International Relations: Critical Concepts in Political Science - Essay Example

According to the theory of realism, self interest is the motivating force behind world politics and hence there exists a competition among various stake holders and parties in the global scenario for safeguarding their self interests. In a society based on the principles of realism, moral values, ideological concerns and social considerations have less importance, whereas the national interest and security of the nation is always given the prime importance. Realism presents a materialistic approach to the working of things and considers the material benefits the ultimate target of all kinds of political and social struggles. The theory of realism has given rise to various other theories of international relations, of which power politics is the most widely studied. Power politics derives its basic ideology from realism and extends the safeguarding of interests of the nation to promoting aggression against other nations. According to political realism, there are certain rules and laws which govern the political scenario in society and these laws are deeply rooted in the human nature. Therefore the understanding of laws of human nature is imperative for improving the society. Human nature is perhaps the most consistent trait humans have because it’s the same as it was in old civilizations and thus the theory of politics was developed in ancient times. The various aspects of realism are based on ascertainment of facts and their extensive analysis. A foreign policy based on the principles of realism is never ambiguous and is clear in the consequences and future scenario which it tends to create. Therefore the policies based on realism do not serve long term objectives. Realism defines interests in terms of power with no questions of moral qualities and cultural or traditional preferences; realism presents a very realistic picture of the global political scenario in which the nations and states which have power do not care about the morals and values set by other cultures or the international community as a whole, for them power struggle is the deciding factor in all situations. Therefore the nations should learn to protect their interests by becoming powerful or by siding with the ones who have the power because this is the only way of survival in the world. Realism gives very less importance to moral values and traditions because of the belief that actions are judged by their consequences, therefore an actions which is taken to safeguard the moral values is never justified in realism if it puts the national security at risk. Morals cannot be made a part of the realist theory or international relations because ‘moral values’ is an extensively relative term with different interpretations in different societies and cultures therefore religion, moral values, traditions and culture does not and should not have any sort of involvement in the political dealings of a statesman (Stremmel, 2004). The theory of realism traces its history back to ancient Chinese literature and hence it has influenced the global political scenario from the very beginning of human civilization. Sun Tzu, an ancient Chinese scholar in his book the Art of War used realism to defend various war strategies of that time. Greek historian Thucydides is considered as the father of the theory of realism and he for the first time came up with the concept that might is always right and moral and ethical grounds are never considered in war and international politics. Another ancient scholar who based his teachings and writings on the theory of realism is Chanakya, the teacher of the first emperor of united India, Chandragupta Maurya. It is believed that it was the influence of the teachings of Chanakya which motivated Chandragupta to conquer the various parts of subcontinent and form a powerful and united empire in India. The teachings of Chanakya were based on the concept of power politics and he always convinced Chandragupta that the only way of survival in this world is by seizing immense power and maintaining an aggressive stance against the various empires of the region. Like India, the unification of China can also be attributed to realism because Qin, the ruler who unified China for the first time followed the realist ideology of Han Feizi, according to which the role of the king is manipulative to serve the greater interest of the nation and while performing this role he has to go against the traditions and moral values very often. Niccolo Machiavelli was a political scholar who through his writings conveyed the idea of realism very strongly and the impact of his writings could be seen as late as the 20th century. The idea of controlling the whole society by manipulating the popular notions of morality practiced by Antonio Gramsci was derived from the writings of Machiavelli. Another notable leader and follower of realism who made a great impact on global politics is Frederick the Great of Prussia who brought Prussia in the forefront of European politics for the first time in 18th century with extensive warfare and calculated diplomacy. During the 20th century various notable leaders including Joseph Stalin, Richard Nixon, Charles de Gaulle and Henry Kissinger followed the theory of realism in one form or the other. Liberalism originated for the first time during the enlightenment era and gained rapid popularity in different societies and led to many revolutions all over the world. Liberalism propagates a political ideology which seeks greater good of the people through an open minded and novel