...Neorealism – or structural realism – is a theory of international politics which is usually associated with Kenneth Waltz and his book, Theory of International Politics. The main objective of the book is to construct a very general framework for explaining recurring patterns of state behavior and state interaction in the international system. Neorealism is the bedrock theory of International Relations. Starting from a simple set of assumptions, it seeks to explain how states, in particular the most powerful ones, behave, and how they interact with each other on the international arena. It asserts that the nature of the international structure is determined by its principle of order, anarchy, and by the distribution of capabilities which is measured by the number of great powers within the international system. The anarchic ordering principle of the international structure is decentralized, meaning there is no formal central authority; every sovereign state is formally equal in this system. These states act according to the logic of self-help, meaning states seek their own interest and will not subordinate their interest to the interests of other states. While neorealists agree that the structure of the international relations is the primary impetus in seeking security, there is disagreement among neorealist scholars as to whether states merely aim to survive or whether states want to maximize their relative power. These viewpoints are respectively of Kenneth Waltz and his defensive...
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...Why are theories of international relations important? First of all, international relation is the study of relationship between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organization, international nongovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, and multinational corporations. In our modern society, globalization has made countries dependent with each other due to the rapid flow of goods, services, people, information and ideas that is driven by economic factor, which includes increasing productive potential and creating new opportunities for international trade and investment, technological factor, which involves faster information access and easier international activities, and demographical factor, which involves different characteristics and resources in different areas. According to the Essentials of International Relations by Karen A Mingst, theory is a set of propositions and concepts that seek to explain phenomena by specifying the relationships among the concepts. So theory of international relation is a set of propositions and concepts that seek to explain international relation phenomena by specifying the relationships among the concepts. Therefore the theory of international relationship is important to analyze political events and their background. For example, behind US attack to Iraq, there were issues of terrorism, Saddam Hussein as an individual, democracy, and weapon. Moreover using the theories of international relationship...
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...important theories associated with international relations and how do they compare and contrast? What are some of the fundamental precepts of classic realist theory of international relations? 200 words or less cite all work ..thank you please read this site There are numerous theories that are connected to international relations such as the classical realism, neo- realism, as well as neo-classical realism. Classical realism is a theory in which power is the focus of the states. In addition, the states want their enemy’s power to decreases as their power increases. Also there is the neo-realism theory which is a subsidiary of the neo-classical. This theory totally argues against the doings of the classical realism. In addition, it focuses more on the rivalries as well as the power struggles and not as the nature functions of the states but the international system function. Last, we have the neo-classical realism which restores as well as revives the classical realism. This theory accepts power rivalries but believes that the characteristics of the states play a huge role in the states behavior. The classic realist theory on international business views states as rivals due to the power. The states power is the main focus. Many individuals are aggressive as well as insecure and greedy thus the states will govern those same types of characteristics. Furthermore, there needs to be stability for peace as long as the power is well stable. Moreover all the theories discuss...
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...DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE FOURAH BAY COLLEGE UNIVERSITY OF SIERRA LEONE Module: Introduction to International Relations (Pols 411) First Semester, 2008 Instructor (Lecturer): Ms. Lena Thompson Name: Josephus J. Ellie Final Year, History and Politics Essay Topic: “Critically Evaluate Post War Realist Explanation of International Politics with Particular Reference to Power” Introduction The tradition of political realism – realpolitik, power politics – has a long history that is typically traced back to the great Greek historian Thucydides in the fifth century BC. Although dominant attitudes towards realism have varied, realist arguments and orientations have been central to the Western theory and practice of international relations. “In particular, “modern” international society, whether dated from the era of Machiavelli at the turn of the sixteenth century or that of Hobbes in the mid-seventeenth century, has been closely linked to realist balance of power politics. The link between realism and international theory is especially strong in the twentieth century. International relations first emerged as an academic discipline before and immediately after World War I, largely in reaction against realist balance of power politics. The discipline was then reshaped immediately before and after World War II by self-identified realists such as E. H. Carr and Hans Morgenthau. Prominent scholar-practitioners, such as George Kennan and Henry Kissinger, have called themselves...
