Realist and Liberal thinkers

REALIST

REALIST

Kissinger

“A country that demands moral perfection in its foreign policy will achieve neither perfection nor security”

• States are amoral

• National interest more important than morality

Machiavelli - classical realist

“Above all [humans are] malignant, iniquitous, violent and savage”

• Violent, amoral and self interested human nature

• Negative interpretation of human nature (Hobbesian).

• Humans are motivated by a desire for power and security.

Ends justify the means: pursuit of national interest and power

Von Bismarck

“A conquering army on the border will not be stopped by eloquence”

• Rejection of international institutions

• Support for hard power

Mearsheimer - offensive realist (‘The Tragedy of Great Power Politics’)

“In the anarchic world on international politics, it is better to be Godzilla than Bambi”

When the moral thing conflicts the strategic action, states will act strategically.

Conflict and competition will continue between great powers.

States are trying to secure hegemony - POWER MAXIMISERS.

There is no ‘nightwatchman’ - states exist in ‘self help’ world.

Waltz - defensive realist (‘Theory of International Politics’)

“States in the world are like individuals in the state of nature”

“Each state pursues its own interests […] in ways it judges best”

Bipolarity is more stable than multi-polarity.

Maintain enough power to match rival states power - BALANCE OF POWER

International system is in a state of anarchy.

Morgenthau - classical realist (‘Politics Among Nations’)

“International politics […] is a struggle for power”

“Power is always the immediate aim”

• Moral considerations are less important than national interest.

“The social world is but a projection of human nature on to the collective plane”

• Political man is naturally self-interested.

Lord Palmerston

“We have not eternal allies and we have not perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual”

Thucydides

“Peace is an armistice in a war that is continuously going on”

Von Clausewitz

“War is a continuation of politics by other means”

LIBERAL

LIBERAL

JD Bowen

“The international system creates opportunities for cooperation and conflict”

College campus analogy

• States make choices within the international system - conflict is avoidable

Kant

Kantian triangle

• Democracy, international institutions and economic interdependence = PEACE

Nye

“Seduction is always more effective than coercion”

“The world is neither unipolar, multipolar nor chaotic - it is all three at the same time”

Bastiat

“If goods do not cross borders armies will”

Friedman

“Being part of a global supply chain is like striking oil”

“No two countries that are both part of the same global supply will ever fight a war”

“The answer is free-market capitalism”

Keohane

Complex interdependence:

States are inherently egotistical

More rational and in states interest to cooperate

Blair

“The spread of our values makes us safer”

“Acts of genocide can never be a purely internal matter”

International community with shared interests and values should be defended

‘Liberal interventionism’ - military intervention based on humanitarian grounds

UN Responsibility to Protect (R2P): “suffering or likely to suffer serious harm”

Bull - liberal realism (‘The Anarchical Society’)

“Anarchical society are society of states”

States are egotistical and pursue self interest but also cooperate:

• It is in their interest to avoid disorder and chaos

• It is not in their interest to give up control and sovereignty to world governance

NS still play dominant role but accept rules of international behaviour and abide by international law

Society of states is still anarchical and prone to periods of instability