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International Relations (IR)

Deepak Prakash Bhatt, PhD

International Relations

IR is a study of Relations among sovereign states Intergovernmental relations Analysis of foreign policy Interdisciplinary area of study inside Political Science Besides this it started to study about all intellectual

discourses and materials Roots are from ancient times-city states to Westphalia and

Utrecht Institutionalization of diplomacy and armies

International Relations Theory

IR theory is the study of international relations from a theoretical perspective

It attempts to provide a conceptual framework On that basis IR can be analyzed Ole Holsti, describes international relations theories act as a pair of

colored sunglasses, allowing the wearer to see only the salient events relevant to the theory

An adherent of realism may completely disregard an event that a constructivist might pounce upon as crucial, and vice versa

Three most popular theories are realism, liberalism and constructivism

Realism

The primary concern of all states is survival States build up military to survive, which may lead to a security dilemma

The international system is anarchic There is no actor above states capable of regulating their interactions; states

must arrive at relations with other states on their own, rather than it being dictated to them by some higher controlling entity

The international system exists in a state of constant antagonism States are the most important actors All states within the system are unitary, rational actors

States tend to pursue self-interest. Groups strive to attain as many resources as possible

Branches of Realism

Classical realism- states that it is fundamentally the nature of man that pushes states and individuals to act in a way that places interests over ideologies

Drive for power and the will to dominate, that are, held to be fundamental aspects of human nature

Modern realism began as a serious field of research in the United States during and after World War II-Hans Morgenthau- Politics Among Nations 1948

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Liberal realism or rationalism The English School holds that the international system, while

anarchical in structure, forms a "society of states" where common norms and interests allow for more order and stability than what might be expected in a strict realist view

Hedley Bull’s 1977 classic, The Anarchical Society, is a key statement of this position

Barry Buzan’s People, States & Fear: The National Security Problem in International Relations 1983

The Logic of Anarchy: Neorealism to Structural Realism 1993 with Charles Jones and Richard Little

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Neorealism or structural realism Neorealism derives from classical realism except that instead of human nature, its

focus is predominantly on the anarchic structure of the international system States are primary actors because there is no political monopoly on force existing

above any sovereign While states remain the principal actors, greater attention is given to the forces above

and below the states through While neorealism shares a focus on the international system with the English

School, neorealism differs in the emphasis it places on the permanence of conflict To ensure state security, states must be on constant preparation for conflict

through economic and military build-up Offensive, Defensive and Hegemonic theories

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Neoclassical realism Neoclassical Realism can be seen as the third generation of realism It offers the classics a renaissance It is a synthesis of the neorealist and the classical realist approaches Domestic intervening variables between systemic incentives and a state's foreign policy

decision. Thus, the basic theoretical architecture of Neoclassical Realism is: Distribution of power in the international system Domestic perception of the system and/or domestic incentives Foreign Policy decision

Neoclassical realism is particularly appealing from a research standpoint because it still retains a lot of the theoretical rigor that Waltz has brought to realism, but at the same time can easily incorporate a content-rich analysis, since its main method for testing theories is the process-tracing of case studies

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Left Realism Mark Laffey and Ronald Osborn have argued for the

idea of a “Left Realism” in IR theory with particular reference to the work of Noam Chomsky

Both have suggested that Chomsky’s understanding of power in the international sphere reflects the analytical assumptions of classical realism combined with a radical moral, normative or "Left" critique of the state

Liberalism

Political philosophy or worldview founded on ideas of liberty and equality

Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles

But generally they support ideas such as free and fair elections, civil rights, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, free trade and private property

Liberty

Value of individuals to have control over their own actions. Different conceptions of liberty articulate the relationship

of individuals to society in different ways— these conceptions relate to life under a social contract

existence in an imagined state of nature related to the active exercise of freedom and rights

Understanding liberty involves how we imagine the individual's roles and responsibilities in society in relation to concepts of free will which involves the larger domain of metaphysics

Equality

All people within a specific society or isolated group have the same status in certain respects

At the very least, social equality includes equal rights under the law, equal access to social goods and services

However, it also includes concepts of economic equality, access to education health care and other social securities

It also includes equal opportunities and obligations, and so involves the whole of society

Liberalism

Age of Enlightenment when it became popular among philosophers and economists around the world 

Liberalism rejected the notions, common at the time, of hereditary privilege, state religion, absolute monarchy and Devine Rights of Kings

John Locke- a founding liberalism as a distinct philosophical tradition argued that each man has a natural right to life, liberty and property

Governments must not violate these rights Liberals opposed traditional conservatism and replacement of

absolutism in government with representative democracy and the rule of law

Classical liberalism

Is a conceptions of liberty typically consist of the freedom of individuals from outside compulsion or coercion

Liberation point-of-view, suggests that people should, must, and ought to behave according to their own free will and take responsibility for their actions, while

Social liberals conceptions of liberty place an emphasis upon social structure and is therefore directed toward ensuring egalitarianism

Adam Smith, John Locke, Thomas Malthus and David Ricardo

Idealism

Idealism is the group of philosophies-which assert that reality, or reality as we can know it, is fundamentally mental, mentally constructed, or otherwise immaterial

Epistemologically idealism manifests as a skepticism about the possibility of knowing any mind-independent thing

In a sociological sense, idealism emphasizes how human ideas—especially beliefs and values—shape society

Idealism rejects physicalist and dualist theories that fail to ascribe priority to the mind.

