International relations can be confusing at first, at least with respect to all of the theories. When you start to deal with the social sciences, your perspective or the lens through which you look at an event or topic is of utmost importance. How do you view another person’s or country’s motives? You really need to have some theory with which you look at a situation. From The Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction to International Relations, a theory is “ some kind of simplifying device that allows you to decide which facts matter and which do not” (3). There are so many different versions of the same event to where the “facts” differ. Even when pulling research from reputable sources it can be difficult to follow exactly what happened. There are four main theories that we will talk about briefly here and will talk about much more in depth in the future. Those theories are Realism, Liberalism, Marxism (Structuralism), and Constructivism. All of which we will touch on below.
The Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction to International Relations
Trying to make sense of world politics has been a perpetual problem for humanity, or at least trying to find resolution to conflicts. This concept itself actually got its own department in 1919 when a Welsh industrialist, David Davies set up the Department of International Politics in Aberystwyth. The basic idea being that by studying international politics in a scientific way, academics could try to put forth solutions for politicians to implement. As we know, there is a big difference between making a plan or research and actually implementing that plan or research into a real-world scenario. However, starting to study and publish further research aids in the growing understanding of the topic at hand.
Realism
For the Realist, the main actors on the global stage are legally sovereign actors, states. This is what it means to be sovereign, that there is no actor above the state that can compel the state to act in certain ways. Meaning that international corporations or groups all actually act within the framework of relation of the states in which they operate. Realists see human nature as centrally important to world politics, and it’s typically believed to be fixed and selfish. This lends to international politics being a balance of power with each state vying to maximize their national interests. Therefore, diplomacy is the main mechanism of states’ interaction, of which military resources are most important for states to achieve their ends. An important variant of Realism is Neorealism. For Neorealists, it is the structure of the international political system that affects the behavior of all states. The bipolar international system of the Cold War is typically used as an example.
Liberalism
According to our text, The Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction to International Relations, the Liberal rejects the idea that war is the natural condition of world politics. There just must be other ways to settle disputes. This is possible because a main theme of Liberalism is that people are perfectible, at least to some extent, and that democracy is necessary for that perfectibility to develop. Due to this more democratic view, Liberalists view transnational actors such as terrorist groups and international organizations as able to be central actors in some geopolitical issues. Therefore, international influence is not just for states. Speaking of states, they are viewed more as a set of bureaucratic organizations each with their own interests, as opposed to a single united actor that acts only in national interests. Thus, order in the realm of world politics arises from the actions of many layers of governing arrangements rather than the balance of power between states.
Marxism/Structuralism
The third theory, Marxism, otherwise known as Structuralism or World-System theory, has its most important actors as classes instead of states. From a world political standpoint, its most important feature is that we live in a world capitalist economy within which it is the dominance of international capitalism that determines the main political patterns throughout the world. These political patterns are the setting of class conflicts where things are settled in a mostly economic matter rather than with military terms. Placing a premium on economic autonomy in a world where all states must play by the rules of this international capitalist economy.
Social Constructionism
The final theory we will talk about is Social Constructionism. It is a relatively new theory, developed in the late 1980s and gaining influence since the mid-1990s. Its main argument is that “we make and remake the social world and that therefore there is much more role for human agency than the other theories suggest” (6). Essentially, the possibilities for human progress are more than most of us can understand and that the world is far more open to change than we realize.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Realism, Liberalism, Marxism, and Constructionism provide us with a lense through which to view the world and its political events. Now, obviously there is much more to each of these theories than is discussed in this post. However, this is only meant to be a general introduction to each of these theories and we will learn more context and study them more in depth in the future.
