Plan for Today: Forms of Liberalism in IR Delving in detail into newer forms of liberalism: 1.“English school”. 2.Liberal Interdependence. 3.Neoliberal Institutionalism.
International Society/ “English School”: Hedley Bull The Anarchical Society (1977) Argued that a society of sorts has developed in international politics. Criticizes realist view that anarchy is brutal: International state of nature not Hobbesian state of nature. Perhaps Lockean state of nature instead.
International Society/ “English School”: Hedley Bull Limited society develops in system of states that are in constant contact with one another. Examples: 1.“Hue and cry” raised by other states when one state does something morally abhorrent. 2.Loyalty among allies – carries on beyond the security needs of states.
Liberal Interdependence Theory Ontology: Includes many different kinds of actors as being causally significant actors. “Global civil society” States International organizations NGOs MNCs “Experts”
Liberal Interdependence Theory Free trade and removal of barriers to commerce integration and cooperation among states. Early works: cooperation in limited technical areas could “spill over” into other areas for mutual benefit. E.g. Keohane & Nye (1977)
Liberal Interdependence Theory Technological change of key importance (esp. communications, travel). 1.Increases power of nonstate actors. and Internet revolutionary. E.g. Friedman: Lexus and the Olive Tree. 2.Decreases costs & risks of cooperation. 1.Trade less costly. 2.More information to decrease uncertainty.
Neoliberal Institutionalism Assumptions (accept realist) – Robert Keohane, After Hegemony (1984) 1.States are the main actors. 2.States are selfish and rational actors. 3.International system is anarchic.
Neoliberal Institutionalism Principal Claims: 1.New conclusion : cooperation can develop among states under anarchy. 2.Anarchy is mitigated by regimes and institutional cooperation, which bring regular patterns to IR.
Neoliberal Institutionalism Regimes Regime (Krasner definition): “implicit or explicit principles, norms, rules, and decisionmaking procedures around which actors’ expectations converge in a given area” i.e. sets of rules that may or may not have international organizations associated with them. Similar to “institution.” Bigger than individual agreements.
Neoliberal Institutionalism Regimes Example: Bretton Woods international monetary regime ( s) Governed currency relations among states, allowing for significant domestic capital controls. International Monetary Fund created as part of regime.
Neoliberal Institutionalism Regimes Neoliberals: argue regimes can play role in helping states to realize mutual interests. Neorealists: argue regimes defined according to power capabilities of states. E.g. Bretton Woods – reflected US interests.
Neoliberal Institutionalism Area and Problems of Focus: Chiefly economic issues. Usually actions to resolve instances of market failure: problems that prevent markets from providing socially optimal allocation of resources.