approach which is always ready to accept new ideas with the changing time. Liberalism has played a very vital role in international politics very recently is a way forward for many countries today. The democratic peace theory, the commercial peace theory and the theory of globalization; all are rooted well in the theory of liberalism. Liberalism promotes an altogether newer ideological basis of international relations free from regionalism or religious bonds. Short term objectives and short term policy making is never encouraged in liberalism because it always advocates the importance of adopting a broader perspective of things with a deeper understanding which in most of the cases is not possible without an extensive analysis. Absolute gains are preferred over relative gains and the liberals are always supposed to have a clear objective in their mind while going about the affairs of the state (Linklater, 2000). By defining a role of international organizations in the global politics, liberalism comes in direct conflict with realism because liberalism advocates a common good for all which can be achieved by mutual cooperation in various fields, whereas realism promotes power politics, according to which individual states always flourish at the expense of the demise of the others. Therefore the global and international organizations emerged on the map of the world when liberalism gained popularity. Liberalism accepts the role of international law in resolving global disputes. The principles of liberalism always promote International and global organizations and prefer them over regional alliances and organizations, however it does not altogether disapproves the concept of regional alliance. According to liberalist ideology, regional alliances and institutions are very productive for global politics as long as they do not affect the working of international organizations which have a greater and a better impact on the world (Rawls, 2005). Most of the revolutions which took place in the world from 18th to the 21st century were triggered by liberalism. The American Revolution and the French Revolution are the most notable of all the revolutions initiated according to the liberalist ideology. These two revolutions actually drew out the scenario of Global politics in the modern world. The emergence of social liberalism is considered as the next big event in the evolutionary history of the modern Liberalism. The concept of social security as a responsibility of the government was first introduced after the First World War by the liberal ideologists. The inclusion of social responsibility on the government in the model of liberalism made it the most successful of all the political ideologies presented in the modern world. The most recent of all the revolutions is the series of revolutions which took place in the Middle Eastern countries known as Arab Spring. Though strictly not a liberal revolution, Arab Spring is believed to have been brought to the attention of the world by the liberal Muslims of the Middle East who unlike their ancestors and leaders are very well aware of the use and advantages of modern technology and social media which is generally discouraged in their society. These young Muslims who initiated the revolutions are believed to have a liberal ideology, different from the conservative mindset generally followed in most of the Islamic world and thus following their liberal ideology, these Muslims are more open to the Western World, talk about freedom of expression and speech and believe in alliances with all the countries of the world for creating a productive environment for all (Griffiths, O’Callaghan & Roach, 2008). Liberalism in United States is perhaps the most influential liberalism of all because it has influence on the whole world. The liberalist ideology in the US is based on the fundamental rights of an individual; the right to live, the right of freedom of speech, expression and on the principles of equality. The liberal model presented by United States has been adopted by various countries in the world and also by the global organizations. The liberal ideals of freedom of expression, freedom of speech and freedom of religion are also present in the basic human rights charter of the United Nations (Shimko, 2009). The modern liberalism in United States also includes the protection of environment and social security for all. The promotion of environmental protection has also been adopted by various other countries of the world. Liberalism in United States is believed to be the purest form of Liberalism because there are no other ideological basis already present in the society which are deeply rooted in long family traditions and social customs because US was created as a country in the new world, where everything started from zero, with no conservative ideologies of the ancestors and traditions to be safeguarded. The traditions prevalent in the US were also created on the basis of the liberal ideals. Liberalism is also present in other regions of the World as well. The Indian National Congress is the ruling party of the largest democracy in the world and it always advocated liberal ideology and led the revolution which resulted in the creation of two states in the Indian subcontinent. The recent economic boom achieved by India is also a product of the liberal ideology of the Indian National Congress which has always been open to novel ideas and foreign investment and involvement in trade and commerce, despite a strong opposition from many right wing parties in the opposition. Marxism is a perhaps a wider and broader