ULUSLARARASI İLİŞKİLER TEORİLERİ I

International Relations as a discipline was born following the devastation and trauma of the First World War (WWI)

The classical liberalism can be traced back to ancient thinkers and has its roots in the Stoic philosophy. It was developed as a “political” theory in the 17th century by writers like John Locke whose philosophical and theological defense of property rights and religious toleration inspired other liberal thinkers (Thorsen, 2010, 191).

There are six key concepts of classical liberal philosophy that are commonly mentioned by the liberal writers, these are; individualism, freedom, natural law, spontaneous order, rule of law and limited state. The different classifications of classical liberalism is based on different interpretations of these six core elements.

Stoicism is a school of thought which argues that human beings are all part of a larger community despite their different political entities and cultures. The equality of people comes from the universal ability of human kind to reason and the applicability of natural law. The emphasis on universalism in stoic philosophy affected liberal precursors like Hugo Grotius (17th century) and Immanuel Kant (19th century).

According to classical liberals, the sovereign (state) has three duties; (1) protection of its people from invasion of other states, (2) protection of each individual in society from oppression of other member(s) including protection of property and (3) provision of public services and sustainability of the societal institutions important for both individual freedom and peaceful coexistence (van de Haar, 2009, 30-33). So contrary to realism, state is not a unitary, solitary actor to decide and act independent of the public.

Classical liberalism became dominant ideology in the 18th and 19th centuries in Great Britain and the United States. Smith’s and Ricardo’s works in economics concentrated on the role of the individual entrepreneur, unconstrained by a minimalist state.

In post-WWII Western European politics, liberals such as David Mitrany studied the nature of international collaboration and how it could be achieved through apolitical processes in his integration theory named “functionalism”. According to Mitrany, nonpolitical experts could better deal with their areas of technical expertise and initiate collaboration which in time would expand into other areas as well.

liberal tradition has four main assumptions: (1) pluralist image of world politics where states, non-state and transnational entities are important actors (2) economic interdependence or interconnectedness where network of states, governmental and non-governmental organizations, multinational corporations, groups and individuals turn into a global civil society that has a pacifying affect on states (3) an extensive agenda composed of all issue areas not limited with military and security issues but involving economic, social and environmental ones (4) individual level of analysis, opposed to a top-down analysis of structural realism and analysis of decision-making processes with an eye to individual, social, cultural differences.

According to Andrew Moravcsik, there are three variants of neoliberal theory, the common ground of which is the relationship between social preferences and state behavior. Ideational liberalism discusses the effects of the conflict and compatibility of collective social values and identities as regards public (collective) goods provision (like geographical border, political decision-making processes and socioeconomic regulation) on state behavior. Commercial liberalism is about the effects of gains and losses of the people in transactional economics on the state behavior. Finally, republican liberalism is about the effects of the variants of democratic representation and rentseeking on state behavior

As stated before, the liberal thesis is that free trade and democracy decrease the likelihood of war. The major question is then “whether the democracies are more peaceful or not in their foreign relations”. Democratic peace theory follows the Kantian tradition and scholars like Michael Doyle and Bruce Russett share the idea that democracies can maintain peaceful relations among themselves due to their shared values and common approach in their domestic republican governance.

John Locke's philosophy on individual freedom and state’s limited role can be best seen in his book titled “Second Treatise on Government”.

According to the social contract idea advanced by Locke and followed by others, humans in a natural state of freedom do not necessarily respect others’ right to freedom. This leads them to organize their society so as to secure those rights and freedoms. In this connection, the only way for individuals to surrender their natural freedoms and become responsible members of their communities is to form “a civil society by contracting with others” in order to live in comfort, peace and security

Stoicism is a school of thought which argues that human beings are all part of a larger community despite their different political entities and cultures.

There are six key concepts of classical liberal philosophy that are commonly mentioned by the liberal writers, these are; individualism, freedom, natural law, spontaneous order, rule of law and limited state.

Classical liberals accept that order is possible as a result of customs, traditions and societal institutions. Smith’s explanation of the free market and his famous example the invisible hand denotes such understanding.

In Leviathan, Hobbes wrote about the dangers of unrestrained individual freedom and the stability sustained by the sovereign’s rule.

In the Grotian view, diplomacy is the bond between members of international society that converge around common norms and goals that is international law

Since there is need for consensus and collective decision making mechanisms, it is not easy to realize global governance and it is in the interests of the actors to follow this path or not.

Kant in his book “Perpetual Peace” (1795) wrote about three definitive articles that had to be accepted by all nations for a perpetual peace to exist.

In liberalism, the political and economic behaviors cannot be separated from each other. It is impossible to categorize them as two distinct issue areas. The liberal reading of IR is composed of both conflictual and cooperative behaviors of states, non-state entities and individuals. Also, liberalism has criticized realism’s inadequacy to explain international cooperation and argues that the realist analyses are confined with the limits of narrow definitions of the national interest. The liberal scholars were affected by the international circumstances around them such as the Cold War or the increasing effects of globalization. Correct answer is C.