Realism, And Constructivism: The Three International Relation Theories

Superior Essays
There are three international relation theories, Realism, Liberal institutionalism, and Constructivism, which attempt to predict state behavior. Neorealism best predicts state’s behavior.
Neo-realists claim that the international system is anarchic meaning there is no legitimate authority. The states are the major actors of the system. Since the system is anarchic, states fear for survival and thus help themselves by pursuing hard power: territory, resources, money, and population. The ability to gain comes at the expense of another state creating a zero sum game (one state’s gain in power is another state’s loss). So as states gain more hard power the other states see them as a threat, causing a security dilemma. The security dilemma “is
…show more content…
States are still in a security dilemma, and they still fear each other but states also know that the gains from cooperation are greater. If cooperation is possible through institutions it allows states to pursue absolute gains (states care about the size of their gain rather than their rivals) instead of relative gains (states want to gain as large a power advantage as possible over potential rivals). This is because states are less fearful of each other since states are locked into these institutions that have rules, norms, monitoring, and enforcement mechanisms. The goal of institutions is to prevent defection and free riding. For example the prisoner's’ dilemma game shows that the two states can either cooperate with each other or defect. Each state is concerned about their absolute gains and not the relative gains. Both states should cooperate, which liberal institutionalism claims because they would gain more; however, from either state's individual perspective it would be best for them to defect because they could always gain power by defecting. One counterargument would be nash equilibrium, which is when neither state has an incentive to unilaterally change their behavior given what the other state is doing. As illustrated in the prisoner’s’ dilemma, states will always want to do what is in their best interest because they do not want to …show more content…
Interests are not determined by the structure of the system; they are formed by identities. State’s identity is constructed by experience, learning, observations, and interaction. Constructivism suggests that social identities are important for a state to develop as a way to interact with other states. Constructivism is not a predictive theory because the nature of a state’s identity is not fixed and very few understand the many different identities of other states. Thus one state cannot trust that they can predict the behavior of another state based on the social construct. This contrasts with realism where states’ interests support creating a military and economic strength that can be measured and predicted. Constructivism cannot be as predictive of action because it is based on identities, which is less uniformly defined and measured and can vary with changes in leadership, population shifts, and other social constructs. Identities differ from states to state so it is hard to predict how states will react. Constructivism also claims that norms constrain the behavior of states. Norms become norms when there are enough countries that believe in the ideology. Martha Finnemore and Kathryn Sikkink claim that there are three stages of the norm “life cycle”. The first stage is norm emergence, then norm cascade, and finally internalization, which means that the acquired norms are taken for granted and

Related Documents

  • Great Essays

    The Pros Of Constructivism

    • 2158 Words
    • 9 Pages

    The constructivist turn in IR marks a shift from the material determinants of international politics to ideational factors, such as beliefs, ideas, and norms. The two dominant theoretical schools in IR, neorealism and neoliberal institutionalism (NLI), share several key assumptions regarding the anarchic nature of the international system, states are self-interested, rational actors, driven by material interests in power/survival (neorealists) or security (NLI). In addition, neorealism and NLI both rely on a rational choice framework borrowed from microeconomics that assumes cost-benefit analysis and utility maximization as the impetus behind state’s political calculus. Although conditioned by the same assumptions, neorealists and NLI reach vastly different conclusions regarding the potential for conflict and cooperation in international politics.…

    • 2158 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Jervis argues that four possible world orders may arise out of this unique scenario: a world in which national autonomy is diminished and barriers between states disintegrate, a world in which there is more cooperation between states, yet states retain national autonomy, a world in which the United States dominates and acts freely, and a world in which a “counter-balancing coalition” is created to offset the U.S.’s power (Jervis). These four orders represent a significant departure from “traditional” international politics in that the theory that “leading powers always struggle for dominance for gain, status, or security, and are willing to use force to this end” no longer applies (Jervis). To summarize, states no longer have to worry about a fully anarchic world where they must rely on self-help, as Realists would argue.…

    • 1126 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The distribution of power is known as a hegemony and categorizes states in either dominating powers, middle powers, or small powers. The main strength of realism is the fact that law and ethics are separated, therefore a state does not rely on its morals in order to make an executive decision. The possibility of a situation getting out of control and resulting in war is a major weakness in realism, because when states perceive attacked they will become defensive and try to strike first- which leads to…

    • 1429 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Westphalian models are not comparable to imperial relations within modern global politics. Unlike imperial systems of hierarchical governance, the international system of states is anarchical, in which states’ actions are based upon their own interests (Wendt 396). The independent will of competing sovereign states symbolizes the decentralization and anarchical nature of the international system. Even though states are not obliged to participate in the international system, the desirability of efficiency through international cooperation to pursue national interests explains their…

