Theories in International Relations: Neo-Liberalism

1. Theories in International Relations: Neo-Liberalism Keohane, After Hegemony Axelrod and Keohane, Achieving Cooperation under Anarchy: Strategies and Institutions • Conceptualization of the international system • ‘International regimes’ concept • Foreign policy formulation

2. Conceptualization of the international system • Assumptions: - International environment is anarchical - States are the most significant actors in the international system and the non-state actors are subordinated to them • Problem: how to initiate and maintain cooperation under conditions of anarchy • International regimes/ international institutions thesis: Neo-Liberalism accounts for the process of achieving sustained patterns of cooperation under anarchy • Why do states choose to set up regimes - reduce transaction cost - increase security

3. ‘International regimes’ concept • Definition: set of rules, norms and procedures around which expectations converge; these apply to a concrete issue area; vary in terms of scope and depth • How do the regimes mitigate anarchy: • alter the payoff structures facing actors; lengthen the shadow of the future; N-person games are broken down into games with smaller number of actors (Axelrod and Keohane, 1985) • reducing the political market failures in terms of information, enforcement (making defection from norms easier to punish) and monitoring (Ruggie, 1998) • Typology of the international and transnational organizations • membership: universal and regional; intergovernmental, supranational and transnational • Goals: specific and general

4. Foreign policy formulation • National preferences and interests: • domestic politics • process of learning • International institutions and bargaining