Approaches to International Cooperation

Realism

• Realists believe that cooperation is unrealistic because of the theory of relative gains and the prisoner’s dilemma

  • Relative gains: one state gains power/resources when and because another state loses them → states are constantly competing for power and resources rather than collaborating and sharing them

  • Prisoner’s dilemma: two prisoners are interrogated separately for a crime, each told that they have two options: confess or deny.

    • If they confess and the other prisoner confesses, they both get six-month charges.

    • If they confess and the other does not, they go free while the other gets a yearlong charge, and vise-versa.

    • If neither party confesses, they both receive one-month prison terms.

    • This forces each to weigh the likelihood of the other party confessing, making each more likely to confess for their personal benefit rather than helping the other.

Liberalism

• Liberalists believe in the possibility and often probability of peaceful international interactions because, while they also view states as ultimately anarchic and prioritizing their own self-interests, often international cooperation is in a nation’s best interest

• Forming alliances and sharing resources with other countries can be extremely mutually beneficial economically, militarily, socially, and otherwise

  • The single-minded view that all international cooperation is disadvantageous to a given state is misguided from the liberalist perspective

• Highlights the shadow of the future

  • Shadow of the future: a state’s expectation of continued cooperation with another state in the future

Constructivism

• Constructivists posit that the tendency toward international cooperation or competition is dependent on the state itself, taking into account the values and identities present in a state’s population that may contribute to different interests being prioritized by different states

• Some states are more active in international diplomacy while others are more prone to individualism and/or conflict with other countries, tendencies which are heavily dependent on the unique cultural, social, and political landscapes of different states

International Law

• International law: a body of rules and norms regulating interactions among states, between states and IGOs, and, in more limited cases, among IGOs, states, and individuals

  • Covers most facets of international diplomacy and governmental/organizational cooperation between people from different countries

• Major sources: customs, treaties

Customs

• Most laws are derived from cultural customs of the people they govern (or at least those who are doing the governing of a larger group)

• Over time, many customs develop into formal law, both on the local, state, and international levels

• Customs and values considered universal, such as the right to life, have been adopted into international human rights law (namely the UN’s list of inalienable human rights)

Treaties

• Written, formal agreements

• Largely defined by the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties

• Policy agreed to by states to establish international protocol in certain areas

International Organizations

• International Organization (IGO): an organization which serves to encourage cooperation between states to more efficiently and effectively solve internationally shared issues

• Create mutually beneficial support for all the states as they work together to solve problems they all face, and ultimately benefit every nation involved, or further the “collective good”

• If NGOs become powerful enough, that power in itself is also ultimately beneficial for its members, as all of its members share the power generated by supporting and being supported by the organization while non-members are pressured to join to benefit from the shared power and resource