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International Relations Theory

International Relations Theory. Week 2 Contemporary Context: From Cold War to 9-11. Last Week. Lecture slides and other materials will be uploaded here: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/pais/phd/students/ataka/teaching Read both the module document and the PG handbook very carefully

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International Relations Theory

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  1. International Relations Theory Week 2 Contemporary Context: From Cold War to 9-11

  2. Last Week • Lecture slides and other materials will be uploaded here: • http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/pais/phd/students/ataka/teaching • Read both the module document and the PG handbook very carefully • Getting key reading skills early on is crucial • Theory is useful tool in thinking about IR in systematic way • Theory selection and political implications

  3. Lecture Outline • Cold War and IR • End of the Cold War • End of history and democratic peace • Clash of civilisations • Neoconservatism and US policy • Group exercise • Conclusion

  4. Cold War and IR • International affairs and disciplinary development • First World War and the rise and fall of Liberal Internationalism • Cold War and the dominance of Classical Realism • Scientific turn and the birth of Neo-Realism and Neo-Liberalism • End of the Cold War and the Constructivist challenge • IR theory as European experience? • Westphalian system, state-centric nature, diplomacy • Is Realpolitik the “common sense” of doing ir? • Euro-centricity and postcolonialism

  5. End of the Cold War • End of Cold War and the “unipolar moment” • Shift from bipolar to unipolar system • Unprecedented US primacy • Belief that superpower can impose its solutions at will and ignore restraints that previously modified its conduct • “Benevolent hegemony” and American exceptionalism • “Empire lite” (Michael Ignatieff) • Series of US-led interventions during the Clinton and Bush Administrations

  6. End of History and Democratic Peace • Optimistic response to end of Cold War • Fukuyama: end of history • CW: clash of ideas • Post-CW: triumph of Western liberal ideas  “end of history” • Post-CW international relations: cooperation never been better • IR to concentrate on technical question of improving cooperation • Democratic peace theory • Democracy do not fight other democracies • High level of political support • Globalisation • How does this fit with mainstream theories’ state-centrism?

  7. Clash of Civilisations • Pessimistic response to end of Cold War • Huntington: clash of civilisations • Ir moves out of Western-dominated phase with end of CW • Central interaction between Western and non-Western civilisations (and among non-Western civilisations) • “Fault lines” between civilisations replacing political and ideological boundaries of Cold War as flash points • Huntington’s recommendation for Western policy • Western policy makers should cooperate more and unify their own civilisation with this new trend in mind • West needs to develop greater understanding of basic philosophical assumptions of other civilisations • Re-emergence of culture

  8. Neoconservatism and US policy • Influential body of thought behind Bush’s foreign policy • Project for the New American Century • Four principles (Fukuyama 2006, 48) • Internal character of regimes matters for its external behaviour • American power should be used for moral purposes: US has a “special responsibility” in security • Scepticism about social engineering • International law and institutions are poor generators of peace and security • These principles underpin the assertion of the right of the US to take “anticipatory action” • To “act preemptively in exercising our inherent right of self-defense” (NSS 2002, 18)

  9. Group Exercise • You are a peace activist. You are agitated by the fact that many people are hailing Huntington’s clash of civilisation thesis as “predicting” 9/11 and the following conflict, and you decide to argue against it. Using real-life examples come up with an argument against Huntington. • Think about the uniqueness of Huntington’s arguments, comparing it to mainstream IR thinking • How can 9/11 and the following developments be captured in IR? • Who are the main actors in international relations?

  10. Conclusion • Cold War and the dominance of Realism still sets the tone for IR theories today • End of the Cold War had major impact on both the practice of international relations and how we see it • 1990s dominated by optimistic response with Liberal views of Fukuyama, DPT and globalisation championed • 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq made pessimistic views of Huntington and clash of civilisation difficult to ignore • Post-Cold War also saw unprecedented US primacy and the rise of Neoconservatist US foreign policy • Next week: Realism

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