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Old Monday, June 15, 2015
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Default Notes for Liberalism and Neoliberalism

Introduction:

• The central issues that the liberalism seeks to address are the problems of achieving lasting peace and cooperation in international relations, and the various methods that could contribute to their achievement.
• Its roots lie in the broader liberal thought originating in the Enlightenment
• Liberalism emphasizes that the broad ties among states have both made it difficult to define national interest and decreased the usefulness of military power.
• Increasing globalization, the rapid rise in communications technology, and the increase in international trade in 1970s meant that states could no longer rely on simple power politics to decide matters.
• Liberal approaches to international relations are also called ‘theories of complex interdependence’

Liberalism claims
• The world is a harsh and dangerous place, but the consequences of using military power often outweigh the benefits. International cooperation is therefore in the interest of every state.
• Military power is not the only form of power. Economic and social power matter a great deal too. Exercising economic power has proven more effective than exercising military power.
• Different states often have different primary interests.
• International rules and organizations can help foster cooperation, trust, and prosperity.

Example: Relations among the major Western powers fit a model of complex interdependence very well. The United States has significant disagreements with its European and Asian allies over trade and policy, but it is hard to imagine a circumstance in which the United States would use military power against any of these allies. Instead, the United States relies on economic pressure and incentives to achieve its policy aims.
Origin:
Generally, its roots lie in the broader liberal thought originating in the age of Enlightenment.
More importantly, catalytic events in the early 2 decades of 20th century caused paradigmatic revolution in the field of International Relations.

a. 1st World War: The total number of military and civilian casualties in World War I was over 37 million: over 17 million deaths and 20 million wounded, ranking it among the deadliest conflicts in human history.
b. Bolshevik Revolution-1917 in Russia:

Marxist-Leninist thought became popular
The revolution was bloody, brutal and cruel. No exact figure of casualties however, millions of people were put to death.
c. Nazism of Hitler: usually characterized as offshoot of Fascism. It instrumentalize racism.

Liberal World View:
• It emphasizes on behaviour, dignity and liberty of Individuals. According to idealist humans are good by nature. Therefore, people should be treated as ends rather than means.
• It stresses the importance of ethical principles over pursuit of power and institutions over capabilities as forces of shaping interstate relation.
• Liberalists view politics as a struggle for consensus than a struggle for power and prestige.

Fundamental Principles of Liberalism
Liberal idealism is based on the following assumptions;
1. Human nature is essentially good or altruistic: People are capable of mutual aid and collaboration through reason and ethically inspired education.
2. The fundamental human concern for others’ welfare makes progress possible.
3. Bad human behavior, such as violence, is the product not of flawed people but of evil institutions that encourage people to act selfishly and to harm others.
4. War and international anarchy are not inevitable and war’s frequency can be reduced by strengthening the institutional arrangements that encourage its disappearance.
5. War is a global problem requiring collective or multilateral, rather than national, efforts to control it.
6. Reforms must be inspired by a compassionate ethical concern for the welfare and security of all people, and this humanitarian motive requires the inclusion of morality in statecraft.
7. International society must reorganize itself in order to eliminate the institutions that make war likely, and states must reform their political systems so that self-determination and democratic governance within states can help pacify relations among states.

The Reform Programme of Liberals
Several voices within liberalism suggesting respective institutional reforms to establish world peace;
1. The collective security: Collective security refers to an arrangement where ‘each state in the system accepts that the security of one is the concern of all, and agrees to join in a collective response to aggression’

Woodrow Wilson’s Speech: In his famous ‘Fourteen Points’ speech, addressed to Congress in January 1918, Wilson argued that ‘a general association of nations must be formed’ to preserve the peace.
2. Legislative Approach: Disputes among states should be dealt through International law.

The Kellogg–Briand Pact- 1928: Signatory states promised not to use war to resolve "disputes or conflicts of whatever nature or of whatever origin they may be, which may arise among them
3. International Court of Justice: to arbitrate international disputes
4. Disarmament: the act of reducing, limiting, or abolishing weapons

Nuclear Disarmament: the act of reducing or eliminating nuclear weapons and to the end state of a nuclear-free world, in which nuclear weapons are completely eliminated.
Several conferences have been held to reduce arms e.g., 1932-34: World Disarmament Conference
5. Self Determination: In his Fourteen Points, U.S. president Woodrow Wilson listed self-
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Neo-liberalism in International Relations
Definition:
“A theoretical perspective that emphasizes role of international institutions to bring peace, prosperity and cooperation among states and accepts some hard realities pertaining to states’ power”.
Introduction:
• Neoliberalism concerns itself with the study of how to achieve co-operation among states and other actors.
• Neoliberals accept that co-operation may be difficult to achieve but argue that it has been facilitated by growth of international institutions and international regimes.
• A general characteristic of neoliberalism is the desire to intensify and expand the market, by increasing the number, frequency, repeatability, and formalisation of transactions.
• Nation-states are, or at least should be, concerned with absolute gains rather than ‘relative gains’ to other nation-states.
• Neoliberalism holds that interactions between countries can be win-win situations.
• They believe in the idea that the world can be set up in such a way that cooperation will be rewarded and countries can stop emphasizing competition.
• Since the 1990's, activists use the word 'neoliberalism' for global market-liberalism ('capitalism') and for free-trade policies.

Neoliberal Approach and Realism:
Neoliberal approach differs from earlier liberal approaches in that it accepts two important assumptions of realism:
1. States are unitary actors rationally pursuing their self-interests, but they say states cooperate because it is in their self-interest.
2. Mutual gains better (more rational) than cheating or taking advantage of each other.
• Neoliberalism adopts a state-centric perspective, which, like structural realism, considers states to be unitary, rational, utility-maximising actors.


• Neoliberalism is heavily indebted to the study of rationality and utility-maximization in economics.
• They recognize the difficulties involved in overcoming anarchic environment in international politics.
• Key neoliberal texts, such as Keohane and Nye’s Power and Interdependence, sought to challenge realist pessimism, but adopted the realists’ assumption of self-interested egocentric actors.
•  It should not be forgotten, however, that there are differences between realist and neoliberal approaches, for example, on their understanding of the meaning of anarchy.

Neoliberals’ view about barriers to co-operation:
 Neoliberals recognize that there are barriers to co-operation, such as free-riding.
 Game theory, the game of Prisoner’s Dilemma for example, are used to clarify the rational decision-making processes involved in co-operation.

Challenges to the design of institutions:
There are three major challenges to the design of institutions that neoliberals recognize:
1) bargaining (how it is facilitated)
2) defection (how it is mitigated), and
3) autonomy (do institutions have autonomy from states).
Kinds of Neoliberalism
Sociological Liberalism:
 Sociological liberals see international relations in terms of relationships between people, groups and organisations in different countries.
 Many sociological liberals believe that increased transnational relations could help create new forms of human society.

Interdependence Liberalism:
• In 1970s, Robert Keohane presented this theory.
• It focused intense interconnectedness of mutual relations between Western countries and Japan.
• Along with the improvement in trade, economic goals, relation between the people of these societies also grew positively that, resultantly increased the interdependence over each other.
• Interdependence Liberalism argues that increased interdependence between countries reduces the chance of them engaging in conflict.
• Interdependence liberals see modernisation as increasing the levels and scope of interdependence between states leading to greater cooperation. Such thinkers also see welfare as the primary concern of states, and the military force becoming less useful.

Institutional Liberalism:
• Liberal institutionalism argues that emphasis should be placed on global governance and international organizations as a way of explaining international relations.
• Institutionalism places emphasis on the role that common goals play in the international system and the ability of international organizations to get states to cooperate.
• Institutional Liberalism is considered as the main analytical competitor to realism in International theory.

Republican Liberalism:
• Republican liberal theories stress the role of domestic representative institutions, elites and leadership dynamics, and executive-legislative relations.
• Such theories were first conceived by visionary liberals such as Immanuel Kant, Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, John Hobson, Woodrow Wilson, and John Maynard Keynes
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Old Tuesday, June 16, 2015
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I think this image will clear concepts for beginners like me.[IMG][/IMG]
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can u please post the complete introduction?
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Default help

can u give the source
normally the book you uses or anything else
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Nature and Consequences of Anarchy:*Neorealists see concerns over physical security as producing far more of the motivations of state action than do neoliberals.

Achievement of International Cooperation:*Neorealists think that international cooperation is much harder to achieve than do neoliberals.

Relative versus Absolute Gains: Neorealists stress the centrality of relative gains for decision-makers in dealing with international cooperation, whereas, neoliberals stress the importance of absolute gains.

National Security Issues versus Political Economy:*Neorealists tend to deal with national security issues, while neoliberals tend to look at political economy, with the result that each sees rather different prospects for cooperation.

Capabilities versus Intentions and Perceptions:*Neorealists concentrate on capabilities, rather than intentions, whilst neoliberals look more at intentions and perceptions.

International Institutions:*Neoliberals see institutions as able to mitigate international anarchy, while neorealists doubt this
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Default Is there any difference between idealism and liberalism?

Is there any difference between idealism and liberalism?
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Old Friday, August 28, 2020
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SayedaHafsaNoor View Post
Is there any difference between idealism and liberalism?
Liberalism is sometimes referred as idealism especially by realists.

No difference in the context of IR theory.
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Old Thursday, October 01, 2020
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Work my majic View Post
can u give the source

normally the book you uses or anything else
Copied from Wikipedia

Sent from my CPH1823 using Tapatalk
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Old Monday, February 15, 2021
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Idealists are actually Liberals. Most of their claims are synonymous with the Liberals. However, there's one difference. Liberals, the likes of Immanuel Kant, believe that humans are naturally peaceful. Ideals, on the other hand, the likes of Woodrow Wilson, believe that peace must be constructed through world institutions. This belief of ideals led to the formation of League of Nations after the Great War. You can read more about it in John Baylis' book "Globalisation of World Politics".
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