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CHAPTER 1: THE 20TH CENTURY ORIGINS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS DR. FELIX TAN IR 1011 (INTRODUCTION TO INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS) to introduce you to the main background factors that led to the creation and evolution of IR as an academic discipline AIMS: LEARNING OUTCOMES by the end of this chapter, you should be able to: a. discuss what is meant by the “20 years” crisis; b. describe the influence of 20th century crisis on the development of IR; c. illustrate some of the fundamental differences between Realist, Liberal, English School and Post-colonial approaches in IR; d. discuss the subjects with which IR should be concerned; and e. define the vocabulary terms in bold INTRODUCTION IR deals with the best and the worst of humanity: respect and hatred, cooperation and war but these are not new debates and some one can certainly trace the ‘history’ of IR to some of the following ideas of past ‘greats’ (just to name a few): (I) Thucydides - Greek historian of the 5th BCE (II) St. Thomas Aquinas - 13th century Christian theologian (III) Hugo Grotius - 17th century Dutch lawyer (IV)  Jean-Jacques Rousseau - 18th century French philosopher (V) Immanuel Kant - German thinker during the Napoleonic wars each contributed substantial ideas and an understanding of topics associated to some aspects in the discipline of IR (i.e. the causes of war, the possibilities of peace; the impact of trade and ideas; etc…)

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C H A P T E R 1 : T H E 2 0 T H C E N T U R Y O R I G I N S

OF INTERNATIONAL RELAT IONS  

D R . F E L I X T A N

I R 1 0 1 1 ( I N T R O D U C T I O N T O I N T E R N A T I O N A L R E L A T I O N S )

to introduce you to the

main background factors

that led to the creation and

evolution of IR as an

academic discipline

A I M S :

L E A R N I N G O U T C O M E S

• by the end of this chapter, you should be able to:

a. discuss what is meant by the “20 years” crisis;

b. describe the influence of 20th century crisis on the

development of IR;

c. illustrate some of the fundamental differences betweenRealist, Liberal, English School and Post-colonial approaches

in IR;

d. discuss the subjects with which IR should be concerned; and

e. define the vocabulary terms in bold

I N T R O D U C T I O N• IR deals with the best and the worst of humanity: respect and hatred, cooperation

and war

• but these are not new debates and some one can certainly trace the ‘history’ of IR

to some of the following ideas of past ‘greats’ (just to name a few):

(I) Thucydides - Greek historian of the 5th BCE

(II) St. Thomas Aquinas - 13th century Christian theologian

(III) Hugo Grotius - 17th century Dutch lawyer

(IV) Jean-Jacques Rousseau - 18th century French philosopher

(V) Immanuel Kant - German thinker during the Napoleonic wars

• each contributed substantial ideas and an understanding of topics associated to

some aspects in the discipline of IR (i.e. the causes of war, the possibilities of

peace; the impact of trade and ideas; etc…)

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– T H U C Y D I D E S , T H E H I S T O R Y O F T H E P E L O P O N N E S I A N

WA R 

“Self-control is the chief element in self-respect,

and self-respect is the chief element in courage”

T H E O R I G I N S O F I N T E R N A T I O N A L R E L AT I O N S :

T H E F I R S T W O R L D W A R A N D T H E I N T E R - W A R

• the world experienced 3 protracted conflicts between 1914 and

1989:

(a) World War 1 (WWI)

(b) World War 2 (WWII)

(c) The Cold War

• these nearly obliterated whole human populations; facilitated the

rise of some great powers; and led to the demise of others

• the hugely destructive wars of this ‘bloodiest era in history’ have

been at the heart of IR since its first emerged as a taught subject

after 1918

W W 1 ( 1 9 1 4 - 1 9 1 8 )

• Two rival camps (Alliances)

• Imperial Germany and Austro-Hungarian Empire (AHE)

v e r s u s U K , F r a n c e , a n d T s a r i s t R u s s i a

(www.mapsofworld.com)

• Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand (AHE) by Serbiannationalist

• http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/maps/

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/

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C A U S E S O F W W 1

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXqppJ-L88U (6.5 min summary

entangling alliances)

• Serbia’s attempted secession from the Austro-Hungarian Empire

• Led to Austria’s invasion of Serbia. Russia is Serbia’s traditional ally

(ethnic ties)

• Austria linked to Germany through Triple Alliance treaty

• Russia linked in mil itary alliances with UK and France (Triple Entente)

•  Why is WW1 important?

