Should liberalist states promote their policies abroad Is force a legitimate instrument in securing these goals - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages The questions asked are; is liberalism really a bad ideology that it has to be forced on other nations and how can the citizens of various nations benefit from liberalism? This paper supports the notion that liberalist states should promote their policies abroad but force should not be used as a legitimate instrument in securing these goals. Policy making was largely influenced by liberalists in the twentieth century. The liberalists influenced Public opinion and their liberal views were embraced as they gave the people hope for having free elections, religious freedom, free press, free markets, associational pluralism, free movement and many other associated benefits. However, with the First World War, liberal views subsided but after the Second World War, there was revival of liberal views marked by the establishment of United Nations. The cold war power politics extinguished liberalism again but in the 1990s; there was a beacon of hope as the Western countries announced the establishment of a new world order (Dunne 1). The leaders who came up with the new world order gave their justifications why the world should embrace liberalism over other ideologies but after the World Trade Centre was destroyed by a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, America seemed to abandon liberalism and embraced realism. The United States of America and its counterparts have attempted to solidify power around them and decided to seek vengeance among their perceived enemies and the nations that sympathize with them. The paper expounds on the matter, showing liberalism to be founded on temperateness, compromise, moderation, and peace while realists strive to introduce a common power in order to achieve progress, justice and law (Dunne 2). For a long period, liberalism has been utilized to depict abroad range of practices, ideas, movements, and parties in various societies. It was mainly used to oppose the systems of governance that were oppressive and denied the citizens some privileges. Liberalism was used as a force of liberation for the people to obtain free initiatives from existing governments. When used as a political philosophy, liberalism can either refer to individual rights shared by liberals or basic principles of constitutional authorities. Classical liberals advocated for liberty, the segmentation of political powers, economic freedom, rights to own property, freedom of speech and thoughts, independent civil societies and religious liberty. Egalitarian aspects have influenced modern democratic liberalism in addition to the other aspects that classical liberalists advocated for, thus social equality serving as the foundation of modern-day liberal politics (Starr 34). Liberalism can be defined in four dimensions, which look into its different aspects. Firstly, when relating to the law, all the citizens are equal, meaning that they are equally bound by the law and bear basic rights to religious toleration, education, and free press among other rights. Secondly, the legislative body of a nation can only exercise authority vested in it by the citizens and is not permitted to abuse their rights. Thirdly, an individual has the right to property ownership and productive forces. Fourthly, liberalism identifies the free, market driven economic exchange system as the most effective and disparages market systems that are controlled and regulated bureaucratically. When one considers these four ...Download file to see next pagesRead More