MA-Politics-SEM-2-Approaches-in-IR-munotes

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1Chapter 1: Approaches to IR – I
Module -1
1 APPROACHES TO IR – I
Unit Structure
(A) Realism
A.1.0: Objective
A.1.1: Introduction
A.1.2: Classical Realism
A.1.3: Essentials o f Realism
A.1.4: Six Principles o f Morgenthau
A.1.5: Neo-realism / Structural Realism
A.1.6: Assumptions o f Neo -realism
A.1.7: Offensi ve and Defensive Realism
A.1.8: Criticism of Realism
A.1.9: Conclusion
A.1.10 : References
A.1.0: Objective
The objective of this module is to familiarize students with Realism one of the
approaches of international relations . After studyi ng this modul e, you would be
able to :
• Explore the basic assumptions of Realist approach of International
Relations
• The evolution of various aspects of Realism like classical realism , Neo
Realism etc.
• Analyse Morgenthou’s six principle s to the nature of i nternational relations.
A.1.1: Introduction
International Relations (IR) requires developing conceptual frameworks and theories to understand and explain world politics. The University of Aberystwyth
in Wales was the first university that established a d epartment of International munotes.in

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2APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONSPolitics. However, today the nature and scope of world politics need an understanding of a much more comprehensive range of issues. International
relations began as a theoretical discipline with two of the foundational texts in t he
field, E. H. C arr’s, work The Twenty Years’ Crisis (1939) and Hans Morgenthau’s
book Politics Among Nations (1948). Both books have provided a broad framework of analysis of International relations and sought to offer future
analysts with the theoretica l tools for g eneral understanding patterns underlying
seemingly special episodes and reflected on the forms of political action focused
on an area where the “struggle for power” was pre -eminent. Both scholars were
motivated by the desire to correct what th ey saw as dee p misunderstandings about
the nature of international politics. They believe that the struggle for power could
be disciplined by international law and the idea that the pursuit of self -interest
could be replaced by security for all states.
The term ‘Reali sm’ is used in different ways in many disciplines. In philosophy,
it is used as an ontological theory which opposed to idealism and nominalism.
Realism in IR theory is treated as an approach that stresses that the states face
pursuing a “power politics” fo r the national interest. “Realpolitik” or ‘power
politics’, is the oldest and most frequently adopted international relations theory.
Every serious student must acquire a deep appreciation of political realism and
understand how her views rela te to the rea list tradition. Realism is a powerful and
important approach to a set of understandings about International Relations.
A.1.2: Classical Realism
Realists emphasise the constraints on politics imposed by human selfishness
(egoism) and the absen ce of intern ation al government (anarchy), which require
‘the primacy in all political life of power and security. Rationality and statism are
the core realist premises. And if the ‘states’ as a shorthand for what Gilpin calls
‘conflict groups’1 or what Wal tz (1979) ca lls ‘units’, statism is generally shared
across International Relations theories. Anarchy and egoism are the resulting
imperatives of power politics provide the core of realism. Realism describes
international politics in terms of “power”. Ther efore, it is name d as “power
politics.”
Classical Realist Machiavelli and Thomas Hobbes have depicted the pessimistic
view of human nature and believed that each person would use others to achieve

1Robert G. Gilp in, “The Richness of the Trad ition of Poli tical Real ism” International
Organization Vol. 38, No. 2 (Spring, 1984), pp. 287 -88. munotes.in

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3Chapter 1: Approaches to IR – I
their goals; which makes people selfish. Power is essentia l from the s ecuri ty point
of view of states. Power has been understood as “the ability to make another actor
do what it would not have normally done.” Indian strategic thinker Kautilya was
the first realist who has propounded the theories of statecraft, di plomacy base d of
power approach. He had written Arthashastra in 300 B.C., much before various
western thinkers like Machiavelli, Hobbes, and Thucydides. In his book World
Order , Henry Kissinger2 refers to “Arthashastra as a work that lays out the
requireme nts of power , whi ch is the dominant reality in politics.” Kissinger viewed the Arthashastra as “a combination of Machiavelli and Clausewitz (Prussian military theorist).”3 However, as Kautilya’s Arthashastra is as centuries
old to Machiavelli book “Prince” (1513) and as su ch, Machiavelli could be
referred as the Italian or European Chanakya. Machiavelli argued that a “Prince”,
or a ruler, has to stabilize his power and build a permanent structure. The basic
objective of the ruler has to maximize the nationa l interest. The “ Prince” could do
things of an evil nature to achieve the greater good for the state. The famous
assumption is “the ends justify the means” states that any evil action can be
justified if it is done for the sake of state national interest. Thomas Hobbe s has
argued with his famous maxim “ homo homini lupus ” that “man is a wolf to
another man.” Hobbes argued that a strong monarchy could create order.
The modern realist approach emerged in the 19th century when nation -states
became the standard in European politics after the “treaty of Westphalia (1648)”.
Bismarck can be seen as applying realism in the modern sense for the first time.
After the first World War, the practice of many states until today show a tendency
to follow the realist point o f view.
Basic Ass umptions of Realism are
• State egoism and conflict
• Statecraft and the National Interest
• International anarchy and its implications
• Polarity, stability and the balance of power



2Henry Kissinger World Order (Penguin Press, 2014 ).
ϯ Patrick J. Garrity , “India’s Arthashast ra: A Combina tion of Ma chiavelli and
Clausewitz? Classics of Strategy and Democracy , February 4, 2015 .
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4APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
A.1.3: Essentials of Realism
➢ There is Anarchy in the world, whic h means the re is no controlling or
regulating authority that can control the states' behaviours. Therefore, there
is no world government to arrange the international system and control the
behaviour of the states.
➢ Statism: The state is the key actor in Internation al Rel ations. The conflict
in International Relations is inherent due to the natural tendency to
maximise power amongst the states. Therefore, international conflicts are
generally resolved by war amongst the states.
➢ Survival: The security of the state is the prime concern and beyond all
other matters. There cannot be growth in International Relations because
there are no superior agencies that regulate the global system. Each state in
the International system seeks their survival which also lea ds to a se curity
dilemma. Survival is held to be a pre -condition for attaining all other goals.
➢ Self-Help: There is no higher authority to prevent and counter the use of
force in the International system; therefore, security can only be realised
through se lf-help, which is the necessary principle of action.
Realism claims to offer an account of world affairs that is realistic and
devoid of wishful thinking. In their most celebrated work Politics Among
Nations , Hans Morgenthau stated that “politic s is the s truggle for power,
and the power is its immediate goal. Thus, Morgenthau has called it the “Power Approach”. The following six principles of Morgenthau are significant contributions in the field of classical realism.
A.1.4: Six Principles of Morg enthau
Morgenthau’ s six principles constitute the essence of his political realism.
First: International Politics is governed by certain objective laws that have their
roots in Human Nature: Like society in general, it is necessary to understand
these obje ctive laws and bui ld a rational theory of International Relations. These
objective laws cannot be refuted and challenged.
Second: National Interest defined in terms of National Power. In International
politics, the national interest is defined in terms of power. Of course, a state’s
national interest is not backed by the power that exists only on paper, but national
interest’ defined in terms of ‘power’ carries political realism into the arena of
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5Chapter 1: Approaches to IR – I
Third: Interest is always Dynamic
The national interest of any state is the essence of politics. National interest is
constantly changing based on the requirement of the state. It is subjective, and it
changes as per the political and social environment of the state. The nature of the
interes t which de termines political action in a particular period of history depends
upon the cultural and political context within which a foreign policy is framed.
For example, security has always been a primary component of the national
interest of India, but the nature of secu rity that India has been trying to secure
from time to time has been changing. National interest is a dynamic concept, and
it is not static.
Fourth: Abstract Moral Principles cannot be applied in International Politics
Political realism realises t he value of moral principles. The moral importance of
political action is undisputed, but the universal moral principles cannot be applied
to the actions of states unless these are analysed in the light of specific conditions
of time and space. M oral princ iples do not determine the policies and actions of
states in International relations. There can be no political morality without
prudence. Prudence to be the supreme virtue in International politics.
Fifth: Difference between Moral Aspirations of a Nation and the Universal
Moral Principles
Political realism refuses to identify the moral aspirations of a particular state with
moral principles. It also refuses to accept that any nation's national interest and
policies reflect universally applied mor al princip les. Sta tes are actors engaged in securing their respective national interests and are not followers of moral principles. The moral principles that govern the universe do not apply to the
state’s actions because these actions are always based upo n national interes ts.
Therefore, state policy cannot be equated and should not be confused with
universal moral principles.
Sixth: Autonomy of International Politics
Political realism admits the autonomy of International Politics and maintains the
autonomy of the po litical sphere. It is neither idealistic nor moralistic in its
approach to International Politics. On the contrary, it believes in the autonomy of
International Politics.
Morgenthau believes that human nature tends to promote lust for power, whic h
dictates for rel ative advantage over others and secure political space. As a result,
a person can enjoy his life free from outside political pressures. The animus
dominandi (the desire for power) eventually brings individuals into conflict with munotes.in

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6APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
each othe r, creates the fra mework for power politics at the heart of all realist
thinking. According to Morgenthau, there are different sets of moralities like
morality in the private sphere or the public sphere. Political morality can be used
to do some things tha t cannot b e accept ed nor forgiven by private, personal, social
ethics.
A.1.5: Neo-realism / Structural Realism
Kenneth Waltz is the foremost advocate and the leader of neo -realism. The idea
of neo -realism is based on the ‘Structural Realism’ of Robert Sch elling. Neo-
realis m is known as structural realism because it considers the influence of the
structure of the world system on the behaviour of states. The main difference
between neo -realism and classical realism is that the classical realists believe that
power is an end, but the neo -realists believe that power is a means, as something
to use to reach their goal, which is survival of the state. Furthermore, classical
realism focuses on the leaders and their intentions, but neorealism focuses on the
system itself.
Neo-realis m has two major aspects; one is defensive realism, and the other one
offensive realism. Kenneth Waltz tried to explain Structural realism in his books,
Man, the State, and War (1959) and Theory of International Politics (1979). He
talked about huma n nature and political ethics and propounded a “scientific
theory of International Relations”. Waltz believes that a scientific International
Relation theory will help us to understand how the states will behave. The
neorealist theory focuses dir ectly on t he inter national system, its components and
their interactions, and the continuities and the changes in the International system.
A.1.6: Assumptions o f Neorealism
There is anarchy in the international system, and Great Powers are the main actors
in intern ational politics. There is no regulatory or controlling authority in the
global system, so there is no hierarchy. There are variances among the different
anarchical systems in terms of stability. In the bipolar system, there was a more
stable sys tem during the Col d War politics than the multipolar systems as in the
interwar period after the end of the cold war. All the states possess some
offensive military capability, which can harm their neighbours to a degree. The
capability and power of the st ates chang es accor ding to time and space. The other
important aspect is that the states can never be sure about the intentions and
behaviour of the other states. No one can easily predict the state's motives; a state
in the system wants to change the exist ing balanc e of pow er. The neo -realist munotes.in

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7Chapter 1: Approaches to IR – I
believes that the intentions are only in the minds of decision -makers in the
international system, so one can never be sure about the intentions of any state at
any given time. A revisionist state is happy with the cur rent balan ce of po wer;
hence it is a status quo state.
Every state wants to maintain their territorial integrity and the autonomy of its domestic political system. Consequently, states are rational actors in the International system and generally develop reliable strategi es that maximise their
survival prospects. The theoretical basis of neo -realism is that in the environment
of anarchy, states are trying to ‘balance’ each other rather than bandwagon
because there is no world government that can protect t hem from t hreats. Balance
of power is the only means to reduce the risk of the states by opposing the
stronger state. The structural realism propounded by Kenneth Waltz during the
cold war political environment and tried to explain that inimitable internat ional
system probl em. However, structural realism (neo -realism) seemed not too reliable in explaining the international system after the end of cold war politics.
John Mearsheimer (1994) tried to advance the structural realist argument in his
article The False Prom ise of I nternational Institutions and his book The Tragedy
of Great Power Politics (2001). He brought out five assumptions that realists
share:
1) Anarchy in the international system;
2) States inherently have some offensive military capability which gives them
the abi lity to hurt and possibly destroy each other;
3) States can never be sure about the intentions of other states;
4) The primary motive among the states is survival;
5) States think strategically about how to survive in the international system.
When these five ass umptions are clubbed together, there are enough powerful
incentives for great powers to adopt offensive postures. Mearsheimer writes that
states are rational actors, and the miscalculations they make, from time to time,
arise out of the f act that t hey oper ate in a world of imperfect information. Mearsheimer claims that Kenneth Waltz was proper to pronounce the two systems globally. One is bipolar, and the other is multipolar and asks such types
of questions as what happens if a multipolar world repl aces a b ipolar world
structure. He answers that instability will grow and lead to violent conflicts.
John Mearsheimer states that “the Western powers have an interest in maintaining
peace in Europe. It, therefore, has an interest in maintaining t he cold wa r order.
Europe has an interest in the continuation of the cold war hostility. However, munotes.in

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8APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONSMearsheimer's other proponents of neorealism differ from Kenneth Waltz assumptions, which led to the development of the two branches of neorealism, i.e.
defen sive reali sm and o ffensive realism. Kenneth Waltz and Robert Jervis are the
main propounders of defensive realism and John Mearsheimer of offensive
realism.
A.1.7 : Offensive and Defensive Realism
There are important differences between defensive and offen sive reali sm given
below in the table: Defensive Realism Offensive Realism Supporters: Kenneth Waltz, Barry Posen, Jack Snyder, and Stephen van Evera, Robert Gilpin Supporters: John Mearsheimer and DC Copeland • A defensive realist believes that it is unw ise for st ates to maximise their power because if they try to gain more
power, the system will punish them. • Offensive realists claim that to attain more power as possible, it is necessary from the good strategic aspect of a state. Therefore, the overwhelmi ng power e nsures t he
survival of the state.

• Defensive realists claim that states should not maximise their power because balancing will occur if any state becomes too powerful. Defensive realism believes that when a great power invades any small state, i t brings
more trouble than benefits. As an example, the US strike on Iraq and Afghanistan. It is a fact that should be apparent for all states in the international system and limit their appetite for more power. If not, they would threaten their existence.
• A defensi ve realist believes that “nation -states are not “gap • Offensive realists believe that the balancing is generally not enough to protect the national interest of the states. The attacker states may benefit from this incompetence. The use of nuclear weapons allowed in the exceptional ground when only one side
of the conflict owns them.
• The offensive realists expect that the great powers will always look for opportunities to gain an advantage over
each other.
• John Mearsheimer argues tha t
“states seek to survive under anarchy by maximizing their power relative to munotes.in

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9Chapter 1: Approaches to IR – Imaximizers.” They are, in Joseph Grieco’s terms, “defensive positionalists”.
• The balance of power may emerge not as a goal but as a result as relatively weaker states will seek security often t hrough all iances t o
survive.
• Defensive realism advocates maximizing security. other states”. He stated that “states are ‘short -term power maximizers, i.e. offensive positionalists.” Fareed Zakaria also states that “the best solution of the uncertainty or a narchy
in the international system is that a state has to increase control over the environment through the power and persistent expansion of its political interests abroad.
• Offensive realism holds that under permissive anarchy, states wish to increase the ir power a nd do so
through expansionist policies.

The survival and domination of the state can be seen as extreme statements of
defensive and offensive realists. Both revives the classical realist distinction
between status quo and revisionist powers and develops two diff erent theories
from contrasting orientations which led security dilemma. It is manifested in
terms of fear by other states.
In recent years, there is a debate amongst neorealists about the expansion of
NATO. Those who argued against the e xpansion o f NATO, like Michael McGwire, claim that it will threaten Russia and, therefore it would create greater
insecurity. On the other hand, small states near Russia may request to join NATO
for defensive realist state -centric reasons. Thus, NATO’s exp ansion can be
explained by offensive realism perspective, particularly when it observed as a tool
of US hegemony; however individual actors within NATO seem to follow state -
centric motives.
A.1.8: Criticism of Realism
➢ Realists believe that human nature is full of co nflict, i.e. pessimistic, but
humans are also cooperative. The concept of human nat ure is unscientific
because men are rational creatures having multifaceted attributes , all of
which cannot be cruxes under the quest for power.
➢ Stanley Holftmann accuses Mo rgenthau of engaging in “power monism.”
Instead, he points out that power is one complement of comp lex relations
which Morgenthau does not examine.
➢ Martin Wight criticises Realism as a one -dimensional theory and only
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10APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
➢ Liberals state t hat war is not the only way to resolve problems, and other
tools like negotiations must also be considered.
➢ JM Tickner, a feminist thinker, criticises Morgenthau th at his six principles
are male -oriented.
➢ Social Constructivists believe th at too lit tle impo rtance is given to perceptions. Realists focus more on power politics instead of social relations.
➢ Realists ignore globalisation, which leads to interdependence and interconnectedness, and deem it simply a source of conflict.
➢ Scholars arg ue that Me arsheime r fails to explain the peaceful changes and
great power cooperation, and his theory fails to explain the pooling of
sovereignty by the European states.
➢ Constructivists criticize the neo -realist assumption of anarchy. According to
Alexande r Wendt, ‘self-help and power politics are institutions and not
essential features of anarchy. “Anarchy is what states make of it.”
A.1.9: Conclusion
Realism is regarded as the most influential theory in International politics and
enjoy a long intellectual traditi on within the study of international relations.
Power is central to the realists' explanation of international relations, and the
uneven distribution of power means that the arena of international relations is a
form of power politics. The state se eks to b etter its relative position and
likelihood for survival by competing in a world comprised of other states. Each state has some offensive military capability which makes them potentially dangerous to the other states. Thus, the states may create ins ecurity for the s ake of
their security. No state could be sure about the motivations and intentions of other
states or their rival states. However, all states seem to be guided by a rational
need to maintain their survival and sovereignty. Therefore, state s build up their
militaries to survive, which may lead to a security dilemma .
Realism explains the reality of international politics by stating the constraints on
politics that re sult from humankind’s egoistic nature and the absence of a central
authority above the state. The dominance of realism has generated a significant
strand of literature criticising its main tenets. However, despite the value of the
criticisms, reali sm conti nues to p rovide valuable insights and remains an essential
analytical tool for every student of International Relations.

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11Chapter 1: Approaches to IR – I
Check Your Progress Exercise
Note: i) Use the space given below for your answer.
1) Trace the evolution trajectory of Reali st approa ch in Int ernational
Relations
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2) Structural/ neo -realism explain how states react to an insecure world;
but they cannot explain the c auses o f insecur ity. Discuss.
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A.1.10: References
Andrew Linklater, “Realism, Marxism and Critical International Theory” Review
of Internatio nal Stu dies Vol.1 2, No.4, 1986, pp. 301 -12.
C. Brown, International Relations Theory: New Normative Approaches (New
York: Columbia University Press,1992). munotes.in

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12APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
David Baldwin, Neorealism and Neoliberalism: The Contemporary Debate (New
York: Columbia University Press, 1993) .
E. H. Carr, The Twenty Years’ Crisis 1919 -1939: An Introduction to the Study of
International Relations (New York: Harper & Row, 1964 [1939]).
Hans J. Morgenthau, Politics Among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace
(New York: McGraw -Hill, 1993 [1948 ]).
Hedley Bull, The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World Politics (New
York: Columbia University Press, 1977), pp. 3 -98.
J. Nye, “Neorealism and Neoliberalism”, World Politics 1988, Vol. XL, No.2, pp.
235-51.
Jack Donley, Realism an d In ternationa l Relations (Cambridge: C ambridge
University Press, 2000).
John Baylis and Steve Smith, The Globalisation of World Politics: An Introduction to International Relations (First Indian Edition) (New Delhi: Oxford
University Press, 2005).
John Me arsheimer, The Tragedy of the Great Power Politics (New York: Norton,
2003).
Ken Booth and Steve Smith (eds.), International Relations Theory Today (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995).
Kenneth N. Waltz, Man, the State and War: A Theoretical Analy sis (New York:
Columbia University Press, 1954).
Kenneth N. Waltz, Theory of International Politics (New York: McGraw -Hill,
1979).
Kenneth Waltz, “Structural Realism after the Cold War”, International Security,
Vol. 25, No.1, Summer 2000, pp. 5 -41.
M.E. Br own, Lynn -Jones, S. M., and Miller, S. E. (eds.), The Perils of Anar chy:
Contemporary Realism and International Security (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1995).
Mahendra Kumar, Theoretical Aspects of International Politics (Agra: Shiva Lal
Agarwala & Co, 2001).
Moh ammed Ayoob, “Subaltern Realism: International Relations Theory Me ets
the Third World”, in Stephanie Neuman, ed., Internat ional Relations Theory and
the Third World (London: Macmillan, 1998).
Robert Jervis, “Realism, Neoliberalism and Cooperation: Underst anding the Debate,” International Security Vol. 24, 1999, pp. 42‐63.
Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye, Power and Interdependence , 2nd edn.
(New York: Longman: 1989).
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13Chapter 1: Approaches to IR – I
(B) Liberalism
B.1.0: Objective
B.1.1: Introduction
B.1.2: Features of Libera lism
B.1.3: Neo-liberalism
B.1.4: Classification of Neo -liberalism
i) Sociological Realism
ii) Interdependence Liberalism
iii) Institutional Liberalism
iv) Republican Liberalism
B.1.5: Globalization and Liberalism
B.1.6: Criticism of Liberalism
B.1.7 : Conclusion
B.1.8 : Ref erences
B.1.0: Objective
The objective of this module is to familiarize students with Liberalism , which is
one of the prominent approaches of the international relations. After studying this
module, you shall be able to understand:
• Interna tional Relations can be cooperative rather than conflictual
• Liberty of the individual
• Different paradigms of Liberalism
B.1.1: Introduction
Liberalism is an ideology that focuses on the commitment to the individual, wish
to create a society where pe ople ca n acco mplish the ir interests and achieve
fulfilment. The liberalism theory in International Relations focuses on democracy
and cooperation between states. In classical l iberalism , scholars believe that
individual shares many interests and can thus e ngage i n coop eration. L iberalism
as an ideology emerged in the second half of the seventeenth century. Liberalism
as a whole is majorly influenced by three scholars -John Locke, Bentham and
Immanuel Kant. John Locke became the father of liberalism. John Loc ke beli eves munotes.in

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14APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
that “man p ossesses reason, and hence man can live in peace.” However,
liberalism gained momentum with the Industrial Revolution, when ‘ progress’ was
the magic keyword for society.
The Industrial Revolution has created new norms of living for all par ts of the
societ y, especially in Europe and led to the emergence of the new social classes,
and suddenly everything began to change. English philosopher John Locke has
propounded natural rights theory and given priority to human progress in civil
society a nd cap italist ec onomy. He believed liberal democracy guaranteed individual freedom led to the development of capitalism. For Locke, unlike the
Realist theorists, a state exists only to improve the liberty of individuals so that
they could enjoy thei r lives witho ut interfe rence from other people. According to
liberals, the state is a constitutional entity, not a power instrument. It protects the
‘rule of law’ and must respect its citizens’ rights.
B.1.2: Features of Liberalism
Liberalism emphasises d ifferent featu res of wor ld politics, from non -
governmental ties between societies to organised cooperation between states.
Liberalism is primarily based on the following three basic assumptions:
1) Liberals believe in a positive view of human nature
2) IR can be coopera tive r ather than conflictual
3) It revolves around the twin principles of consent and constitutionalism
4) Liberals believe in progress in the state system and the international system.
Liberalism is fundamentally focused on the liberty of the individua l. Accor dingly ,
it belie ved that warfare was an unnecessary and old -fashioned way of settling
disputes between states. Instead, the conflicts could be resolved between the
states by cooperation and peaceful manner. Immanual Kant and Woodrow Wilson
is champ ion of l iberal ism
Immanu el Kant
Immanuel Kant has propounded the concept of “perpetual peace” and held that
constitutional states must respect each other and promote progress. The concept
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15Chapter 1: Approaches to IR – I
The Const itution of eve ry state s hall be “Republican”4 Kant believes that only
republican states can maintain a priori principles of justice, internally and
externally.
Republicanism - according to him, democracy will be more restrained in going to
war because o f public opini on in comp arison to monarchies and autocracies.
➢ The right of nations shall be based on a “Federation of Free states”. The
federation is not to have a centralised government but must remain a
federation of independent and free states bounded t ogether by vol untary
contract and a self -commitment to the principle of international and constitutional rights.
➢ “The cosmopolitan rights shall be limited to conditions of universal hospitality.”5
Thus, all states could, in the end, establish ‘perpetual p eace’ in the w orld. In
his pamphlet titled “perpetual peace”, Kant writes that wars did not start
due to international issues, but domestic matters forced the governments to
go into war. He wanted there should be permanent peace among the
countries of Euro pe, and so he proposed: “There should be free trade
because protectionism leads to war.”Norman Angell - book: ‘ The Great
Illusion ’- illustrate that “it is an illusion that war benefits anyone, war
doesn't benefit even those who win the war.
Woodrow Wilson
In his “ fourte en points” speech addressed to the US congress in 1918,President
Woodrow Wilson argued that “a general association of nations must be formed to
preserve the world peace.”6 The “League of Nations” was the general association
that idealist will ed into existe nce. Moreo ver, it was the idea behind the “collective
security” system central to the league of nations.
After the Second World War, the USA tried but got partial success. However,
liberalism in International relations got maximum traction af ter the declin e of
cold war politics and gave rise to the debate -Neo-realist vs Neo -liberals. Thus, the
neo-liberal ideas attracted more attention from the 1970s onwards in the name of
neo-liberalism.

