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🌐 Core Themes +
- Human nature is positive: rational, cooperative, tolerant.
- Focus on cooperation, interdependence, international institutions.
- National interests are multidimensional; not defined solely by power.
- States are main actors but not sole actors; NGOs, MNCs, and people also act in IR.
- Globalization, free trade, democracy, and modernisation encourage cooperation.
- Vision: less conflictual, peaceful world bound by common interests and integration.
⚙️ Features +
- Deals with 'Low politics' issues: Economic, Social, Technological.
- High politics: National security, war, diplomacy – realism deals with this.
- Idealism: Moral values, cosmopolitanism, progress, peace, institutions.
- Linked to liberal democracy: Free market, welfare state, LPG (Liberalization, Privatization, Globalization).
🔄 Variations +
- Classical Liberalism: Idealistic, moral, focus on cooperation and institutions.
- Neo-Liberalism: Less idealistic, pragmatic; believes in state primacy but uses institutions for cooperation.
- States are rational actors; focus on absolute gains, not relative gains.
- Obstacles: Areas of no common interest, cheating, lack of compliance.
📜 Key Theories +
- Democratic Peace Theory: Democracies avoid war due to public pressure; first by Immanuel Kant (Perpetual Peace), developed by Michael W. Doyle.
- Complex Interdependence Theory: Robert Keohane & Joseph Nye; multiple channels, absence of hierarchy, low role of military.
- Functional Integration Theory: David Mitrany, The Functional Theory of Politics (1975).
🎓 Main Thinkers +
- Classical Liberalism:
- Immanuel Kant – Perpetual Peace
- Thomas Paine – Rights of Man (1791)
- Jeremy Bentham – Father of Utilitarianism
- Woodrow Wilson – 14 Point Statement for Peace
- Neo-Liberalism:
- Michael W. Doyle – Democratic Peace, Liberalism and World Politics
- Robert Keohane & Joseph Nye – Complex Interdependence, Power and Interdependence
- David Mitrany – Functional Integration, The Functional Theory of Politics (1975)