scientist John J. Mearsheimer, a self-declared “card-carrying realist,” sees great danger for the United States in China’s continued prosperity: “Can China rise peacefully? My answer is no. If China continues its impressive economic growth over the next few decades, the United States and China are likely to engage in an intense security competition with considerable potential for war” (2006, 160).” (James Payne, 2012) People around the world can see that China follow a peaceful way to develop fast both on military and economic. But there are still have some people believe it’s dangerous. I can understand what they are concern about, but every country wants to develop as well as the U.S., and the main goal is not to occupied or flaunt anything, the main aim is to make the ordinary people who live in the country have a better life. And the country develop their military is in order to protect their citizen, and make their citizen fell safety. There is a Chinese old saying “One shouldn 't have the heart to harm others, but must be vigilant so as not to be harmed.” We cannot have a bad idea for others, but we still need protect ourselves to avoid hurt. I think this view is the same as between
David Reynolds has written and enlightening book named “From Munich to Pearl Harbor” discussing three main objectives dealing with World War II. The first of the three objectives is to provide a detailed and clear narrative story from the years between Munich to Pearl Harbor. The second of the three purposes or objectives of the book is to analyze and show how President Franklin Delano Roosevelt led the American people into a new perspective on international relations that were different from anything Americans had known. The last of the three objectives of the book is to show the developments between the years of 1938 through 1941. Many of these developments were very important later for the foreign policy of the United States not only during the Second World War but also during the Cold War complications with Russia and today with President Bush’s war on terror currently taking place in Iraq.
Bearing in mind that the threat of China’s dependency on imports of natural resources has the potential to threaten the official ideology of Confucianism, the real threat is to the interests of the state and the Communist Party of China, because the future of the party and stability of the country is dependent on the continued growth of the Chinese economy. Maintaining the flow of raw materials is the main objective of the PRC because without them the economic engine of the China would be at a stand still, which has the potential to be seen by the people of China as a weakness and flaws in the current governing system. China should continue developing trade relations and international connections because the PRC has been remarkably successful in creating a network of countries who will be loyal in business and political reform. China has has a strategic focus on building relations with nations whom America is not keen on. This has also perpetuated the realization the the Chinese system of governance provides a second option to the ‘Western Consensus’, as a viable means for successful economic growth coupled with strict government control. China must operate multilaterally to continue the trajectory of relation and loyalty building in other countries. This will assist china with the key pillar goals of, building a comprehensive national power; advance incrementally in order to consolidate a position of strength, and maintaining stability, and with the objective that China will be in the position to continue imports of raw material to Chinese industry in the event of a sea trade embargo from opposition countries like the United...
Evaluating threats to America’s national security is a challenge that is undertaken by academics, intelligence analysts, policy-makers, and anyone else with the patience. During the Cold War, America’s biggest concern was easy to define, the only other state capable of competing with America, the Soviet Union. Today, America faces threats from states, non-state actors, domestic groups, and even economic conditions. However, two states should always be kept in mind when discussing national security, China and Russia, with China being the biggest threat.
Wendt, Alexander. “Constructing International Politics.” International Security. Cambridge: President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1995. 71-81. Print.
Kent, J. and Young, J.W. (2013), International Relations Since 1945: A global History. 2nd edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
The threat of global terrorism continues to rise with the total number of deaths reaching 32,685 in 2015, which is an 80 percent increase from 2014 (Global Index). With this said, terrorism remains a growing, and violent phenomenon that has dominated global debates. However, ‘terrorism’ remains a highly contested term; there is no global agreement on exactly what constitutes a terror act. An even more contested concept is whether to broaden the scope of terrorism to include non-state and state actors.
Additionally, in the book US FOREIGN POLICY, Michael Cox (2012) concluded that “China’s peaceful rise has largely consoled its neighbors and the United States that it remains a status quo power. However, as it has risen, there are some (perhaps an expanding number) who predict this will lead to increased regional and global competition” (p.266). Clearly, Michael Cox indicated the point that there might be more competitions in the future relation between China and the rest of the world no matter China rises peacefully or not. In particular, China and the United States will face many intense issues since they are the two giants in th...
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.
Whenever world politics is mentioned, the state that appears to be at the apex of affairs is the United States of America, although some will argue that it isn’t. It is paramount we know that the international system is shaped by certain defining events that has lead to some significant changes, particularly those connected with different chapters of violence. Certainly, the world wars of the twentieth century and the more recent war on terror must be included as defining moments. The warning of brute force on a potentially large scale also highlights the vigorousness of the cold war period, which dominated world politics within an interval of four decades. The practice of international relations (IR) was introduced out of a need to discuss the causes of war and the different conditions for calm in the wake of the first world war, and it is relevant we know that this has remained a crucial focus ever since. However, violence is not the only factor capable of causing interruption in the international system. Economic elements also have a remarkable impact. The great depression that happened in the 1920s, and the global financial crises of the contemporary period can be used as examples. Another concurrent problem concerns the environment, with the human climate being one among different number of important concerns for the continuing future of humankind and the planet in general.
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”.
In order to answer the question concerning the formation of states, it is necessary to clarify what constitutes a state; the Oxford English Dictionary defines a state as ‘a nation or territory considered as an organized political community under one government’. There are a number of ways and processes in which to analyse what state formation is, why they have formed and the way in which this has occurred. State emergence can be traced back to the creation of territorial boundaries in medieval Europe, such as the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, and its transition to a modern state can be attributed to the introduction of gunpowder in war (Hague & Harrop, 2010: 64). The formations of states have also been influenced by the growth of bureaucracy, administration and organisations. There are different theories as to the reason why states form, a certain few of which can be divided into the categories of rationalist, culturalist and structuralist perspectives. In this essay, these perspectives shall enter the debate in trying to justify the reason for state formation and the way in which it occurs. The most prominent feature in the formation of states appears to be the prevention and engagement of a state in war and its following consequences.