4 I. Kant, “Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch”, in H. Reiss (ed.) Kant's Political Writings
(Cambridge: CUP, 1970), p.102.
5 Garrett Wallace Brown , “Kantian Co smopol itan Law: And The Idea of A Cosmopolitan
Constitution” History of Political Thought Vol. 27, No. 4 (Winter 2006), p.682.
6Trygve Throntveit, “ The Fable of the Fourteen Points: Woodrow Wilson and National Self -
Determination”, Diplomatic H istory , Vol. 35, No . 3 (Oxford: June 2011), p.471. munotes.in

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16APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
B.1.3: Neo -liberalism
The neo -liberals challenged the h egemony of rea lism after the end of the cold war due to remarkable progress in the growth of International, Regional and Transnational organisations, treaties and regimes. Neo-liberalism have certain
basic assumptions which is based on:
➢ Focus on Institutio ns and t ransna tional act ors.
➢ Man is rational by nature - a positive view of human nature .
➢ International relations are not always conflicting in nature - cooperation
exist even if countries are going for a military alliance .
➢ Focus much on “progress” and “free dom” - because human bein gs are
rational, they see things in a positive way .
B. 1.4: Classification of Neo -liberalism
Neo-Liberalism may be divided into four types:
1) Sociological Realism
2) Interdependence Liberalism
3) Institutional Liberalism
4) Republican Li beralism
i. Sociol ogical Liberalism
It focuses on transnational relations and critic of realist theory . It highlights
the transnational non-governmental ties between societies. Main scholars of
Sociological Liberalism are Karl Deutsch, John Burton a nd James N.
Rosenau . Sociological liberalism says that IR is not only about the state to
state relations; it is also about transnational relations. It gives priority to the
existence of various groups and flourishes pluralism. Sociological liberals
conside r transna tional rel ations to be an increasingly important aspect of
international relations. James Rosenau defines trans -nationalism as follows:
“the processes whereby international relations conducted by governments
have been supplemented by relations amo ng privat e individu als, g roups,
and societies that can and do have significant consequences for the course
of events.”7 Sociological liberalism also believes that the relations between

7 James N. Rosenau, The Study of Global Interdependence: Essays on the Transnationalization of
World Affairs, (Nichols Publis hing Company, 1980). munotes.in

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17Chapter 1: Approaches to IR – I
people are more cooperative and more supportive of peace than are relat ions
betw een nation al gov ernments.
During the 1950s, Karl Deutsch was a leading figure in the study of
transnational relations. Karl Deutsch concept of ‘security community’ is an
alternative to the realist concept of the ‘security dilemma.’ The idea of the
‘securi ty communi ty’ is based on the expectation of peace through domestic
politics. ‘a group of people has become “integrated”. “Integration means
that a ‘sense of community has been achieved; people have come to agree
that their conflicts and problems c an be re solved ‘wi thout r esort to large -
scale physical force.”8The concept increases the trust amongst members of
the region. People believe that all people in the community are cooperating.
Therefore, they are not the source of insecurity to each other. T he same
thing is a pplicab le in International politics.
John Burton has developed a “cobweb model” of transnational relationships. According to this model, each segment of any society, like
schools, worker’s groups, religious groups, and business groups, ha s
diffe rent forei gn relat ions types. Burton stated that “Realists” tried to
demonstrate each state as a billiard ball while they were cobwebs. He
believes that mutually beneficial cooperation is far preferable for states than
antagonistic conflict.
ii. Interde pendenc e Liberali sm
It fo cuses on trade and Commerce relation - promotion of economic
interdependence through free trade . Main scholars are David Ricardo, Richard Rosecrance, Thomas Friedman Thomas Friedman has once stated
that the two countries with McDona ld’s c hains don' t go to w ar. This shows
that economic interdependence can bring peace. Interdependence means
mutual dependence between peoples, governments and between the states.
Anadvanced level of transnational relations between states means a higher
level of interdepe ndence. Interdependence Liberalism is based on the postulation that peace will rule when two nations mutually depend on each
other. Individuals and governments are affected by the actions of their
counterparts in other states, which promote s a higher level of trans national
relations between states which promotes greater interdependence. Also,
when modernisation increases, interdependence increases as well.

8Karl Deutsch, Political Comm unity and the North Atlantic Area (Princet on, N . J. Princeton
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18APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Interdependence liberals argue that a high division of labour in the international ec onomy increases interdepen dence between states, which
discourages and reduces violent conflict between states. A high division of
labour in the international economy increases interdependence between
states, and that interdependence decreases violent confl icts b etween sta tes.
For e xample, Richard Rosencrance has stated, “war happens in less developed countries because these states only reached lower levels of
economic development and therefore are not integrated enough into the
world economy.”9
The import ant other varien ts of the i nterdependence liberalism are as under:
➢ Functionalist theory of integration by David Mitrany
The central feature of the functional approach is the creation of
international agencies with limited and specific power defined by th e
function that they perform . Therefore, functional agencies operate
only within the territories of the states that choose to join them and so
do not threaten state sovereignty. David Mitrany advocated
transnational cooperation likely to grow into a system of
interdepende nce, dominat ed by the need to solve mutual problems.
Considering the interwar experience and that of the Second World
War, Mitrany argued that “we must put our faith, not in a protected
peace, but a working peace.”10 He believed that, perh aps somewhat
naively, technic al experts should arrange that cooperation, not by
politicians. The experts would devise solutions to common problems
in various functional areas: transport, communication, finance, etc.
technical and economic collaboration wou ld expand when t he
participan ts discovered the mutual benefits that could be obtained
from it. When citizens realised that the efficient collaboration in
international organisations promotes their welfare measures, they
would shift their loyalty from the s tate to internat ional organis ations. In that way, economic interdependence would lead to political integration and peace. The best example is the establishment of the
ECSC and the European Union. Ernst Haas visualised a connection
between economic cooperat ion and politica l integration, to be achieved by the process of automatic politicisation.

9Robert H. Jackson, George Sorensen, Introduction to International Relations: Theories and
Approaches (Oxford University P ress, 2013), p.103.
10David Mitrany, The Functiona l Theory of Politics (London School of Economic s & Political
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19Chapter 1: Approaches to IR – I
First, he rejected Mitrany's idea that power is separated from welfare,
“power is merely a convenient term for describing violence -laden
means used for the realisat ion of welfare a ims.” Conseque ntly, the
functionalist doctrine that economic functions are separated from political functions was also rejected. Secondly, Haas modified Mitarny’s assumption that power -oriented governmental actions are
transferred into welf are-oriented act ions through the process of learning.
➢ Ernst Haas: Neo -functionalist theory of international integration
Ernst Haas developed a neo -functionalism theory of international
integration inspired by the intensifying cooperation that began in t he
1950s between the countries o f Western Europe. Haas builds on
Mitrany. But he rejects the notion that ‘technical’ matters can be
separated from politics. Instead, integration has to do with getting
self-interested political elites to intensify their coo perati on.
Integr ation is a proce ss whereby “political actors are persuaded to
shift their loyalties toward a new center whose institutions possess or
demand jurisdiction over the pre -existing nation -states.”11 This
‘functional’ integration process depends o n the notion of ‘spill over’
when increased cooperation in one area leads to increased cooperation
in other areas. Cooperation in one field leads to cooperation in
another field and becomes stronger when cooperation begins. T hus,
there is the cycle of coop eratio n and this process is called the “spillover effect.”
“Spillover” would ensure that political elites marched inexorably
towards the promotion of integration. Ernst Haas saw that happening
in the initial years of West European cooperation in the 1950s and
early 1960s . He claimed that integration could not be achieved by
neglecting politics; instead, integration can be achieved by increased
cooperation of self -interested elites.
➢ Complex Interdependence
Complex interdependence was made in the late 1970 s in a book by
Robert Keohane and Joseph Nye, Jr, Power and Interdependence .12
They argue that post -war ‘complex interdependence’ is qualitatively

11EB Haas, The Uniting of the Europe: Political, Socia and Economic Forces (1950 -1957)
(Stanford Universit y Press, 1958), p.16.
12Robert Keohane and Joseph Nye, Jr, Power and Interdepen dence , World Polit ics in Transition
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20APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONSdifferent from earlier and simpler kinds of interdependence. Previously, international relations were directed by st ate leader s
dealing with oth er state leaders. The use of military forcewas an
option in the case of conflict between those national leaders. The
‘high politics’ of security and survival had priority over the ‘low
politics’ of economics and social aff airs.13 Under conditions of complex interdependence, however, that is no longer the case, and for
two reasons. First, relations between states nowadays are not only or
even primarily relations between state leaders; there are relations on
many different lev els vi a many oth er actors and branches of government. Second, there is a host of transnational ties between
individuals and groups outside of the state.
Furthermore, military force is a less useful instrument of policy under
conditions of complex interdep endenc e. Consequ ently, internationa l
relations are becoming more like domestic politics: ‘Different issues
generate different coalitions, both within governments and across them, and involve different degrees of conflict. Finally, under complex interdepend ence, states bec ome more preoccupie d with the
‘low politics’ of welfare and less concerned with national security'
‘high politics’. Modernisation increases the level and scope of interdependence between states. The transnational actors are increasingly imp ortant ; military force is a less us eful instrument in a
complex interdependence. The welfare - not security - is becoming
the primary goal and concern of states. That means a world of more
cooperative international relations.
Ɣ Bring about a decline in the u se of military p ower
Ɣ Transnational actors increasingly important States not coherent
units
Ɣ Economic and institutional instruments are more useful
Ɣ Military security is less important, and Welfare issues are
increasingly important .
iii. Institutional Liberalis m
The primary c laim of the Institutional liberals is that International institutions help to promote cooperation between states. To assess that
claim, institutional liberals adopt a behaviouristic, scientific approach. First,
an empirical measure of the e xtent of institu tionalisation among states is
formulated. The extent to which these international institutions have helped

13Robert Keohane and Joseph Nye, Jr, Power and Interdependence , World Politics in Transition
(Boston: Little Brow n, 1977),p. 23. munotes.in

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21Chapter 1: Approaches to IR – I
advance cooperation is then assessed.The argument made by institutional
liberalsis that a high level of institutionalisation signific antly reduces th e
destabilising effe cts of multipolar anarchy identified by Mearsheimer. The
other vital assumptions are as under:
➢ It focuses on Institutions that are capable of bringing peace to the
international world order because they can convert the b ehavio ur of
the states. Thus, instit utions make up for the lack of trust between
states.
➢ The idea of the international organisation is to monitor and give a
platform to the states to resolve issues and conflicts through dialogue.
➢ Liberal International worl d orde r- new Ins titutions with post -cold war,
the rule of law cooperation and peace that would lead to stability.
Institutional liberalism promotes cooperation between states which help to
ease the distrust and fear between the states. The lack of trust i s cons idered
the traditional problem associated with international anarchy. However, the
positive role of international institutions in advancing cooperation between
states continues to be questioned by realists.
In institutional liberalism, international institutions pr omote cooperation
betw een states and institutions to alleviate problems concerning the lack of
trust between states and reduce states’ fear of each other.
iv. Republican Liberalism
Republican liberalism claims that liberal democracies are more peace ful and
law-abiding than the othe r political systems. The simple justification of the
above claim is that democracies do not fight each other. Immanuel Kant first articulated this observation in the late eighteenth century about republican states rat her th an de mocra cies. Major thinkers of this school are
Dean Babst, Immanuel Kant and Michael Doyle .
Dean Babst resurrected it in 1964, and it has been advanced in numerous
studies since then. One liberal scholar even claims that the assertion that
democ racies do no t fight each other is “one o f the strongest nontrivial or
non-tautological statements that can be made about international relations”.14 This finding, then, is the basis of the present optimism among
many liberal scholars and policymakers concer ning t he pro spects of long -
term world pe ace.

14 Russett, B. M. “Democracy and P eace”, in B. Russett, H. Star r, and R. J. Stoll (eds),
Choices in World Politics: Sovereignty and Interdependence (New York: Freeman, 1989),
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22APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Michael Doyle pro pounded the Democratic Peace Theory and claimed that
democracy leads to peace with other democracies. The democratic political
culture encourages peaceful means of conflict resolution , which ar e
extended be yond the domestic political process to other democratic states.15 Political ideology, therefore, determines how democracies distinguish allies from adversaries. Democracy inspires peaceful International relations because democratic governments are co ntrolle d by
their citizens, who wil l not support wars. The democracies also hold
common moral values that lead to a pacific union (Kant). The union is not a
formal peace treaty; instead, it is a zone of peace based on the common
moral foundations of all de mocraci es. Finally, p eace between d emocracies
is strengthened through economic cooperation and interdependence.
Republican liberalism is the one with the most substantial normative element. For most republican liberals, there is confidence and hope that
world po litics is already developing and will develop far beyond rivalry,
conflict, and war between independent states. Republican liberals are
optimistic that peace and cooperation will eventually prevail in international
relations, based on progres s towa rds a mo re democratic world.
Republi can liberalism: Three conditions of peace among liberal democracies
First: Democracy encourages peace because democratic government are controlled by citizens who will not supp ort war with other democracies
or othe r coun tries.
Moreover, d emocratic states a re based on moral foundations and have a
mutual understanding with other democracies. T herefore, t he peaceful
relations between democratic states are generally based on a common
moral substance.
Second: Economic cooper ation betw een democracies is easier to achieve, which
is responsible for establishing peace between them.
Third: Democracies do not go to war against each other due to the ir domestic
culture of peaceful conflict resolution, common moral values, and mutual ly benefic ial economic cooperation and interdependence.
These are the basis on which their peaceful relations are based. For these
reasons, an entire world of consolidated liberal democracies could be
expected to be a peaceful world.


15 Miriam Fendius Elman (ed.) “The Need for a Qualitative T est of the Democratic Peace
Theory,” in Paths to Peace: Is Democracy the Answ er?(Cambridge , Mas sachusetts: The MIT
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23Chapter 1: Approaches to IR – I
B.1.5: Globa lisati on and Lib eralism
The end of the cold wa r politics and demise of the Soviet communism in the 1990s enhanced the scope of the liberal theory of International relations. Fukuyama has also stated that the collapse of the Soviet Union proved that liberal
democ racy had n o severe ideological competitor. Fukuyama believes that progress in human history can be measured by adopting principles of legitimacy
and the elimination of global conflict that ha s evolved in domestic political
orders. Globali sation coinc ided w ith a rena issance of neo -liberal thinkin g in the
Western world. Globali sation has upheld the liberal idea of bringing peace in an
anarchical world through cooperation. Anarchy as a vacuum is gradually filled
due to human -created processes and institu tions. States ar e more interdependent
than bef ore; significant economies are globali sed, more and more states are
democratic. On the other hand, g lobali sation has weakened the nation -state in
different ways that have pleased liberals. The state cannot prev ent it s citizens
from turning to a range of su b-national and transnational agents to promote their
political objectives and secure their political identities.
The hyper -globalists claim that globalisation has increased interconnectivity
following the disa ppeara nce of bor ders or a “borderless world” ( Ohmae, 1995).16
K. Ohmae argues that globali sation and the disappearance of borders facilitate
financial flows and business transactions. The state becomes less plausible as
interconnectivity intensifies. Market force s in a globalising order shape core
social and policy interactions. Liberals believe that globali sation has created
opportunities for both economic and technological development.
B.1.6: Criticisms of Liberalism
International Relations are not only th e stud y of trans -relations between two or
more states ; it is also the study of relations between the governments of two
sovereign states. These are the following criticism of Liberalism.
➢ Realists criticise liberals for having a po sitive view of human natu re and
their b elief in human reason. Realists say that every reason fails when
another state attacks a state because you do not get enough time to apply
reason. The prevalence of anarchy in the international system increases
the possibility of war amongst states.

16K. Ohmae ,The End of the Nation State (New York : Free Press ,1995) .
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24APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
➢ Realist s disagree with the idea that mutual dependence increases
cooperation between the states because they believe that states have no
interest in r elative gains. Instead, states want to have absolute gains majorly
with other countries.
➢ Neo-realists a re critica l of the liberal view. They ar gue t hat anarchy cannot
be eclipsed and, therefore, that liberal optimism is not warranted. As long as
anarchy prevails, there is no escape from self -help and the security dilemma.
➢ Institutional liberals believ e that world ord er can be estab lished with the
help of global Institutions, but contrary to this realist says that these
institutions are nothing but mere puppets in the hands of powerful countries
and constantly remain dependent on them.
➢ Republican libera lism s ays that d emocratic governments will not go to war
against each other because people run them, but there is always a risk that
liberal or democratic governments might convert into autocratic or other
forms of democracy.
➢ Liberalism has again gone int o cris is due to specific changes in internatio nal politics such as BREXIT, trade war, America first and from
2001 and prominently from 2008 onwards.
➢ Social constructivists are the fundamental critique of n ew liberalism and
believe that institutions are no t dete rmined exc lusively by actors, but in
fact, help constitutes actors’ preferences based on the identities of individual member states (Wendt, 1999).
➢ Immanuel Wallerstein, a Marxist scholar, has criticised liberal ism by saying
that “universalism as a “g ift” o f the powe rful to the weak, which places
them in a double bind: to refuse the gift is to lose, to accept the gift is to lose.”
B.1.7: Conclusion
Liberalism scholars believe that the concentrations of unaccountable ferocious
power are the fundament al thr eat to i ndividual liberty. The liberty of the individuals must be restrained. The core means of limiting power are institutions
and norms at both the domestic and international level s. At the international level ,
institutions and organisations restri ct the power o f states by fostering cooperatio n
and providing a means for imposing costs on states that violate international
agreements. Economic institutions are particularly effective at promot ing
cooperation because of the substantial benefits that can be de rived fr om economic
interdependence.
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25Chapter 1: Approaches to IR – I
Check Your Progress Exercise
Note: i) Use the space given below for your answer.
1) What are the reasons behind Liberals optimism about human progress,
cooperation, and peace?
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2) How do liberals envision that peace and coo perati on can b e promoted in
international relat ions?
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26APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
B.1.8: Referen ces
Cerny, P. G. (2010) Rethinking World Politics: A Theory of Transnational
Neopluralism : Oxford: Oxford University Press .
Deudney, D. and Ikenberry, G. J. (1999), “The Nature and Sources of Liberal
International Order”, Review of International Stu dies 25(2) pp. 179–96.
Hook, S W, Democratic Peace in Theory and Practice (Kent, OH: Kent State
University Press, 2010).
Ikenberry, G. J. (2009) , ‘Liberal Internationalism 3.0: America and the Dilemmas
of Liberal World Order”, Perspectives on Politics 7(1) pp. 7 1–87.
Keohane, R . O (1989), International Institutions and State Power: Essays in
International Relations Theory (Boulder, CO: Westview Press .
Keohane, R (1977) . and Nye, Jr, J. S. Power and Interdependence: Wor ld Politics
in Transition Boston, M A: Littl e, Brow n
Moravcsi k, A. (1997),“Taking Preferences Seriously: A Liberal Theory of International Politics”, International Organization 51(4), pp. 513 –53.
Moravcsik, A. (2008) , ‘The New Liberalism’, in C. Reus -Smit and D. Snidal
(eds.), The Oxford Ha ndbook o f Intern ational Re lations Oxford: Oxford University Press












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27Chapter 1: Approaches to IR – I
(C) Social Constructivism
C.1.0: Objective
C.1.1: Introduction
C.1.2: Constructing the New Order
C.1.3: Basic Assumptions
C.1.4: Alexander Wendt’s Socia l Constructivism
C.1.5 : Critici sm of Social Const ructivism
B.1.6 : Conclusion
B.1.7 : References
C.1.0: Objective
The objective of this module is to familiarize students with Social
Constructivism, which is a new approach of the I nternational Relations. After
studying this module, you s hall be able to un derstand:
• The behaviour of social and political actors in International Relations.
• The social identities of individuals or states .
C.1.1 : Introduction
Social Constructivism has been the most influential theory to international relations a fter the end of co ld war politics. It emerged when the cold war was on
the last verge of an end ing. According to social constructivists, the cold war was a
tale of miscalculations, misunderstandings and misconceptions. The end of the
cold war led to the em ergen ce of two new debates: between rationalists and
constructivists and between critical theorists and constructivists emerged. The
constructivist approach challenged the rationalism and positivism of neo -realism
and ne o-liberalism. As a result, the Ameri can d iscourse of I nternational Relations
theory has developed a new ‘constructivist’ school of thought.
Constructivist s sought to explore three main ontological propositions about social
life, which are as follows:
➢ The s tructures can be said to shape the b ehavi our of social and political
actors, be they individuals or states ; constructivists believe that normative
structures are important just as material structures. Constructivists argue
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28APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
characte ristics and e xercise a powerful influence on social and political
action. Constructivists argue that ‘material resources only acquire meaning
for human action through the structure of shared knowledge in which they
are embedded. ”17
➢ Constructivists argu e tha t understandi ng how non -material structures condition actors’ identities are essential because identities inform interests and, in turn, actions. In the context of interest formation, Social constructivists have emp hasised the social identities of ind ividu als or states .
For example, Wendt has stated that “identities are the basis of interests.”18
➢ Constructivists argued that agents and structures are mutually constituted.
The constructivists stated that normative and ideational structures are perceived a s the three mechanisms: imagination, communication, and constraint shapes the actor’s identities and interests. Constructivists argue
that imagination works as non -material structures that affect what actors see
as the r ealm of possibility. Example: A Prim e Min ister in an e stablished
liberal democracy will only imagine and select specific strategies to enhance their power, and the norms of the liberal democratic polity will
condition their expectations. Normative structures also exertion their influence thr ough communication. Even if normative and ideational structures do not affect an actor’s behaviour by framing their imagination or
providing a linguistic or moral court of appeal, constructivists argue that
they can plac e significant constraints on their c onduc t.
C.1.2: Con structing the New Order
Social constructivist tries to focus on why we think, what we think. How
international relations run. As a critical theory, it gives a different view than the
mainstream theorie s of international relations. The con struc tivist approa ch is
based on the belief that there is no objective social or political reality independent
of our understanding of it. They highlight the missing aspect of the “structure -
agent” debate in internation al politics. They stand in between th e ‘inside-out’ and
‘outside -in approaches. It holds interaction between agents and structures that are
always mediated by ‘identical factors’ such as beliefs, values, theories, and
assumptions.

17(Wendt 1995: 73)
18Alexander Wendt, “Anarchy is what States Make of it: The Social Co nstruction of Po wer
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29Chapter 1: Approaches to IR – I
Nicholas Onuf is the man who coined the term “constructivism” in hi s work
World of our Making (1989)19 and introduced it in International Relations. Alexander Wendt is a proponent of constructivism theorists in International relations. According to Kenneth Waltz's Theory of Interna tional Politics ,
anarchy's logic seem s to constitute se lf-help and power politics as necessary
features of world politics. Alexander Wendt disagrees with classical theories
(Realism, Liberalism and Marxism) and insists that the states create anarchy, not
a pre-established fact. Wendt criticis ed Ke nneth Waltz c oncept of structural
realism and stated that “Anarchy is What States Make of it.”20This article is one
of the significant works of constructivism in International relations. It implies that
in Internati onal relations, the behaviour of a St ate i s not determi ned by the
international structure of global politics as suggested by neo -realists. Instead, the
behaviour of a State depends on how it views anarchy.
Realist presumes that there is anarchy in internat ional politics because there is no
Interna tional or Wor ld government. However, it doesn’t mean that it should
necessarily lead us to a “security dilemma” and search for power. But anarchy is
being interpreted in a specific way. This particular way is not b ased on facts.
Instead of a factual s ituation, it is cu ltural. It is a specific norm or a value to
interpret the concrete situation. Thus, in International politics, the reality is
shaped by the norms and the values and ideas. Hence, Wendt suggests that
“anarchy is what states make of it.”
Wendt discussed two types of anarchy - a) Anarchy of Enemy and b) Anarchy of
Friends. Some states view anarchy as a threatening phenomen on, and others may
see it as the basis for freedom and opportunity. Thus, States act d ifferently
towards enemies and friend s. It indicates th at States are not objective entities, but
they are subjective entities, and their subjectivity remains dependent on a
particular set of traditions, values and assumptions they believe in.
Social constr uctivists suggest that we should veri fy wh at we think a bout others.
Hence, there is a need for communication to understand reality. Anarchy is not
explained correctly by any realist scholar. According to him, identity is ignored
by the realists. Wendt clai ms that Morgenthau was exogenous to s ocial relations
and regarded states as an endogenous entity. He further said that the realist
scholar failed to understand the basis upon which national interests are formed. In
his book Social Theory of International P olitics,21 he wrote that “ideas create
identity, identit y determines interest, and interests shape the behaviour of a state.”