A C T I V I T Y 1 :  

C O M P LE T E T H E T A B LE B E LO W B Y L IS T ING E V E NT S F R O M T H E 2 0 T H C E NT U R Y

T H A T H A V E INF LU E NC E D T H E DE V E LO P M E NT O F K E Y T O P IC S IN IR . T H IS L IS T

W ILL B E U S E F U L W H E N Y O U P R E P A R E E S S A Y S A ND E X A M INA T IO N A NS W E R S T O

Q U E S T IO NS O N T H E S E T O P IC S

I R T O P I C AS S O C I AT E D H I S T O R I C A L E V E N T S

HU MA N R I G HTSJ EWI SH HO LO C AUST D URI NG WW2. KHM ER RO UGE ( P O L P O T ) GENO C I D E

I N C A M B O D I A 1 9 7 5 - 1 9 7 9 . R W A N D A N G E N O C I D E 1 9 9 4

CA U S E S O F W A R VA RI OU S IR TH EO RI ES TO EX PL AI N WW 1 AN D WW 2 (R EA LI SM ,

L I B E R A L I S M , M A R X I S M )

R O LE O F E CO N O MI CS

I N I R

G R E A T D E P R E S S I O N 1 9 3 0 S . O I L C R I S I S 1 9 7 3 . G L O B A L F I N A N C I A L C R I S I S

2 0 0 8 - 0 9 .

CO N D I T I O N S F O R

PE A CE

R I S E O F E U R O P E A N I N T E G R A T I O N I N T H E E U R O P E A N U N I O N A F T E R W W 2 .

E U I S A R E G I O N A L S E C U R I T Y C O M M U N IT Y ( R S C ) I N W H I C H I T S M E M B E R -

S T A T E S D O N O T U S E F O R C E A G A I N S T O N E A N O T H E R I N S E T T L I N G

D I S P U T E S .

• if war gave birth to academic IR, then the

establishment of peace was its first mission

• IR is sometimes thought of as being too pessimistic in

its view on war and peace, and too theoretical in its

approach to global issues

• IR, according to David Davies, was to help scholars

engage in practical understanding that would ‘herald

in a new world freed from the menace of war’

• in the post-WWI settlement,

Edward Hallett "Ted" Carr CBE

(28 June 1892 – 3 November

1982) - one of the most

influential writers in the

discipline - later called this the

twenty years’ crisis 

• he argued that the settlement

contained within it the seeds for

an even greater conflict

• he was also very critical of the

then US President Woodrow

Wilson, who founded the

League of Nations, a precursor

to the United Nations

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• For Carr, he saw powerful revisionist states (i.e. Germany),

dissatisfied with the status quo  (read Hilter’s Mein

Kampf?? ) created after the Great War, pushing hard to shift

the balance of power (B.o.P) in their favour

• Carr had actually envisioned and hoped that these states

(Germany and Japan) could be contained through a

strategy of diplomatic concession, arguing that any

‘peaceful change’ was still preferable to war

• however, in the end, both Germany and Japan could not be

satisfied through appeasement as he had hoped, resulting

in one of the most destructive war in history - WWII

• July 1919 Treaty of Versailles laid the framework for the riseof Hitler’s Nazi Germany in the early 1930s and the road toWW2

• Germany was to take full responsibility for the damagecaused during World War I (known as the "war guilt" clause, Article 231)

• major land concessions forced upon Germany (including theloss of all her colonies

• limitation of the German army to 100,000 men

• Germany had to pay a very large sum in reparationsGermany

W O R L D W A R T W O I N E U R O P E

( Y O U T U B E V I D E O )

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm5SxG68KSM

• World war two in Europe (5.5 minutes)

• WW2 summary video 3.3 minutes (https://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4YxioD1kBI)

• Causes of WW2: www.history.com (interactive) - http://

www.history.com/interactives/inside-wwii-interactive

E H C A R R ’ S T W E N T Y Y E A R S ’ C R I S I S

( 1 9 1 9 - 1 9 3 9 )

• Rise of Hitler - persuaded Germany that the Jews were

responsible for the country’s plight. Spread racial

(extremist nationalist) hatred as a means to gaining

national power. Anti-semitism.