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The earliest extant arguments that the world of experience is grounded in the mental derive from India and Greece

The Hindu idealists in India and the Greek Neoplatonists gave panentheistic argument for an all-pervading consciousness as the ground or true nature of reality

Yogacara school of Mahayana Buddhism in India in the 4th century CE, based its "mind-only" idealism to a greater extent on phenomenological analyses of personal experience

Idealism turn toward the subjective anticipated empiricists during 18th-century Europe by employing skeptical arguments against materialism, George Berkeley

Platonism Plato’s theory of from "ideas" describes ideal forms, as

universe existing independently of any particular instance Nevertheless Plato holds that matter is real, though transitory

and imperfect, and is perceived by our body and its senses and given existence by the eternal ideas that are perceived directly by our rational soul

Plato was therefore a metaphysical and epistemological dualist an, outlook that modern idealism has striven to avoid

Arne Gron calls this doctrine-the classic example of a metaphysical idealism as a transcendent idealism

Simone Klein calls Plato-the earliest representative of metaphysical objective idealism

Neo-Platonism Idealism that had long been current in the West

and East even at that time, for it taught ‘that the soul has made the world by stepping from eternity into time’

Similarly, ‘The only space or place of the world is the soul’ and ‘Time must not be assumed to exist outside the soul’

Subjective Idealism

Subjective Idealism describes a relationship between experience and the world in which objects are no more than collections or ‘bundles’ of sense data in the perceiver

It contends that individuals can only know sensations and ideas of objects directly, not abstractions such as ‘matter’, and that ideas also depend upon being perceived for their very existence – ‘to be is to be perceived’

The universe cannot exist as it appears if there is no perceiving mind

Objective Idealism

Objective idealism asserts that the reality of experiencing combines and transcends the realities of the object experienced and of the mind of the observer

Transcendental idealism, founded by Immanuel Kant in the eighteenth century, maintains that the mind shapes the world we perceive into the form of space-and-time.

Absolute Idealism, founded by G. W. F. Hegel- how existence is comprehensible as an all-inclusive whole

Dialectical historical philosophy

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In his very famous book-Science of Logic-argues that finite qualities are not fully "real" because they depend on other finite qualities to determine them

Qualitative infinity, on the other hand, would be more self-determining and hence more fully real

Similarly finite natural things are less "real"—because they are less self-determining—than spiritual things like morally responsible people, ethical communities and God

So any doctrine, such as materialism, that asserts that finite qualities or natural objects are fully real is mistaken

Additional Beginning with Immanuel Kant, German idealists such

as G. W. F. Hegel, Friedrich Wilhelm, and Arthur Schopenhauer dominated 19th-century philosophy

This tradition, which emphasized the mental or "ideal" character of all phenomena

Idealistic and Subjectivist school British idealism Phenomenalism Existentialism

The historical influence of this branch of idealism remains central even that rejected its metaphysical assumptions, such as pragmatism and positivism

Marxism

Marxism is a socio-economic and political worldview or inquiry based on a materialist interpretation of historical development

A dialectical view of social transformation An analysis of class-relations and conflict within

society Marxist methodology informs an economic and

sociopolitical enquiry applying to the analysis and critique of the development of capitalism and the role of class struggle in systemic economic change

Sources

Dialecticism Germen Philosophy Historical Materialism Hegel and Feuerbach

…. Primitive Communism Slave Society Feudalism Capitalism Socialism Communism

Concepts

Intellectual tenets of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

1848 Communist Manifesto Marxist analyses and methodologies have

influenced multiple political ideologies and social movements throughout history

Marxism encompasses and economic theory, a sociological theory, a philosophical method and revolutionary view of social change

Fundamentals Marxism talks about materialist understanding of societal

development Its starting point is necessary economic activities required by

human society to provide for its material needs The form of economic organization or mode of production is

understood to be the basis from which the majority of other social phenomena – Social relations Political and legal systems Morality and ideology

These social relations form the Superstructure For which the economic system forms the base

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As the forces of production- technology-highly mechanized and socialized production and private ownership change scenario

Surplus product in the form of surplus value or profit

Benefits small section of society –Bourgeoisie These inefficiencies manifest themselves as social

contradictions in the form of Class Struggle

…. Contradiction becomes apparent to the proletariat,

social unrest between the two antagonistic classes intensifies

Culminates social relation The eventual long-term outcome is revolution

which would be the establishment-a socioeconomic system based on cooperative ownership of the means of production- Socialism

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‘Distribution based on one’s contribution and production organized directly for use’

As the productive forces and technology continued to advance, socialism would eventually give way to a Communist stage of social development

Communism would be a classless, stateless, humane society erected on common ownership

‘From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs’

Changes Countries had governments at some point in the 20th

century- Albania, Afghanistan, Angola, Benin, Bulgaria, Chile, China, Republic of Congo, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Ethiopia, Grenada, Hungary, Laos, Moldova, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nicaragua, North Korea, Poland, Romania, Russia, the USSR and its republics, South Yemen, Yugoslavia, Vietnam

Three state of India- Kerala, Tripura and West Bengal have had Marxist governments through electoral processes

Some of these governments such as-Venezuela, Nicaragua, Chile, Moldova, Nepal, Ecuador and Bolivia