    • 1191 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Again, governments should not be viewed as unitary actors, rather one should recognize the outcomes are driven by bargaining between key…

    • 2228 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Iran Hostage Crisis

    • 1547 Words
    • 7 Pages

    He argues that states do not act rationally with an end-goal, but rather, individual actors make decisions based on their location in the bureaucracy. President Carter and his supporters reacted differently after public opinion turned against him, those in position to afflict military might argued accordingly (hawks), and people with a vested interest in peaceful outcomes were dovish (Smith 1984, 308, 312, 315). As a result, the different parts of a bureaucracy looked to pursue their own goals and how they thought the state should act. This created a principle-agent problem in an amplified form when a nation has expanded the role of the…

    • 1547 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    A defensive realist state’s goal is to maintain security and their status quo within the system. Thus, a…

    • 1505 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Preventing other states from rising in power- if one state within a region starts growing in power and strength to the point where they are a serious threat to other states around it, then the surrounding states are more likely to go to war if there is bargaining available still. This prevents any future problems with the power state. 3. Having the first-strike advantage.…

    • 218 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    However, it has been shown that this does not have to be the case. While there are real threats in an anarchical international system, states are not simply concerned with being a hegemon or being defeated in military warfare. Instead, states are driven by domestic politics as well because specific actors have the desire to ensure their longevity as heads of states—whether it is to survive a coup or having their party reelected. Underlying both external and internal forces is the continuous construction of the actor, the state and anything in the international system. Although this construction is incessant, it is influenced by both internal and external forces.…

    • 1606 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Realism and the End of the Cold War by William C. Wohlforth argues that Modern realism began in a reaction to the breakdown in the post-World War One international order. Wohlforth’s main ideology is realism and states how the rise and fall of realism has taken place, but stresses that international world events cannot weaken or destroy the realist ideology. The collapse of the great power cooperation helped emerge realism to be a dominant position in international relations. The central question presented in this article looks to seek to ask, did the rapid decline and peaceful collapse of the Soviet State, along with the postwar international order, discredit the realist approach? However, Wohlforth believes that.…

    • 1000 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Keohane and Martin would like to assert that institutions are actually perfectly suited to function in both because of their capacity to handle information. Continuing to pick apart Mearsheimer’s view of institutionalist theory, Keohane and Martin prop up institutions as the answer to the problem of cooperation. As institutions are designed to relay information, Keohane and Martin assert, “institutions can mitigate fears of cheating and so allow cooperation to emerge, so can they alleviate fears of unequal gains from cooperation” (Keohane & Martin, 1995, pg. 45). In this light, institutions appear to the perfect solution to Mearsheimer’s claims that states have difficulty cooperating in response to fears of cheating, and unequal gains. By becoming the neutral common ground through which to share ideas and handle information, institutions are painted as the perfect conduit through which to get states to overcome short-term goals in favor of realizing more beneficial long-term…

    • 1489 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    For this summary essay assignment, I’ve chosen One World, Rival Theories by Jack Snyder and Liberalism and World Politics by Michael W. Doyle. One World, Rival Theories states the basics of all three major theories and gives a general idea of liberalism’s main points. Liberalism and World Politics on the other hand gives a detailed explanation of liberalism alone and continues to break down the theory into three separate categories. This helps to fill in some of the gaps in the first article as well.…

    • 944 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Realism And The Cold War

    • 1470 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Prominent in realist theory is the concept of anarchy. Anarchy in international politics is defined by Mearsheimer as a system of ‘independent political units (states) that have no central authority above them’ (Mearsheimer 1994). Such a system promotes the concepts of self-help, statism and survival which suggest that war is the result of independent states fighting for power and national interest in order to survive. Given that the world has only been at peace for 8% of all of recorded history (Hedges 2003), these concepts are of great significance to realist in order to dissect war and understand why it is so prominent in international politics. Therefore, the bases of this essay will be formed using the aforementioned concepts to outline…

    • 1470 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Realists and Liberalist are often times conflicting on how they think about different issues and the way they go about constructing their own nations. But, institutionalism bridges a gap between the both of them. Institutionalism functions as a neutral territory that aims to diffuse potentially competing and conflicting issues. Realism, being the oldest International Relations theory gives a pessimistic view of human nature. Realists believe that.…

    • 1523 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    In Stephen M. Walt’s “The Renaissance of Security Studies”, Walt explores the newfound interest in security studies. Like Booth’s article, it was also written in 1991. That being said, it has a comprehensively different view of what security studies are. Walt defines security studies as “the study of the threat, use, and control of military force” . Walt’s definition of security studies, similar to realism, assumes that there is always a possibility for conflict between states, and that military force is the strongest means at combatting such .…

    • 1801 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays