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4.6: Student Resources

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    210141
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    Summary

    Liberalism has been a driving force behind the actions of the international community over the past several decades. Critics and proponents alike have seen world politics moving in the direction of liberal consensus on economics. States have continued to pursue lower taxes and regulations in order to promote economic growth. Trade between states is a given and developing states have attempted to build up their domestic industries to compete on the international level. The creation of institutions like the United Nations, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and World Trade Organization affect the majority of states and have spurred greater levels of cooperation. Liberalism’s promotion of democracy has seemed to have a lot of momentum with even many non-democratic states giving lip service to notions of representing the public good. However, politics seems to be shifting internationally. Nationalist movements are on the rise across the world. Many believe that these organizations have undermined sovereignty, increased inequality and destroyed the environment. China, once liberalism’s great economic success story, has shifted course to cracking down on foreign companies and giving protections to their own industries.

    Key Terms

    • Absolute gains refer to the total amount of benefits that all parties gain (without focusing on the relative distribution of those benefits).
    • Complex interdependence is a theory that emphases the importance of the interconnectedness and mutual dependence between actors (both state and non-state), such as the multiple ways through which cultural, economic, and political relationships may connect states.
    • Democratic Peace Theory asserts that democratic states do not go to war with one another.
    • Liberalism is a theory that explains state behavior and the configuration of the international system by emphasizing the mutual benefits of cooperation and international institutions.
    • Positive-sum means a situation in which all sides can gain.
    • Reciprocity is the principle that states respond to the actions of other states in kind.

    Critical Thinking Questions

    1. How does liberalism’s view of human nature differ from that of realism?
    2. What is complex interdependence, and how does it prevent conflict?
    3. What are absolute gains, and how do they differ from the realist emphasis on relative gains?
    4. What is reciprocity, and how does it help prevent conflict from a liberal perspective?
    5. Select a state within the international system. How would its approach to the international community differ under a realist versus a liberal framework?

    Suggestions for Further Study

    Websites

    Journal Articles

    • Ikenberry, G. J. (2010). The Liberal International Order and its Discontents. Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 38(3), 509-521.
    • Mearsheimer, J. J. (1994). The False Promise of International Institutions. International Security, 19(3), 5-49.
    • Moravcsik, Andrew. (1997). Taking Preferences Seriously: A Liberal Theory of International Politics. International Organization, 51 (4), 513-553.

    Books

    • Kant, I. (1795). Perpetual Peace.
    • Moravcsik, A. (1998). The Choice for Europe. Cornell University Press.
    • Wilson, W. (1918). The Fourteen Points.

    This page titled 4.6: Student Resources is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Brad Bettridge.

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