19Nicholas Onuf, World of Our Making Rules and Rule in Social Theory and International
Relations (Columbia :University of South Carolina Press, 1989).
20Alexander Wendt, “Anarchy is what States Make of it: T he Social Co nstruc tion of Power
Politics”, International Organization , Spring, 1992, Vol. 46, No. 2, pp. 391 - 425.
21Alexander Wendt, Social Theory of International Politics (Cambridge University Press, 1999). munotes.in

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30APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
C.1.3 : Basic Assumptions
Like the other mainstream theories of International relations, constructivists also
believe that states a re the most significant actors in Inte rnational relation s. But
unlike the theories, they claim the importance of ideas, norms, identities, and
beliefs in shaping the behaviour of States. They assert the origin of interests of
States in International relati ons which is their unique contribution to studies.
Socia l Constructivism believes thatthe behaviour of the State is dynamic. They
focused on three assumptions; like
➢ States are the unit of analysis
➢ Ideas, Norms, Identities, and Beliefs are important
➢ Identi ties are produced by interaction
The b ehavi our of multip le States can be different at one time, or the conduct of
one state can be different at other times. They believe that reality is constructed.
What is rational for one State can be irrational for ano ther. Social Constructivist
explains th at ide ntity aligns with the national interest. Two countries will have
similar national interests if both have identical identities. According to them,
there are three types of collective security:
➢ Competitive security system
➢ Individualistic security
➢ Coop erativ e security s ystem
Self-help forms of anarchy in the sense that states do not positively identify the
security of self with others but treat security as the individual responsibility of
each in competitive and in dividualistic systems. On the other hand, in the cooperat ive security system, States cooperate positively with each other with
the feeling that the security of each is perceived as the responsibility of all. Wendt
claimed that neo -liberalism failed because it has sought to describe cooperation
by foc using on pro cess, but it has not given importance to systemic variables.
According to Wendt, the two basic tenets of constructivism are: The first is the
“structures of human association are determined primarily by shared ideas rather
than material f orces , and second is the identities and interests of purposive actors
are constructed by these shared ideas rather than given by nature. ”22


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31Chapter 1: Approaches to IR – I
C.1.4: Alexander Wendt ’s Social Constructivism
Alexander Wendt contended that self-help and power politics are part of the
anarchic st ructure. Both emanated from constant practices or cooperation between
states and not from some initial set structure s. Wendt explains three different
ways in which identities and interests are transfo rmed under the conditions of
anarchy:
➢ By the institution of sovereignty
➢ By the evolution of cooperation
➢ By intentional efforts to transform egoistic identities into collective identities.
If actors changed, their actions system would change; as a result, the process
defines the structure, an d struc ture has no meaning and power outside of the
process. Practices and processes contributed to the formation of the International
system . He stresses that the institution of sovereignty led to the evolution of
cooperation and international efforts to transfo rm idealist ic identities of the state
into collective identities. He criticised realists view on IR, primarily Kenneth
Waltz’s definition of International structure, because he thinks that it does not
explain or predict the relation between states: He aske d the follo wing questions:
• Will they be friends or foes?
• Will they recognise each other’s sovereignty?
• Will they have dynastic ties?
• Will they be revisionist or status quo powers and so on?
But these factors are keys to state security and will deter mine th eir relatio ns. A
fundamental principle of constructivist social theory is that people act toward
objects, including other actors, based on the meanings that the objects have.
States act differently towards enemi es than they do towards friends becaus e
enemi es are thre atening and friends are not. Structures organise our actions.
Actors acquire identities by participating in such collective meanings; when this
collective meaning disappears, it influences this state’ s interests and identities.
For exampl e, the cold war en ded without mutual threat and hostility towards the
USA and USSR, which previously defined their identities. These states seem
unsure of what their inter ests should be. He also mentioned the fascinati ng
thoughts of great sociologist Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann put that humans can forget their authorship of the Human World. munotes.in

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32APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
However, it is not that easy to change every day practices because a stable system
provides relatively stable role identities , which minimises uncertainty and anxi ety
and helps to avoid the expected costs of breaking commitments made to others.
So it will be manifested in efforts to conform to existing beliefs about the world.
Wendt says that neo -realism and neo -liberalism canno t account for changes in the
system, b ut norm s-based con structivism can. A major difficulty in this piece is
how states behave in the first period before they have any priors.
On sovereignty, Wendt said the theory of sovereignty was developed for a long
time, is providing a social basis for t he indi viduality a nd security of states. It is a
social construct because there is no sovereignty without the mutual recognition of
one another’s right to exercise exclusive political authority within territorial
limit s. If states stop acting according to this pr inciple, their identity will disappear. The fate of Napoleon and Hitler illustrates what happens when one
State begins to neglect the sovereignty of others; changing of identities and
interests can take place in various ways. For example, Western Eu ropean states
used cooperation after the end of the 2nd World war to stop wars in Europe, and it
worked. Another way is self -reflection and change from within.
Thus, constructivism seeks to determine the identities an d interests of States and
criticises r ealism and liberal ism. Constructivist believes that states are enduringly
in constructing and reconstructing themselves and their relationships with other
participants of the International system. States exist in a sys tem whose practices
have created chang ing pat terns, lead ing to changing the system. For
constructivists, International relations are the construct of social constructions,
and it is the social construct that derives the national interests of any country.
C.1.5: Criticisms
Critics argued that constru ctivism fai ls to recognise the extent to which social,
economic and political realities shape beliefs. Constructivists do not adequately
analyse the problem of anarchy . Copeland has stated that anarchy is the p roblem
of uncertainty. The u ncertainty is abou t the prese nt intentions of other states , and
it is about the future intentions of other states. Copeland has also specified that
“realism claims that states of being uncertain about the present and future
interests of the other states , and in anarc hies of great powe rs, such uncertainty
may often be profound.”According to Copeland, Wendt’s constructivist analysis
overly downplays th at states have difficulties obtaining trustworthy information
about the motives a nd intentions of other states. Moreover , the uncertainty may munotes.in

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33Chapter 1: Approaches to IR – I
be significantly increased by the fact of deception. There are more criticism by
other thinkers; like
➢ Stephen Krasner and other neo -realists are sceptical about the importance
that constructivist s attach to norms, in particular intern ational norms. Neo -
realists rejected that “states can easily become friends due to their social
interaction. ”
➢ Robert Jervis criticised constructivists because it fails to explain many
fundamental questions: how norms are formed, how identities are shaped,
and how interests are defined as they do…. it does not tell us anything
about the expected content of IR.
➢ Some Marxists scholars also criticised the constructivism approach on the
ground that it leaves little space for social interaction. Wallerstein’s dependency theory foc uses on the material structure of capitalism, not other
aspects.
C.1.6: Conclusion
The theory of social constructivism has had several signific ant impacts on the
development of international relatio ns theory. First, t he constructivists ha ve
gene rated inter est in re-reading the historical facts and re -thinking what has long
been treated as given in the analysis of International Relations. Second, i t has
heralded a return to a more sociological, normat ive, historical , and practice -
oriented m ethod in Internati onal Relations. Third, c onstructivist scholars have
been engaged in philosophical reflection about the nature of the good or the right .
Fourth, t hey have done much to demonstrate the power of ideas, norms and
values in shaping World polit ics. The emphasis of social constructivism theory is
on human consciousness and its implication in International relations . They
believe that the I nternational system is created by ideas, not by material forces ; it
is a more general theory about the social world, which has emphasi sed the social
construction of reality. The social world is a world of human consciousnes s based
on human thoughts , beliefs, concepts, and discourses - the ideas on which social
constructivis m is based : ideologies , normative belief s, and policy pres criptions.
Alexander Wendt stated that processes of interaction create the identities and
interests of states. Wendt has reject ed the neorealist conception of anarchy , which
necessarily lead s to sel f-help.



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34APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Check Your Progress Exercise
Note: i) Use the s pace given below for your answer.
1) Do you think that Social Constructivism is primarily a meta-theory about the nature of the social world, or it is mainly a substantial set of theories about IR? ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 2) What distinguishes Social Constructivism from the other approaches to International R elations ? Discuss.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… munotes.in

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35Chapter 1: Approaches to IR – I
C.1.7: Refrences
Adler, E. (2001),“ Constructivis m and Inter national R elations ”, in W. Carlsnaes, T.
Risse and B. A. Simmons (eds .), Handbook of International Relations London:
Sage .
Adler, Emanuel (1997), “Seizing the Middle Ground: Constructivism in World
Politics” Europea n Journal of International Re lations 3(3), pp. 319-363.
Finnemore, M. (1996), National Interests in International Society , Ithaca and
London: Cornell University Press .
Guzzini,Stefano (2000), “A Reconstructio n of Constructivism in International
Relations” European Journal of Internatio nal Relation s 6(2), pp . 147–182.
Hurd, Ian (2008), “Constructivism” , in The Oxford Handbook of International
Relations Christian Reus -Smit and Duncan Snidal, (ed.) Oxfor d: Oxfor d
University Press .
Katzenstein, P. (1996), Cultur al Norms and National Securit y Ithaca and London:
Cornell University Press.
Ruggie, J. G. (1998) , Constructing the World Polity: Essays on International
Institutionalization London: Routledge .
Snyder, Jack (2004) “One World, Rival Theories.” Foreign Polic y 83(6) : 52–62.
Wendt, A (1999), Social T heory of I nternational Politics Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press .
Zehfuss, M. (2002) , Constructivism in International Relations: The Politics of
Reality . Cambri dge: Cambridge University Pres s.
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36APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Module -2
2 APPROACHES TO IR – II
Unit Structure
(A) Marxist Approaches
A.2.0: Objective
A.2.1: Introduction
A.2.2: Marxist Approaches to the Study of International Relations
A.2.3: Basic Assumptions of Marxist Approaches
A.2.4: Major Theories of Marxist Appro aches in Internati onal Relations
i. Imperialism Theory
ii. Dependency Theory
iii. World System Theory
iv. Hegemony Theory
A.2.5: Conclusion
A.2.6: References
A.2.0: Objective
The objective of this module is to familiarize students with one of the most
controversial appr oaches of intern ational relations, Marxism. After studying this
module, you should be able to
• Explore the basic assumptions of Marxist approach in International Relations
• The evolution of various Marxist theories like Imperialism, Dependency,
World Syste m Theory and Hegemony in realm of international relations
• Analyse the Marxist explanation to the nature of international relations,
which elucidates it as a struggle for distribution of economic resources.
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37Chapter 2: Approaches to IR – II
A.2.1: Introduction
The Marxist approach is o ne of the most im portant and a dynamic approach to the
study of International Relations, which emerged from the writings of Karl Marx
in the 19th century. It contrasts sharply with the traditional approaches of international relations such as Realism and Liberalism in manne r that it insists on
the need for radical change. Unlike the Realist and Liberal ist approaches , it is not
‘status quoist ’ in nature and attempts to bring the radical change in the prevailing
social, economic, political and international order. Compared to Re alism and
Liberalism, Marxist approach presents a rather unfamiliar view of international
relations. While the former s portray international relations in much familiar ways
of ‘struggle for power ’ and ‘interdependence ’ or ‘complex interdepen dence ’, the
Marxi st approach indeed intend s to expose a deeper, underlying and hidden truth
of the international relations. To the Marxists such truth lies in the fact that all
familiar events of international relations like wars, treaties, cooperation, peace,
international aid programmes , etc. , occur within structures , which deeply
influence those events. These are the structures of theinternational capitalist
system. Marxism believes that a ny attempt to understand international relations
must be based on a broa der understanding of the processes that operate within the
international capitalis t system (Hobden and Jones 2011:132) .
Moreover, Marxism is a central theory of international relations, which offers an
alternative understanding of the international system. It not only attem pts to
explain the international capitalism and the forces of globalization in terms of
sphere of powers, international inequalities, mass exploitation and class conflicts
but also to change them with a form of international cooperation and
emancipation whi ch would promote freedom , equality and peace in international
system .
A.2.2: Marxist Approach to the Study of International Relations
Marxism as it is well known is based on the philosophical, economic and political
work of Karl Marx (and sometimes his co -author Friedrich Engels) , was
fundamentally associated to the analysis of economic structures of society , but
was not primarily concerned with the formation of states or even the interactions
and relations between them. This is the reason wh y most of the the orists of
International Relations have long maintained the orthodox that Marxist approach
does not contain anything of relevance on international rel ations. Although , such
assertions may not be totally unfounded as Marx was mostly occupied with the
analysis o f the structures of national capitalism , but it does not mean that an munotes.in

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38APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
internationalist perspective was not portrayed in his work. Industrial revolution
was the event, which connected Marx’s interest to the international relations as he
witnessed that and a ttempted to develop a revolutionary approach that
transcended national differences. This was evident in Marx’s recognition of the
class loyalties cut across the national division , which enabled him to proclaim at
the end of the Communist M anifesto 1848 , “W orkers of the World, Unite. You
have nothing to lose but your chains!” .
In other words, whereas Liberal and Realist approaches hold that power is
organised vertically reflecting the division of the world into independent states ,
Marxism advances a theory of horizontal organisation based on international
class. However, the implications of viewing capitalism as an international system
were not fully explored until the Marxist thinker Lenin (1917) ’s famous work
“Imperialism: The Highest Stage o f Capitalism ”. Lenin argued that imperial
expansion reflected domestic capitalism’s quest to maintain profit levels through
the export of surplus capital, and that this, in turn, brought major capitalist powers
into conflict with one another and resulting into an imperiali st war.
Hence, Marxis t approach provides a thoughtful insight of international relations
by linking it with the analysis of capitalism as an international economic system
and its complicated link with imperialism, colonialism and dominance in the
internati onal system. It also provides a significant theoretical framework to
understand the impact of international capitalism on the developing and under -
developed countries from the perspective of global south. Furthermore, it imparts
a candid criticism of the dominant theories of international relations on the basis
of their unchallenged assumption of the primacy of state as a key actor in the
international relations and maintaining a status -quo in the international system by
legitimising the pre vailing political, social and economic structure s of dominance.
Thus , Marx and his followers have developed sophisticated conceptual tools and
methods to critic and understand the social reality. “Marx wrote that philosophers
had only interpreted the world whereas th e real point was to change it”. The
Marxist approach to international relations focuses on totality to understand
international system. Its main objective is to bring a radical change in the working
of the international system which is obsessed fr om war, dominatio n, exploitation,
exclusion, marginalisation, poverty and other kinds of human problems.
A.2.3: Basic Assumptions of Marxist Approach
Marxism seeks to understand the problems of human society through the
historical materialism (materialist conception of his tory). Most simply, historical
materialism asserts that human beings – including their relations with each other munotes.in

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39Chapter 2: Approaches to IR – II
and their environment – are determined by the material conditions in which they
can survive and reproduce. Therefore, Marxist asserts that the processes of historical change are ultimately a reflection of the economic development of
society. Hence , economic development is effectively the key driver of the history.
The key dynamic in the process that Marx identifies is the tension betwee n the
means of pr oduction and the relations of production that together form the
economic base of a given society. As the means of production (technology)
develop, the relations of production (and especially the division between those
who own the means of produ ction and those w ho must work for them to survive)
become outmoded, and indeed become restraints for the utili sation of the new
productive capacity. This inturn leads to a process of social change whereby
relations of production are transformed in order to b etter accommodate the new
configuration of means of production . Developments in the economic base , thus
act as a catalyst for the radical change in society and ultimately leads to change in
the legal and political superstructure ( Hobden and Jones 2011: 133 -134; Pal 2017:
43). If we take together, the means of production and relations of production form a specific mode of production, for example capitalism, which is based on industrial machinery and private ownership/property. The bourgeoisie, which
dominates t he capitalist eco nomy through control of the means of production
(base), also tends to dominate in the political and legal system (superstructure)
because according to Marxist approach, economics is the basis of politics . This
assumption was further expoun ded by a Marxist thinker, Antonio Gramsci that
this superstructure in turn also maintains and legitimises the base. (See Fig. 1).

Figure 1 : Base -Superstructure Analysis munotes.in

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40APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Marxists also elucidates that the c lass plays a significant role in the analysis of t he
society . In con trast to Libera lists, who believe that there is an essential harmony
of interest between different social groups, Marxists claim that society is systematically prone to class conflict. Indeed, Marx submitted in the Communist
Manifesto (1848 ) that, “ the histo ry of all hitherto existing societies is the history
of class struggle”. In capitalist society, the main axis of conflict is between the
two classes –the bourgeoisie (capitalist) and the proletariat (workers). Against the
Liberalists, Marx was not interested i n just developing an understanding of the
dynamics of capitalist society for the sake of it. Rather, he expected such an
understanding to make it easier to overthrow the prevailing order and replace it
with a communist society – a society in w hich wage labour an d private property
are abolished and social relations transformed.
Hence , it is absolutely clear that Marx was committed to the philosophy of
emancipation from all type of exploitation, oppression, class distinctions and
class struggles , but his writings ar e mostly limited to the analysis within the
national sphere. Marx himself provided very little in terms of a theoretical
analysis of international relations. However, h is ideas have been interpreted and
appropriated in a number of differ ent and contradicto ry ways, resulting in a
number of competing schools and theories of Marxism to understand international
relations . The Marxist approach es stress that International Relations is not just
about states’ foreign policy or the behaviour of st ates, but more about survival,
reproduction, technologies and labour. It also criticises, the Realist’s supposition
of the concept of anarchy, which creates the mirage that states are autonomous
agents whose rational behaviour can be predicted because this supposition ignores
the endurance of regional inequalities and the structural and historical links
between states, violence and the key actors of the global political economy .
Therefore , the basic assumptions of the Marxist approaches for the study of
International Relations are that, the states are not autonomous ; they are driven
by the interests of economically dominant class, and capitalist states are primarily
driven by the interests of their respective bourgeoisies. This means that struggles
between st ates, including wars, s hould be seen in the economic context of
competition between capitalist classes of different states around the world . For
Marxists, thus, the class conflict is more fundamental than conflict between
states. Second, as an economic syste m, cap italism isexpansi ve: there is a never -
ending search for new markets , more resources, labours and more profit , which in
turn leads to the exploitation of labours (class exploitation) . As the classes cut
across the state borders (national division); thu s, class conflict is no t confined to a
state; instead, it expands across the world as an expansion of capitalism. Such munotes.in

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41Chapter 2: Approaches to IR – II
expansion first took the form of imperialism and coloni sation, and later takes the
form of economic globalization . And third, enduring pea ce can only be establis hed after the world revolution, as it would signify the collapse of the
structures of international capitalism, imperialism and ushering in of a classless
and stateless society. Hence, according to Marxist approach, international rela tions
and particularly the foreign policies of states are determined by the social relations and structure of global economy.This connotation is consequently, expounded and developed by different Marxist scholars as some important theories of international relations.
A.2.4: Majo r Theories of Marxist Approaches in International
Relations
Apart from Liberal and Realist schools of thought, many Marxist theorists have
made attempts to explain the nature of international relations. Based on the
Marxist approach, they took at the relat ions amongst the states as unequal due to
the economic disparity between them. A major focus of Marxist scholars has been
on the manner in which capitalist system -based countries are trying to shape and
maintain the international rel ations as per their on economic benefits. There are four major theories of Marxist approaches in the international relations: Imperialism theory, Dependency theory, World System theory, and Hegemony
theory .
(i) Imperialism Theory
The first application o f Marxis t ideas to explai n international processes was
by Marxist and revolutionaries of the early twentieth century such as,
Rudolf Hilferding , Rosa Luxemburg and Vladimir Lenin. These authors
developed what we now call the classical theories of imperialism to understand how capi talism expanded and adapted to a world of inter -
imperial rivalry leading to the First World War (1914 -1918), which was
fought for the control of colonies across Africa, Asia and elsewhere. They
challenged the theory of Imperialism g iven by Liberalist thinke r
J.A.Hobson (1902) in his book “Imperialism: A Study ”, which claims that
surplus capital which could not find lucrative investment opportunities at
home, due to over -saving/under -consumption, sought outlets abroad, and it
was thes e sectio nal interests tha t drove imperialism and thus social and
wage reforms in capitalism could rest it imperialist tendencies.
Consequently, a scholarly debate emerged between Liberalists and Marxists
thinkers pertaining the explanation of imperialism .The most well-known munotes.in

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42APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
and in fluential work was emerged in the writings of Lenin .In his monumental work, “Imperialism -The Highest Stage of Capitalism”, Lenin
(1917)propounded the theory of imperialism, which offers a theoretical
reflection on the development of capita lism and its hist orical trends. Lenin
was pessimistic of the possibility of reforming capitalism of its imperialist
tendencies and criticized Hobson’s theory and submitted that the new
imperialism grown from capitalism is very much different from t he old on e.
He argued tha t new imperialism is neither a desire for new investment nor a
search for new markets for goods or export of ordinary commodities as
defined by Hobson. Rather imperialism is an export of capital and direct
continuation of fundamen tal prope rties of capitali sm in general across the
world. He rejected all liberalist notions by insisting that imperialism is the
inevitable ‘highest stage ’ of capitalism, which could only be defeated by
revolution.
While expounding the theory of imperialis m, Lenin accepted muchof Marx’s basic thesis, but argued that the character of capitalism ha s now
changed drastically from the times of Marx due to the export of capital and
thus, Capitalism ha s now entered into a new stage with the development of
monopoly ca pitalism. He attempted to prove that the rise of monopoly
changed the relationship between the advanced capitalist nations and the
rest of the world, and qualitatively altered the nature of capitalism and led it
to its highest and final stage – imperialism . He asser ted that imperial ism
created , a two -tier structure within the world -economy with a dominant
core exploiting a less -developed periphery. With the development of a core
and periphery, there was no longer an automatic harmony of interests
between all workers. Th e bourgeoisie in the core countries could use profits
derived from exploiting the periphery to improve the lot of their own
proletariat . Therefore, the export of capital not only to lead the expansion of
imperialism but also add to the exploitatio n of perip hery countries , often serve as colonies. These debates on the capitalist expansion through imperialism further laid the basis for the emergence of Dependency and
World System theory in the international relations .
(ii) Dependency Theory
Dependenc y Theory is fundamentally bas ed on the concept of international
relation of economic domination and exploitation by the more economically
powerful countries over the less economically powerful countries. It reveals
the contrasting forms of dominance and de pendence in the international
system and took forward the notion of two -tier structure of core and munotes.in

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43Chapter 2: Approaches to IR – II
periphery in world economy which was earlier described by Lenin. It
attempts to understand the economic underdevelopment amidst the
expansion of capitalist eco nomy across the world.
Depen dency theory was first proposed in the late 1950s by the Argentine
economist and statesman Raul Prebisch, but gained prominence in the
1960s and 70s. it analyses the internal dynamics of underdeveloped countries and relates th eir underdeve lopment to their positions in the international economic system.
According to Dependency theory, i n the two -tier structure of world economy, t he underdeveloped countries are regarded as the peripheries and
the developed countries as the cores/centres. The theory claims tha t the
underdevelopment of the periphery countries can only be analysed with
reference to the world capitalist system, which stands dominated by the
developed cores/centres as a result of expansion of capitalism around the
world. It asserts that the underde velopment of countries in the capitalist
economic system is related to the socio -economic -politico -cultural
processes which link these countries to the developed countries. Further,
these process es lead to external dependenc e of periphery countries, which
resulted into the underdevelopment of these countries. Thus, the periphery
countries live in a state of dependency, which can be defined as “a situation in which the economy of certain countries is conditioned by the developm ent and expansio n of another econ omy to which the former is
subjected. The relation of interdependence between two or more economies,
and between these and world trade, assumes the form of dependence when
some countries (the dominant ones) can expand and c an be self -starting
while other c ountries (the dependent ones) can do this only as reflection of
that expansion which can have either a positive or a negative effect on their
immediate development” . Hence, the underdeveloped can be referred as a
situation of dependency w hich has resulted from the expansion of world
capitalism.
The main advocates of Dependency Theory are Paul Baran, Dos Santos,
Andre Gunder Frank , Rodolfo Stavenhagen, Frantz Fanon and Samir Amin .
All of them agree that underdevelopment of the periphery cou ntries is
directl y related to their external dependence upon the developed core
countries. They argued that the success of the advanced industrial economies cannot serve as a model for the currently developing and underdeveloped economies a nd criticised the popular paradigm atic
consensus that growth strategies are universally applicable, articulated by munotes.in

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44APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Rostow (1960) in his book, “The Stages of Economic Growth ”. They assert
that the success of the advanced industrial (developed) countries wa s a
highly contin gent and specific episode in international economic history,
one dominated by the highly exploitative colonial relationships of the
European powers. A repeat of those relationships is not now highly likely
for the poor and under developed countries of the w orld.
One of the best advocates of the Dependency theory , Frank (1966) stated
that the underdevelopment of the Periphery/dependent countries was indeed
conditioned by the development and expansion of a core/ centre/ developed
economy in hi s famous book “The D evelopment of Und erdevelopment”.
He holds that the development of the periphery countries is not possible at
all wit h in the capitalist world system, which continued to be pro -centre
(pro-developed countries ) to the complete disadvantag e of the periphery. He
used centre -periphery model to analyse the nature and pattern “development
of underdevelopment ” in the international system (see Fig. 2)

Figure 2: Core -Periphery Model of Dependency Theory
Frank believes that underdevelopment resul ts from the unequal distribution
of resources and exploitation of the underdeveloped and emerging countries
by the developed and capitalist countries. Developed countries are at the
core of the system, they export the capital and produce goods and thus,
controls the system. W hile underdevelop ed countries are at the periphery,
they are producers and sellers of basic commodities to the developed
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45Chapter 2: Approaches to IR – II
Frank is of the view that the capitalist world system involves both developm ent and underdeve lopment as the two aspects of the same system.
Development in one area is a direct result of underdevelopment in some
other area. Frank opines that the world system negates the significance of
national boundaries and these countries are st ructured into the metropoli tan-
satellite relationship. This relationship is found not only between the rich
metropolitan countries of the West and the poor satellite countries of the
world but within a country too where the hinterland supplies to the city and
is exploited by it. In the international economic system, according to Frank,
metropolitan countries develop by expropriating the economic surpluses of
the satellites and perpetuate their underdevelopment.
Frank (1967) in another book “Capitalism and U nderdevelopment i n Latin
America” asserts that Latin America experiences its highest rates of industrialization during the period between the end of World War -I and the
beginning of World War -II. Brazil became one of the largest and most
developed industria l hubs in Latin A merica. Despite the rapid development
of Brazil, Frank argues that Brazil could not break out of the cycle of
underdevelopment due to its continued reliance on the more developed
nations as a way to export its resou rces. The reason is its econom y has, on
the contrary, become stagnant and increasingly dependent upon the economies of the developed and this is true for all periphery countries as they are constrained to be dependent in this capitalist world system. Howeve r, he has not explained much how some per iphery countries
like China, India, Brazil, South Africa, etc. increasingly developing in this
system and how their relations have been continuously transforming with
the core/developed countries and other periphery countries.
(iii) World System Theory
The World systems theory was a response to the criticisms of Dependency
Theory (however, some scholars also regarded it as a part of Dependency
Theory). World Systems Theory was propounded by Immanuel Wallerstein
(1974) in his seminal work “M odern World Syste m” in which he argues
that the history is marked by the emergence or collapse of various types of
world system. The modern world system is an outcome of an expansion of
capitalism, which is also bound to collapse one day.
Thus, Wallerstein accepted the fac t that this world system is not static and
the dependent countries are not doomed to be forever trapped in a state of dependency; it is possible for them to climb the economic ladder of munotes.in

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46APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
development, as many of th em have done and some are d oing very well.
However, he also believes that the capitalist world system still requires to
maintain the status quo of the core -periphery or metropolitan -satellite
structure, which benefits capitalist and developed countries whi le exploits
others.
Wallers tein defined the world system as a “multicultural territorial division
of labour” (Wallerstein 1974) wherein the production and exchange of basic
goods and raw material s is indispensable part of the system. This division
of lab our refers to the means of pr oduction and the relations of production
of world economy as a whole, which results in the continuation of three
interdependent territorial division –core, semi -periphery and periphery (see Fig. 3).