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...DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE FOURAH BAY COLLEGE UNIVERSITY OF SIERRA LEONE Module: Introduction to International Relations (Pols 411) First Semester, 2008 Instructor (Lecturer): Ms. Lena Thompson Name: Josephus J. Ellie Final Year, History and Politics Essay Topic: “Critically Evaluate Post War Realist Explanation of International Politics with Particular Reference to Power” Introduction The tradition of political realism – realpolitik, power politics – has a long history that is typically traced back to the great Greek historian Thucydides in the fifth century BC. Although dominant attitudes towards realism have varied, realist arguments and orientations have been central to the Western theory and practice of international relations. “In particular, “modern” international society, whether dated from the era of Machiavelli at the turn of the sixteenth century or that of Hobbes in the mid-seventeenth century, has been closely linked to realist balance of power politics. The link between realism and international theory is especially strong in the twentieth century. International relations first emerged as an academic discipline before and immediately after World War I, largely in reaction against realist balance of power politics. The discipline was then reshaped immediately before and after World War II by self-identified realists such as E. H. Carr and Hans Morgenthau. Prominent scholar-practitioners...
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...International relations, study of the relations among states and other political and economic units in the international system. Particular areas of study within the field of international relations include diplomacy and diplomatic history, international law, international organizations, international finance and economics, and communications, among others. In addition, increased attention has been paid in recent years to developing a more scientific understanding of the international system as a whole. Aspects of international relations have been studied as early as the time of the ancient Greek historian Thucydides. As a separate and definable discipline, however, it dates from the early 20th cent., when the first organized efforts were made to find alternatives to wars in nation-state international behavior. Two schools of thought quickly developed. One looks to strengthened international law and international organizations to preserve peace; the other emphasizes that nations will always use their power to achieve goals and sees the key to peace in a balance of power among competing states. With increased importance attached to a theoretical understanding of the whole international system, there has been a growing use of concepts and modes of analysis developed in the natural sciences in an attempt to improve the verifiability and applicability of theories. International relations is the study of relationships between nations. When analyzing international relations three...
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...Contemporary international relations is a complex field. Understanding events and attempting to make sense of them can be a daunting task. There are, however, tools available, which can assist in providing clarity to these complex issues. The first of these tools is historic knowledge. Without historic background of an issue, it is nearly impossible to understand the events driving that issue in modern times. A second tool, the one which will be the focus of this paper, is international relations theory. Theory can be defined as “a belief, policy, or procedure proposed or followed as the basis of action,” (Merriam-Webster) and can be used “in many cases as a basis of prediction.” (Mingst 56) There are three major theories which we can use to analyze events: liberalism, realism, and constructivism. These theories provide us with different points of view from which to analyze issues in today’s world. By looking at events, both past and present, in the context of a given theory, we can begin to understand those events and the driving forces behind them, as well as to make predictions about future events. The first of these theories, liberalism, is based upon the belief that man is innately good and that social conditions can be improved, paving the way for progress. Liberalism has its roots in “Enlightenment optimism, nineteenth-century political and economic liberalism, and twentieth-century Wilsonian idealism.” (Mingst 60) Liberalism sees man as rational, and through...
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...http://wjss.sciedupress.com World Journal of Social Science Vol. 1, No. 1; 2014 Theories of US Foreign Policy: An Overview Hang Thi Thuy Nguyen1 1 The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia Correspondence: Hang Thi Thuy Nguyen, School of Global, Urban and Social Science, The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia. E-mail: thuyhang032003@gmail.com Received: July 27, 2013 doi:10.5430/wjss.v1n1p20 Accepted: August 12, 2013 Online Published: August 13, 2013 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5430/wjss.v1n1p20 Abstract This article reviews major theoretical perspectives to US foreign policy as well as on how these theoretical perspectives explain foreign policy decision making and conducting of the US. First, the paper will discuss the process of making foreign policy to sustain US core values and interests which are determined by five major categories of sources (i) the external environment, (ii) the societal environment of the nation, (iii) the governmental setting, (iv) the roles of foreign policymakers, and (v) the individual personalities of foreign policy-making elites (Wittkopf et al 2008, p. 15). Then, the paper will examine the defensive and offensive realism, liberalism, marxism, neoclassical realism, constructivism which can be based on to understand US foreign policy behaviour. It will be concluded that no single theory has the capacity to describe, explain and predict US foreign policy behaviour. A mixture of such...
