Six Principles by Morgenthau - Essay Example

Question One Tickner has responded to the claim that international relations are dominated by realism, a claim that the author thinks is derived from a male perspective as shown by the six principles of political realism argued by Morgenthau. According to Tickner, the six principles by Morgenthau can be redesigned in order that men and women can start thinking along distinct lines of the international relations. Morgenthau’s work “Principles of Political Realism: A Masculine Perspective?” gives six philosophic concepts of modern realism in the world, which include the importance of objectivity or rationality of decisions and interest defined in terms of power that brings rational order into politics, which is void of any emotions. The principles also describe power as an objective category that is universally legitimate, not without a fixed meaning assigned to it, and recognizes the tension that can be felt between the moral command and what may be required for a viable and triumphant political action. Morgenthau argues there are moral laws that preside over the world but being self-centred saves human beings from the excesses of morals and political idiocy. According to Tickner, the argument by Morgenthau is just a small argument of the description of international politics as it is based on assumption of the nature of human beings that are skewed towards a male point of view. Therefore as a feminist, Tickner argues that it is difficult to find a common and objective foundation for knowledge and that knowledge is only constructed socially. Consequently, the author castoffs the disagreement that supports self-sufficiency of the social sphere, arguing that personal is political. As a feminist reformulation of Morgenthau’s work, Tickner argues that there should be a dynamic objectivity that offers a more connected view of objectivity with less chance for domination and national interest is defined contextually and multi-dimensionally (Art and Jervis 22-34). Power that is in the world should not be fused with a meaning that is universally accepted and all political actions must bear moral significances. Tickner proposes that common moral elements inherent in the aspirations of human beings should be put into place in solving international conflicts and build an international community. Question Two Globalization has come with different impacts on developing nations due to the increased reliance on market driven economy currently present in the world coupled with renewed growth of private capital and other resources. The World Bank through its structural adjustment programs and other international organizations has also played role spreading globalization in developing countries. Globalization has come with it several opportunities to the developing countries as they are now able to access the markets in the developed nations plus the advantage of transfers in technology that is translated into improved productivity and living standards. However, globalization has also brought with it challenges like the increase in inequality amongst citizens in a nation, volatility in the financial markets and environmental concerns such as degradation and deterioration of the environment. Globalization may also not benefit developing countries as most of them are always removed from the process of globalizing their markets either through barriers such as trade barriers. In India, globalization has had the effect of intensifying interdependence and competition between it and other markets within the world. The increased trade in goods and services as well as services and the movement of capital can show the interdependence from one market to the other. The result of this is that domestic economic developments in the economy are not only determined by domestic policies and market conditions but also international policies. The effect of this is that most developing nations including India lose their domestic policy-making autonomy, as the policies they make must be in consonance with those that affect the world economy. Question Three Hegemonic stability theory provides that for the construction of any effective and powerful international regime or norm, for example in a system to regulate finances in the world, there must be a dominant power or nation known as the hegemon. The hegemon must be prepared or willing to create and enforce norms and must possess the capacity to undertake the role either economically, technically, and must have the military capacity to undertake that particular role (Art and Jervis 298). Realists believe that, while there is no higher international relations other than the state itself, there is a hierarchy of power through the creation of international organizations that maintain the international order and cooperation. The realists are pessimistic and apprehensive of the role of these international organizations as to them they are just an extension of the superpowers. Liberalists have a strong belief in the idea of an individual, the idea of limited government and the importance of the market and advocate for cooperative relations between societies. They view the international organizations as meant to create a new world order and assist governments in achieving the collective action problems in a peaceful manner and without problems. On the other hand, the Marxists give attention to the mode of production and the economic forces that shape the world by emphasizing political and economic inequality in the world stage that may result into international conflicts. Constructivism focuses on the role of beliefs, ideas and interests as applied in shaping the interaction and understanding in the world politics by exploring how norms are created and disseminated throughout the international system. Therefore, states that exhibit hegemonic tendencies such as the United States can use their power either by applying the realist, liberalist, Marxist or constructivist to