Figure 3: World System The ory
He said that the present world system is a power hierarchy between the
core, semi -periphery and periphery rather than core and periphery. The
developed and powerful countries represent the core. The periphery part is
represented by the underdeveloped and poor countries. While the semi -
periphery is an intermediate zone in this system , which displays certain
characteristics of core and others characteristics of periphery. Unlike the
periphery, which are believed to be highly underdeveloped in terms of munotes.in

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47Chapter 2: Approaches to IR – II
industrial advancement, the semi -periphery has st rong industrial base like
core. Because of this hybrid nature, the semi -periphery plays important
economic and political roles within the modern world -system. In particular,
it provides a source of labour that counteracts any upward pressu re on
wages in th e core and also provides a new home for those industries that
can nolonger function profitably in the core .
In this modern world system, t he core is able to produce high -profit
consumption goods for itself a s well as for the semi -periphery and periphery m arkets because the periphery provides the cheap labour and raw
materials to the core and semi -periphery necessary to make these high -
profit consumption goods. This Modern World System is dynamic in nature. Co untries can move upwardly or do wnwardly as per t heir economic
development or decline. This is one of the key differences between World System Theory and Dependency Theory. Many countries, such as the China, India, Brazil, South Africa, etc. have moved up f rom being
peripheral countries to semi -periphera l countries. While some European
countries are struggling to maintain as core countries might see a shift
towards semi -periphery in future.
In other words, although historically some countries have shifted from
periphery to semi -peripher y and some have ten dencies to do so , the
capitalism always needs a peripheral region that provides the means for the
core to sustain a high level of consumption and security. According to
world -system theorists, the three zon es of the world -economyare linke d
together in an exploitative relationship in which wealth is drained away
from the periphery to the core . Wallerstein proclaimed that the capitalist
world system as such does not change: it remains a hierarchy of core, semi -
periphery, and periphery, charac terized by unequa l exchange. He saw the
end of cold war and destruction of the Soviet Block as a consequence of the
development of the capitalist world economy . Thus, world system theory
submits that the relations of depende ncy and dominance are essential to
capitalism and cannot be significantly reduced . However, scholars criticise
over the significance of Wallerstein ’s world system theory and said that it
puts too much emphasis o n dependency and the economic dominance in the
capitalist world system, while t here are other elements of dominance and
exploitation in capitalism, which are seriously neglected in the analysis . In
which the most significant arethe structures of cultural hegemony in the
capitalist system expounded by A ntonio Gramsci in the theory of hegemony . munotes.in

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48APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
(iv) Hegemony Theory
Hegemony theory was propounded by one of the most creative thinkers of the Marxist tradition of twentieth century, Antonio Gramsci in his remarkable work Prison Notebook (1947) . The key ques tion which animated Gramsci (1971) ’s theoretical wor k was why it was that the
working classes continued to support the capitalist system which seemed to have considerable impoverishment? Why the working class did not participate in revolution that might le ad to overthrow of the regime which
was exploitative ? Why the capitalist system had become accepted by all as
the best economic system? why had it proven to be so difficult to promote
revolution in Western societies ? (Sutch and Elias 2007 ). Though Marx made
a prediction that in order to establ ish the socialism the revolution will first
occurred in the western society but the attempts were failed and the
revolution was first occurred in the countries like Soviet Union which were
economically backward in compari son to western countries .
To expla in all this, Gram sci introduced the ‘Hegemony Theory ’. According to
Gramsci, Hegemony not only consists of a coercive element (State and Government) but also operates through consent therefore, “it is about the subtle
form s of ideological control and manipu lation perpetuate d within what is called
civil society (through things like educational system, religious institutions and the
media) that serve to shore up the repressive and exploitative structures that
underpin capital ist society” .
Hence, Gramsci saw t he capitalist sta te as being made up of two overlapping
spheres, a forced -based institution, ‘political society’ (which rules through force)
and a legitimising institution, ‘civil society’ (which rules through consent) .
Gramsci referred civil society as th e public sphere which gained concessions from
the bourgeois state, and the sphere in which ideas and beliefs were shaped, where
bourgeois ‘hegemony’ was reproduced in cultural life through the educational
institutions, re ligious institutions and mass media to ‘manufacture c onsent’ and
legitimacy .
Gramsci argued that the countries of western and central Europe had taken the
support of both force and consent in order to maintain their position or hegemony
in the internation al system. He claimed that the earl y Marxists focuse d only on
the use of force and the capabilities of the state and government (Political
Society) as the structures of dominance. but the fact is that the dominant class
need to get the consent of the oppre ssed class also in order to maintai n their
position in world politics and this consent is attained by the Civil Society, which
serves as a structure of dominance through consent -persuasion process (see Fig. 4). munotes.in

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49Chapter 2: Approaches to IR – II
According to Gramsci, hegemony is a tool th rough which the moral, political,
cultural views and values are spread in a whole society and which are also
accepted by the oppressed class as their own. Thus, the capitalist countries in the
world exercised their hegemony in the cultural realm , which is refer as Cultural
Hegemony. It influ enced the thinkin g of oppressed class in a society by getting
the consent of oppressed class through their institutions.

Figure 4 : Hegemony Theory
In his hegemonic theory, Gramsci also saw ideology as a driver of heg emony in
the bourgeois society. He redefined the ter m ‘ideology ’ as a ‘terrain ’ of practices, principles, and dogmas having a material and institutional nature. Gramsci further, described ideology in terms of system of class rule, i.e., hegemony, in
which all ideological elements are organi cally arranged in to a unified system.
This complex arrangement constituted an ‘organic ideology ’, which is diffused
throughout the civil society. It, further emanates from the dynamic function of
articulation performed b y social agents known as ‘organic in tellectuals ’ of a
hegemonic or potentially hegemonic class. These organic intellectuals serve as agents of equilibrium in the bourgeois society. In particular, the organic munotes.in

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50APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
intellectuals are most important since they are the ones who actually elaborate and
spread organic id eology through consent -persuasion process
Therefore, Gramsci’s hegemony theory submits that the ideology and other
superstructures of cultural hegemony (civil society) allows the moral, political,
and c ultural values of the dominant class (bourgeois socie ty) to become widely
dispersed throughout society and to be accepted by subordinate classes as their
own. In other words, the bourgeois ideology is so deeply internalised by the
subordinate and exploited c lasses that it becomes part of the u nquestioned
‘comm on sense ’.
Gramsci ’s contribution to the general body of Marxist thought lies in the fact that
he successfullymanaged to shift the focus of Marxist analysis more towards super
structural phenomena as against the traditional obsession of the orthodox
Marxist s with the economic base. He established the fact that the structure of
society may ultimately be a reflection of social relations of production in the
economic base, the nature of relations in the super structure are of great relevance
in determining how s usceptible that society is to change and transformation.
After Gramsci, international relations theorists such as Robert Cox have attempted to ‘internationalise ’ his thought by transposing several of his key
concepts, most notably hegemony, to the global context. Using the examples of
the two hegemons, United Kingdom and the United States, Cox manages to
demonstrate that the ruling, hegemonic idea of ‘free trade ’ is so widely accepted
today in the world tha t it has almost become part of the ‘common sense ’ even
though it impacts upon the peripheral states adversely and only the dominant
states tend to gain from it. Cox argues that the degree to which a state can
produce and reproduce its hegemony in the inter national system indicates the
extent of its power in the system. The success of the United States in gaining near
universal acceptance for Neo -liberalism, Cox argues, shows the dominance of the
current hegemon in the international system .
A.2.5: Conclusion
The main contribution of Marxist a pproaches to the international relations is that
it elucidates economics as a dominant factor that brings a change to the
understanding of t he world. This is an important distinction of Marxist approach
from traditional ap proaches in international relations, such as realism and
liberal ism that stress the dominance of the political over the economic. Although,
Marx himself had little to contribute by way of a theoretical analysis of international relations , his ideas have bee n interpreted and appropriated to ana lyse munotes.in

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51Chapter 2: Approaches to IR – II
the internat ional relations and capitalist world system through various theories
like imperialism, dependency, world system and hegemony. In contrast to the
Realism and liberalism , which supports the status quo of t he system , Marxist
approaches presen t a critical appr aisal of international relations and advocate for a
radical change in the international system What is noteworthy about the Marxist
approach es to international relations is the fact that despite the colla pse of
Communist party rule in the f ormer Soviet Unio n and other East Europeanstates,
Marx ’s work has retained its relevance in the contemporary world.Of particular
importance is Mar xist analysis of the nature of capitalism , and the pattern s of
capitalist e xpansion around the world. This is t he reason; Marxis t approaches are
often used to explain North -South relations and the gap in the relative wealth and
development of the Northern Hemisphere compared to the Southern Hemisphere
of our world. It has also be en used by revolutionaries in Southe rn States as a
justification to overthrow governments that are allegedly aligned with Northern States and their exploitation of the resources and people of the global South.Therefore, t he main strength of the Marxist approaches to international
relations l ies in its abilit y to reveal the hidden truths of international capitalism.
These hidden truths are analytically crucial as they provide the contest in which
international events occur.
Check Your Progress Exercise
Note : i) Use the space given below for y our answer.
1) How Marxist approaches changed the understanding of International
Relations?
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……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………… …… ………………………………
2) Analyse Wallerstein’s World System Theory and its limitations.
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
………..……………………………………………………… ………… …………
………………………………… …… ……………………………………………
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…………………………………………………………………………………… munotes.in

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52APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
A.2.6: References
Dos Santos , T. (1971), “The Structure of Dependence”, in K.T. Fann and Donald
C. Hodges (eds.), Readings in U.S. Imperialism. Boston: Porter Sargent.
Frank, A. G. (1966), The Development of Underdevelopment , Boston: New
England Free Press,
Frank, A. G. (1967), Capitalism and underdevelopment in Latin America , NYU
Press.
Gramsci, Antonio, 1891 -1937 (1971), Selections from the Prison Not ebooks of
Antonio Gra msci, New York: International Publishers.
Heywood, Andrew (1994) Political Ideas and Concepts: An
Introduction, London: Macmillan.
Hobden, S. and R. Jones (2011), “Marxist Theories of International Relations” in
J. Baylis and S. Smith (eds.), The Globaliza tion of World Politics: An Introduction to International Relations , New York: Oxford University Press.
Hobson, J. A. (1902). Imperialism: a study , Spokesman Books.
Jackson, R. and G. Sorensen, (2013), Introduction to international rela tions:
theories and a pproaches , UK: Oxford University Press.
Lenin, V. I. (1917), Imperialism: the Highest stage of capitalism .
Marx , K and F. Engels (1967), The Communist Manifesto1848 . (Trans. Samuel
Moore). London: Penguin.
Pal, M. (2017), “Marxism” in S. McGlinchey et al. (eds.) International relations
Theory , Bristol: E -International Relations Publishing.
Ramos , V. (1982), “The Concept of Ideology, Hegemony, and Organic Intellectuals in Gramsci’s Marxism”, Theoretical Review , 27 (March -April)
Rostow, W . W. (1960), The stag es of economic growth: A non -communist
manifesto , Cambridge University Press.
Sutch , P. and J. Elias (2007), International relations: The Basics , New York:
Routledge
Wallerstein, I. (1974), The Modern World -System I Capitalist Agricult ure and the
Origins o f the European World -Economy in the Sixteenth Century , University of
California Press.

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53Chapter 2: Approaches to IR – II
(B) Critical Theory
B.2.0: Objective
B.2.1: Introduction
B.2.2: Origin of Critical Theory in International Relations
B.2.3: Tradition and Tenet s of Critical The ory
B.2.4: First Scholarly Tradition: Critical Theory in Politico -Social Discourses
i. Max Horkheimer
ii. Herbert Marcuse
iii. Theodore Adorno
iv. Jurgen Habermas
B.2.5: Second Scholarly Tradition: Critical Theory in International Disco urses
i. Robe rt Cox
ii. Andrew Linklater
B.2.6: Conclusion
B.2.7: References
B.2.0: Objective
The objective of this module is to understand connotation of Critical Theory. It
attempts to introduce the historical context and the character of critical theory.
After studying this module, you should be able to understand
• The d iscourses on political nature of knowledge .
• A detailed account of the critical international theory to place the questions
of emancipation and radical change in the intern ational society.
B.2.1: Introduction
Critical theory is one of the major developments out of the Marxist tradition,
which not only originated with a critique of Marx but also challenges the
dominance of the realist school. It is greatly inspired by the Mar x’s theoretical
formu lation of the relationship between economic base and ideological superstructure, and focuses on how power and domination operate. While Marxism was primarily concerned with the economic sphere, the critical theory
extends its analysis to political and soci al sphere. It studies international society in munotes.in

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54APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
a dialectical way by analysing the structures of political economy, domination,
exploitation, and ideologies. It emphasises on reflective assessment and critique
of society in order to reve al and challenge the prevailing power structures and
focuses on the idea of freeing people from the modern state and economic system ,
particularly known as emancipation . Hence , Critical theory is emancipatory in
nature and it is critical insofar as it seeks to “liberate human be ings from the
circumstances that enslave them” , thus, promotes universal freedom and equality.
Critical theory is not just aspire d to ‘reveal the truth’ in a detached and dispassionate sort of way, but also to explore the fact that th ey necessarily serve
some purpose or interest, whether intentionally or not.
The Critical Theory is primarily originated from the work of authors such as
Immanuel Kant and Karl Marx who, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries,
advanced different revolu tionary ideas of how th e world could be reordered and
transformed. Both Kant and Marx held a strong attachment to the enlightenment
theme of universalism – the view that there are social and political principles that
are apparent to all people, everywhere. In the modern era, bot h authors became
foundational figures for theorists seeking to replace the modern state system by
promoting more just global political arrangements such as a federation of free
states living in perpetual peace or communism as a globa l social and economic
system to replace the unequal capitalist order .
However, in the twentieth century critical theory became most closely associated
with two schools of thoughts. The first is the Frankfurt school, which was
developed through the work of Max H orkheimer, Theodo r Adorno, Herbert
Marcuse, and, more recently, Jurgen Habermas and Andrew Linklater. The
second is Neo - Gramscian school, which was best developed by Robert Cox.
Therefore , Critical theory acquire d a renewed potency in the twentieth century
and in which the t erm critical theory came to be used as the emblem of a
philosophy which questions modern social and political life through a method of
immanent critique. It evolved largely as an attempt to recover a critical and
emancipatory pote ntial that has been overrun by recent intellectual, social, cultural, political, economic and technological trends . Thus, Critical theory sets
out to critique repressive social practices and institutions in today’s world and
advance s emancipato ry transform ation in international socie ty.
B.2.2: Origin of Critical Theory in International Relations
Critical Theory was initially evolved under the Frankfurt school of thought
established in 1923. Max Horkheimer, one of the founders of the Frankfurt
school, coine d the term critical theory i n 1937. Frankfurt School’s critical theory munotes.in

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55Chapter 2: Approaches to IR – II
was initially concerned to comprehend the central features of contemporary
society by understanding its historical and social development, and tracing contradictions in the present whic h may open u p the possibility of transcending
contemporary society and its built -in pathologies and forms of domination. While
the school failed to produce what could be called a systematic theory, it drew on,
and interweaved, various philosophical strands and promine nt themes of poli tical
and social thought, including historical materialism, Freudian analysis, cultural
disenchantment, Hegelian dialectics, and totality. Yet, many of the first -
generation Frankfurt school thinkers (Max Horkheimer, Theodor Ado rno and
Herb ert Marcuse) soug ht to counter the emasculation of critical reason, dialectics,
and self -conscious theory with a focus on the negativity of dialectics. It was
1990s, when the second -generation Frankfurt school thinker, Jurgen Habermas
brought a significant turn in Frankfur t school’s critical theory by resituating
reason and social action in linguistics. It was during this time that international
relations theorists first time focused on Critical theory to critique the dominant
structural paradig m of interna tional relations at the time.
The next stage of critical theory intervention in international relations evolved in
the seminal works of Robert Cox and Andrew Linklater. Robert Cox developed a
Gramscian approach in Critical International Relati ons Theory, w hich involved as
both a critique of prevailing theories of International Relations and International
Political Economy, and the development of an alternative framework for the
analysis of world politics. Linklater, perhaps more than any other critical
international relation s theorist, was instrumental in repositioning the emancipatory project in I nternational Relations theory, interweaving various social and normative strands of critical thought. As such, two seemingly divergent
critical intern ational relati ons theory approa ches emerged: one that focusing
predominantly on the revolutionary transformation of social relations and the
state in international political economy ; and the other , which emphasize the role
of universal principles, dialogue , and differen ce in attaining t he emancipatory
transformation . However, there are two themes uniting these two approaches of
critical international theory. First, they both use emancipation as a principle to
critique, or assess, society and the global poli tical order. S econd, they both detect the potential for emancipation developing within the historical process, but consider that it may not be inevitable. Therefore, while Cox focuses on contemporary redistribution struggles, Linklater turns to questions o f identity and
community as mor e significant than economic relations in today’s quest for
emancipation . Moreover, the new generation of critical international theorists
draw upon the lineage of emancipatory politics. munotes.in

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56APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
B.2.3: Tradition and Tenets of Critical Theory
The ma jor writings in c ritical theory are based on the critique of society and
prevailing power structure. It does not simply present an expression of the
concrete historical situation; it also acts as a force within that situationto stimulate
chan ge. It allows for the intervent ion of humans in the making of their history . It should be noted that while critical theory has not directly addressed the international level, this in no way implies that international relations is beyond the
limits of its c oncern. The wr itings of Kant an d Marx, in particular, have
demonstrated that what happens at the international emancipation. It is the
continuation of this project in which critical international theory is engaged. The
thinkers of Frankfurt School, however , never addres sed international relations in
its critiques of the modern world, and Habermas has made only scant reference to
it. It is mainly Robert Cox and Andrew Linklater, who developed the critical
theory in the realm of international relations, which is often refe r as Critical
International Relations Theory. Critical international theory is an extension of th e
critique to the international domain, which reveals both obvious and subtle forms
of injustice and domination in international society.
Therefo re, for better understanding, the writings inf Critical Theory can be
divided into two scholarly traditions . First one is led by Max Horkheimer, Herbert
Marcuse , TheodorAdorno and Jurgen Habermas , who contributed in the development of Critical Theory as a prominent approac h in political an d social
discourses . Second tradition is represented by Robert Cox and Andrew Linklater,
who made sincere efforts to bring critical theory in the domain of international
relations.
B.2.4: First Scholarly Tradition: Critic al Theory in Poli tico-
Social Disco urses
i. Max Horkheimer
Max Horkheimer was first who defined critical theory in his seminal work
“Traditional and Critical Theory ”, In this work, Horkheimer (1972) asserted
that a critical theory must do two important t hings: It must acco unt for
society w ithin a historical context, and it should seek to offer a robust and
holistic critique by incorporating insights from all social sciences.
According to Horkheimer, critical theory is adequate only if it meets three
criteria: it must be exp lanatory, practic al, and normative, all at the same
time. That is, it must adequately explain the social problems that exist, offer
practical solutions to respond to them, and provide both clear norms for munotes.in

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57Chapter 2: Approaches to IR – II
criticism and achievable practi cal goals for social transformation. He
described a theory as critical insofar as it seeks “to liberate human beings
from the circumstances that enslave them ” (Horkheimer 1982) .
Horkheimer condemned ‘traditional ’ theorists for producing works that fail
to question power, dom ination, and the status quo. He expanded on Gramsci ’s critique of the role of intellectuals in processes of domination.
ii. Herbert Marcuse
Herbert Marcuse was one of the most prominent scholars of the Frankfurt
School. His famous boo k “One Dimensional Man : Studies in the Ideology
of Advanced Industrial Society” (1964) offers a wide range of critique of
the capitalist society and outlines some of the most sophisticated and
powerful analyses of modern capitalism’s environmental problems . In this
book, he dev elops most system atically his vision of how technologies,
economies, and states coevolve to dominate both human beings and natural
environments.
Marcuse (1964) argues that “advanced industrial society ” created false
needs, which inte grated individuals into the existing sys tem of production
and consumption via mass media, advertising, industrial management, and
contemporary modes of thought. This results in a “one-dimensional ”
universe of thought and behaviour, in which aptitude and ab ility for critical
thought and oppositio nal behaviour wither away.
According to Marcuse (1964), the goal of capitalism is to silence all dimensions that can rebel, such as aesthetic dimensions that can maintain
freedom of expression, so that art/literatu re in culture is convert ed into
operation al and pragmatic forms solely to soften the expression of admiration, beauty, and longing for unfulfilled human beings. Up to freedom is transformed into a happy accepting mechanism of domination
Marcuse argues that the consumptive lifesty le is a lifestyle that is loved by
modern society so that individuals in modern society have lost the power to
think critically and to hold resistance to such consumptive technologies and
lifestyles(Luke, 2000). Thus, the one -dimens ional direction of moder n
industrial soci ety is revealed in repressive measures to maintain the existing
system.
iii. Theodore Adorno
Theodore Adorno was a seminal social philosopher and a leading scholar of
the first generation of Critical Theory. In h is influential work “Negat ive
Dialectics” (1966) Adorno developed a new form of dialectical thinking and munotes.in

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58APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
criticised the Hegelian conception of dialectics which supposed to be a
process of realization that things contain their own negation and through
this realization the parts are s ublated into some thing greater. He wants to free dialectics from such affirmative traits without reducing its determinacy.
He rejected this positive element wherein the result was something greater
than the parts that preceded and argued for a dialectics which produced
something essentially negative. He seeks to overcome the formal logical
limits of the popular definitions of dialectics by putting into light that new
knowledge arises less from a Hegelian unification of opposite categories
than by the revel ation of the limi ts of knowledge. In his theory, he moves a
step higher by applying the concept of dialectics not only to exterior objects
of knowledge, but to the process of thoug ht itself.
iv. Jurgen Habermas
Jurgen Habermas is one of the most influentia l advocates of Cr itical Theory
and a second -generation scholar of Frankfurt School. Habermas’s first and
perhaps most enduring work, “The Structural Transformation of the Public
Sphere ” (1962) , traced the historical emergence of new forms of public
interac tion from the int imate sphere of the family, to coffee houses, salons,
and finally to parliamentary debates, which creates a public sphere. He
asserts that p ublic sphere forms through free discourses in public and it is
based on the idea of individual libe rty, equality and freedom from state
control. He argued that public sphere discusses about state from outside the
power of state, thus, form public opinion (Habermas 1989) .
In his book “Knowledge and Human Interests” (1968) , Habermas took the
discourse fo rward and explore d the interplay between knowledge and
interest in the formation of speech, language, public opinion, etc. He argued
that various forms of human knowledge are expressions of distinct ideas,
but equally based on human interests. These basic interests are in turn
unified by reason’s overarching pursuit of its own freedom (Habermas
1987) .
The most influential work of Habermas (1984) in the domain of critical
theory is “The Theory of Communicative Action ”, in wh ich he argued that
human interact ion in one of its fundamental forms is ‘communicative ’
rather than ‘strategic ’ in nature, insofar as it is aimed at mutual understanding and agreement rather than at the achievement of the self -
interested goals of individua ls. Such understanding and agreem ent, munotes.in

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59Chapter 2: Approaches to IR – II
however, are possible only to the extent that the communicative interaction
in which individuals take part resists all forms of nonrational coercion. The
notion of an ‘ideal communication community ’ functions as a guid e that
can be formally applied bo th to regulate an d to critique concrete speech
situations. Using this regulative and critical ideal, individuals would be able to raise, accept, or reject each other’s claims to truth, rightness, and sincerity solely on the basis of the ‘unforced force ’ of the better argum ent—
i.e., on the basis of reason and evidence —and all participants would be
motivated solely by the desire to obtain mutual understanding.
He criticised Liberal democracy and stated that it is not a guara ntee that
communicative rationalit y will flourish, however. Indeed, in modern capitalist societies, social institutions that ideally should be communicative
in character —e.g., family, politics, and education —have come to embody a
merely ‘strategic ’ rationa lity, according to Habermas. Such institutions are
increasingly overrun by economic and bureaucratic forces that are guided
not by an ideal of mutual understanding but rather by principles of
administrative power and economic efficiency. Habermas seeks the solution
of this problem in Radic al Democracy in w hich the widest possible participation and ‘communicative action’are encouraged not only in word
(as is the case in many Western liberal democracies) but also in deed, by
actively identifying barriers to p articipation —be they social, econo mic, or
cultural —and overcoming them. Habermas’s central political point is that
the route to emancipation lies throughradical democracy as the it promotes
communicative action in public sphere.
B.2.5: Second Scholarly Tra dition: Critical Theory in
Interna tional Discourses
i. Robert Cox
Robert Cox has been given credit to bring critical theory in the domain of
International Relations. He has developed a Gramscian approach that
involves a critique of prevailing theories of International Relations and the
develo pment of an alternative framework for the analysis of world politics.
Cox (1981) in his seminal work ‘Social Forces, States, and World Orders:
Beyond International Relations Theory’ asserts that all knowledge (of the
social world at least) must reflect a certai n context, a cert ain time, a certain
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60APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Knowledge discloses an inclination —conscious or unconscious —towards
certain intere sts, values, grou ps, parties, classes, nations, and so on .
Robert Cox (1981) proclaimed that, a ll International Relations theories are
in this sense biased too; he expressed that view in a frequently quoted
rema rk ‘Theory is always for someone and foursome purpose ”. One key
implication of this is that there can be no simple separation between facts
and values. Whether consciously or not, all theorists inevitably bring their
values to bear on their analysis. This leads Cox to suggest that we need to
look closely at those theories, those ideas, those analyses that claim to be
objective or value -free, and ask who or what is it for, and what purpose
does it serve? He subjects Realism and liberalism to thorough going c ritique
in these grounds. According to Cox, these th eories arefor —or serve the
interests of —those who prosper under the prevailing order, thatis the
inhabitants of the developed states, and in particular the ruling elites. Their
purpose, whether consciousl y or not, is to reinforce ruling hegemony and to
legitimate the statu s quo in the world order .
Cox draws a distinction between positivist or ‘problem -solving’ knowledge
and critical or ‘emancipatory’ knowledge. Problem -solving knowledge,
such a s for exam ple neorealist theory is conservative in that it seek s to
know that wh ich exists at present: it takes the international system of
sovereign states for granted. It is therefore biased towards an international
status quo which is based on inequality of power and excludes many
people. It cannot lead to knowledg e of human progre ss and emancipation.
By contrast, the critical theory advocated by Cox is not confined to an
examination of states and the state system but focuses more widely on
power and domination in the world . It seeks knowledge for a large purpose
to liberate humanit y from oppressive structures of world politics.
Critical theory attempts to challenge the prevailing order by seeking out,
analysing the historical structure. According to Cox (1981) , historical
structure is a combination of ideas, mater ial conditions, a nd institutions.
The framework of historical structure should be viewed not from the above
(as in problem -solving approach) but from the bottom or outside to
understand the conflicts an d possibility of transformation. It can be identified by three distinct levels or spheres of activities ––Social forces,
Forms of State and World Order. According to Cox The relation between
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Figure 1: World Order An alysis
World orders can influence the forms of state. Forms of state c an affect the
development of social forces. Social forces are not bounded by states but
work across them. The world order is a pattern of interacting social forces
and forms of states p lay an intermediate role between them at the internati onal and domestic levels.
For example, social forces of capitalism are today involved in the economic
globalization, which can be seen in the supply of production and migration
from global south to gl obal north countries. States are incapable in obstructi ng these changes under globalization, thus, promoting it. This is
changing the form of states. Due to economic globalization, the tendency of
replacement of US dominant world order seemed to be inevita ble. The new
world order could be differently centred h egemonic order as various
conflicting power centres are emerging or it could be a post -hegemonic
order based on peaceful cooperation to avoid possible conflict. Therefore,
Cox analysis can help to anal yse change in the world order. He is of the
view that t he interplay betw een these three levels can potentially lead to an
emancipatory change.
ii. Andrew Linklater
Andrew Linklater has contributed Emancipatory theory in the realm of
Critical theory. He u sed some of the key principles and precepts developed
by Habermas in order to understand what is emancipation? In his influential
work “Men and Citizens in the Theory of International Relations”, Linklater
(1982) attempts to explore the relation between citizens of sovereign st ates
and their moral obligations . He said that a dis tinction can be seen in the
universal morality of men in international society and its specific morality
as a citizen of particular state. These specific moralities of citizens of Social Forces
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62APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
State A sovereign states are cause of wars and it has developed the different
politi cal communities (see Fig. 2).
But the universal morality of men believes in universal freedom and
equality and it lies in the independence from the moralities of sovereign
states, which exploits men as a citizen. Thus, in the realm of int ernational
relati ons “emancipation should be understood in terms of the expansion of
the moral boundaries of a political community ” (Linklater 1982) . In other
words, he equates “emancipation with a process in which the borders of the
sovereign state lose their ethical and moral significance ” (Linklater 1982) .