theory as compared to liberalism or realism but could not gain as much popularity in the modern world as achieved by liberalism. Many people believe that the ideas presented in Marxism present solution to the various problems faced by man in the modern world, whether they are social, economic or political but at the same time people question the practicality of the political and social model presented by Marxism. Marxism interprets history of mankind to be based on materialistic gains with all the activities and motives of man ultimately resting on this concept. According to the Marxist ideology, the various political and social systems prevalent in the world are all advocating the capitalist ideology and people are victims of the capitalist exploitation. Marxists believe that capitalism by all means is the root cause of all the evils present in the society and capitalism always oppresses one segment of the society for the benefit of the other. Therefore as capitalism has failed to answer the various questions presented by the lower segments of the society, capitalism does not have a future and has to be replaced by the socialism. Thus socialism should be adopted by the nations of the world and the scholars must be allowed to implement this system of government, law and society. And if it is not done, the inherent restlessness caused by capitalism among the common masses can trigger yet another revolution (Weber, 2009). Socialism is believed to be a historical reality and a necessity of mankind. Socialists believes that the government should take maximum responsibility of the matters of the state because it has been entrusted with a responsibility and it is supposed to represent the people by working in their interests in the best possible way. The high amount of responsibility put on the government thus forces it to devise mechanisms for providing various social security services to its subjects. Thus a socialist government is always supposed to directly intervene in the matters of public interest. The extremist state of Marxism and thus Socialism is Communism which is a system of government, society and politics in which the nations are free of classes, differences and economic gap between communities. Communist ideology advocates the idea of common ownership, free-access and maximum freedom to individuals to avail the basic facilities of life in the best possible manner and develop themselves individually through professional training and experience. No individual in communism is supposed to have his own property and self development in the form of financial independence is not only discouraged, but is checked by laws (D’Amato, 2006). The most evident example of Marxist ideologies influencing the world politics and global socio-political and economic scenario is the emergence of USSR as a communist state and its strong antagonism to capitalism. Communist ideologies based on Marxist theories also emerged in other regions of the World but could not gain popularity among the common man. Communism cannot be thought of as a public choice about dealing with the affairs of states because even if the majority of people want communism to be implemented in their states, communism tends to suppress their fundamental rights in one way or the other. This is the reason communism failed to gain popular support in any region of the world throughout the course of history. States other than USSR also adopted the Marxist ideology in one way or the other, these states include People’s Republic of China, Vietnam, Romania, East Germany, Albania, Cambodia, Ethiopia, South Yemen, Cuba and Yugoslavia. The Marxist approach of governing the country, particularly Communism is based on an idealistic approach in which people willfully withdraw their right to property in favor of their fellow statesmen, however such a level of cooperation and social harmony is impossible to achieve. Due to this apparent contradiction in the Marxist theories and also the increase in the power of the liberal and capitalist ideologies throughout the world, communism could not survive and is dying out very rapidly in the modern world. The only state which is believed to have achieved some level of success through Marxist ideology is People’s Republic of China, but it is also moving towards a mixture of socialism and capitalism because of the natural instinct of its subjects which is being depicted in their demands for more freedom and liberty. Realism, Liberalism and Marxism are undoubtedly the three most important theories of international relations and every theory and ideology had a great impact in different era of time in the World history. Liberalism which presents the most feasible and practicable model of the three is currently the most popular ideology in the world and the majority of governments in various countries of the world follow the liberal ideology and it is being considered as the way forward because even if it does not solve the various issues, but it’s the most natural and practicable of the three systems. References Stremmel, K. (2004) Realism, Taschen. Rawls, J. (2005) Political Liberalism, Columbia University Press. D’Amato P. (2006) The Meaning of Marxism, Haymarket Books. Shimko K. (2009) International Relations: Controversies and Perspectives, John Wiley and Sons. Linklater, A. (2000) International Relations: Critical Concepts in Political Science, Routledge. Griffiths, M., O’Callaghan, T & Roach, S. (2008) International Relations: the key concepts, Taylor and Francis. Weber, C. (2009) International Relations Theory: A Critical Introduction, Routledge. Read More