influence the directions and the norms in the world. Question Four Democracy peace theory is the suggestion that countries that practice democracy are more at peace in their relations with all other world states referred to as monadic democratic peace, while others think that states are only peaceful in their relations with fellow democracies known as dyadic democratic peace. There is also what is known as systemic democratic peace that posits that whenever there is peace amongst countries in a particular region or international system, there will be ultimate peace. Currently there are numerous accounts of the relationship between peace and democracy in the world with much focus on the domestic institutions that play an active role in politics, domestic political norms and identities that can be constructed. The democratic peace theory is linked to many suggestions or ideas that link the politics played domestically with international relations in the sense that it argues that democracies are most likely to cooperate with each other and that democracies fighting wars together often end up being victorious evidenced by the entry of America in the First World War. The theory also proposes that the increase in wars fought by militaries is likely to reduce the public support for war and that leaders often initiate wars and conflicts to hold onto power domestically though this is diversionary in nature (Art and Jervis 89). Democratic peace theory had been formulated by theorists such as Immanuel Kant and later formulated by other thinkers in the eighteenth century such as Doyle in the work “Liberal Peace: Selected Essays” . Doyle spells out the philosophical and theoretical basis of the democratic peace to be observed in the world through arguing that democracies tend not to fight each other by observing the dyadic democratic peace model as a way of creating peace in the world and the areas they exist in. Question Five Norms are the standard of appropriate behaviour expected of actors with a given identity while the norm life cycle is a three-stage process that entails the emergence of norms, its acceptance and internalization of the particular norm. the first stage of the emergence of norms involves the persuasion and convincing of players to adopt the particular norm then the second stage involves the socialization of other states to become followers of the norm before internalization of the norm occurs in the third stage. Keck and Sikkink refer to their theory of activism as transnational advocacy networks that are integral in the convergence of social and cultural norms that help in the realization of regional and international integration as states and other actors create opportunities for exchange and dialogue. Through the transnational advocacy, nations are able to avail to its citizen’s resources that touch on important facets of the nation such as environmental and human rights issues. The transnational networks proposed by Keck and Sikkink are arranged in a voluntary, horizontal and in a reciprocal manner that allows sharing of information and ideas. This is important as in spite of the differences between the domestic and the international territories, the concepts put forward by the transnational advocacy networks are organized to promote causes, norms and principled ideas that may lead to changes in policies (Art and Jervis 478). For example the advocacy networks have been important in debates about human rights as it can initiate actions and pressure the more powerful actors such as governments to take positions over human rights issues. Therefore, it can be authoritatively stated that transnational advocacy networks have played a key role through its activism to introduce new ideas, provide information and lobby for changes in policies on matters human rights. Question Six Global climate change that comes about due to the increase in the emission of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere caused by human activity has the potential of threatening all life in the planet earth. As a strategy to mitigate the effects of climate change there is need for international cooperation through collective action is important as there is overexploitation of what is commonly held in common by everyone or nation in the planet (Art and Jervis 367). The challenge of mobilizing the global community to deal with the problem has necessitated a concerted global response known as collective action that creates incentives for nations for sustainable use. States must therefore overcome their divergent interests by cooperating and acting collectively to overcome the problem of environmental degradation through climate change. Hardin in his work “The Tragedy of Commons” states that such is a social trap whereby an uncontrolled resource that can get finished is consumed much without control by the society leads to an overall detriment to the society. He defines this figuratively that destruction is the ultimate destination that all human beings are headed if each person only looks at his own interest and therefore international law may come in handy as a way of deterrence from total destruction of the entire humanity. Globally, nations still operate under the Kyoto Protocol as an action for global action and participation that asserts that climate change is an environmental problem best handled when the international community puts in place international action through a viable treaty. Regional agreements as a way of collective action in the control of climate change has proven o be successful as the bilateral agreements are always comprehensive. This is made possible by the limited number of participants at the negotiations that makes it easier to focus on the smaller objectives that encourages cooperation in coming up with a framework as well as implementation. Work Cited Art, Robert J, and Robert Jervis. International Politics: Enduring Concepts and Contemporary Issues. Boston [etc.]: Pearson, 2012. Print. Read More