Figure 2: Emancipatory Theory
At present, state borders denote the furthest extent of our sense of duty and
obligation, or at best, the poi nt where our sense of duty and obligation is
radically transformed, only pr oceeding further in a very attenuated form.
For critical theorists, this situation is simply indefensible. The goal is
therefore to move towards a situation in which citizens share the same
duties and obligations towards non -citizens as th ey do towards the ir fellow
citizens. To arrive at such a situation would, of course, entail a wholesale
transformation of the present institutions of governance. But an important
element of the crit ical theory method is to identify —and, if possible,
nurtur e—tendencies that exist within the present conjuncture that point in
the direction of emancipation. On this basis, Linklater identifies the development of the European Union as representing a progre ssive or Universal Morality Morality of Citizen State- A War Morality of Citizen State- B Morality of Citizen State- C War War Tendencies of Emancipation
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63Chapter 2: Approaches to IR – II
emancipatory tendency in contemporary world polit ics. If true, thi s suggests
that an important part of the international system is entering an era in which
the sovereign state, which has for so long claimed an exclusive hold on its
citizens, is be ginning to lose some of its pre -eminence .
This emancipatio n shall be freedo m from all type of exploitation and
oppression ; it shall be freedom from all type of specific moralities , and will
establish universal morality of Human.
B.2.6: Conclusion
There c an be little doubt that critical theory has made a major co ntribution to the
study of international relations. One of these contributions has been to heighten
our awareness of the link between knowledge and politics. Critical theory rejects
the idea of the theorist as objective bystander. Instead, the theorist is enmeshed in
socia l and political life, and theories of international relations, like all theories,
are informed by prior interests and convictions, whether they are acknowledged
or not. A second co ntribution critical theory makes is to rethink accounts of the
modern state and political community. Traditional theories tend to take the state
for granted, but critical international theory analyses the changing ways in which
the boundaries of community are formed, maintained and transformed. It not only
provide s a sociological account; it provides a sustained ethical analysis of the practices of inclusion and exclusion. Critical theory’s aim of achieving an alternative theory and practice of internationa l relations rests on the possibility of
overcoming the excl usionary dynamics associated with modern system of sovereign states and establishing a cosmopolitan set of arrangements that will
better promote freedom, justice and equality across the globe. It i s thus an attempt
radically to rethink and restructure the normative foundat ions of international
relations to attain the higher goal of emancipation.
Check Your Progress Exercise
Note: i) Use the space given below for your answer.
1) Discuss the genesi s of Critical Theory in International Relations .
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64APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
2) How does critical theory serve to th e study of intern ational relations?
……………………………………………………………………………………
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B.2.7: References
Adorno, T. W. (1973) , Negative dialectics . New York: Routledge.
Cox, R .W. (1981), “Social Forces, States and World Orders: Beyond International
Relations Theory ”, Millennium , 10(2): 126-155.
Devetak , R. (2015), “Critical Theory” in Scott Burchill e t al. (eds.) Theories of
International Relations, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
Ferreira , M.F. (2017), “Critical Theory” in S. McGlinchey et al. (eds.) International relations Theory , Bristol: E -International Relations Publishing.
Habermas , J. (1984), The Theory of Communicative Action: Reason and the
Rationalization of Society , (Trans. Thomas McCarthy), UK: Polity Press
Habermas , J. (1987), Knowledge and Human Interest (Trans. Jeremy Shapiro),
UK: Polity Press
Habermas , J. (1989), The Structural Transformation o f the Public Sphere: An
Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society (Trans. Thomas Burger), UK: Polity
Press
Hobden, S. and R. Jones (2011), “Marxist Theories of International Relations” in
J. Baylis and S. Smit h (eds.), The Globalization of World Politic s: An
Introduction to International Relations , New York: Oxford University Press.
Horkheimer M. (19 72), Traditional and Critical Theory : Selected Essay , (Trans.
Matthew J. O ’Connell ,New York: Continuum Publishing Corporation
Horkheimer, M. (1982) , Critical theory: Selected essays, (Trans. Matthew J.
O’Connell) New York: Continuum Publishing Corporation
Kant , I. (1795), Perpetual Peace : A Philosophical Sketch .
Linklater, A. (1982), Men and Citizens in the Theory of International Relations ,
London: Macmillan.
Luke, T.W. (2000) , “One -Dimensional Man, A Systematic Critique of Human
Domination and Nature – Society Relations”, Organization & Environment,
13(1).
Marcuse, H. (1964) ,One-Dimensional Man; Studies in the Ideol ogy of Advanced
Industrial Society , United K ingdom: Routledge
Marx, K. and F. Engels (1848), Communist Manifesto , Political Pamphlet. munotes.in

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65Chapter 2: Approaches to IR – II
(C) Feminist Approach
C.2.0: Objective
C.2.1: Introduction
C.2.2: Evolution Trajectory of Feminist Approach
i. First Wave of Feminism
ii. Second Wave of Feminism
iii. Third Wave of Feminism
C.2.3: Feminist Approach in International Relations
C.2.4: Gender in International relations
C.2.5: Major Feminist Theories in International Relations
i. Liberal Feminism
ii. Marxist and Socialist Feminism
iii. Radical Feminism
iv. Cultural Feminism
v. Post-modern Feminism
C.2.6: Criticism of Feminist Theories
C.2.7: Conclusion
C.2.8: References
C.2.0: Objective
The objective of this module is to explore the tenets and trajectory of the development of feminist approach in international relations. It wil l discuss the
issue of gender in international relations . After studying this module, you should
be able to understand:
• The feminist attempts to redefine core concepts of power and security in
international relations.
• Different feminist t heories developed in the study of international relations
and their critics.


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C.2.1: Introduction
Feminist approach emerged as an ideological social and political movement for
the concern with the status and role of women in the interna tional society.
Femin ism is the advoca cy of the equal rights and legal protections for women. It explains that women have been disadvantaged compared to men and are subordinate to men because of a system of patriarchy (a social structure and
practice throu gh which men dominate and exploit wome n), which is not based on
reason. It holds that women have suffered and are still suffering injustice due to
this system; hence it seeks effective measures for redressal of that injustice.
Historically the feminist app roach is related with the rights of wo men, equality of
men and women and emancipation from traditional subjection of women.
Early feminism emerged in the wake of enlightenment at the end of 18th century
and developed further as a movement. This trajectory of feminist movement led
to the develo pment of feminist approach, which are divided and defined as waves
of feminism. The first wave of feminism focused on achieving political and legal
rights for women as a tool for their liberation from the clutches of p atriarchy. The
second wave of feminism extended the domain of feminine politics against sexist
ways of men to the private lives of women, giving rise to political ideologies like
Liberal feminism, Radical Feminism, Marxist Feminism, etc. The third wave of
feminism presented a dynamic critique to the previous feminist political trends,
which acquired a global recognition with inclusive ideologies like postmodern
feminism, cultural feminism and black feminism.
Consequently, w ith the development of feminist mo vement, Feminism has
established as a profound approach in the political and social discourses. However, the academic interest of feminism in International Relations started
only from the late 19 90s. The traditional I nternational Relations theory was re -
evaluated during the po st-Cold War perio d which created the need to study how
International Relations have been gendered. The feminist approach has critiqued
the mainstream theories of International Relations such as Realism and has
exposed the gender bias i n the key concepts of International Re lations (Tickner
2011:264) . Feminist approach inquire d the conventional knowledge of international relations through key concepts of state, power, security, war and
peace and attempted to bring in a gendered perspectiv e which has not only
brought a holisti c perspective but also contributed in enriching the discipline of
International Relations.

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C.2.2: Evolution Trajectory of Feminist Approach
The development of feminist approach can be traced back with the evolution of
feminist movement ac ross the world, w hich can be defined and divided as the
‘waves of feminism’.
i. First Wave of Feminis m
The first wave of feminism referred to feminist activities, which largely
took place in the United States and United Kingdom from en d of 18th to the
beginn ing of 20th centu ry. In this connection Mary Wollstonecraft (1792)’s
book “Vindication of Rights of Women” was a foundation stone of
feminism, which justified the demands of women rights. Another formal
initiation of the wave is attr ibuted to the “ Seneca F alls Declaration” (1848) ,
drafted by Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The declaration highlighted new
political strategies and ideologies for the feminist movement. It began with
the idea of equal property rights and a dignified position with in the
household for women. Thus, it foc used on women’s economic, sexual and
reproductive rights. J.S. Mill (1869)’s book “The Subjection of Women” took this debate forward and support for voting rights for women. Therefore, by the beginning of the twentie th century, the feminis t activists
shifted their attention towards political rights of women, especially to
women’s right to vote or women’s suffrage. This resulted into the first
voting rights to women in New Zealand in 1893, in Britain in 1917, in
Americ a in 1920 and in France 1944. Thus, duri ng the first wave, voting
rights to women was the first success of feminist movement which made
society recognize that women are humans, not property and it further
established the dignity of women.
ii. Second Wave of Feminism
Second wave o f feminism emerge d in 1960’s and it was focused on issues
of equality and discrimination. Betty Friedan was a key player in the
rejuvenation of second wave of feminism. Friedan (1963) in her book “The
Feminine Mystique” criticized the idea that women coul d find fulfilment
only through childrearing and homemaking. Friedan has pointed out that
women still felt frustrated, owing to their confinement to the domestic
chores in roles of a mother and a housewife. Thus, women are victims o f
false beliefs requirin g them to find id entity in their lives through husbands
and children. This causes women to lose their own identities in that of their
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68APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
In the second wave, Feminism also gained mass support of political activist
and intellect uals. Simone De Beauvoir (1949) in her bo ok The Second Sex
promoted the ideology of solidarity and sisterhood. She stated that “Women
is not born, Women is made” (Beauvoir 1949) . She argued that womanhood
is not developed naturally but it developed cultur ally through a long histo rical series of o ppression in patriarchy. It was during the second wave
that the slogan “the personal is political ” was coined by Carol Hanisch. The
slogan identified women’s cultural and political inequalities as inextricably
linked and encouraged women t o understand how their personal lives
reflected sexist power structures. Therefore, the second wave of feminism
reflected the women’s liberation movement for equal legal and social rights.
iii. Third Wave of Feminism
Third wave of femi nism began in the early 19 90s, responding t o perceived
failures of the second wave and to the backlash against second -wave
initiatives. This ideology seeks to challenge the definitions of femininity
that grew out of the ideas of the second wave, arguing th at the second wave
over-emphasized experien ces of upper middle -class white women. Thus, third wave of feminism became more conscious of race. Kimberle Crenshaw, a gender and critical -race scholar, coined the phrase ‘intersectionality ’ in 1989. The term ref ers to how different kinds of
oppression – like those based on gender and race – intersect with each
other. Therefore, the third wave of feminism sees women’s lives as intersectional, demonstrating how race, ethnicity, class, religion, gender,
and national ity are all significant fa ctors when discus sing feminism. It
examines issues related to women’s lives on an international basis.
C.2.3: Feminist Approach in International Relations
Feminist approach in International Relations has started making inroads at the end
of 1980s, and expl ored its perspect ive during the post -cold war period, when the
traditional International Relations theories were being re -evaluated. Before the
end of cold war, the study of international relations was concentrated on the
causes o f war and conflict, the de velopment of inte rnational law and diplomacy,
and the global expansion of trade and commerce, but without any reference to
people as such. It was employed in the analysis of abstract concepts of state,
power, national interest, na tional security, military defence, nuclear deterrence.
The classical conception of international relations was believed to be the study of
inter-state relations, with its emphasis on the state as a primary actor and its
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international politics has been ‘gender blind’. Consequently, it created the need to
study how International Relations have been gendered and thus, feminist writings
started to make an impact in international rela tions since 1990s. Some of the
classic work s include — “Women and War ” (1987) by Jean Bethke Elshtain,
“Bananas, Beaches and Bases ” (1989) by Cynthia Enloe and “Gender in International Relations: Feminist Perspectives on Achieving Global security ”
(1992) b y J. Ann Tickner.
Feminis t scholars argued that the personal, which is political, is also international
(Enloe 1989) . Hence, international relations is not only about security, power, war
and states and there is a way in which gender shapes international relations. They
have argue d that the role o f masculinity and power is overemphasized in international relations. Barbara Ehrenreich (1997) pointed out, “Men make wars
... because war makes them men”. Unlike the Realist conception of security
centring on st ate, feminists give import ance to human security centred on freedom from want and fear. War itself is seen as a gendered phenomenon as
most of the senior positions in the military and political positions are dominated
by men. It is also the impact of some myths like the need for masculine male
‘warriors’ to protect helpless women and children.
Jean Elshtain (1989) has dealt in detail with the myths of Man as a ‘Just Warrior ’
and Woman as a ‘Beautiful Soul ’. She has argued that this division serves to
recrea te and secure women’s soci al position as no n-combatants and men’s identity as warriors. Cynthia Enloe (1989) argued that work of women as
plantation workers, wives of diplomats and sex workers on military bases should
form a part of international relations .
J Ann Tickner (1988) cr iticized Hans Mor genthau’s six principles of Realism and
argued that national interest is a broad topic which cannot be defined in terms of
realist notion of power only. She argued, if power is defined by a patriarchal and
realist society, which seeks glob al balances of po wer, then power is equated with
military and economic strength. But through the feminist approach the indicators
of power be measured differently. Power might be seen as leadership in peace
agreements, or it might be measured in terms of t he ability to ach ieve
transnational cooperation. Thus, by expanding our understanding of power not
just with regard to control but also as a way of acting together to achieve a mutual
goal, we can add another dimension to internat ional relations other than conflict.
Tickne r also redefines the notion of security or national security (Tickner 1988).
While national security is often understood in terms of the military strength
needed to protect the state, Tickner suggests that we need to look at security
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70APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
the post -Cold War era. She maintains that we can also understand security in
terms of having basic material needs, which are more associated with women.
Environmental threats are als o an issue of nat ional security as well as an issue of
concern to many women’s movements. We can thus define security in much
broader terms, and approach solutions to these insecurities and threats from a
cooperative rather than a conflictual point of view .
Feminists also challenged liberalism’s claim that international institutions provide
for ways in which women can be become more politically and socially
acknowledged and empowered. Charlesworth (1998 ) argued that s ince the lead ers
and the processes of f ormal internation al organizations come from patriarchal
systems, their work can keep women at a disadvantage , thus, the re -structuring of international institutions are essential and women needed to be adequately incorporated in t hese institutions. Thus, f eminist approach recreated and redefined
the propositions and concepts of international relations through the prism of
gender.
C.2.4: Gender in International Relations
The study of International Relations has often been argued by feminists to be
highly gen dered. In other w ords, it is not neutral as reflected in the key concepts
of international relations . As a result of which gender relations have been silent because women are seen to be within the purview of private sphere and international relations as a field of study is located in the public sphere, which
again is a male domain. That is why the key concepts of international relations are
seen in the prism and lenses of the masculine gender and are patriarchal. Hence,
gender is c entral to the feminist app roach in internat ional relations.
In everyday usage, gender denotes the biological sex of individuals. However,
feminists define gender differently —as a set of socially and culturally constructed
characteristics that vary across t ime and place. Thus, Gende r’ is not a synon ym
for the term ‘sex’, or the biological difference between men and women, but
instead “refers to the complex social construction of men’s and women’s identities...[and] behaviours...in relation to each other. Fun damental in the discourse on gender is the notion of power and power dynamics between
genders.” (Thorburn 2000). Simply put, using the concept of gender, feminists
analyse relations of power involving men and women, how that power is exerted,
and how that interaction has been habi tually, historica lly, and socially implemented over time(though not as a result of inherent or biological differences
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a ‘real man’. Opposite characteristics, such as weakness, dependence /connection,
emotionality, and private, are associated with femininity. There have been studies
that show that both women and men assign a more positive value to masculi ne
characteristic s. These definitions of masculinity and femininity are relational,
which means that they depend on each other for their meaning. In other words,
what it means to be a ‘real man’ is not to display ‘womanly’ weaknes ses. Hence,
these characte ristics are socia l constructions, not biological ones.
Gender is also a structure of meaning that signifies power relationships. If gender
characteristics denote inequality, gender becomes a mechanism for the unequal
distributio n of social benefits and c osts. Therefore, gender is crucial for analysing
international relations to understand and redress gender inequalities that often
remain hidden or ignored in traditional and male -centric international theory.
Feminist I nternationa l Relations theories note that one of the r eal challenges in
conceptualizing war, insecurity, and conflict lies in analysing these phenomena as
a subset of the social relations of experience and exposing the power relations
within patriarchal structures (E nloe 2000).
Moreover, scho lars in the field of feminist international relations hold that war,
security, and conflicts cannot be fully comprehended unless they are studied
through the prism of how people have experienced them in a myriad of ways, not
solel y by what are considered t o be mainstream international relations theories
and methods (Enloe 2000;Tickner 2006).Thus, Feminist approach in international
relations embraces a range of theories, which explore gender as a site of power
and social interaction s.
C.2.5: Major Feminist T heories in Intern ational Relations
The feminist approach in International Relations uses ‘gender -sensitive lenses’ to
answer the questions of international relations. It enables us to see how the world
is shaped by gendered conce pts, practices and institu tions. In order t o understand
the issues of international relations and the status and role of women, different
theoretical perspectives are used as lenses. It helps to find out the answer of the
question where are the women in in ternational relations? The se feminist theor ies redefined the traditional notions of the concepts of power, sovereignty, hegemony, and security and helped to unravel the means by which hegemonic
masculinity has become embedded in international relations. Th e major theories
of femini st approach are:

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i. Liberal feminism
The Liberal feminism is equally concerned with equal rights for both men
and women, for which women need to be empowered and should have an
equal role in society and have an equal role in polit ics as well as at work. It
analyses various a spects of women’s subordination and voiced for the
freedom and equal rights for women. Mary Wollstonecraft (1792) ’s path
breaking work “A Vindication of the Rights of Women ”, is considered as
the beginning of th e liberal feminism. Wollston ecraft argues for equal
access to education for women and men, so that the former become as
independent and morally strong as the latter, in the face of oppressive
patriarchal traditions and institutions. Thus, it will ensure ge nder equality in
the public sphere. By the 19 th century, the discourse of liberal feminism
was shifted, through the works of John Stuart Mill (1869) , who argued for
equal economic opportunities, political rights and civil liberties for men and
women in his book “The subjection of Wom en”.
The objectiv e of Liberal feminism was limited to ensure complete gender
equality between men and women without any changing in the socialisation
of men and women in the society. Thus, it contributed to the facilitation of
political and economic rights to women but cha nged nothing in the traditional social role of women as wife and mother, which is criticised by
Marxist and Radical Feminism theorist.
ii. Marxist and Socialist Feminism
Marxist feminists do not comply with the re formist tendencies of their
liberal counterpar ts; instead, they associate oppression of women with
economic, social and political structures related to capitalism. For Marx,
capitalism is the defining feature of the West. Marxist feminists launched
themsel ves in the late 1960sand drew their inspiratio n largely from the
philosophies of Marx and Engels. While these philosophers did not particularly examine women’s oppression, their works provided powerful
insights to decode the deeper structures implying wome n’s oppression.
Thus, for Mar xist feminists li ke Iris Marion Young and Alison Jaggar,
gendered oppression is grounded on class exploitation and how labour is
socially reproduced at domestic and work sites. For instance, Frederick
Engels elaborates in his w ork “The Origin of Family, Pr operty and the
State” (1884) on how sexual and physical labour of women is assumed for
child reproducing and rearing within the institution of the family. By this
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to appear natural at the behest of p atriarchal forces. Engels (2010) refers to
this as the “final defeat of [the] female sex ” and to liberate women, he calls
for a revolution against the capitalistic order of society. Marxist feminist
believes th at, socio -economic and sexual inequality are i nextricably linked
with the capitalism and therefore it would be impossible for women to gain
equality in class society. That is why they advocate that women’s liberation
must be a part of a wider struggle agai nst an exploitative capitalis t system ,
however , they failed to observe any other reasons of exploitation.
Socialist feminism came in a rescue and added to the contentions of the
Marxist feminism . It submitted that in addition to the capitalism system as
the primary reason of exploitat ion against women , patriarchal arrangement
of power distribution also acts as the secondary reason for the same. At the
heart of the socialist feminist movement lies an understanding that women’s
exploitation and oppression ar e not a product of any one system of repression , rather it is a common outcome of multiple forces of discrimination like sexuality, class, race, ethnicity, and of course gender .
(Jaggar and Rothenberg 1993) Thus, capitalist economic oppression and
patriarc hy constitute the basis of all other forms of s ubjugation, they argue
that even though women are exploited and oppressed in almost all societies,
however the degree and character are different. Therefore, in order to
achieve liberation of women, the femini st movement aimed at dealing w ith
all these iss ues collectively.
iii. Radical Feminism
Radical Feminism focussed on the need to develop a ‘women -cantered’
analysis as a means to challenge all male -defined structures and values.
Three writings are given credit for the development of radical feminism;
The Se cond Sex (1949) by Simone de Beauvoir, Dialectic of Sex (1970) by
Shulamith Firestone, Sexual Politics (1971) by Kate Millett.
Simone de Beauvoir (1949) had famously stated, “One is not born, but
rather bec omes, a woman. ” Women are differ ent from men beca use of what
they have been taught and socialized to do and be. Shulamith Firestone
(1979) argued that women ’s subordination could not be understood as a
symptom or aspect of some deeper or more comprehensive system of
domination, such as r acism or class -based division of society. She claimed
that the basis of women's subordination was ultimately biological. In other
words, human reproductive biology and child -rearing role of women to
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74APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Kate Millet t (1971) argued that the relationship between the sexes was
based on power and further sustained by an ideology. It was similar to the
relationship between classes and races. Hence it should be treated as
political relationship. Basing her analysis of wome n's subordination on Max
Weber's theory of domination, Millet argued that men have exercised domination over women in two forms: through social authority and economic force. Time had now come to smash these implements of man's
domination.
The radical femin ists were the first to articulate what is now generally
regarded as the central insight of feminist thought: the personal is political.
It offers the perspective that what is needed is not only women’s lib eration
to achieve formal equality , access to publi c space and means of production
but also involves a thorough transformation in the most private and intimate
spheres of human relationships.
iv. Cultural Feminism
By 1975 radical feminism had given way to cu ltural feminism. Cultural
feminists both derive and depart from their radical peers. They do agree
with the latter that the freedom of women begins in their rejection of
masochism, but they relegate material reality to the periphery of their
experience. Wh ile radicals viewed the female body as an encumbranc e, the
cultural feminists, like Jane Alpert, Adrienne Rich, etc. in fact saw women’s biology as a potent resource. Cultural feminists like Robin Morgan, Andrea Dworkin and Florence Rush makea distinction between
femininity as identified by patriarchal orde r with virtues like
submissiveness and passiveness vis -a-vis the natural characteristics of
female nature, which they see as loving, caring and egalitarian. On the other
hand, with the construing of mascu linity as indelible, cultural femin ists put
the enti re blame of female oppression on the assumed maleness of men, and
not so much on the power dynamics within the patriarchal system. Finally,
the cultural feminists argue for the preservation of gender dist inctions, for
according to them rad ical shift in soc iety would be achieved only with
restoration of culture into its female values of affection, nurturance and
equality. By explaining feminism through the lens of female values, cultural
feminists therefore , substituted political theory with their vision of united
sisterhood.

