Module 3: Liberalism
Theories of International Politics: Liberalism Liber -- concerning freedom Individual freedoms and how they convert to creating international institutions (institutionalism) Free association, esp. for furthering shared goals
Liberalism and the Enlightenment Traditional thought: Humans are evil and violent 18th century -- Enlightenment in Scotland, England, and France Humans are actually good Society has corrupted us; need a better society "Enlightenment project": know humanity's place in the universe, and overcome our limitations Science and philosophy Remake norms and institutions Enlightenment values: individual freedom, hard work, prosperity, common interest
Enlightenment and Liberal Peace Those with similar norms will not fight Too costly to engage in conflict War is a costly lottery Notre: This worldview has been adopted by both conservatives and liberals throughout history
Structural Liberalism More a collection of ideas than a full theory Applicable at all levels of analysis Systemic variety: Structural Liberalism System in anarchic Unit of analysis of state, LoA is system States determine their own goals Internal politics matter: non-unitary state Collective security Both mutual and absolute gains are more important
Implications of Liberalism All about building credibility Make people believe you Signaling-incurring costs Audience cost: when a state publicly vows to do something, it is declaring its intentions to other states, which is its audience in a foreign policy context. If that state fails to match the word and it loses face with the international community
and it incurs the cost of having a poor reputation when it tries to make public statements again in the future Sunk costs: the time, effort, and money that has already been spent in pursuit of subjective. The thing about costs is that the cost has already been incurred Burning bridges: Cutting ties in such a spiteful way that future resolution is pretty much impossible. The costs of having to go back and make amends is higher than the costs of losing relationships Automated systems: Humans are infallible. Since we can misinterpret and miscommunicate with one another, one way to limit the effect of these mistakes Is to have A.l. and robotics take over some of these systems for us Feign irrationality: Cost is born by the receiver. Better to give in to the lesser cost of a poor deal than the greater cost of incurring the wrath of an irrational person
Building Credibility and Signaling Intentions Liberalism's new path: Institutions Incur costs upfront while building institutions Logic of iterated games Build trust : Tit-for-tat as optimal strategy What institutions do - Outside monitoring - Reduce costs of doing business : Share information : Reveal true preferences
What Do Institutions Look Like? Still exist in anarchy, but actors willingly join Carve out their own spheres of governance Can develop own goals; become actors themselves Much more complicated world than that of realism Examples of institutions : World Trade Organization : United Nations : Red Cross/Crescent : NATO : ASEAN European Space Agency International Telecommunications Union
Consequences and Critiques Consequences : Reade becomes primary
Transnational acto