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/

hitler_01.shtml• Hitler invaded Poland on 1 September 1939 (Before that,

Hitler used force to takeover Czechoslovakia). Poland’s

allies, UK and France, declared war against Hitler.

• December 1941 Japan attacked Pearl Harbor; US

entered WW2.

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W W 2 A N D I M P E R I A L J A PA N

• ht tp : / /www.eduplace .com/k ids /socsc i /books /

applications/imaps/maps/g5s_u8/• Japan’s brutal occupation of China, Korean peninsula,

and Southeast Asia

• WW2 ended in 1945 with the US and Soviet Union

(USSR or Russia) as the world’s two superpowers.

• But US was actually more powerful economically and

militarily compared with the USSR. US hegemony.

• Why is WW2 important?

T H E P O S T - 1 9 4 5 W O R L D :

A M E R I C A N H E G E M O N Y A N D

E U R O P E A N D E C L I N E

• several important lessons were learnt as a result of WWII:

1. that global security would never be achieved as long as the

international economy did not function properly;

2. there was a need to construct some kind of reformed League of

Nations, the United Nations (UN), within which the great powers 

would be given a special role and special responsibilities for

maintaining international peace and security leading to the creation

of the permanent five (P5) within the UN Security Council;

3. it was believed that the USA would not retreat into political

isolationism, as it had done following WWI, but instead, it needs to

remain actively engaged in international affairs as Europe’s

international influenced waned

• as a result of WWII, the

chances of a return to the pre-

war status quo were very slim

• in fact, by 1945, every great

power - winners and losers

alike - was in a state of severe

disrepair, barely able to

recover from a war that had left

their societies in ruins

• however, this marked the

beginning of the age of the

superpower between the

USSR and the US

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• as the war came to an end, many became aware that a

huge power shift was underway

• it was only much later that IR would define thisphenomenon as a two power; bipolar system 

• bipolarity describes a distribution of power among two

great powers in the international system

• this can also be contrasted with unipolarity  - with a

single dominant great power - and multipolarity  - in

which capabilities are divided among many great powers

• as the colonial empires of

the UK, France, Portugal

and other European

powers disintegratedafter WWII, the USA saw

a need to established

new forms of economic

and political hegemony 

• because of American

self-confidence, many

discounted any threat

from the USSR

I M P E R I A L I S M

• A policy aimed at conquering or controlling foreign

people and territory on the basis of its superior

economic and military power

• Examples of imperial empires: Egyptian, Babylonian,

Roman, Mongol.

• European empires: early 16th to 20th centuries. Spain,

Portugal, UK, France, Holland, Italy, and Germany

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A C T I V I T Y 2 :  

S T O P A N D R E A D S E C T I O N 3 O F C H A P T E R 3 , P P . 5 4 - 5 6

• Which came first, the decline of European power in

the international system, or the independence of its

colonies around the world?

• Did the decline of European imperialism mark an end

to all forms of hegemony in the international system? If

not, what new forms took its place?

T H E C O L D W A R A N D T H E B I R T H O F

R E A L I S M

• there have been many debates with regards to the Cold

 War, which lasted for 45 years

• some of these have ranged from Soviet expansionism,

other, the political and economic policies of the USA

• the Cold War has also been viewed as a natural

consequence of competition between the 2 superpowers

and their opposing ideologies - capitalist principles vs

state socialism (i.e. democracy vs communism)

• while both sides in the Cold War exaggerated the

aggressive intentions of their opponent, the fact

remains that the larger international system was in

turmoil after WWII

• Insecurity was the order of the day and many Western

policy-makers saw no reason to trust their Soviet

counterparts

• British writer George Orwell and American columnist

Walter Lippmann called this a “Cold War”