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75Chapter 2: Approaches to IR – II
v. Post-modern Feminism
Post-modern Feminists make the largest departure from earlier debates
within feminism with their argument that language is what constructs
gender. Influenced with the arguments of Judith Butler’s 199 0 work Gender
Trouble, in which she critiques the existing distinction between the biological sex and gender, which the earlier feminists argued is socially
constructed. She argues that ‘woman’ is not a ‘stand -alone’ c ategory, it
comes into existence with a bearing of mult iple factors like class, race,
ethnicity and sexuality. Such factors come together to construe the identity
that we call a ‘woman’. On the basis of this argument, she posits that
neither any one of the se factors is singularly responsible f or women’s
oppres sion, nor would handling any one of these lead to a solution to the
problem of subjugation of women. For her, gender is performative and
cannot be construedin any binary. That is to say, she points out towards
inseparability of the body from social norms a nd language. Also, modern
technological interventions in the field of medicine have also made sexual
reassignment surgerya reality, which has made the whole category of
gender malleable by blurring the boundaries between man and woman.
Postmodern feminists like Donna Haraway, Mary Joe Frug, etc. argue that
all women do not share common experiences of oppression ( Jaggar and
Rothenberg 1993) Thus, they attach extreme importance to the categories of
queer, homosexual, and transgender, etc. in order to understa nd the identity
politics concerning in international relations .
C.2.5 : Criticism of Feminist Theories
Much of the hard -core theorist of International Relations has not seen the
intellectual inquiry of the feminist approach seriously. They see the feminist
paradigm of analysing International Relations as addressing issues which are
more in the nature of social sciences rather than International Relations through
their approach of using hypothetic -deduct ive methods. The various strands of
feminism and what i t stands for makes it is a collection of different intellectual
traditions and cultures. It represents different historical periods for its analysis
and interpretations due to which the Feminist tradit ions of theories in International Rela tions are said to be generalised and remains unstated as well as
unexamined. One of the criticisms that the feminist theorist of International
Relations has received is that human values is more important and holistic than to
inculcate female values in the study of Interna tional Relations as the discipline is
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76APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
than on the gender that they belong. The feminist theories of international
relati ons have been accused of being too exc lusivist as they focus on their
analysis only on women. In their bid to expand on the various social institutions
of power they have done what they have criticised that is exclude the masculinity
of power in their anal ysis.
The feminist theories have also been subjected to be partial to women as they
used gender as their means of analysis and therefore lacking in its objectivity
which is said to be the main cornerstone for building a sound and reliable theory.
This part ial view of building a theory is not o nly lacks in obje ctivity but is said to
be dangerous and can hinder the search for truth. Keohane (1989) , one of the
prominent theorists of International Relations has suggested that feminism should
try to formulate so me verifiable problems where they coll ect data and do s ome
science to solve the issues, which has not been well taken by many feminists’
theorist of international relations .
C.2.7: Conclusion
Feminist approach has started as a movement, which aims at achi eving political,
social and economic equality for wome n. The core concern of a feminist approach
is to give a causal explanation of why women have been subordinated in
international politics. The feminist believe that knowledge determines political
practic e and therefore feminist knowledge sh ould be invoked t o help improve women’s lives. Feminism defines gender as a set of socially constructed characteristics which is distinct from sex which is biologically constructed. The
feminist of International Relatio ns uses gender sensitive perspectives to give
explanat ions of why women play subordinate roles in the international relations.
They also examine broader questions about how gender shapes and is shaped by
international relations. Feminists redefined various core concepts in international
relations such as powe r and security. They see power in achieving transnational cooperation rather than military and economic strength which is closely connected to conflict. They redefined security more broadly —not just in terms of
the security of the state, but also in terms of the physical and economic security of
individuals.
There are various traditions of feminist theories such as libe ral, Marxist, socialist,
radical, c ultural and post -modernist. Each of them gives di fferent explanations for
women’s subo rdination. Libera l feminism brought the idea of gender equality to
the public sphere for the first time in the nineteenth century. They sought the role
of state as an ally in the women’s movement in order to seek their liberation.
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a wider struggle against an exploitative capitalist system and patriarchy. The
radical feminists took the politics of women’s liberation to the individual level
and the dynamics of feminist political theory was narrow ed from macro to micro
discourse. Cultural feminists called for universal sisterhood and endeavoured to
unite women of different colour, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and classes for a
common goal of l iberation. In this, postmodern femini sts look at the c ategories of
queer, homosexual, and transgender, etc. as extremely important in order to
understand the identity politics concerning modern -day women. Thus, Feminists
advocate a feminist approach to int ernational relations as one that will show the
gender biases and correct these biases.
Check Your Progress Exercise
Note: i) Use the space given below for your answer.
1) Trace the evolution trajectory of Feminist approach in International
Relations
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2) What is the feminist concept of gender and how is it central to th e study in
Intern ational Relations?
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78APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Referen ces
Charles worth, H. (1998), “Women as Sherpas: Are GlobalSummits Useful for Women?” Feminist Studies , 22(3): 537.
De Beauvoir, Simone. (1949) ,The Second Sex . London: Vintage House. Ehrenreich, B. (1997), Blood Rites Origins and History of the Passion of War, New Yor k: HenryHolt and Company. Elshtain, J. B. (1987),“Reflections on war and politicaldiscourse: Realism, just war, and feminism in a nuclearage”, Political Theory , 13(1): 39 –57.
Engels, F. (2010), The Origin of the Family, Private property and the State, Londo n: Penguin Classics
Enloe, C. (2000),Manoeuvres: The international politics ofmilitarizing women’s lives, University of California Press.
Enloe, C. H. (1989),Bananas, beaches and bases: Making feminist sense of international po litics , Berkeley: University of California Press.
Firestone, S. (1979), Dialectic of Sex: The Case of Feminist Revolution, London: The Women’s Press.
Friedan, Betty (1963). The Feminine Mystique. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. Jaggar, A.M. and Paula S. Rothen berg (1993), Femi nist Frameworks: AlternativeTheoretical Accounts of the Relations between Women and Men, New York: McGraw -Hill.
Keohane, R. O. (1989), “International relations theory: Contributionsof a feminist standpoint ”, Millennium – Journalof Internati onal Studies , 18(2): 245 –253. Mill, J.S. (869), The Subjection of Women, London: Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer.
Millett, Kate. (1969) ,Sexual Politics , New York: Columbia University Press. Thorburn, Diana (2000), “Feminism Meets International Relations” ,SAIS Review, 20(2): 2.
Tickner, J. A. (1988),“Hans Morgenthau’s principles ofpolitical realism: A feminist reformulation”, Millennium – Journal of International Studies, 17(3): 429–440.
Tickner, J. A. (1992), Gender in international relationsfeminist perspectives on achieving global security, New York: Columbia University Press. munotes.in

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79Chapter 2: Approaches to IR – II
Tickner, J. A. (2006) , Gendering World Politics: Issues and Approaches inthe
Post-Cold War Era, New York: Columbia University Press.
Tickner, J. A. (2006). “On The Frontlines or Sid elines ofKnowledg e and Power?
Feminist Practices of ResponsibleScholarship”, International Studies Review ,
8(3): 383 –395.
Tickner, J. A.(2011), “Gender in World Politics” in J. Baylis and S. Smith (eds.),
The Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction to International Relations ,
New York: Oxford University Press.
Wollstonecraft, Mary (1798), A Vindication of the Rights of Woman with Structures on Political and Moral Subjects , London: Paul’s Church Yard.

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80APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Module -3
3 INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMY
AND GLOBALIZATION
Unit Structure
(A) Bretton Woods Institutions – Evolving Role
A.3.0 Objective
A.3.1 Introduction: International Trade
A.3.2 The historical features International Trade
A.3.3 International Trade during World War
A.3.4 Post Second World War Trade and Institutions
A.3.5 Conclusion.
A.3.6 References
A.3.0 Objective
The aim of this unit is to familiarize you with the meaning, historical view and
contemporary challenges of International Political Economy and Globalizatio n.
After studying this unit, you shall be able to understand :
• The history of International Trade
• The various facets of International Trade
• How International Trade shaped the world
A.3.1 Introduction: International Trade
Nothing has been more importan t in under standing how international relations
were shaped over a period of time, than the various facets of international trade.
Indeed, understanding international trade and its multitude of dimensions has seen
its own share of scholarly devotion. Man by nature is an economic and a political
entity and in the course of history due to its own innovation in terms of trade,
commerce and politics it has managed to learn a lot and shape its own destiny.
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cognitive senses and organised later on into kingdoms, empires and later on into
states man has indeed chartered its own course of development. One has to
understand the facets of international trade in terms of the various theories of
trade, the use of money as a medium of exchange and in due course the effects it
had on the world in terms of colonialism, and the first Great War. The natural
question comes here, as to how international trade developed in its due course of
time and how it managed t o affect the system around it? Were there any great
debates in the earlier periods over the mode of trade and if is how did if affect
everyone?
A.3.2 The Historical F eatures International Trade
Ever since mankind moved out of a nomadic lifestyle and start ed settling down,
ancient and brilliant civilizations began to come up. One may delve into human
history and observe that most of the greatest civilisations sprouted along river
banks and coastlines where water was plenty and the soil was fertile. Be it th e ancient Egyptian or Mesoamerican civilizations or even our famed Indian civilizations that sparks curiosity among the historians. The simple fact was that people organised themselves into various groups and formed small tribal communities to set tle down. Agriculture, storing grains and other foodstuffs and
livestock harvesting became a daily affair and as civilisations began to grow and
expand newer activities were added such as raising standing armies, organising
military campaigns and also in o ther arts and architectural works of great values.
However trade became an intrinsic part of their lives. In fact early societies right
from the times of the Roman and Mesopotamian civilisation began to trade with
their neighbours, additionally other civi lisations such as the Indus Valley and the
Yangtze Kiang Civilisations joined in. Very soon, through maritime routes trade
became an important part of human civilisation. The rise and fall of empires
gradually led way to the formation of proper states wit h democratic or monarchical norms. The greatest expansion happened in Europe when by the time of 1648 to 1688 trade had intensified between empires, states and smaller kingdoms. Of course during that time the Roman Catholic Church (Papal Authority) dominat ed the po litical scene much to the irritation of many empires
and as a result of which trade became a hotly contested issue.
Here an important issue arose with the rise of new empires and states, the medium
of exchange for goods and services. In the ancie nt times, people would mostly
barter or exchange their commodities with that of others which was a simple form
of trade but there were issues associated with it. Many goods were spoilt for munotes.in

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keeping it for a long period, also since there was no fixed medium; it also led to
the absence of a fixed exchange rate. Hence people began to utilize certain items
as a medium of exchange for instance cowrie shells, or salt and in some parts
cows. This cumbersome mechanism also did not sort out all the problems and
peopl e began t o find other routes to make the medium of exchange even easier.
The Mesopotamians, the Lydians, Greeks and the Romans right from the time of
700 B.C. to 5000 B.C. began to use coins of varying shapes as a medium of
exchange and the first currency known as the Shekel was born out of this
experiment. Other civilisations such as the Indus Valley civilisation were also not
far behind and they too experimented with the concept of money.
However if we fast forward to the period of European politics in t he middle ages then the concept of paper money really began to take shape and so did international trade. During that time the main issue was that coins were all made
of gold and silver because they were rare metals and as a result of which
counterfeiting it was a problem and hence the economies were generally stable.
However, the European monarchies and other states very soon began to run out of
coins due to the lack of raw materials which posed a huge problem. It caused a lot
of economic issues and here a n interes ting person came and gave a solution,
Nicholas Barebone was an English economist (1640 -1698) who believed that
money was a medium of exchange to which the value of the goods and services
should be attached, the money did not have to be precious in stead. Go ld and
silver were precious metals and it made no sense to him to actually turn them into
medium of exchange, rather proper banknotes made of paper could be termed as
the medium of exchange and to prevent counterfeiting the government had to
issue them as bonds with the promise that it would be treated as a medium of
exchange. This idea was quickly absorbed by the vast majority of the states in
Europe starting from France and then to Belgium, Germany and finally England.
Central banks were establis hed to re gulate the flow of currency and this also
sorted out the majority of the problems. Furthermore, it also led to the creation of
the Gold Standard in which the paper money was issued against the Gold reserves
of a state and hence Gold became an impo rtant ele ment that every nation sought
out. Thus the creation of the paper money which later on stabilised became an
important part of the national economies. When it came to international trade, it
became a problem though as various states had their own c urrencies and hence
the exchange rates were not properly fixed this led to huge issues and later on the
states also decided to fix the exchange rates to avoid any sort of problems. Indeed, the creation of paper money facilitated international trade. Now merchants did not have to worry about spoilt goods and the difficult in munotes.in

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exchanging their goods for others, the creation of stable currencies also helped the
economy and hence the economies boomed. In this juncture it is also important to
discuss the sudden spurt of international trade in the context of the Industrial
Revolution in 1760. So far, trade was restricted but with the coming of the
industrial revolution there was a huge demand for more goods and services.
People had money to buy and the economy was booming however the lack of raw
materials forced these empires to focus on their colonies. During this time the
colonial period was in full swing. Already the Spanish and the Portuguese had
established their colonies in the Americans and in Africa, Southe ast Asia, the
Subcontinent and vast parts of Africa were also colonised. By the Treaty of the
Tordesillas (1494) and the Berlin Conference (1884 -1885) most of the Americas
and Africa were already partitioned between the European powers. The idea of
interna tional tr ade during that time was to buy raw materials from the colonies
and finish them into finished processed goods and sell them back to the colonies
and other states for a profit. Thus the colonies bore the brunt of exploitation and
the European state s became richer. For instance in the Caribbean the sugar and
rum industry boomed whereas Africa was forced to export gold, silver, animal
hides and even cloth. Asia was known for its tea, silver, wheat and indigo and the
entire Southeast Asia was known for its spices. The industrial revolution completely made the European states into a confederation of superpowers while
the colonies suffered greatly. This very unequal exchange of trade was later on
conceptualised as the World Systems Theory by Immanuel Wall erstein a nd the
Dependency Theory by Andre Gunder Frank and Raul Prebisch in which they
state that the idea was to force these colonies in a state of perpetual dependency
and to completely draw out their wealth, Europe thus became rich due to the
wealth of its colo nies.
However, with power more demand for power increased and the European
nations could not just trade with their colonies, there were issues between the
European states as well, the success of the French Revolution made the other
European stat es fear f or something similar, the reunification of the German states
into one Germany under the leadership of Otto Von Bismarck and the Italian
reunification under Mazzini and Garibaldi also made other states nervous, the
American war of Independence (177 5-1783) and the creation of the now independent United States of America made the European states even more wary
of their surroundings. During this time European nationalism became the most
important facet of European politics. Nations were echoing patriot ic sentim ents
and nationalism took over Europe and as such trade suffered due to the fact that
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84APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONSsuffering for the colonies as these finished products were simply dumped into the colonies. Later on this system was known as Autarky by which states refused to
trade and tried to become self -sufficient in everything. Many economists believed
that this was a bad decision because trading is inherent in human beings and no
state can be se lf-suffic ient in everything or cannot efficiently produce everything.
However the First and the Second World War were the two main events that
completely changed the history of trade in Europe and in the world.
A.3.3 International Trade during World War
After the end of the First World War these states then took a decision to revitalise
their trade and to engage with one another. However, France and Germany were
still at loggerheads and could not come to a proper decision. The seizure of the
German provinc es of Als ace and Lorraine and the war indemnity imposed on
Germany created a lot of hostile German reaction. Also the formation of the
Soviet Union in 1917 led to more fear among the western European nations that
communism would soon sweep them. The rise o f Hitler and the never ending
hunger for colonies and more power led to the Second World War in which
Germany and its allies were again defeated. However, this time the United States
and the Soviet Union emerged as the two superpowers with opposing ideolog ies
and w ays of economic thought. The former powers such as Spain, Portugal,
Britain and France were in the background having lost their glory and power. The
Americans felt that it was important to induce capitalism and free trade in the new
era and as col onies beg an to gain independence both the USSR and the USA
decided to make allies to win them over to their own camps. Thus the Cold War
emerged and newer forms of trade began to take roots. It started with the creation
of a common currency, the Bretton -Woods Conference the formation of international trade regimes and also the debate between communism and capitalism.
If one sees till the end of the Second World War right from the earliest notion of
trade then a few things are clear, it is inherent in human beings t o trade and
engage in commercial activities with one another and indeed trade is one of the
most important feature over which kingdoms, empires and then modern states
were formed. The creation of currencies, and proper medium of exchange the
regul ation of trade were also important feature. However the period of colonialism would go down in the history of mankind as one of the darkest
chapters in which a lot of exploitation occurred and wealth was simply looted, not
only economic but also cultural d estructio n was done. The two wars also show
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War brought newer standards which will be discussed later. From this period one
has to understand that man always had a tendency to engage in innovation and to
improvise its ways of sorting out issues and when it comes to international trade
then one may safely agree that it is in this area where the maximum innovation
has taken place.
Unprecedented, deadly and vicious the Second W orld War will notably go down in human history as one of the costliest conflict ever with international ramifications. Some historians agree that it was this war that led to the awakening
of Europe, the creation of two superpowers, the receding of the form er Europe an
powers into the background and the formation of international trade and monetary
regimes that would shape the rest of the era. As discussed in the previous section both the Great Wars were caused by bad economic planning and policies, increased armament s among the nations and also jealousy and the race for
colonies and more power. Many economists agreed that the European states had
no control over their greed and hence it pitted nations against nations in two
deadly wars. The end of the Second W orld War was however different as it
caused the rise of the USA and the USSR and also brought in the period of decolonisation in which most of the African and the Asian states became independent over a period of time (Latin America despite being former col onies
had become independent by the year 1880s). This also caused a loss of power in
the European states who were the former colonial masters and there was now a
race to dominate these newly independent states in other forms such as through
diplomatic alli ances or through neo -colonialism. In this section it would also be
important to understand the trade regimes that came up such as the Bretton
Woods Conference, the formation of the GATT (WTO) and the conceptualisation
of free trade versus protectionism and how colo nialism continuously impacted the
economies of many states.
A.3.4 Post Second World War Trade and Institutions
The Second World War was instrumental in deciding a few things. Primarily it
completely shifted the power balance in Europe with the fa ll of th e former
colonial powers such as France and Britain, the utter decimation of Germany and
Eastern Europe. Italy, even though it had switched sides in the later part of the
war did not escape the wrath of the war either. In short Europe was completel y
change d and now these European nations, exhausted had to deal with two new
superpowers which were the USA and the USSR. While the USA focused on a
capitalist means of production and a proper democracy, the USSR focussed on
communism, the collectivisation of reso urces and techniques of production and munotes.in

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86APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
was a dictatorship under Josef Stalin. The American President Harry S. Truman
who took over the office of the President of the United States was determined to
bring out the US from its former policy of splendi d isolat ion. The idea was to get
involved in the international political scenario and to deny the USSR a free ride.
The USSR on the other hand believed that since they had borne the brunt of the
war, it was their right to dominate the world and especially Eastern Europe. Thus a clash was inevitable between the both, and especially in the changed circumstances. The US during that period for the purpose of reconstruction of
Europe decided to aid them economically and thus constituted the Marshall Plan
also kn own as t he European Recovery Programme was initiated in 1948 by the
US for this purpose, in response the USSR had initiated the Molotov Plan in 1947
(though it was effective since 1949). Europe was thus divided into two halves
politically and economically. Whereas Western Europe till West Germany came
under the American influence, the eastern ha lf came under Soviet influence.
During this period, the Americans initiated other ideas to revitalise the economy
which called for large spending, stimulating loans to incre ase production and to
also encourage consumerism in its own sphere of influence. The soviet response
was to form collective markets in order to ensure a collective consumption of
goods. The difference was that whereas in the western part the econom y began to
catch up quickly and progressed, on the eastern side the high -handed attitude of
Josef Stalin did not go down well with the smaller states, and they objected to the
soviet policies. Things became so rough that a communist like Marshal Tito of
Yugoslavia even complained openly against Stalin. The difference was mostly
noticeable in Germany, as after the war it was divided into two sections, the
Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) or West Germany and German Democratic
Republic (GDR) or East Germany. While th e FRG boomed economically and
experienced their first Wirtschaftwunder or economic wonder and allowed a lot of
immigrant labourers to come and work, the GDR was restricted in its economic
outlook only allowed to trade with the Soviet Union and its other sa tellite states.
The contrast was most noticeable in Berlin, which again was divided into East and West Berlin on the same political lines. Whereas West Berlin thrived economically, East Berlin suffered and there was a serious shortage of food and
basic com modities. Gradually things began to turn out so bad that people started
fleeing from East Berlin to West for better economic opportunities. The Soviets
of course tried everything to stop them right from the Berlin Blockade in 1948 till
the construc tion of the Berlin Wall in 1961.
Elsewhere, the world was divided ideologically, politically and economically, for
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turned communist to name a few whereas Thailand, Paraguay, Arge ntina,
Australia, South Korea and Japan turned towards free market capitalism. Other
states such as India, Myanmar, Togo, Mexico and Chile experimented with a
socialist based economic system with modest levels of economic liberalism.
However the major econ omic cha nges that occurred during this time had a lot to
do with ideology, and while this occurred the world leaders also decided to sort
out some of the other pending issues such as the creation of a common currency,
the regularisation of rules of trade a nd to en sure that the world never has to
undergo any other sort of financial difficulties for which there would be a system of not only lending emergency loans, but also loans for infrastructure development.
The first planning that occurred in the proceed ings of the meeting of the Bretton
Woods Conference that occurred in New Hampshire in 1944, in which ideas were
discussed on revitalising the economy after the end of the war. The conference
saw attendance by around 44 states and the idea of the Internatio nal Bank for
Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) came up. The idea was to allow the availability of long term capital, in order to offer soft loans to struggling economies so that they could develop their states. It also brought out the idea of
the Inter national Monetary Fund (IMF) to allow loans on a short term or emergency basis so that states that could not take off easily could be aided.
During that period it has to be remembered that protectionism was still in vogue.
The IBRD came into effect in 1945 whereas the IMF came into effect in 1946.
The World Bank was established in 1944 and it also established the International
Development Association (IDA) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC),
the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), the Inte rnational Centre
for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). The IDA which was established
in 1960 offers loans free of interest to low end income countries for infrastructure
development. On seeing these institutions one may wonder as to whethe r their
main purpose was to actually aid the world, or to create some level of dominance.
For this purpose one again has to see the tumultuous history of the world right
from the period of colonialism which ravaged the economies of all the developing
states. The purpose of these organisations was to aid these very states to either
obtain soft loans, or interest free loans or loans raised from the international markets for the purpose of building infrastructure to generate production, employment and also to encoura ge them to trade and consume. This was done
with the belief that it would stimulate these stagnant economies. Notably this did
aid most of these developing states in the long run, and whenever it came to
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a purpose. Of course, it also has its own share of criticisms that such agencies
actually dictated and dominated these smaller economies in the form of neo -
colonialism and hence they were not actually working for their interest .
In order to create a proper trade regime which was another issue the General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was created in 1947, thought it came
into effect in the year 1948. During that time, trading was a huge issue as most of
the state s pursue d the idea of protectionism in which they defended their domestic
industries by the means of taxes, tariffs and other forms of barriers in order to discourage imports and to save foreign exchange. The initial meeting was attended by 23 nations and later on in 1995 after the Uruguay round of the GATT
it came to be known as the World Trade Organisation (WTO). As of now with
125 signatories and more in the line for negotiation, the WTO is one of the largest
bodies that sees debates and discussions on t opic rel ated to international trade. In
this context the question automatically arises as to what was the purpose of the
GATT and now the WTO. Simply, the idea was to encourage free trade, without
barriers and any sort of discrimination. As explained earli er, trad e has its own
difficulties and especially in the context of international trade these problems
compound and increase. Many states which are developing or at times even
developed states do not wish to open their economy to outside forces fearing
competition and getting swamped by foreign made products which are cheaper and which also will shift the focus of the domestic consumer away from nationally made products. Therefore protectionism while it protects the domestic
industries does not allow the en try of f oreign made goods, this is good and bad as
well as on one hand the national industries stay protected but it denies better
consumption opportunities to the population. For instance, if one may take the
example of coffee, then Brazilian or Colombian Coffee is much famous and better than the Coffee produced in Germany, but if Germany were to adopt a protectionist attitude it would deny the entry of coffee from these two states by
either increasing tariffs or taxes or by some sort of a national legisla tion. Th is
would protect the German coffee industry (which is not very efficient) and would
deny the Germans a chance to buy coffee from Brazil or Colombia. The basic
purpose of the GATT therefore was to reduce tariffs, import quotas and other
forms of dis criminat ion that would on the other hand encourage states to trade
with one another and therefore stimulate the economy. After 7 rounds of various
agreements, gradually tariffs were reduced in a phase wise manner all over the
world which led to stimulation of trad e. However, there are some stumbling
blocks, such as many developing states disagree with the methodology of the
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world as historically their economies have suffered due to colonia lism and it
would take a long time for them to recover. To demand that these very states
reduce their tariffs and open their economies would be a disaster for their
domestic industries. On the other hand some believe that these states should adopt
such sh ort term risks and engage in more liberal trade to develop their economies
by the means of allowing foreign capital, reduce dependence on raw materials and
to also diversify their economies. The debate thus ensued in the few years of the
Cold War a nd it se emed that the group supporting liberal trade gained the upper
hand as socialist economies started to tumble whereas the ones that had managed
to open their trade to other states did suffer initially but quickly recovered.
Notable successes were FRG , France , Thailand, Paraguay, Chile and the Nordic
states in Europe. Finally with the collapse of the USSR and also with the
liberalisation of India, it seemed that states would definitely go with the liberal
trade model.
A.3.5 Conclusion
However, one mus t see th at liberal ideas of trade have a precedence over the
protectionist view and even in the present context one may see how certain
socialist economies are struggling on various fronts even though they do offer
subsidised access to products. On the oth er hand liberal economies boast of a
higher income and standard of living even though certain people are unable to
reap the benefits. Taking a look back one can easily understand how devastating
were the effects of the Second World War and how the USA and the USSR
emerged victorious in the true sense, for they began to shape the world with their
own ideologies and economic ideas. Both were quick to react to the needs of their
European allies but in doing so they divided the entire continent into two camps
and thus began the Cold War. Additionally, it also became very difficult for the
rest of the European nations to either resist the temptation of America aid or the
pressure from the USSR. However, the world was compelled to cooperate in the
creation of inte rnationa l financial institutions which again aided the economic
recovery of the world although with some controversies. In addition to this, the
debate between protectionism and free trade ushered during this period which
created some sort of misunderstand ing in t he entire world. While most of the
developing states supported protectionism in order to protect their economies,
most of the developed states supported liberal free trade to engage in more trade
believing that this would stimulate the economy. How ever, wi th the collapse of
the USSR and the opening of the major economies of the world it seemed for the munotes.in

