The Major Features that Characterize the Liberal View of World Politics - Term Paper Example

The Liberal View of World Politics The Liberal View of World Politics Introduction Liberalism is one of the key modes of thinking for understanding the evolution of international relations theories. It is a social and political philosophy that began flourishing as Europe emerged from the medieval world that existed from the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 CE. Liberalism provided a more optimistic social and political philosophy that challenged conservative thought. Among the thinkers influential in the development of liberal thought were John Locke (1632-1704), Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) and Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), although the historical roots of liberal thought can be traced to the ancient Greeks The liberal view has its origins in the Enlightenment era, that age in 18th-century Europe when intellectuals and political gurus had a dominant sense that reason could be engaged to change the world into a better place. Accordingly, liberals have the tendency of being hopeful about the potentials of making the world safe and more peaceful. Most liberals have faith that it is feasible to substantially lower the scourge of war and to build-up international prosperity. For this reason, liberal theories are at times branded "utopian" or "idealist." This paper is going to outline the major features that characterize the liberal view of world politics. In fulfilment of this, it will highlight the core beliefs which form the foundation and define this view of world politics. It will also summarize some of the weak bases of this view of world politics which make it to be weak in terms of credibility and thus making it less persuasive. The Liberal View Liberalism is a rich and varied intellectual tradition. Liberalism has been called the “strongest contemporary challenge to realism” (Kegley & Blanton, 2012; Caporaso, 1993, pg. 465). It has a distinguished pedigree, with philosophical roots extending back to the political thought of John Locke, Immanuel Kant and Adam Smith. Liberalism view of world politics from an imperative field of world politics as it speaks out to issues which realism disregards, including the impact of domestic politics on state behaviours, the implications of economic interdependence and the role of global norms and institutions in promoting international cooperation. Core features of the Liberal View of World Politics There are a set of core beliefs that define liberal world view and set it apart from other outlooks. According to Shimko (2009, pg. 44), liberalism is first a conception of man as desiring freedom and capable of exercising rational free choice. Second, it is a perspective on social institutions as open to rational reconstruction in the light of individual needs. Finally, it is a view of history as progressively perfectible through the continous application of human reason to social institutions. Liberalism views people as essentially rational, ethical and moral creatures capable of controlling their baser impulses. However much people often behave irrationally and in immoral ways, liberals see such behaviors as being the result of ignorance and misunderstandings, which can be overcome through education and reforming social and political institutions. In addition to possesing a more optimistic view of human nature, liberals are much less inclined to view social and individual conflicts as inevitable. This view belives that it is possible to create a social, political and economic order that benefits everbody, an order that maximizes individual freedom as well as material/ economic prosperity (Shimko, 2009, pg. 44). This element of liberal thought is usually refered to as the Harmony Of Interests. The harmony of intrest is the cornerstone of the liberal belief in the free marekt. When each individual is left alone to pursue his or her individual economic interests, the long-term result is growth and prosperity benefiting everyone. They insist on the looking at situations in the context of the totality of relations. According to this view, international relations is not all about conflict and war. In accordance with to the liberal view, the conflict-resolution practices used at home can also be used when dealing with international disputes. Leaders socialised within democratic cultures share a common outlook. They further view international politics as an extension of domestic politics. That is, they generalize about the applicability of norms to regulate international competition (Schmidt, 1998, pg. 221). They believe disputes between democratic governments rarely escalate to war because each side accepts the others legitimacy and expects it to rely on peaceful means of conflict resolution. Perhaps the most important view of the liberals is the belief in the possibility and inevitabilty of human progress. This faith in progress is baesd on the liberalist belief that people are essentially rational creatures. According to Dunne, et al. (2007, pg. 92), lliberalism’s optimistic outlook of international politics is constructed on three principal beliefs. First, liberals regard states to be the principal