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...historically constituted tensions, contradictions and evasions. The realist thought embraces a view that international system is anarchic and states are principal actors driven by currency of power and competing self-interest. Many exponents and critics, describe Realism as tradition of thought, which signifies an approach to international relations, describing the world as it is, and not as it ought to be. In this essay, I will highlight differences between two strands of Realism dominant in the 20th century i.e., classical realism and neo-realism and also assess if neo-realism is an advance on realism. While there are numerous denominations to the realist theory, there are no. of essential core elements which all Realists subscribe to. Prescribing to Hobbes view, all realists be it classical or neo-realist believe that international system is a state of nature where individual exist in an ungoverned environment, “without a common power to keep them all in awe”. Hobbes equates state of nature as state of war, which pits “every man, against every man”. To escape this intolerable condition, individuals agree to enter a civil society and install a sovereign power. Therefore, Realist theory operates in the assumption that domestically; the problem of order and security is solved because there is a central authority to look after the security needs of the individuals. However, international system, remains anarchic wherein each sovereign state acts independently, free from interference...
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...Introduction - Purchasing Power Parity PPP Theory The first original reference of PPP Theory was made by David Ricardo. However, Gustav Cassel popularized this theory in 1918. According to PPP theory, when exchange rates are of a fluctuating nature, the rate of exchange between two currencies in the long run will be fixed by their respective purchasing powers in their own nations. Foreign currency is demanded by the people because it has some purchasing power in its own nation. Also domestic currency has a certain purchasing power, because it can buy some amount of goods/services in the domestic economy. Thus, when home currency is exchanged for any foreign currency, in fact the domestic purchasing is being exchanged for the purchasing power, because it can buy some amount of goods/ services in the domestic economy. Thus, when home currency is exchanged for any foreign currency, in fact the domestic purchasing power is being exchanged for the purchasing power of that foreign currency. This exchange of the purchasing power takes place at some specified rare where purchasing of two currencies nations gets equalized. Thus, the relative purchasing power of the two currencies determines the exchange rate. The exchange rate under this theory is in equilibrium when their domestic purchasing powers at that rate of exchanges are equivalent e.g., Suppose certain bundle of goods/ services in U.S.A. costs U.S. $ 10 and the same bundle in India costs, Rs. 450/- then the exchange rate...
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...Theories of International Relations Third edition Scott Burchill, Andrew Linklater, Richard Devetak, Jack Donnelly, Matthew Paterson, Christian Reus-Smit and Jacqui True Theories of International Relations This page intentionally left blank Theories of International Relations Third edition Scott Burchill, Andrew Linklater, Richard Devetak, Jack Donnelly, Matthew Paterson, Christian Reus-Smit and Jacqui True Material from 1st edition © Deakin University 1995, 1996 Chapter 1 © Scott Burchill 2001, Scott Burchill and Andrew Linklater 2005 Chapter 2 © Jack Donnelly 2005 Chapter 3 © Scott Burchill, Chapters 4 and 5 © Andrew Linklater, Chapters 6 and 7 © Richard Devetak, Chapter 8 © Christian Reus-Smit, Chapter 9 © Jacqui True, Chapter 10 © Matthew Paterson 2001, 2005 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright...