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90APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
moment that free trade triumphed over protectionism albeit with some sort of
governmental regulations as in India.
Check Your Progress Exercise 1
Note: i) Use the space given below for your answer.
1) Outline the main difference between a liberal view of the economy and
protectionist view of the economy?
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A.3.6 References Fitzpatrick, M.P. (2011), “Provincializing Rome: The Indian Ocean Trade Network and Roman Imperialism”, Journal of World Histor y, 22(1): 27 -54.
Neelis, J. (2011),” Trade Networks in Ancient South Asia ”, in. Early Buddhist
Transmission and Trade Networks, Brill: 183 -228.
Vires, J.D. (1994), “The Industrial Revolution and the Industrious Revolution”,
the Journal of Economic History , 54(2): 249 -270.
Emerson, R. (1969), “Colonialism”, Journal of Contemporary History , 4(1): 3 -16. Trigger, B.G. (1984), “Alternative Archaeologies: Nationalist, Colonialist, Imperialist”, Man, 19(3): 355 -370.
Ostler, J. (2019), “Locating Settler Colonialism in Early American History”, the
William and Mary Quarterly , 76(3): 443 -450.
Bates, et. al. (2007), “Lost Decades: Post independence Performance in Latin
America and Africa”, The Journal of Economic History , 67(4): 917 -943.
Chilcote, R.H. (2002), “Globaliza tion or Imperialism? Latin American Perspectives , 29(6): 80 -84.
Krugman, P.R. (1987), “Is Free Trade Passé? The Journal of Economic Perspectives , 1(2): 131 -144.
Daly, H.E. (1993), “The Perils of Free Trade”, Scientific American , 269(5): 50 -
57.
Baldwin, R.E . (1989), “The Political Economy of Trade Policy”, the Journal of
Economic Perspectives , 3(4): 119 -135.
Waltz, K. (1979), Theory of International Politics , Reading: Addison Wesley. Wadgymar, A. O. (1994), “Neoliberalism in the New World Economy”, Internati onal Journal of Politics, Culture and Society , 8(2): 295 -312.
Taylor, P. (1975), “The Politics of the European Communities: The Confederal
Phase”, World Politics , 27(3): 336 -360.
Reich, R. B. (1983), “Beyond Free Trade”, Foreign Affairs , 61(4): 773 -804.
Ray, E. (1977), “Foreign Direct Investment in Manufacturing”, Journal of Political Economy , 85(2): 283 -297.
Prebisch, R. (1959), “Commercial Policy in the Underdeveloped Countries”, the
American Economic Review , 49(2): 25 -273.
Nye, J. S., & Keohane Robert, O . (1971), “Transnational relations and world
politics: An introduction”, International Organization , 25(3): 329 -349.
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(B)Content and Impact of Globalization
B.3.0 Objective
B.3.1 Introduction
B.3.2 Globalisation: Features and Contestations
B.3.3 Globaliz ation and State
B.3.4 Debates on Globalization
B.3.5 Conclusion.
B.3.6 References
B.3.0 Objective
The aim of this unit is to conceptualize Globalization and its impact on International economy. After studying this unit, you will be able to un derstand:
• A basic history of the early stages of globalisation
• Globalisation and its features
• Some contestations over globalisation
• What propelled Globalisation
• The main arguments over globalisation
• Clash of Civilisations
B.3.1: Introduction
Trade, migra tion, creating new settlements and founding new states are a part and
parcel of human history. To suddenly discuss about globalisation which in itself is
a product of history without understanding the historical reasons behind it would
be a grand mistake. Globalisation could be understood as a series of processes
that led to the gradual intermixing of cultures, races, religions, languages with a
focus on the economic transmission of welfare and industry. It has spanned over
centuries thrusted by technologic al advancements and important historical events.
History is a product of change in its true sense, and even a simple improvisation
in terms of sailing changed the way people travelled resulting in the discovery of
new places. Discuss about Greek Tiremes, V iking Longboats and the rise of
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For many, the moment one discusses globalisation, an imagery of satellites,
modern day equipment, people travelling from one place to another in a jiffy and
movement of labour and goods or even home delivery of materials is what comes
to the mind. However it is far from true, globalisation is indeed a process that has
brought the world closer over a period of time and only intensified in the recent
times. It is also impor tant to understand the various features of globalisation. Is
globalisation only limited to unrestricted travel? Or is globalisation only and
economic phenomenon without any cultural attributes? Does everyone accept
globalisation as it is, or are there cert ain contestations over it? To understand all
these, it would be necessary to delve further into the matter.
The effect of globalisation is evident as one may notice that with the passage of
time the states have lost considerable power over this very perio d of time. Gone
are those days when the states could take unilateral decisions and they could do
everything under their ambit. Nowadays the non -state actors influence a lot of
decisions and by non -state one also has to consider the supranational actors, th e
regional organisations and agents who may be individuals but owe considerable
influence. It has also been seen that many Multinational corporations and other
economic organisations have time and again challenged the state. So it is now
evident that the s tate has lost all its powers and has been reduced to nothing more
than a mere formal entity? Or is the state coming back with a renewed vigour and
reclaiming its spot?
B.3.2: Globalisation: Features and Contestations
At the outset it would be again importa nt to go back to history and see the various
stages of human history that kick started the process of globalisation.
• Prior to Human Settlements -Discovery of Fire, the Wheel, improvisation
of agriculture that led to settlements, the formation of roads and bridges
building connectivity, the institutionalising of messengers, development of
the militaries including navies, the invention of currency and intra -inter-
region trade. The rise of ancient civilisations propelled interconnectedness
and growth in commu nication. Rise of Abrahamic faiths also led to proselytization and communication.
• 1st Century BC to 5th Century AD and 13th 14th Centuries AD - the rise
of trade in luxury goods in ancient Rome and Europe, Spice, Silk, Fruits
and cosmetics from China, India a nd the Eastern Empires, and it also
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94APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
• 7-15th centuries - Spice Routes. Due to the spread of Islam and the trade of
spices from as far as Indonesia and the Spice islands to Europe.
• 15th- 18th Centuries - the Age of Discovery. Period of intense colonization,
the discovery of the America s and the Far East and Australasia. Magellan’s
circumnavigation helped too. Potatoes, Coffee, Chocolates, Gold and Silver
trade started as well as sugar. Also led to slave trade and cementing of the
colonial empires.
• 19th century to the 1914 1st WW - Industrial Revolution. Press, Steam
Engine, Industries and Weaving. The requirement for colonies, slaves and
markets increased. Rise in transportation and cargo as well as freezing
meat a nd poultry. However exploitation of labour started, also did anti -
coloni al movements and the first War which led to further development in
trade as well as weaponry.
• End of the Second WW - the second WW led to destruction but also led to
a kind of globaliz ation with the rise of Japan that gave hope to nationalist
movements in Africa and Asia. The end however placed the USSR and the
USA at the helm of powers. Britain, Spain and France lost their sheen.
Nuclear Technology, communication by phones and satellit es, medical
improvements, cars and rapid industrialisation and political competition led
to exchange of technology and knowledge.
• Modern day - internet, the rise o f the WTO EU, regional organisations as
well as emerging economies. Ordering food and things online, video calling
and rapid revolution of the communication and transportation technology.
Also cultural exchanges are quite common. Added to it are rising lev els of environmental degradation the spread of deadly diseases as well as terrorism. Globaliz ation is a process that has been used and abused by
many.
• After observing these facets it would be important to see the basic features
of globalisation. The prima ry feature of globalisation is its tendency to
dislodge the state as the primary actor in int ernational relations and offer
more power to non -state actors and the market forces. While prior to the
Cold War and especially before the collapse of the USSR, th e states
dominated most of the affairs of the world, however of late one may notice
how state s have somehow receded into the background and have offered
more space for other actors to call the shots. The second feature is the
shrinking distance between peo ple, countries, continents and cultures. In
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hitch. It is easy to not only travel but to have communication is also easier
than earlier days. While at one point of time people had to d epend on
telegraph and letters which would take considerable amount of time, today
over socia l media and other forms of electronic messenger services one may
contact anyone all across the world easily. This has not only eased personal
communication but has also ensured that economic activities can be conducted in minutes and across continents, spu rring in economic growth
and relations. Technological advancements, interconnected economies are
also two other aspects of globalisation and one may easily observe how
cumbersome machines and technology have now given way to smoother
and better versions. F or instance one may recall when the first computers
were launched in India in the early 1990s which were not only quite
expensive but t he technology was also outda ted. The revolution of social
media and the telecom industry are two other examples of increa sing
technological advancements which are a part and parcel of globalisation. In
addition to that economies today are more outward looking, adapting to
trade and e xchange of ideas. It is therefore not surprising that one may
easily witness the purchase of imported products and the export of indigenous products all across the world.
• Finally there is increasing interdependence among states, among states and
non-state actors and also among the general people. Due to interconnectivity and overlapping, desires and goals people and states and
also non -state actors often come together to fulfil those goals. For instance
the global demand for taking action against Climate C hange, or concerns
about the rainforest fires, desertification and even terrorism and other s ocial
issues have brought a wide variety of actors together. Thus, a rainforest fire
in Brazil is not just restricted to that state; it becomes a global problem fo r
which the solution also has to be global in nature. Added to it is the
intermixing of cultu res, religions and other beliefs. For instance one may
see how on International Yoga Day, the whole world celebrates Yoga
attributing it to the greatness of the an cient Hindu customs. When it comes
to Ramzan, there is a flurry of activity all across the wo rld and even
festivals like Christmas are celebrated with passion globally. Culturally
speaking, there is a huge exchange of values and which to a great extent has
actually made people more understanding of each other’s beliefs and faiths.
• After understanding the various facets of globalisation it would be necessary to observe the three main strands in the context of globalisation.
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and argues that states are rendered weak, the othe r section believes that the
states still are strong and the third section argues that the state even though
it has retained its power, the forces of globalisation cannot be denied.
• Hyperglobalisers and Transformalists - essentially argue that globalisation
is a positive force and reckon that it is here to stay, evolve and affect all of
us. It has managed to snatch power away from the hands of the state,
empowered the individuals more and has offered more autonomy to take
decisions. States may no longer be i n a position to dictate terms and
conditions to its subjects. Rebellions and collapse of governments have
been fostered by globalisation, trade between non -state actors and deals
fostered by them have happened. In short - Die Staat is Tot (The state is
dead )
• Sceptics - argue that on the contrary, globalisation has not fostered any
weakening of state power, and on the contrary it has led to ossification of
the state, more control over its decisions and more authority to the point of
many states turning dictato rial. Examples would be many states in the
Middle East, Russia, Bolivia and even the United States which is known as the harbinger of globalisation. In short no matter till what extent globalisation has empowered non -state organisations while simultaneousl y
disempowering the state, it is the state that has the finally authority over
important matters and may pull the strings when required.
• The Weak Globalisers - Those who tend to take a middle way and believe
that even though globalisation has weakened the state, it has still not lost its
sheen completely.
B.3.3: Globalization and State
So far it is clear that globalisation is an important aspect of our history and it is a
continuous evolving process that seems not to end. As times change the forces of
globalisation also undergo changes, however this brings us to the question of the
state and the non -state actors. While focusing on distribut ion of power states were
considered to be supreme and they controlled every aspect of its citizens. States
called the shots regarding decision making and influenced every outcome. Citizens were thus reduced as pawns in the larger game. In fact communist an d
fascist states would go as far as to control flow of information and also their
thought processes. The very fact tha t states were born due to the consideration of
the people and that there was no central ruling authority was the reason for the
states to maintain their power and hegemony. No one can forger the Nuremberg munotes.in

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laws of Nazi Germany and the forced collectivisatio n of the Soviet Union and the
infamous Great Leap forward by the PRC under Mao in which absolute state
control was personified.
In one way globalisation challenged the narrative that states are supreme and
control every aspect of its citizens. It shook the foundations of the state and questioned their authority over everything. The forces of globalisation that gradually took over ensured tha t non -state actor and other organisations have a
major share and say in the events of the world. Also the formation of regional
groupings and notably the EU in which the concept of supranationalism came up
challenged the primacy of the state.
States tradi tionally have enjoyed complete and unquestionable authority since
ages, especially since the rise of republics in Euro pe and even during the colonial
times. The mere fact that states have witnessed a gradual erosion of their power
speaks volumes of their f ear. They are afraid that over a period of time the states
will not be able to take decisions unilaterally and they wi ll be compelled to listen
to non -state actors and other organisations.
The closest challenge to states has been religion and the clergy. W hile state has
political authority, the clergy and religions have induced moral, religious and
social authority. So t here has always been a clash so much that at times the states
have rebelled against them. However, states do know that when it comes to
religion it becomes very difficult to reign in their citizens. As of now apart from
the religious authorities, other non -state organisations have taken up the challenge
to question the state on every aspect.
During the phases of mercantilism and control over their colonial dominions and
even during the Great Wars states devised a lot of strategies to ensure control over
their citizens. Globalisation had yet not become so great that the authorities of the
state could be challenged. Free trade had yet not become the talk of the town and
states were unwilling to give up their exclusive powers. However with the onset
and the ce menting of globalisation the challenge to the authority of the state has
become quite large now.
The first would be the end of the Great War and the formation of a supranational
European identity which also translated into a supranational political will w here
decisions would be taken collectively and would be applicable to all. Right after
the end of the Second World War, the formation of the EU (which itself took
some time to form), it became quite apparent that states would now have to share
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The second would be the rise in free trade giving way to more economic
integration and mass migration from different places, this actually allowed other
factors would join in the fray and question the authority of the sta te, leading to the
collapse of the communist states that also led to the integration of the economies
as well as people. Again it led to the rise in mass media, telecom, and internet as
well as better and cheaper transport facilities for the people in gene ral. Also
various social, environmental, financial and political issues would come up which
would challenge the state and their right to take exclusive decisions. There would
be the rise of multinational economic corporations that focus more on the
economy than on the powers of the state and at times dictate terms and conditions
as well. In fact now it seems that no state can live in isolation. Finally, gradual
democratisation even if for namesake ensures that information is not effectively
controlled and p eople get to know about the truth hence it becomes difficult for
states to maintain their hegemony.
However here it becomes interesting to n ote as to why and how non -state actors
managed to challenge the primacy of the states. Authority is the combinatio n of
power and legitimacy. The age old authority of the state that was personified in
the form of a king or an emperor or even in the form of an elected legislature is
now being challenged by non -state actors. These non -state actors have also
attempted to weaken the authority of the state by pushing their pluralist agenda,
by calling for greater transparency and also denying that states have the exclusive
rights to take decisions. For instance various peace groups have questioned the
right of states to go t o war unilaterally.
Now these non -state actors also take a moral high ground and often accuse states
of violations of norms and laws. Due to t heir moral power they do manage to
wield considerable influence over people and hence threaten the states. Ironic ally,
while globalisation created a class of professionals who take all advantage of the
forces such as better communication and transport end up arguing against it
precisely because globalisation itself is flawed. While states would like to attain
their p revious authority, globalisation has become so entrenched that it has to
work within the ambit of it. In a similar fashion those non -state acto rs who would
like to clip the states also need to follow this rule. So it happens that in the fight
between the s tates and the non -state actors, globalisation actually does not lose in
fact the forces of globalisation are used by both. Also these actors ch allenged the traditional borders and the mechanisms to ensure security. State policies, decisions and also embarr asses the states at times. In fact, they become the voice
of the voiceless. In addition to that, the fact that many non -state actors also wield
economic power and can actually bully the state is another significant factor why
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B.3.4: Debates on Globalization
The end of the Cold War - removed the political, ideological and economic
barriers between Eastern Europe and the re st of the world. This was the single most important event that actually brought the world closer. During the communist era, the USSR and the Eastern Europe satellite states of the Soviet
Union including East Germany could not freely interact with the other parts of the
world. Movement, communication and economic activities were restricted in
nature. The liberalisati on period that took place after that actually was another
effect of the increasing globalised world. No one may forget how during the
communist era the infamous East German secret police (STASI) was instrumental
in hunting down people who propagated the id ea of globalisation.
The rise of American economic and political hegemony also led to the increase in
globalisation as the end of the Cold War caused the emergence of the USA as the only superpower and this resulted in an influx of American capital and technology in many states, for instance right after the collapse of communism and
the USSR, American capital and multinational corporations such a s
MacDonald’s, Pepsi and Coca -Cola managed to find their way into the markets of
Eastern Europe and also in othe r parts of the world. This resulted in an economic
interaction between these former communist states and the USA spurring in an
increase in glob alisation. This also caused a process of liberalisation in South
Asia, South East Asia as well as Latin America . The process of liberalisation
actually caused an increase in income, rising standards of living, better production
and purchase and kick -started long awaited economic activity which led to an
increase in development.
The rapid rise of technological advan cements and easiness of travel, conducting
business, formation of various groups and organisations also led to cementing the
forces of globalisa tion which again led to the dilution of the power of the states.
Finally it led to an intermixing of of cultures and other social facets of human life.
So on observing all these events one may witness the basic idea of globalisation
was to integrate the world bring about holistic development without discrimination and to reduce barriers to trade and integration.
What were the initial aims of globalisation?
By integrating them in the global economy it was presupposed that this would
help them to earn investments, offer better outputs as well as reduce unemployment and offer a better life to their citizens. Many schol ars discussed
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their economies with the rest of the world, a nd as a result of which they suffered.
According to these scholars the first step would be a global integration of all the
economies and especially the developing and the developed economies which
would aid the former.
This integration of the economies an d the resulting generation of wealth would
reduce stress on the national governments, on the citizens and would cause
economic development that would benefit all. Furthermore, as developing states
often struggle for better technology, economic capital and investment the integration into the global economy would encourage them to develop even
further as now they woul d be able to obtain cleaner and higher -end technology as
well as capital for investment. Once these processes are completed, there would
be a fl urry of economic activities in these states with newer industries and firms
coming up. The arrival of tourists f rom foreign states would for instance cause a
rise in the hotel and hospitality industries which would bring about employment
and development. W ith economic development there would be better awareness
of political and human rights that would gradually caus e democratisation of many
states leading to better conditions for the people and finally it would cause more
cooperation among the member states of the world, among governments and non -
governmental organisations.
Where did globalisation falter?
The impetu s offered by free trade seems to have worked well for the richer
countries while unleashing hell on the others. The race to the bottom has not
augured well for those who are at the bottom of the economic pyramid. The
concept of the race to the bottom means that weaker and developing states in their
quest for obtaining technology and capital would do anything to please the
developed states. One may witness how labour laws and environmental laws have
often been weakened deliberately in developing states for t his purpose. For
instance the Brazilian rainforest has suffered a lot in terms of deforestation and
also indigenous people have been removed fro m their lands in parts of Africa and
Latin America so that mining can take place. This has caused considerable p anic
among the people out there. In another instance the PRC has often debt trapped
weaker states with cheap and opaque loans due to which they are forced to do
whatever the PRC says as they cannot pay back the loans? As a result of which
the developing st ates on many occasions have no option but to fail in front of the
developing states.
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higher up the ladder. Most investments that have taken place have occurred in
economic areas such as extraction of natural resources, forcing these sta tes to
employ their labour for simple tasks such as assembly as in the maquila sector in
Latin America and also there has been rampant abuse of labour laws and rights.
The environment as explained too has suffered a lot due to uneven and huge
developmental projects.
These developing states have thus been converted into nothing more than a
supplier of raw materials only. As globalisation supposedly would lead to democratisation but the same has not taken place in many areas. In many parts of
the world despi te the acceptance of globalisation, there has been nothing but more
control by the state on the lives of its cit izens. Notably the PRC is a glaring
example in this regard that despite accepting globalisation and integrating with
the global economy the Comm unist Party of China (CCP) has become even more
stronger to the point of organising genocides and control over a n autonomous
Hong Kong through its national security law passed in 2019.
The distribution of jobs from one place to another has also led to a l opsided
development, mostly simple jobs such as assembly and light manufacturing has
gone to the developing stat es due to lower costs which has caused much issues in
the developed world. Multinational companies are now influencing decisions of
many states and wielding power not meant for them, and to some extent it seems
that only these states have benefited from th e prospects of globalisation whereas many small indigenous and traditional companies have been wiped out. In addition to all these, despite the process of globalisation being very strong state
power remains adamantly strong and in some cases crackdown led by states many
of which are rogue in nature exhibit a tendency to hold on to power despite all the
odds.
How did globalisation lead to a clash o f civilisations?
Civilisation would mean a set of values, beliefs, traditions and set of practices that
are ende mic to a particular area, people and a community as a whole. In fact this
is what makes up our collective identity. However, there is a differen ce between
religion and civilization - religion, language, culture, ethnic values are all a part of
a great civil ization. Of course certain civilization may be based on only one of the
above, but they do not make it large in the long run. In this case it is interesting to
remark that the Greek civilization had many Gods, many cults, many agencies
and different city s tates but they were all a part of the Greek civilization, even our
Indian civilization had many kings, kingdoms, also many languages and beliefs
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important factor is history whi ch is endless and strongly determines our values.
The Greek, Indic, Roman, Egyptian civilizations spanned many thousand years
and therefore the values were entrenched.
In opposition to the concept of a culture which is endemic in nature one may say
that, the values may either be very strong and deeply rooted or can be easily
wiped out. For instance, the indigenous people of northeast despite goin g a lot of
changes have not let gone of their ancestral values, the same cannot be said for
many tribes and comm unities in the middle east which has completely changed
over the years. When one sees these values, it has to be understood that they are
deep w ithin our psyche and if disturbed it may lead to social unrest.
Again here it is interesting to note if it is a battle for civilisations or resources.
The question automatically arises, why do civilizations at all clash? Is it due to
persistent difference in ideologies or due to the greed for more resources? History
shows that mankind has always been a fighter, a s urvivor and has striven towards
might, dominance and freedom. Ancient kingdoms took pride in possessing large
armies and waging wars for supremac y. Emperors like Ashok, Chandragupta
Mauyra, Alexander the Great, the Huns, King Xerxes and others. Capturing o ther
empires and domination meant political and economic supremacy but was it a
clash of civilizations? Let me give the example of the Viking Rai ds on the old
English empires, it was purely for resources and not for cultural iconoclasm, the
invasion of Ind ia by Alexander was also for conquest and not to destroy the
Indian civilization. If you see the ancient world, it was mostly for resources,
pride, power, prestige and for conquest. In fact in ancient the Kings would
frequently go to wars but for all these things and not to destroy cultures.
Therefore, even if you see the ancient world, kings fought kings with honour,
dignity and pride but not to d estroy civilisations, when Athens and Sparta fought
they were still a part of the Greek world when Chandragupt a Mauyra fought with
smaller kings or even when Ashok fought with Kalinga it never translated into a
civilizational war.
Here again the question arises, that if there were wars only for resources then why
did certain empires or entities create civilizati onal disturbances? The idea here is
that insecure empires and kings often destroy what they fear, and since they stand
on a weak footing they attem pt to destroy everything which may challenge them,
which leads to uprooting of cultures and civilisations. Fo r instance here one has to
mention the role of the Spanish and the Portuguese which completely destroyed
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the destruction of an older civilization can lead to plundering of r esources,
capturing their people and turning them into hostile minions in their own country.
Sigmund Freud the famed German psychologist, consider ed civilization to be a
source of friendship and a cessation of hostilities between people. He believed
that wherever civilization has ushered it has led to peace and prosperity. Huntington called civilization and the associated identities that came along with it
fault lines which lead to war and identity politics of us vs them .
Whereas the formation of the sta te system in Europe led to a different notion of
civilization where former warriors and hunters now became rulers and gave up
their warlike habits t o co-habit with the others within the premises of the state,
that did not stop them from calling the others who did not fall within the states as
barbarians and to justify western rule and imposition of political structures on the
others. Therefore, coloni alism received a lot of justification. For Huntington,
civilizational values also require the invention of t he enemy or the invention of
the other. Feeling pride in one’s identity also requires hating the others. As a
result of which this cements identity politics and the creation of wars to prove
supremacy. This seems to have cemented to some extent due to glob alisation as
there are people who believe that globalisation has led to the erosion of their own
culture. For instance after in 1979 Iran which was a fairly progressive state
underwent an Islamic revolution and right after that anything that had to do with the west and its civilizational values was discarded. The same pattern was followed in other parts of West Asia, where dislike for Israel turned in to a
civilizational battle.
The end of the Cold War did not lead to the triumph of western capitalist
demo cracy and liberal values, rather now that communism is dead it has given
way to radicalism in many eastern regions. This can be ascertained that Isla mic
terrorism and other ethnic issues suddenly cropped up in the post 1990 scenario.
It is believed that su ch thoughts were always there, only suppressed due to the
Cold War, but the end of it and the sudden rise of globalisation actually gave
some space f or these thoughts to come up.
The post Great War scenario pitted liberal western democracy against barbari c
communism, but there was no political space for the other minor thoughts. With it
now gone space was created for these ideas which challenged the co ncept of globalisation and equated it with that of westernisation, of course the two concepts are complete ly different but certain agents do not seem to understand the
difference between the two leading to confusion and an anti -globalist position.
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B.3.5: Conclusion
Globalisation has thus brought people and states together. It has also led to
creation of new f orces that have brought about better opportunities and unity in
the world. Communication, travel, economic activities and even cooperation
among states and other actors have become the order of the day. Additionally, one
may also see that the state does no t always control the events of the world and
there are many non -state actors which have now taken up far more important
roles. The cultural exchange among people and also people to people communication has also become quite important.
However it is also i mportant to also note that the event of globalisation even
though it may have started due to technological revolution post Second World
War and became even stronger after the end of the Cold War, it may have started
even earlier in different periods of his tory right from the formation of human
settlements, to the age of discovery, colonialism and also it is a continuously
evolving process. There are agai n three main strands in terms of globalisation for
instance a section believes that globalisation has com pletely changed the face of
the earth and the states have lost their power, the other section believes that the
states have in fact emerged stronger an d the third strand believes that there is a
perfect balance between the power of the states and the non -state actors. It is difficult at this juncture to ascertain as to what are the actual effects of globalisation. On one hand, it is easy to notice as to how states have lost their
powers and have given way to other non -state actors on the other hand it is al so
important to see that the states are also trying their level best to ensure their
supremacy.
However it is also important to see that the benefit o f globalisation has not
occurred uniformly and there are people and states in the world where the benefit
of globalisation has not touched. Despite that it is hard to argue that globalisation
is completely ineffective, for great changes have taken place. A lot also depends
on individual states and leaders as to how they make their policies, for instance
the l iberalisation of the economy in South Korea has made it an economic
powerhouse, and the same cannot be said for North Korea which is still restricted
in its outlook. Culturally speaking, there is a clash as many believed that the
ultimate idea of globalisa tion is to destroy native and traditional cultures rather than promoting an intermixing of cultures. Still, no one may deny that globalisation has actu ally become an important aspect of our lives.