actors in international politics. Second, they accentuate that the internal qualities of states adjust considerably, and that these differences have acute clouts on state behaviour. Furthermore, liberal theorists often are of the opinion that some internal arrangements such as democracy are intrinsically preferable to others such as dictatorship. For liberals, therefore, there exists "good" and "bad" states in the international political system. Good states aim at achieving cooperative policies and scarcely ever initiate wars on their own, whereas bad states on the other hand instigate conflicts with other states and are predisposed to use power to get their way. Thus, the secret to peace is to crowd the world with good states. Third, liberals deem that calculations with regards to power matter insignificantly for expounding the conduct of good states. They are of the opinion that other manners of political and economic calculations play a more significant role, although the form of those calculations differ from theory to theory. Bad states might be stirred by the desire to secure power at the expense of other states, but that is only because they are misguided. In an superlative world, where there are only good states, power would be generally irrelevant. According to Kegley & Blanton (2012, pg. 29), at the core of liberalism is a belief in reason and the possibility of progress. Liberals view the individual as the seat of moral value and assert that human beings should be treated as ends rather than means. In the liberal view, emphasis is on ethical principles over the pursuit of power, and institutions over military capabilities. According to this view, politics at the global level is more a struggle for consensus and mutual gain than a struggle for power and prestige. Several corollary ideas give definition to liberal theory. These include, the need to substitute attitudes that stress the unity of humankind for those that stress parochial national loyalties to independence sovereign states; the importance of individuals, their essential dignity and fundamental equality and the analogous need to place the protection and promotion of human rights and freedom ahead of national interests and state autonomy; and finally, the use of the power of ideas through education to arouse world public opinion against welfare (Schmidt, 1998, pg. 219-222). The first element common to various strands of liberal thought is an emphasis on undertaking political reforms to establish stable democracies (Dunne, et al., 2007, pg. 94). That is, instead of blaming international conflict on an inherent lust for power, the liberal view faults the conditions under which people live, such as democracy. Reforming these conditions, they argue, would enhance the prospects for peace. They believe that democracies are more peaceful than non-democracies, particularly in their dealings with one another and as a result, liberals anticipate that as the world becomes a more democratic place, it will also become more peaceful (Shimko, 2009, pg. 45). This situation they call Democratic Liberalism. The liberal view believes that the spread of democracy is accompanied by the growth of economic interdependence. Consequently, this interdependence results to a growth in trade among states, a situation referred to as commercial liberalism. According Commercial Liberalism, trade and interdependence are forces for peace. The logic being that, greater interdependence means one nation’s well-being depends on another nation’s well-being, creating common interests. Thus the incentive to wage war is absent in such a system for war disrupts trade and the interdependence on which trade is based. In other words the Liberal view puts an emphasis on free trade and the belief in the idea that commerce can reduce conflict (Dunne, et al., 2007, pg. 92-93). This doctrine that unfretted trade helps prevent disputes from escalating to wars rests on several proportions. First, commercial intercourse creates a material incentive to resolve disputes peacefully and second, war reduces profits by interrupting vital economic gains. The liberal view also perceives the importance of international institutions. They believe the growth of international institutions will and have helped ameliorate many of the conflicts and insecurities that have traditionally characterized international politics. The presence of international institutions presents a platform for trust between states in an anarchical environment. This is referred to as Liberal Institutionalism. International organizations help states reduce the uncertainties of anarchy by building trust. Whereas suspicion, rivalry, conflict and war were once normal among major worlds power, post World War II institutions such as the European Union have helped nurture and sustain peace, cooperation and commerce (Shimko, 2009, pg. 46). Weaknesses of the Liberal View The liberal view has been regarded as being impractical and overly optimistic. That is, Liberalism carries with it a deep-seated sense of optimism and moralism, which in the world are impossible to secure. These two are the main reasons which have been regarded as the core reasons which make this view unconvincing in the current world political environment where