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• this very new kind of war would be conducted in a bipolar 

world where power was polarised in the hands of 2 nuclear-

armed superpowers

• Europe, and later many other regions of the world divided

into blocs, one pro-Soviet and one pro-American

• the Cold War was to have all the features of a normal war

except for direct military confrontation

• but there were also those who refused to outrightly support

either the Soviet nor the Americans

• the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) formed in

Belgrade in 1961 was one example of this attempt at

remaining neutral

• NAM was largely conceived by India's first prime

minister, Jawaharlal Nehru; Burma's first Prime Minister

U Nu; Indonesia's first president, Sukarno; Egypt's

second president, Gamal Abdel Nasser; Ghana's first

president Kwame Nkrumah; and Yugoslavia's

president, Josip Broz Tito.

• however, despite the fact that they were part NAM,

many of the movement’s members were still very much

closely associated, and some in support, of the

superpower blocs

• because the Non-Aligned Movement was formed asan attempt to thwart the Cold War, it has struggled to

find relevance after the Cold War ended

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A C T I V I T Y 3 :  

ST O P AN D READ SEC T I O N S 4 AN D 5

O F C HAP T ER 3 , P P . 5 6 - 6 3  

I N N O M O R E T H A N 5 0 0 W O R D S ,

R E S P O N D T O T H E Q U E S T I O N

B E L O W . Y O U R A N S W E R S H O U L D

I N C LUD E A O N E-SEN T EN C E T HES I SST AT EMEN T T HAT C LEARLY ST AT ES

 YO UR PO SI TI ON , FO LL OW ED BY TH E

MAI N P O I N T S O N W HI C H Y O U BASE

T HAT P O SI T I O N :

• To what extent were the

Soviet and American blocs

during the Cold War similar

to the empires of European

states prior to the Second

World War? What made

them similar and different?

 Y O U R F I R S T

I N T E R N A T I O N A L R E L A T I O N S

TH E OR Y: R E ALISM

• a Jewish exile from Nazi

G e r m a n y a n d a h i g h l yinfluential American writer,

Hans J. Morgenthau, believed

that one should be trying to

build a more orderly world by

learning from the past

• his seminal book “Politics

Among Nations”  made a

distinction between building a

better world a more orderly

one, which continues to

separate Liberals and Realists

• for Morgenthau, the past taught him:

• that states  were driven by deep power

ambitions;

• that these drives were permanent features

of IR;

• that it was the international responsibility of

the USA to act as a great and responsible

power, especially confronted by a powerful

Soviet adversary

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• Morgenthau - and George F. Kennan  (see: http:// 

history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/kennan)   - believed that the

best way forward during this period of the Cold War

was through a long-term containment  policy of the

Soviet Union and its ambitions

W H A T W A S T H E C O L D W A R

( 1 9 4 6 - 1 9 9 1 ) ?

• http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war

• http://www.history.com/videos/cold-war#cold-war

• http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/causes%20of 

%20the%20cold%20war.htm

• Main causes? Mistrust between the US and Soviet

Union. This is a key argument made by Realism (or

realist theory).

• Despite all the criticisms and the various policy defeats

that Kennan suffered in the early 1950’s, containment

in the more general sense of blocking the expansion

of Soviet influence remained the basic strategy of the

United States throughout the cold war.

• it’s through this that some form of stability could be

restored to the world

• this ‘no-nonsense’ way of thinking about the world

seemed logical and sensible, and called itself Realism

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R E A L I S M : M A I N A S S U M P T I O N S

1. Flawed human nature: Greed for power

and dominance over others2. States are the (only) key players in IR

3. International Anarchy (absence of a world

government able to ensure the survival of

states): Self-Help in the face of threats to

one’s national survival. Balance of Power

(BOP). Hostile Alliances.