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Check Your Progress Exercise
Note: i) Use the space given below for your answer.
1) Mention two effects of globalisation in the world, right after the end of the
Cold War.
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2) How has the prospect of a global citizen or global citizens affected the
position of the s tates?
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B.3.6: References
Tooze, A & Fertik, T. (2014), “The World Economy and the Great War”,
Geschichte und Gesselschaft , 40(2): 214 -238.
Strikwerda, C. (2016), “World War I in the History of Globaliz ation”, Historical
Reflections , 42(3): 112 -132.
Krugman, P. (2019), “ Globalization: what did we miss? In Meeting Globalization’s Challenges: Policies to Make Trade Work for All, Princeton
University Press: 113 -120.
Olney, S. (2021), “ How can global free t rade work for everyone? In The Future
of Social Democracy: Essays to Mark the 40th Anniversary of the Lime house
Declaration Policy Press: 83 -92.
Bello, J.H. (1996), “The WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding: Less is More”,
The American Journal of Interna tional Law , 90(3): 416 -418.
Papi, et.al. (2015), “IMF Lending and Banking Crises”, IMF Economic Review ,
63(3): 644 -691.
Kapur, D. (1998), “The IMF: A C ure or a Curse? Foreign Policy , 111: 114 -129.
Taylor, E. et al. (2010), “Does Agricultural Trade Liberali zation Reduce Rural
Welfare in Less Developed Countries?” Applied Economic Perspectives and
Policy , 32(1): 95 -116.
Tangermann, S. (2005), “Organisation for Economic Co -Operation and Development Area Agricultural Policies and the Interests of Developing Countries”, American Journal of Agricultural Economics , 87(5): 1128 -1144.
Stefanova, B. (2006), “Regional Integration as a System of Conflict Resolution:
The European Experience”, World Affairs , 169(2): 81 -93.
Meade, J. E. (1953), Problems of Economic Union , Michigan: University of
Chicago Press.





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(C) Regional Blocs, Regional Organisation and Free Trade Agreements
C.3.0: Objective
C.3.1: Introduction
C.3.2: Conceptualising Regionalism
C.3.3: Regional Organisations: New Imparetives
C.3.4: Concl usion.
C.3.5: References
C.3.0 Objective
The aim of this unit is to familiarize regional groupings, organisation and free
trade agreements and its impact on global e conomy. After studying this unit, you
will be able to understand:
• Regionalism
• Various theo ries of regionalism
• How regionalism has shaped the world
C.3.1: Introduction
As an addendum to the concepts of globalisation that calls for the world to be
together, united in ideas, trade and economic activities, regionalism . To say that
regionalism some what resembles a mini globalisation albeit restricted to a certain
region would not be wrong. For instance when we take a look at the EU or the
ASEAN we may see that these two organisations are restricted to Europe and to
South east Asia. So the necessary q uestion comes here, as to why regionalism
matters and why do states offer to go into a regional bloc? What are the aims and
objectives of such blocs?
The first would be pooling in resources and sovereignty, sovereignty is the
decision making power of the states as they are free, independent and have the
right to take decisions and in international relations, states are considered to be
the most important aspect when it comes to decisions. The second factor is the
concept of poo ling in resources by which st ates take decisions on a shared basis
which will mutually benefit all and there would be a less risk of conflicts. Since
trade and commerce are no doubt contestable terms it would be better if states
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The aims an d objectives of such blocs depend, but mostly it is to do with improving economic conditions, or to promote a sense of friendship and brotherhood. Certain regional organisations also take the shape of defending
cultures and rel igious values such as the AU or the African Union and the OIC or
the Organisation of Islamic Countries. If we go even deeper, then the OAS or the
Organisation of American states try to form a pan -Americas identity. therefore
regionalism as a theory has var ious strands and justificatio ns which leads to the
creation of trade blocs to keep away ‘outsiders’ from achieving such benefits, or
to defend culture and identity and to also foster a sense of unity.
C.3.2: Conceptualising Regionalism
The rationale of fo rming regional associations is to bring about economic development by diminishing tariffs, allowing free mobility of goods and services.
Perhaps the most arduous mechanism to deal with the high influx of foreign made
goods is to impose tariffs in order to artificially increase their p rice compelling
the domestic consumers to opt for indigenously produced goods.
Due to the imposition of tariffs in form of excise, customs and other regulatory
taxes by one state retaliatory tariff are imposed as a counter -measure leading to
weakening of business and trade. Integration requires different units to come
together and form policies to achieve some common goals, which may be
political, economic or social in nature. Regional integration requires convergence
of inter ests, functioning democracies that are accountable to the people, and a
proper channel for dispute settlement. Apart from points of convergence, regional
integration cannot be restricted to only a political project as its dimensions are
greater. The idea i s to combine the capacities o f different states into a common
platform for a greater cause exceeding the magnitude of individual states.
In a highly competitive scenario, firms that focus on domestic production and
consumption tend to seek protectionist m easures whereas those who hav e
operations extended to other states tend to argue for free trade. In both these
cases, self -interest and profit maximisation are the key reasons for such bargains.
Nevertheless, in the present context sharp economic divisions between
production, origin o f production and export of commodities do not exist in
watertight compartments. Unlike the pre -World war era when self -sufficiency and
nationalist economic policies were the norm, in the increasing globalised world
the facets o f production has become diver se, de -localised where even a simple
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The imposition and removal of tariffs have become an arduous exercise due to the
fact that production firms, patterns, the procurement of materials and exports are
greatly interlinked with one another, where the imposition of tariffs may translate
into an indirect effect on other firms. Echoing the same argument national
interests are quite important in deciding over protectionist measu res, as due to
such domestic pressures states may choose to impose tariffs on foreign made
commodities to defend their national industries. However, in defending national
industries with protectionist, these states also turn to exploit foreign markets and
may be paid back in the same coin sparking off a tariff war.
Here, it is important to note that the will and power of the states is vital in forming regional organisations and deciding on issues pertaining to tariffs, custom duties and interlinkages betwe en states.
C.3.3: Regional Or ganisations : New Imperatives
The main thrust behind the formation of regional organisations is the will of the
states to pool in their resources in order to foster a modicum of understanding in
order to create regional associat ions. It is argued that state s are the main players
in fostering regional cooperation in the light of the theory of liberal inter -governmentalism. Since the states have the legitimacy and composes the collective functional interests of all the citizens, it is imperative for the state to
undertake such important decisions. one has to delve into the role of the states as
the main factor in forming regional organisations, and claims that states do not
engage in organised violence neither does it attempt to co erce other states to adapt
to its position in the international system. Rather, they engage in dialogues and
discussions which leads to trade -offs in terms of benefits and consequences in the
process of forming a regional organisation. Even though coercion is also an
option, rational choice is preferred by states. There was a widespread angst
against the concept of a stateless world, and scholars believed that the state
should have the primacy in making decisions especially in the context of regional
integr ation.
Considering the fact that all the economies of the world have different abilities, it
would be better if they would focus on the production and export of those
commodities which could be produced in an optimal way incurring the minimum
cost. Under the perfect circumstances all factors of production being constant, all
the economies of the world would benefit from such an arrangement and therefore
competition would be fair and free while the benefits would trickle down to the
lowest strata of the soc iety. However, the theory of rent only focuses on the munotes.in

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production capability suited to offer the consumers the optimum products at the
lowest price, but does not take into account an important fact that the consumers
are also producers at some point, and th erefore the closure of certai n industries
due to the theory of comparative advantage may actually cause an overall loss.
In the similar fashion, trade -off is the keyword that needs to be focussed on when
discussing the aspect of a particular set of states that gear up to abandon
protectionist measures, ensure trade liberalisation and engage in free trade with
more developed states, or with states having the similar economic parameters and
index. Developing this argument and considering that the rate of emp loyment,
production, export a nd import are constant then two elements decide the outcome
in the debate between free trade and protectionism which are the maximisation of
welfare by abandoning protectionism for free trade which translates into gains in
real income and gain in real inco me and any additional other benefits which the
state in question may achieve by changing from protectionism to free trade. If the
overall benefits do not surpass the initial cost of transposing from protectionism
to free trade in the long run then the deci sion could be termed as an economic
disaster.
The concept of regional integration a step forward placing that integration may
not always require a formal -legal apparatus and can also be left to the market
forces. The author com ments that during the rise of colonialism although there are
evidences to show that the colonial powers adjusted their economy to autarky,
trade existed between them to a great extent and as a result of which Great Britain
opened its trade with Prussia to a great extent, following whi ch Prussia started
trading more vigorously with its neighbours. While these two examples show that
there was no formal -legal mechanism involved there was a semblance of informal
integration as mutual dependence on each other wa s the order of the day. The t wo
World Wars that occurred during the intervening period again brought down trade
volumes to its lowest ebb whereas the post -War Europe again exhibited that the
nation states wished to trade once more. Even though conflicts ex isted during the
two wars, th e post war scenario revealed the quest for peace and rebuilding
Europe which only the states could deliver. As a result of which even though
there was a desire for a federalist vision of Europe, ironically the states took the
lead in the realisation of thi s dream. Even though commentaries are made on the
loss of power of the states especially in the post -World War era that does not
allow any other institution to take over the role of the state, as there is no other
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Apart from the economic desire to form regional organisations, it is also believed
that powerful states that experience a wane in their power over time try to form
region al associations with weaker s tates in order to continue a veneer of influence
and control, while on the other hand weaker states believe that it is in their best
interest to enter into a regional grouping with a powerful state for their own
benefit in orde r to obtain access to a large r and more potent market as well as get
a security cover. This idea negates the hegemonic stability theory which believes
that hegemonic powers have the tendency to put their own will over others in
order to maintain security a nd peace in a region. During the Cold War with the
growing threat of communism, the United States adopted strategies that could be considered undemocratic and unethical in toppling many popularly elected governments in Latin America in order to stem the ti de of communism and to
mainta in its dominance in its backyard.
However, with changing times and circumstances, powerful states also believe
that it is better to continue its dominance but with a rational touch. On a different
note the dichotomy between t he rational choice of states and the compulsion to
adapt such a choice in order to remain relevant. It is believed that with waning
power a state may choose to engage with others on a level playing field in order
to retain some of its earlier political and economic sheen. Rather than terming it
as a choice out of compulsion it is better known as adjustment to the new political
realities based on a rational choice.
In this accord economic benefit is still the mainstay for regional integration where
the stat es decide depending on the be nefits accrued from gains from trade,
common external tariffs, benefits from manufacturing and export as well as
capital investments and mobility. Other factors may include, specialisation in
particular products, weeding out u ncompetitive work units due t o free and fair
competition, technological advancement and transfer of technology, mobility of
labour, a common currency to reduce hidden and transaction costs due to the
monetary exchange value and finally, Foreign Direct Inve stments (FDI).
Wealthier and powerful states may wean out weaker states for beneficial free
trade agreements drawing them into a flux of alliances. Finally, apart from the
economic dimension, stress is also laid on common security, the desire to
integrat e on cultural, religious, lin guistic and ethnic.
Corollary to the argument placed from the previous economic models of autarky,
it is important to delve into the idea of free market capitalism as one of the
driving forces behind the idea of regional integr ation and free trade. While,
regionalism may not always be economic in nature but if it is considered to be
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associations. Contrary to that it is argued that free trade stimula tes production and
brings out the perfect sense of economic equilibrium where trade eroding costs
are eliminated, perfect competition is ensured, product efficiency and quality is
present and the customers are awarded with the optimum quality products and the
minimum prices. Therefore , regionalism and free trade should go hand in hand
for optimising costs and benefits and for actual welfare of the people. While
observing the effects of free trade and how it is invariably linked to regional trade
agreements, a state may experience decli ning terms of trade and a revenue shock
where the terms of trade are so unfavourable that to maintain the basic structure
of the economy becomes a huge burden. At this stage a state may choose to open
up the economy to foreign investment, may sell non -performing assets and may
look forward to liberalisation of trade and harmonisation of tariffs. As a last resort
the state in question is bound to liberalise economy. Of course, the author also
cautions that in dealing with a metam orphosis from a protectionist economy to a
free trade model the negotiation costs may be too high initially due to the shocks
that the nascent open economy may have to undergo.
Regional integration invariably links with political integration as well. It i s both a
process as well as a result where independent organisms or states decide to
embark upon a journey to integrate their economies and societies to form a larger
union. There are debates about what could be claimed as a successful regional
integration venture, but certain key obj ectives that need to be fulfilled for the
same. It is quite clear that regional integration does not limit itself only to
economic activities as in turn these very economic activities are regulated by the
state. Hence, loyaltie s, political and economic activities tend to achieve transnational status with the present order being subjugated by a new order, with
the power to make decisions being shifted to a supranational authority. It is also
presumed that political integration is a part of regional integrati on but not in the
critical sense as it may be optional. Hence, regional integration can be limited
only to the economic sector and there may be no need for it to transcend into the
political sector. In this sense regional integ ration would take the shape o f political
entities entering into some sort of a mutual agreement in order to accomplish
certain tasks for the betterment of their economies and society without engaging
in political unity. Even though there are aspects of re gional integration such as
the rational choice of all the actors, the desire to seek integration pertaining to the
levels and the quest for peace, it is ultimately the states who have the formal -legal
and moral authority to decide on such matters.
There a re inherent difficulties with the description of the term integration as well.
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that would look after the interests of all the concerned members, whereas it could
also mean that o ne of the states would take u p the role of being an agreeable
leader and guide the rest through its benevolent hegemony. For economists, the
mere fact that states all across the globe have varied economic interests in one
another leading to trade and flow of labour is also a sign of i ntegration. The difficulty arises due to the fact that there is no specific definition of what integration is. For instance, the presence of international rules and supranational
bodies such as the United Nations and its subsid iary bodies can be seen as a form
of integration. However, this kind of a body is largely based on the consent of the
member states where if needed states have rebelled against the diktats of such
supranational organisations therefore deriding the idea of integration. Scholars
have er red in differentiating between regional integration and the voluntary loss
of sovereignty which carries a negative connotation with it. The very notion of
regional integration offers a picture where states choose to dilute thei r sovereign
powers, but state s do not wish to lose their sovereign powers, rather they arrive at
a common decision where the dilution of sovereignty is mutually agreeable to all.
To add to it, scholars who believe that only states have the capacity of deci ding
on critical matters tend to forget the role of institutions and the society. In
theorising, studies related to regional integration based on the dominance of the
European Union scholars have erred that a region may also extend to sub -national
or even to cross border areas devoid of the uniformity of the European Union. The rationale of forming regional associations is to bring about economic development by diminishing tariffs, allowing free and mobility of goods and
services. The main thrust behind for ming regional organisations i s the will of the
states to pool in their resources in order to foster economic development. States
are the main players in fostering regional cooperation according to the theory of
Inter -governmentalism. It was the desire to maintain balance of power tha t led to
regional cooperation. In this regard, Andrew Moravcsik’s theory of liberal Inter -
governmentalism claims that the states focus on their own national interests to
achieve a point of common understanding in order to form an association states
are bes towed with the power of making decisions and negotiations they foment
regional integration initiatives.
Neo-functionalist ’s argument stating that member st ates would delegate their
powers to supra -national institutions . The sta te would retreat from its pos ition of
dominance and echoes the idea that cooperation in one sector would lead to
another akin to a spill -over effect. Neo -functionalism focuses on finding out
solutions for problems on one hand, and harmonising territorial r elations by
means of supra -national agencies on the other hand. Neo -functionalists agreed, munotes.in

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that the main demand for an economic makeover and advancement is made by
society and all its components without direct political interference. Although
there is a ge neral agreement among Neo -functionalists that society is the key to
foster regional integration, it is the political will of the states and the bureaucracy
to channelize the demands and foster regional integration, which otherwise would
just be rooted as a n idea. Therefore, unlike Int er-governmentalism, Neo -
functionalism focuses on the society and the demands generated therein rather
than in the state.
Disagreeing with the opinion that spill -over will lead to cooperation from one
sector to another, states g uard their sovereignty jealou sly and undermine all
attempts to supersede their sovereign decision making power. States may disagree
on various issues such as import subsidy, dumping and inability to protect state
owned industries and sectors. In this regar d for achieving economic welf are, all
the states must act on the basis of equal treatment of all, even then it is difficult
considering that all the member states do not have the same capacity to harmonise
trade relations.
Neo-functionalism does not defin e the role of the society in a comprehensible
manner. Issues such as creation and channelization of demands, the role of the
non-state actors and the spill -over effect are simply left open. This uncertainty of
Neo-functionalism has been criticised. In ord er to pursue integration the states
would have to give up certain rights and privileges and delegate their authority to
a supra -national body. This feature is based on the concept of acquis
communautaire , or the acceptance of supra -national legislation. In Latin America,
this would di rectly translate to an acceptance of the Washington Consensus. This would further lead to streamlining and harmonising of the economy and acceptance of American values and trade ethics such as liberalisation of the
economy, rem oval of subsidies, and import of finished products, tax reform,
exchange rate adjustment and privatisation.
One of the major errors that is frequented by scholars is that economic demands
alone will lead to regional integration. National firms are import ant for the
gestation of dema nds, the key to it lies with the political actors. Many states have
apprehensions about joining a regional organisation due to the incurring costs and
concessions required. The effect of regionalism and regional integration va ries
from place to place. Whi le the EU and the ASEAN have been quite successful in
nature others such as the SAFTA (the free trade agreement associated with the
SAARC) are considered to be quite unsuccessful due to political disagreements.
Overall, regiona l integration to some extent have caused weakening of the states
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115Chapter 3: International Political Economy and Globalization
economic freedom but also have to sacrifice on many occasions. Picture it this
way, the United Kingdom exited the EU which is known as Bre xit, now this gives
the UK more freedom to do business in their own way without having to bother
about the other European states but on the other hand the benefits which they
received from the EU is also gone. In Central Americ a one of the major reasons
for the collapse of the CACM was the fact that the states could not agree on many
aspects such as migration, the diversion of labour and capital and also on the
various standards applied. This resulted in a lot of difficulties in their system
which later on led to its collapse. However on the good side, regional integration
has allowed many states to come together successfully for instance in the EU it is
possible to travel all across the member states using the Schengen visa, to find
work and engage in business everywhere within the EU without facing discrimination. It has also enabled the members to have a common external tariff
to protect the markets within the EU and has also standardised quite a lot of
norms and functionalitie s.
If we see the world today through the lenses of regionalism, then there are
overlapping regional organisations all over the worl d
C.3.4: Conclusion
While regionalism may be an issue for many scholars and there are quite a lot of
debates over it, the fact is that regionalism is her e to stay and states will come
together in order to form regional integration and to ensure better functionality.
Of course certain organisations do have the willingness to organise on the basis of
religion or culture, however most of these organisations a re economic in nature.
The key theories try to explain this phenomenon quite suitably and again there are
contestations. Ce rtain factors such as the willingness of the states to integrate,
fear of being overwhelmed by powerful states, lopsided development and also
cultural clashes are certain concerns. Now for instance if one looks at the UK and
its Brexit it seems that the UK which actually desperately wanted to be a part of
the EU now exited it which is surprising. On the other hand if one sees the
exampl e of the DR -CAFTA it seems that the Central American states along with
the USA, decided to enter into a regional organisati on which speaks volumes that
always the power of the states and economic disparity do not matter when it
comes to regional integratio n. As a verdict, it is fairly impossible to offer a clear
cut verdict on the prospects of regional integration. It has to be seen in a more
holistic way where in certain regions it has become successful whereas in other
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116APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Check Your Prog ress Exercise
Note: i) Use the space given below for your answer.
1) Mention a few pre -requisite for a successful regiona l integration model.
………………………………………………………………………………… ...…
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2) Mention the concept of pooling of resources and sovereignty.
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3) Mention a reason by which a regional organisation may fail.
………………………………………………………………………………… ...…
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117Chapter 3: International Political Economy and Globalization
B.3.6: References
Scharpf, Fritz W. (1997), “Economic integration, democracy and the welfare
state”, Journalof European Public Policy, 4(1), 18 -36. McGowan, Lee (2007), “Theorising European Integration: revisiting Neofunctionalism andtesting its suitability for explaining the development of EC
competition policy? EuropeanIntegration online Papers, 2 -17. Mattli, Walter (2000), “Sovereignty Bargains in Regional Integration”, International StudiesReview, 2(2):149 -180.
Mattli, Walter (1 999), “Explaining regional integration outcomes”, Journal of
EuropeanPublic Policy, 6(1): 1 -27.
Koné, Saif (2012), “Is Econ omic Integration Between Developing Countries a
SingularProcess?” Journal of Economic Integration, 27(3): 386 -409.
Gehring, Thomas (1996), “Integrating Integration Theory: Neofunctionalism andInternational Regimes”, Global Society, 10(3):225 -253.
Wunderlic h, J. W. (2007), Regionalism, Globalization and International Order:
Europe and Southeast Asia , Hampshire: Ashgate Publishing Limited .
Wilfred, E. J. (1998), “The New Regionalism”, the Economic Journal , 108(449):
1149 -1161.
Velde, D. (2011), “Regional Inte gration, Growth and Convergence”, Journal of
Economic Integration , 26(1): 1 -28.
Väyrynen, R. (2003), “Regionalism: Old and New”, International Studies Review ,
5(1): 25 -51.
Schiff, M., & Winters, A. (1998), “Regional Integration as Diplomacy”, The
World Ban k Economic Review , 12(2): 271 -295.
Rosecrance, R. (1991), “Regionalism and the Post: Cold War Era”, International
Journal , 46(3): 373 -393.
Pedersen, T. (2002), “Cooperative Hegemony: Power, Ideas and Institutions in
Regional Integration”, Review of Interna tional Studies , 28(4): 677 -696.
Pentland, C. (1973), International Theory and European Integration , London:
Faber and Faber.
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118APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Module -4
4 ISSUES IN HUMAN SECURITY
Unit Structure
(A) Poverty, Development, Environment
A.4.0: Objective
A.4.1: Poverty: Introduction
A.4.2: Imperialism , Poverty and Development
A.4.3: Aid and Debt: New Imperialism?
A.4.4: Development: Introduction
A.4.5: Challenges of Development
A.4.6: Environment: Introduction
A.4.7: Climate Change – Endangered Future
A.4.8: Environment and Security
A.4.9: References
A.4.0: Objective
The objective of this module is to familiarize students with the issues and
problems of poverty, development and environment in international relations .
After studying this module, you should be able to:
• To inculcate an understanding of the menace of Poverty and the understanding of the post World War II measures in the context of poverty
Eradication .
• To make the students comprehend the nitty gritty of the concept of Development.
• To make the students come to terms with the fundamentals of Environmental concerns and the au currant tide of Climate Change negotiations
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119Chapter 4: ssues in Human Security
A.4.1: Poverty: Introduction
With th e international system being divided into the segments of a threesome, the
Poverty busters, that is, the Regime of the day needs to be upfront and efficient
about this poverty eradication. Also, the three segments which the United Nations
adhere to be of t he order of Developed nations, developing nations and finally the
scourge of LDC,s which happen to be the Least Developed nations mostly in the
African and South American continents. This demarcation and the segmentation
is followed and adhered to also in the larger context of Aid diplomacy. The sphere of Aid diplomacy went ahead and made the aid receiving nations dependent upon their western developed nations which initiated a centre -
periphery 12 syntax of a relationship between these nations with divergen tly
different resources.
Related to the narrative of poverty eradication is another entity and concept
termed as Development. As a nation becomes independent and attempts to arise
and wake u p after a long slumber of Imperialism and Colonialism, its infras tructure, educational system and Health apparatus, along with the larger
idiom of roads, railways, access to hygiene and safe water, etc happen to become
the benchmarks of development and growth in a nation once the Colonially
oppressive and exploitative b uttressing and albatross is removed and unhinged
from the shoulder girdles of that newly free and independent nation state.
A.4.2: Imperialism Poverty and Development
Poverty is a menace which needs to be tackled Government wise and Regimentally with an a stute welfarist scheme of welfare schemes initiated by the
Regime of the day. In order to uplift the citizens who are penury stricken and
subsist under the poverty line and mass impoverishment, have to be lifted up
through the Delhi denomination in cohort with the Government of the various and
myriad states. India was traditionally referred to as the Golden bird as the myriad
empires and Hindu kingdoms traded with the West Asian and the South East
Asian nations and earned pelf and royal glory for themselves .
But, it was the repeated invasions by the Sultanates, Moguls and the final
treachery and deceit of the British colonial rule in the Indian hinterland that, the
national treasures were looted and Bhatarvarsha fell from the state of being rich
and prosper ous to being impoverished, looted and economically stricken.

1 Ronald H. Chilcote, ed. The Political Economy of Imperialism: Crit ical Appraisals. Lanham and
New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2000. viii + 261 pp. $28.95 (paper)
2Ibid munotes.in

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120APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
One can refer to the Book written by Dada Bhai Naoriji, “Poverty and Un British
Rule in India.” This very expansively ruminates upon the fundamentals of how
the British rule led to the fall from riches for the Indian people and the various
states and Rajwadas.
Chilcote, the Centre periphery theoretician, writes that, “For those of us who feel
increasing unease at the apparently unstoppable forward march of globalization
and the triumphalism disco urse of its advocates, this book, a collection of essays
on the political economy of imperialism, approximates the role of the proverbial
little boy who recognizes that the emperor is indeed naked. It consists of ten
essays by well -known political scientis ts and economists who have devoted much of their careers to the study of imperialism and (capitalist) economic development, and who are currently discovering and chronicling the continuities
of both as they emerge as the new exploitative synthesis --globali zation.”3
Chilcote's inspiration to compile and publish this volume was a graduate seminar
on the political economy of imperialism that he has been teaching at the
University of California at Riverside since 1990, one that has given rise to other
publicati ons that this volume complements.4 It is not the publication of the
proceedings of a conference, even though it has that format; rather, it most
approximates a published set of course readings.5
This volume, as Chilcote states, has as its point of departur e the "fundamental
premise that capitalism in its evolving and consolidated forms underlies questions
and theories of imperialism and development" . It assumes that the basis for a
coherent theory of imperialism and development can be traced back to such
classical writers on political economy as Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and, of
course, Karl Marx. Although some of the authors claim that the diffusion of
capitalism throughout the world had positive and not simply negative, effects, and
the negative view pred ominates along with the very strong suggestion that
globalization is the highest stage of imperialism. