PS 203 Lecture Outline 10 7 13 Liberalism and IR Parts I and II Learning Goals by the end of this lecture you should be able to 1 Describe the three essential principles of liberalism 2 Compare and contrast the views of liberals and realists on key questions 3 Explain democratic peace theory and Kant s three definitive articles 4 Explain the two transformative powers of international organizations 5 Describe the dark side of liberalism and illustrate with examples 6 Explain three liberal policy recommendations 7 Answer our five puzzles from the beginning of lecture 8 Define the following key concepts and illustrate each with an example freedom of conscience of opportunity to elect one s own government mutual caution respect interest diversionary war Liberalism and International Relations I What questions do Liberals claim to answer Why do democracies not rarely fight each other Why do similarly situated states behave differently Why is cooperation between states often so easy Why don t Canadians worry about a US invasion What to do policy recommendations II What is liberalism overview If the realist are the pessimist liberals are the optimists when it comes to international relations Liberals think that the international system is a dangerous place but not as bad as realist claim to be Liberals think that ideas have power not just materials Believes that domestic policy politics and international organization can shape state behavior Liberals believe that progress is possible in international relations optimistic about prospects for states to cooperate III What are the essential principles of liberalism A theoretical approach rooted to the thinking of philosophers Kant Woodrow Wilson etc Michael Doyle Contemporary liberal All of them share three key principles A Freedom of conscience A believe in basic individual rights freedom of speech association religion B Freedom of opportunity A commitment to guarantee economic and social rights quality of education right to own private property They believe in the free market and capitalism Social market capitalism state is involved promote individual freedom or Laissez faire capitalism states take its hands off protect individual freedom C Freedom to elect one s government The key principle They believe that all people have the power to elect their own government and the rest of the two key principles above will follow IV Contemporary IR liberals vs realists on 3 Qs A What s the nature of international politics 1 What s the nature of the international system a Realists anarchy b Liberals society Realists think that the system is anarchic For liberals international politics lives more like a society Just as some societies in international politics are more dangerous safe liberals believe that international politics is a society level of danger can be shaped can be controlled They see things like common beliefs and expectations between states laws that regulate relations between states norms which tell states what behavior is acceptable not acceptable these things are able to moderate behavior Believe that there are international organizations Liberals see a community in international politics Whole implication whole system is not as dangerous as realist put in to be Geneva Convention generate new norms in international politics States tend not to use chemical biological weapons and when one state does everyone is on top of it The Hague International law tribunal These tribunals have pressured states to convict leaders of state who have committed war crimes Therefore international organizations have powers 2 Who are the key actors a Realists states There is no international organization The international system is based on its hierarchy of states within the system no need to look at domestic politics b Liberals states and intl organizations States are key actors in international politics rational but not unitary Cannot assume that states speak as if they have once voice Have to look into the state open up the box look at nature of domestic politics and once this is achieved then you can judge the states intentions WHO S IN POWER MATTERS They don t have an objective national interest Groups within the domestic politics have their own interests once they get elected then they go about to achieve their interests Liberals believe that non state actors are important include international organizations UN WTO EU World Court and NGOs Amnesty International Green Peace and multinational corporations BP Starbucks Nike 3 What explains state behavior a Realists the intl system outside in The distribution of power One power will rise when one falls Look at capabilities of state its structure and that explains state behavior Outside in approach Look externally to explain state behavior b Liberals domestic politics inside out Have to look at domestic politics to understand behavior of one state towards other states Over the course of 150 years Germany was way different than it was under Bismarck Wilhelm Hitler etc Have to understand about who s in power the nature of domestic politics Inside out approach Look internally domestic politics to explain state behavior i What explains state interests Once the people in power have determined their interests liberals can tell why do they act that way Though states may have the same social structure states will behave differently as they have different domestic politics policies ii What explains how states obtain them Even if they have same goal people have different strategies to achieve the goal In order to know their strategies have to know something about them know their domestic politics B What s the possibility of progress Progress How can harmony be achieve 1 Realists pessimistic For realist there can t be any progress the system is anarchic states care about relative gains always in conflict leading to wars 2 Liberals optimistic People can learn and improve Harmony can be achieved in international politics because you can change nature of states there is such a thing as good states bad states People can create international institutions to help improve relations between states Geneva Convention Red Cross ICC WTO Most important institutions in Domestic politics DEMOCRATIC institutions If you help to spread democracy liberals believe that we can fundamentally improve international politics C What s the importance of material factors vs ideas 1 Realists materialist approach Size of states economy natural