Introduction to the World Politics - Essay Example

 Introduction to World Politics 1) What are the international dilemmas? Evaluate solutions based on theoretical frameworks. In the quest to achieve economic growth and development, sovereign states push forward their agenda to best suit their own needs. This creates an environment where conflict is inevitable. As such, the global community has since time memorial, experienced dilemmas on the international scene. Some of the current international dilemmas stem from foreign policy differences owing to underlying fundamental principles of governance. a) War War is undoubtedly on of the biggest international dilemmas in human history. This is owing to the effect and impact that war has on both warring factions, innocent bystanders of the war and the local and global economies. Wars such as the United States-Iraq war could have potentially be avoided by applying a liberalistic approach to the conflict. Liberalism stands for and supports free trade, civil rights, freedom of owning private property, free and fair elections, freedom of religion and freedom of the press. Liberalism is also rooted on the idea that when global institutional and economic ties are strengthened, it considerably reduces the possibility of conflict and/or war. One will find that engaging in trade would be more beneficial as opposed to engaging in conflict and/or war. b) Human Rights Democracy has been heralded as the best system of governance the world over. Over years past, al other forms of government have appeared to fail with democracy proving the only governance system that ensures peace and social order[Con13]. Democracy is hinged on a system that is open and transparent, a government of the people, by the people and for the people as stated by Abraham Lincoln, one of the United States’ most decorated presidents and champions of democracy. It is important to understand that there exists certain institutions that work hand in hand to support democracy and are also dependent on democracy in order to succeed. Some of these institutions include education and trade. For this reason, human rights is one of the most fundamental international issues that affect and influence relations between international entities. 2) What is the normative position on key ethical debates found in international relations? As highlighted before, owing to the nature of distinctively existing international entities (nations), there is bound to arise ethical debates that arise from each entity wanting to further their own agenda. Such ethical debates have existed from time memorial, and there is one normative position that is taken on key ethical debates, democracy is the fairest and just system of governance and relations. This is because involved parties can arrive to an acceptable compromise. Democracy employs the CAPI (coalesced authority, power and influence) model which assists all parties highlight the actual underlying areas of conflict so as to adequately align authority, power and influence to realize optimal production, output, trade and economic growth. Democracy also employs RDSM (Revised Decision-Square model)[Con13]. RDSM can be employed to enhance process efficiency through categorizing the numerous important decisions and help in monitoring conflict areas and triggers. Nations can realize a creative and goal oriented decision making process by engraining conflict management into team leadership. Furthermore, nations can categorize conflict into two main groups; functional conflict and dysfunctional conflict. The type of conflict determines how the involved parties will respond to or manage the conflict. 3) What are the significant issues affecting international politics and foreign policy? International Trade The balance of trade is the difference obtained from the monetary value of exports and imports. This is an important economic indicator as to how the country can sustain itself from its own production activities relative to the amount of commodities or raw materials it is importing from external sources. A negative balance of trade has grave implications for an economy. When a country engages in international trade, it opens up its market to foreign goods and as such increases the numbers of goods consumers have to choose from, and because of increased competition, it forces prices of commodities to be more competitive (cheaper)[Fee11]. A good example is the balance of trade between the United States and China. This negative balance of trade on the part of the United States has grave implications for its economy while having positive implications for China. China will see an increase in the markets of its products resulting in increased GDP for China. However, this would lead to the drop in value of the US Dollar, followed by the control of certain sectors by Chinese companies. Such as computer and electronic products, apparel manufacturing products and electrical equipment, appliances and components. Human Rights Human rights is one of the most prominent international issues over the past half-century. International relations policies are mainly founded by the manner in which a country perceives human rights. Most countries employ a democratic governance system. This means that such countries would readily form political and trade relations with countries exercising the same or a similar system of governance[She12]. International Debt A country’s debt position relative to its competitors has become a huge issue in international politics and foreign policy. A good example is the debt position between the United States and China. As most of the financial investment into certain sectors within the United States are channeled from China, China will have a considerable financial hold on the United States, leading to an economic hold that can be utilized to influence policy within the United States. References Con13: , (Connolly, 2013), Fee11: , (Feenstra & Taylor, 2011), She12: , (Shetach, 2012), Read More