1. International Relations Theory A New Introduction
Chapter 3
The Liberal International Theory Tradition

2. Five characteristics of liberal thought:
Introduction
Five characteristics of liberal thought:
Strong faith in human reason
Belief in possibility of historical progress & reforming international relations
Focus on state-society linkages & the claim of a close connection between domestic institutions & politics/ international politics
Claim: Increasing economic interdependence among states reduces occurrence of conflict & war
Arguments about the positive effect of processes of institutionalizing international relations

3. Genealogy Early 20th century – key concepts and arguments:
War does not benefit anybody – N. Angell (1913)
International anarchy - G.L. Dickinson (1916)
First major instances of liberal institutionalism  League of Nations
Collective Security
Since Second World War
D. Mitrany (1943) A Working Peace System
Regional integration; multilateral institutions; cooperation under anarchy
Theorizing non-material structures thoroughly

4. Currents of Liberal Thought
Interdependence Liberalism
R. Keohane and J. Nye (1977) Power and Interdependence
Republican Liberalism
I. Kant (1795/ 1983) The Perpetual Peace
Neoliberal Institutionalism
R. Keohane

5. Kinds of Liberal Theory
Underpinned by normative engagement
American liberals: Behavioural revolution & claim scientific status for their own perspective
In 1980s liberal thinking & game theory
R. Axelrod (1984) The Evolution of Cooperation
R. Keohane (1984) After Hegemony
Rationalist underpinnings
A. Moravcsik´s liberal intergovernmentalism (1998)
Combination of constructivist meta-theory & liberal substantive theory
A. Wendt (1999) Social Theory of International Politics

6. Main Variants of Theories
Democratic Peace Theory
Democracies do not fight wars among themselves ( I. Kant - 18th century)
F. Fukuyama (1992) : The End of History and the Last Man
Transnational Theory
Look beyond state-state relations  society-society relations are equally important to world politics
K. Kaiser (1969)
R. Keohane and J. Nye (1971)
J. Rosenau (1980, 1990), K. Deutsch (1957), J. Burton (1972)
T. Risse-Kappen (1995)

7. Main Variants of Theories
Theory of Cooperation
A. Wendt (1999) Social Theory of International Politics
Wendt´s ambition to build a systemic theory  emphasizing social rather than material structures
Liberal Intergovernmentalism
A. Moravcsik´s (1998) theoretical framework synthesizing theories of domestic preference formation, strategic bargaining & institutional design

8. Main Intra-Tradition Debates
Neoliberal Institutionalism vs. Liberal Democratic Peace Theory & versions of Commercial Liberalism
Liberalism/ Adherents of Democratic Peace Theory vs. Idealism
Liberal version of Rationalism vs. Constructivism

9. Research Agenda
International institutions & organizations, see F. Kratochwil, J.Ruggie (1986); R.Keohane (1989)
Multilateralism, see J.Ruggie (1993)
Democratic Peace Theory & democratization processes
International cooperation  international regimes
Merger between transnationalist perspective with studies of globalization/ studies of economic and political processes of globalization

10. Conclusion Very rich tradition of thought
The liberal vision to establish a new academic discipline = International Relation
Three major strands
Some liberals = strongly state-centric
Liberalism has its ups and downs