Approaches to the Study of International Relations

Realist Approach to World Politics  Key ActorsInternational system, sovereign states  View of thePower-seeking, selfish Individualantagonistic  View of the stateSeeks power, unitary actor with a defined national interest  View of the inter-Anarchy, stability thru balance national systemof power system  Belief about Potential for change slow; structural Changechange also low  TheoristsThucydides, St. Augustine, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Morganthau

Liberal Approach to World Politics  Key ActorsStates, non governmental groups, international organizations  View of theBasically good, ability to cooperate and Individualcompromise  View of the stateNot an autonomous actor, many different interests and actors in the system  View of the inter-Interdependence among actors, national systeminternational society, anarchy  Belief aboutProbable and desirable process Change  TheoristsMontesquieu, Kant, Wilson, Koehane

Marxist Approach to World Politics  Key ActorsSocial classes, transnational elites, MNC’s  View of theActions determined by economic classes Individual  View of the stateState is agent of international capitalist class  View of the inter-Highly stratified and dominated by national system international capitalist classes  Belief aboutRadical change and revolution sought Change  TheoristsMarx, Lenin, Hobson, Wallerstein

Indicators of World Inequality  One ‑ fifth of the world's population are living in extreme poverty.  70 per cent of the world's poor and two ‑ thirds of the world's illiterates are women.  One ‑ third of the world's children are undernourished.  Half the world's population lacks regular access to the most essential drugs.  100 million children live or work on the street  In 1998 the 4 least developed countries attracted less than $US3 billion in direct foreign investment, 0.4 per cent of the global total.  The combined wealth of the world's 200 richest people reached $US 1 trillion in 1999; the combined income of 582 million people a living in the 43 least developed counties is $US 1.46 billion

 More than 30,000 children die a day from easily preventable diseases.  Since 1980 more than $US 1.3 trillion has been transferred from less developed countries to more developed countries in debt interest payments, yet a size of total debt has not decreased.  Each year the developing world pays the West nine times more in debt repayments than it receives in aid.  In 1996 Comic Relief in the UK raised an estimated 26 million in the world's biggest telethon. This is roughly what Africa pays out in debt in one day.  To achieve universal provision of basic services in developing countries would cost $80 billion/ year.  (Sources: World Health Organization, United Nations,World Bank, Jubilee 2000