Realist concept: Balance of Power (BOP)www.washingtonpost.com

• some, such as structural Realist

Kenneth Waltz, argued that 2

superpowers were better than

one hegemony (or many great

powers) so as to create a

balanced international situation

• the Cold War, thus, simplified

world politics and, in doing so,

made it far more predictable

• Waltz concludes that in aninternational system without a

‘supreme ruler’ - an anarchic

international system - the see-

saw of Cold War bipolarity was

responsible for bringing some

order to relations between the

superpowers

R E A L I S T S C H O L A R : K E N N E T H W A LT Z

• http://www.nytimes.com/

2013/05/19/us/kenneth-n-

waltz-who-helped-shape-

international-relations-as-

a - d i s c i p l i n e - d i e s -

a t - 8 8 . h t m l ?pagewanted=all&_r=0

• Kenneth Waltz Theory of

International Politics 1979

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• influential historian John Gaddis,

also argued that the Cold War

was a new form of “long peace”;

underwritten by the reality of

n u c le ar m u t u a l l y assu r e d

d e s t r u c t i o n ( M A D ) , a n dsupported by 2 rat ional ly

constrained superpowers whose

p a s s i n g w o u l d p r o b a b l y

destabilise the international

system they dominated

• this prediction, however, failed to

materialise after the fall of the

Berlin Wall in 1989 and the

disintegration of the Soviet Union

in 1991, ushering the death knell

of the Cold War as we know it

A C T I V I T Y 4 :  

S T O P A N D R E A D ‘ R E A L I S M A N D W O R L D P O L I T I C S I N T H E I N T R O D U C T I O N ,

P. 4

• note down the main assumptions that Realism uses to

understand the world around it. Pay special attention

to who is considered an international actor, why they

act the way they do, and what kind of international

system they inhabit

G R O W I N G D I V E R S I T Y I N I R

CH A P T E R 1 : I N T R O D U CT I O N T O I N T E R N A T I O N A L R E LA T I O N S

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G R O W I N G D I V E R S I T Y I N I R :

T H E O R E T I C A L F R A M E W O R K S

Assumptions of the major IR theories

• Realism

• Liberalism

• English School of International Society

• Constructivism

• International Political Economy (IPE)

L I B E R A L I S M

• Liberalism  predates Realism

and remains one of the

discipline’s most influential

approaches

• f o r L i b e r a l s ,

interdependence, which is

mutual dependence on one

another for social and material

goods - provides the best

foundations on which we can

build a more peaceful world

L I B E R A L I S M ( L I B E R A L T H E O R Y ) :

A S S U M P T I O N S

1. Human nature is good: mutual cooperation &

progress

2. Non-State Actors are equally important as States in

IR.

3. International Anarchy does not have to lead toarmed conflicts (wars): Role of Democracy,

Economic Interdependence, and International

Organizations

• according to supporters, such as Robert Keohane and

Joseph Nye, the expansion of ‘trans-boundary

interactions’ since the end of WWII is the most obvious

foundation on which to build a new international

system in a post-hegemonic age

• increasing interdependence means that states are not

absolutely sovereign insofar as they remain vulnerable

to transnational forces

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• liberals argued that additional means must be sought

to guarantee the stability and improvement of theinternational system

• this includes an expanded set of international actors,

focusing on the role of multinational corporations

(MNCs), non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and

inter-governmental organisations (IGOs)

E N G L I S H S C H O O L

O F T H O U G H T

• many of its theorists, however,

accept a good deal of what

Realists have to say about

power and the competitive,

anarchic character of IR

• yet, they disagreed with

Realism’s claim that the

international system is a free-

for-all, ‘anything goes’ arena

• scholars such as Hedley Bull

(The Anarchical Society) are

part of the the ES

T H E E N G L I S H S C H O O L O F

I N T E R N A T I O N A L S O C I E T Y : A S S U M P T I O N S

1. IR has features of both conflict and cooperation (Hedley

Bull, The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in world politics 1977) 

2. ‘Rules and Institutions’ of international society that

helps to maintain international order and stability:

• Respect for national sovereignty

• Non-use of force in settling disputes

• Balance of Power (BOP)

• Diplomacy (peaceful negotiations)

• Use of economic sanctions (against rogue states)

• Use of war (last resort)