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...Foreign Policy Module Summative Assessment Question 1: Foreign policy must be formulated in accordance with the national interest’. Evaluate this claim which is attributable to realist thinking on foreign policy. * * According to realist thinking on foreign policy, international relations and politics are formulated in accordance with national interest. This presupposes that the key actors in International Relations are sovereign states that behave similarly regardless of their type of government. As well, a state of anarchy is at the fundamental core of this argument and national interests of egoistic states as the main outward presence in international realm. Classic Realism, originally emerged from the European concert of aristocratic diplomacy. By evaluating this claim, this essay will reassert the position and importance of Offensive and Defensive Realism in our contemporary post 9/11 world. These are respectively neoclassical realism and neorealism. Firstly, a detailed account of realism will be produced highlighting the emergence of national interest as the fundamental feature or goal of sovereign states. This is done either through the maintenance of a status quo or aspiration of accumulating influence. It will be concluded that Defensive Realism or neorealism is the principal theoretical sub-school in according this claim any legitimacy. Secondly, a general evaluation of neorealism in post 9/11 world will be provided; and a comparison, and ultimately an...
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...What are the main obstacles to international cooperation between states? Assess with reference to realism and liberalism. According to Kenneth Waltz, the way states behave is determined by the permanent state of anarchy in which the international system exists. The lack of an ordering sovereign authority to oversee relations between states dominates debate between scholars as to whether the world will ever be a peaceful, threat-free environment. In order to eliminate war and conflict, cooperation must characterize states’ behaviour towards one another, a system in which ‘the security of each [state] is perceived as the responsibility of all’ (Wendt, 1999). The question then becomes why, if cooperation leads to rewards for everyone, do states enter into conflict and war? International Relations theorists seek to explain this paradox by examining the obstacles to cooperation. For classical realists, the answer is simple; lust for power and a drive for conflict are rooted within human nature and, since humans are the operators of state actors, state behaviour mimics this nature in its approach to international relations. Neo-realists, by contrast, follow Waltz in his belief that the anarchic structure of the international system causes states to seek security and power, and therefore provides the ultimate obstacle to cooperation. While liberals disagree altogether, offering the counterargument that men are rational, and therefore states choose to engage in conflict in order to pursue...
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...Iran and Israel have long been enigmatic players on the international stage, belonging to the Middle East but not quite identifying with the majority of its inhabitants. For the sole majority-ethnic Persian state in the Middle East and one of the few Shiite Muslim ones, friction and tension have been constant features of its relations with the predominantly Arab and Sunni Middle Eastern states. If Iran is somewhat of an outcast in the region, this is even more the case for Israel as the only ethnically and religiously Jewish state, not only in the region but in the world at large. Aside from Turkey, which is really the only other significant non-Arab state actor in the region, Iran and Israel represent deviations from the norm of mostly Sunni Muslim and ethnically Arab states in the Middle East. Still, what stands out as truly unique in the modern Middle East is the Iranian-Israeli connection, a facet of international politics unparalleled elsewhere in terms of Persian-Jewish contact and cooperation spanning thousands of years, overall international interdependence, and the abrupt switch from amity to enmity as of 1979. While the international media has cast an ever-stronger spotlight on the Iranian-Israeli relationship in the past five or ten years, it has long deserved closer scrutiny. For two countries to be as intertwined at the political, military, economic and societal levels – like Iran and Israel from the 1950s through to the 1970s – and then to become and remain bitter...
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...External Aid of Iran and Increased Political Power of Hizbullah (Research Proposal) by Lee, Joosong Middle East and African Studies Graduate School of International and Area Studies Hankuk University of Foreign Studies I. Research Background Hizbullah is the most powerful single political movement in Lebanon. Hizbullah, along with the Amal Movement, represents most of Lebanese Shi'a. The political 'victory' of Hizbullah in 2005 election was a refreshing jolt for both Lebanon and international community. The 2005 Lebanese General Elections were the first in Lebanese history to be won outright by a single electoral block and were also the first to be monitored by the United Nations. In the general elections, Hizbullah won fourteen seats in the Parliament out of 128; that is about 11% in total, and fifth most in number. And in the general elections of 2009, Hizbullah won twelve seats, which is about 10%. The results were quite a shock for the Western countries since Hizbullah’s status is quite controversial; it is in fact a legitimate political party in Lebanon, but still a resistance movement group. What is more contentious is that Hizbullah was a terrorist group before; and some states still consider Hizbullah as a terrorist group, partly or as a whole. As a matter of fact, currently Hizbullah is a legitimate political party in Lebanon which was elected by legitimate elections. The discussion now needs to move on to what was the critical factor...
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