economic interests form the top agenda of every state. Another perspective of this view that also forms its weakness is that Liberal theorists believe that similar interests among actors may and usually lead to cooperation. They emphasize on the prospects for progress through institutional reforms. However, many international institutions have failed in the mediation and prevention of wars between states. Institutions such as the League of Nations and PCIJ failed, consequently institutions today exert minimal influence on state behaviour. International organizations cannot stop states from behaving according to balance-of-power logic, calculating how each strategic move affects their relative position in a world of relentless competition. Another weakness of the liberal view is that the associations between states that prevent the outset of disputes into war lie in the arena of commercial, financial and environmental affairs and not in the arena of national defence. This however, does not secure global world peaceful co-existence, as national survival hinges on the effective management of security issues and not economic affairs. Under Liberalism, security organizations naively assume that all members perceive threats in the same way and that they are willing to run the same risks and pay the same costs of countering those threats. However, power-lusting states are unlikely to always see their vital interests in this light and global institutions cannot provide timely responses to aggression. Thus, on security issues, states will trust in their own power and not in the promises of supranational institutions (Kegley & Blanton, 2012, pg. 34). Liberalism also has the tendency to turn foreign policy into a moral crusade. Whereas most states are driven by strategic necessities, liberals believe moral imperatives can guide and constrain leaders (Kegley & Blanton, 2012, pg. 35). However, this assumption does not always hold. The primary obligation of governments is to the interests of the national society it represents and not to the moral impulses that individual elements of that society may experience, thus it may not always follow the moral standards which have been set. Other passive weaknesses of this view in that Liberalism is very legalistic, it puts a lot of emphasis on character especially as it relates to the practice of citizenship. secondly, it is relativistic, often tolerating even illiberal way of life. Thirdly, it is atomistic and far too unconcerned with community, solidarity, tradition and shared history. Finally, it is complacent, assuming superiority and inevitable victory over rival non-democratic political ideologies, in other words, it is not a fighting faith. Conclusion Besides the universal belief in the harmony of interest doctrine, other features of the liberal view include a pervasive faith in reason and rationalism, a belief in the infallibility of public opinion, the view that war was irrational and that the best way to end conflict was through education, international law, world government and the league of nations. The liberal school of international relations promotes security via international institutions and interdependence of states. For liberals as also is for realists, the nation state is still fundamental to international interactions and relations. But liberals believe nations can surmount their fixation with survival and power to seek strength through co-operation. In conclusion, the core concern of the liberal view is institutionalized peace and prosperity. That is, how self-serving actors learn to see benefits to coordinating behaviours through rules and organizations in order to achieve collective gains. Its main actors include the states, international institutions and global corporations. Its central concepts include collective security, reciprocity and international regimes as well as complex interdependence and transnational relations. The liberalist approach to peace is through institutionalized reforms, through democratization, open markets and international law and organization. Their global outlook is considered optimistic. That is, a cooperative view of human nature and a belief in progress. References Baylis, S. J. & Owens, P., 2010. The Globalization of World Politics,. 5 ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Dunne, T., Kurki, M. & Smith, S., 2007. International Relations Theories: Discipline and Diversity. illustrated ed. New York: Oxford University Press. Edkins, J. & Zehfuss, M., 2008. Global Politics: A New Introduction. s.l.:Routledge. Kegley, C. W. & Blanton, S. L., 2012. World Politics: Trend and Transformation, 2012 - 2013 Edition. 14 ed. Massachusetts : Cengage Learning. Schmidt, B. C., 1998. The Political Discourse of Anarchy: A Disciplinary History of International Relations. New York: SUNY Press. Scorza, J. A., 2008. Strong Liberalism: Habits of Mind for Democratic Citizenship. New England: Tufts University Press. Shimko, K. L., 2009. International Relations: Perspectives and Controversies. 3, illustrated ed. Massachusetts: Cengage Learning. Snarr, M. T. & Snarr, D. N., 2008. Introducing Global Issues. s.l.:Lynne Rienner. Thayer , B. A. & Ibyamova, V. N., 2010. Debates in International Relations. s.l.:Longman. Read More