• Unity of the Great Powers

• English School (ES) argues that Realism cannot explain why

states - even those who are hostile to each other - are able to

work together, engage in diplomacy, and thereby generate

forms of international order in an otherwise anarchic system

• the ES thus argues that the international system is best

described as an international society in which actors

(including states, MNCs, NGOs, IGOs, etc.) are bound

together by socially-generated practices and principles

• these practices and principles - which some ES scholars call

institutions  - range from bilateral and multilateral treaties to

unwritten but influential principles such as sovereignty and

democracy promotion

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• as a result, regions such as Europe, has gone from being one

of the world’s most unstable and war-torn regions (e.g. 30-

years war; WWI; WWII; etc.) to one of its most tranquil

• its institutions have evolved over time away from the use offorce as a legitimate means of conflict resolution

• this does not mean that war in Europe is impossible, but only

that it is made less likely as an alternative means of conflict

resolution - mainly via the creation of the European Union

(EU) - become available and accepted

• for ES, analysing the (changing) character and evolution of

international institutions therefore remains the main object of

research

C R I T I C A L

T H E O R I S T S

• in the 1960s, a new generation of

critical theorists  began toquestion global power structures

rather than merely taking them

for granted

• most of these CTs were either

historians of US diplomatic

history who were dissatisfied with

standard accounts of American

conduct abroad, or radical

economists with an interest in the

Third World and its discontent

• one such scholar is Robert W. Cox , whose

contribution to International Relations theory places

the discipline in a transformational framework.

• His theory goes beyond the neorealist state-centric

framework and brings out the connections between

material conditions, ideas and institutions in what he

terms the formation of ‘world orders’.

• How people organize themselves in the sphere of

production not only determines their own life but also

that of their states and the world order.

• In saying that change can come from any one of the

spheres (material conditions, ideas and institutions), he

denies and goes beyond the base–superstructure thesis

of Marxism.

• Cox also identifies creation of a vibrant civil society,

emergence of organic intellectuals representing the

marginalized, development of community-level

solidarity, participatory democracy, non-violent methods

of conflict resolution, pluralism and multilateralism as

key elements of his transformational agenda.

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• Critical theory was first defined by Max

Horkheimer of the Frankfurt School of sociology inhis 1937 essay Traditional and Critical Theory  

• Critical theory is a social theory oriented toward

critiquing and changing society as a whole, in

contrast to traditional theory oriented only to

understanding or explaining it

• Core concepts are:

1. That critical social theory should be directed

at the totality of soci ety in its hist oric al

specificity (i.e. how it came to be configured

at a specific point in time);

2. That cr i t ical theory should improve

understanding of society by integrating all

the major social sciences, including

geography, economics, sociology, history,

pol it ical science, anthropology, and

psychology.

• through the efforts of these thinkers, critical theories born in other

branches of the social sciences began to have a major impact on the

generation of IR scholars

• this includes:

• Marxism, with its class- based analysis of global economics;

• Social Constructivism, with its focus on humans’ ability to

consciously alter the principles by which the world operates;

• Post-structuralism, which denies the existence of any absolute

Truths on which to base analyses of human action; and

• Post-colonialism, which traces the international system’s social,

economic, and political foundations back to its colonial - and

ultimately European - roots

M A R X I S M ( M A R X I S T T H E O R Y )

• Basic unit of analysis – Economic

Classes, not states

• Class Struggle between the haves

and have-nots

• Economic Exploitation of poor

masses (proletariat) by the

property-owning ruling class

(bourgeoisie)

• Advocates the use of revolutionary

violence to overthrow the status

quo (Karl Marx, Lenin, Mao

Zedong)

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C O N S T R U C T I V I S M ( C O N S T R U C T I V I S T

T H E O R Y )

1. Based on Ideas (ideational), not material power

2. Interests, Identity of states are not pre-determined

3. Socialization among leaders and citizens between

states lead to formation of national interests &

identity

4. Norms of peaceful expectations of interstate

behaviour

5. Alexander Wendt

A L E X A N D E R W E N D T : C O N S T R U C T I V I S T

S C H O L A R

• Anarchy is what states make of it

• An anarchica l (conf l ic tua l )

international system is not p r e -

determined

• It is the result of socialization

among leadership elites

• If the socialization expe rie nces

of leaders and elites change, it

can lead to gr ea te r m ut ua l

cooperation and international

order and security

I N T E R N AT I O N A L P O L I T I C A L E C O N O M Y ( I P E )

