Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
realism in international relation
realism and liberalism in international relations
realism and liberalism in international relations
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: realism in international relation
Foreign policy can be understood as a set of political goals that aims to outline how a particular state will interact with others For Beach (2012), “Foreign policy actions can be undertaken using a variety of different instruments, ranging from adopting declarations, making speeches, negotiating treaties, giving other states economic aid, engaging in diplomatic activity such as summits, and the use of military force”. No matter which instruments are used, the primary objective of states in outlining their foreign policies is to maximise their national security. As such, states go about maximising national security through different means such as by military force, economic prosperity and/or the welfare of its people. However, it has been difficult to analyse to what extent national security is a primary objective of states. Wolfers (1962) notes that it as an ambiguous concept because there is no universal understandings of what constitutes national security. Because of this, theories of International Relations have been important in explaining states’ motives and how they go about maximising state security, if it is their prime objective at all. This essay will first analyse the concept of national security through realism, which focuses on military power. It then assesses the liberal understanding, which espouses cooperation through liberal internationalism and broadening the concept of national security. Then, the constructivist position discusses the roles of political actors in placing emphasis on certain security issues to heighten it to a national security concern.
For realists, the concept of national security is an effective balancing of external threats. The realist tradition of IR theory is said to have stemmed from th...
... middle of paper ...
...tional Relations Theory: A Social Scientific Assessment, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Morgenthau, H. (1948) Politics among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace, New York: A. A. Knopf.
Navari, C. (2004) ‘Liberalism’, Security Studies: An Introduction, Williams, D., ed., London: Routledge.
Schmidt, B. (2012) ‘The primacy of national security’, Foreign Policy: theories, actors and cases, Smith, S., Hadfield, A., & Dunne, T., eds., Oxford University Press.
Walt, S. (1985) ‘Alliance formation and the balance of world power’, International Security, 9(4).
Waltz, K. (1979) Theory of International Politics, Reading, MA: Addison Wesley.
Wolfers, A. (1962) Discord and Collaboration: Essays on International Politics, Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press.
Van Evera, S. (1994) ‘Hypothesis on nationalism and war’, International Security, 19(1).
Barnet, Richard J. “The Ideology of the National Security State”. The Massachusetts Review, Vol. 26, No. 4. 1985, pp. 483-500
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.
New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. Shiraev, Eric B., and Vladislav M. Zubok. International Relations. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. Silver, Larry.
Wendt, Alexander. “Constructing International Politics.” International Security. Cambridge: President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1995. 71-81. Print.
Seton-Watson, H. (1960), Neither War nor Peace: The Struggle for Power in the Post-War World. Southampton: Camelot Press Ltd.
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.
Long debates outlined two confronting approaches, of traditionalists and wideners, first adherents of the realist school of thought, define security as a freedom from any objective military threat and security studies is defined, for example, by Stephen Walt as “the studies of the threat, use, and control of military force”. Tradi...
Realist thought on international relations fit comfortably within the context of the great wars of the twentieth century. Powerful nations possessing massive military forces took aim at one another to affect the hierarchical structure of the international system for the good of their own security and power. These wars, however, differ greatly from today’s unconventional war on terrorism. Therefore, the realist theories of yesterday, while still useful, require at least some tweaking to fit the present situation.
"An action or sequence of events that (1) Threatens drastically and over a relatively brief span of time to degrade the quality of life for the inhabitants of a state or (2) Threatens Significantly to narrow the range of policy choices available to government of a state, or to private, nongovernmental entities (persons, groups, corporations) within the state" (Ullman, 1983:133). Meanwhile, according to Simon Dalby, the security dimension in the study of International Relations has experienced a shift from the traditional perspective that is limited to war and peace. Toward a non-traditional perspective that emphasizes human security and contains more aspects. Security is no longer focused on interstate relations, but also on the security of society (Dalby, 2003:102-103). Peter Hough said that the definition of security is still a 'contested concept', or a concept that will continue to grow (Hough, 2004:15).
Alexander Wendt, “Anarchy is what states make of it: The social construction of power politics,” International Organization, Vol. 46, No. 2 (spring, 1992), pp. 391-425
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.
National security undeniably has a preponderant place in the political, economical and military agenda of each state. Therefore, the state has a paramount responsibility in the contexts of its own domestic and transnational security. Whatever may be the way the state adopts in order to protect itself and its citizens, it needs to be accord with an international system. In this sense the state tends to follow a specific model in terms of international relations. Focuses in the case of western societies in general, and more specifically the United States as the iconic model of the western world, states tend to favour a realist perspective in terms of national security. Albeit, what is exactly the realism theory in the national security field? According to Glaser the realist view proposes the achievement of most high standard quality of national security focused on the acquisition of superior grades of power among the relative states sparking the idea of the presence of an anarchical international system .
Dimitter, Lowell. World Politics. 1st ed. Vol. 55. New York: Johns Hopkins UP, 2002. 38-65.
The main purpose of conservative theories can be seen as the “explanation of political reality” and that they “help us to understand the world, and nothing more” (McGowan, Cornelissen & Nel, 2006). Conservative analysts state that a good theory can also assist decision-makers into creating better policies. Under the category of conservative theories falls realism. Donnelly (2000: 09) referred to realism as a “general orientation” that sees “international relations largely as a realm of power and interest.” This concedes that there is no concrete definition for realism, but it is rather a perspective on how political reality is shaped. Realists make certain assumptions on which they...
Baylis, Smith and Patricia Owens. 2014. The globalization of World Politics: An introduction to international relations. London. Oxford University Press.