• this branch of IR seeks to explain links between the international economic

and political system

• the collapse of the post-WWII Bretton Woods economic system in 1971,

perceptions of relative US economic decline, and a general recognition

that one could not understand IR without at least having some knowledge

of the material world forced some in IR to come to terms with economics,

a branch of knowledge of which they had hitherto been woefully ignorant

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• It is about the interplay

between politics and

economics - A battle

between ‘states’ and

‘markets’?

• Examples: Changes in

interest rates in the US,

China, Japan, EU, a n d

geopolitical tensions -

2008 global financial crisis?

(Baylis p.248)

http://www.economy.com/dismal/article_free.asp?cid=236302

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special_reports/global_economy/.

A C T I V I T Y 5 :  

S T O P A N D R E A D F R O M T H E B E G I N N I N G O F ‘ L I B E R A L I S M A N D W O R L D

P O L I T I C S ’ ( P . 4 ) T O T HE E ND O F ‘ P O S T C O L O NI AL I S M’ ( P . 6 ) I N C HAP T E R 1

• Using the list of Realist assumptions that you created

in the last activity, draw up a parallel list ofassumptions for each of the alternative theories on pp.

4 - 6. Remember to think about key questions:

• Who acts?

• Why do they act?

• What kind of system shapes their actions?

1 9 4 5 - 5 3 : O N S E T O F T H E C O L D W A R

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/coldwar/

(BBC videos about the origins of the Cold War)

• The Korean War (1950-53): North Korean dictator Kim

Il-Sung’s invasion of South Korea

• The Cuban Missile Crisis October 1962 (US President

John Kennedy and Soviet leader Khrushchev)

T H E C O L D W A R

• The cold war was a complex relationship that assumed

competition but remained cold in large part because of

the existence of nuclear weapons

• Most experts assumed the cold war would continue and

were surprised when it came to a peaceful conclusion

• The end of the cold war weakened the intellectual hold

of realism within IR as an academic discourse and

helped popularize Constructivism as a methodology

(michael cox in Baylis 2011: 69)

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T H E C O L D W A R 1 9 4 7 - 1 9 9 1

( C W )

• First World (US and Western

Europe)

• Second World (USSR, PRC, North

 Vietnam, North Korea, Cuba)

• Third World: The Global-South of

poor and developing states

http://blueprintforhistory.wordpress.com/

1 9 4 5 - 5 3 : O N S E T O F T H E C O L D W A R

• The March 1947

Truman Doctrine:

US Containment

Policy against Soviet

Expansionism in

Europe (Greece,

Turkey)

C O L D W A R : M A R S H A L L P L A N O F J U N E

1 9 4 7

• it’s aim was to aid

Western Europe’s

post-WW2 economic

r e c ov e r y a ga i n s t

Soviet expansionism

http://marshallplan2013.blogspot.sg/

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C O L D W A R : N A T O 1 9 4 8 V E R S U S

W A R S A W P A C T ( 1 9 5 5 )

h tt p: // ww w. na to .i nt /d oc u/ re vi ew /2 00 8/ 03 /A RT 8/ EN / h tt p: // ww w. ui ow a. ed u/ ~c 01 60 03 a/ co ld wa ra .h tm

C O L D W A R : T H E C H I N E S E C I V I L W A R

1 9 2 1 - O C T O B E R 1 9 4 9

• Mao Zedong: leader of the

Chinese Communist Party

(CCP). Peoples’ Republic of

China (PRC) in Beijing

• General Chiang Kai-shek:

leader of the Kuomingtang

(KMT). Taipei.

• Issues: National Unity. Taiwan

Issue: PRC’s position is that

Taiwan is an integral part of

Chinese sovereign territory.http://idcommunications.org/cannes-2011/

C O L D W A R : T H E K O R E A N W A R 1 9 5 0 - 5 3

• North Korean dictator Kim

Il-Sung’s invasion of South

Korea, aided by Soviet

Union’s Stalin and China’s

Mao Zedong

• US used the UN, under the

‘ U n i t i n g f o r P e a c e ’

Resolution for military

intervention to ‘save’ South

Korea from Communism http://crescentok.com/staff/jaskew/TAH/US/korea.htm

C O L D W A R : C U B A N M I S S I L E C R I S I S

O C T O B E R 1 9 6 2

• Soviet leader Khrushchev

placed short-ranged nuclear

missiles in Cuba to counter-

balance US power and the

Containment Policy

• US President John Kennedysaw the Soviet missiles as a

threat to national security

interests

• Cuban leader Fidel Castro

(read Baylis case study p. 58)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/interactives/tl-cuban-missile-crisis/

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C O L D W A R : T H E A R A B - I S R A E L I W A R S

• Israel established in May

1948.

• Arab-Israeli Wars of 1948,

June 1967 Six-Day War, and

October 1973 Yom Kippur

War. US supported Israel;

Soviet Union supported Arab

states.

• 1956 Suez Canal Crisis:

Egyptian leader Nasser’s

unilateral nationalization of

Suez Canal led to military

intervention by UK, France,

and Israel.

http://www.mapsofworld.com/israel/

A C T I V I T Y 6 :ST OP E AN D R E AD SE CT I ON T W O OF CH AP T E R 4 , E N T I T LE D ‘ T H E E N D OF T H E COLD W AR ’ , P P . 6 8 - 6 9

N O T E D O W N K E Y W O R D S I N T H E R E A D I N G T H A T M I G H T I N D I C A T E T H E

A U T H O R ’ S T H E O R E T I C A L P O S I T I O N . D O Y O U T H I N K H E I S A R E A L I S T , A

L I B E R A L , A M E M B E R O F T H E E N G L I S H S C H O O L , A M A R X I S T, O R A S T U D E N T

O F I P E ? L I S T T HE T E R MS AND Y O U ANS W E R I N T HE S P AC E B E L O W

I N T E R N A T I O N A L

R E L A T I O N S A N D T H E

E N D O F T H E C O L D W A R

• the end of the Cold War was an

unexpected and almost entirely

peaceful revolution in world

politics

• the fall of the Berlin Wall in

1989 and the collapse of theSoviet Union in 1991 shattered

the stability of the Cold War

international system, plunging

IR scholars into an intellectual

crisis as they tried to come to

terms with the end of bipolarity

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K E Y I S S U E S I N T H E S T U D Y O F I R

• Use of Force within and between states (Great Powers)

• Impact of Globalization on state-sovereignty

• Humanitarian Intervention and Human Rights

• The Balance of Power and international stability

• Role of International Law and Organizations in maintaining international

order

• Regional Integration and Regionalism

• Threat of Nuclear Proliferation

• Global Warming and Climate Change

• this led to the scholars such as Samuel P. Huntington 

(Clash of Civilization)  and Francis Fukuyama  (The End of

History and the Last Man), and many others to attempt to

explain what a post-Cold War world would be like

• this led to a shift in IR’s intellectual focus towards a

whole host of ‘new’ security issues associated with

globalisation 

• these are qualitatively different from their classical and

statist predecessors, and include issues such as human

rights, crime, and the environment (Al Gore’s An

Inconvenient Truth)

• many now emphasise the role of non-state actors and

the apparent absence of a coherent international

structure in the new, uncertain, post-modern world of

the 1990s and early 21st century

• there have been many changes to the study of IR,

especially in the 21st century

• however, one thing remains unchanged - thatacademic IR still revolves around an American axis

• some have even argued that a ‘new’ Cold War has

emerged between the US and China; or even US and a

‘newly democratised’ Russia

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S A M P L E E X A M I N A T I O N Q U E S T I O N S

• Why has IR been dominated by Realist ways of

thinking about the international system sincethe end of the Second World War?

• What are the main challenges to Realism?

• In what sense was the Cold War a ‘long

peace’?

• What is the proper subject matter of IR?

T H E E N D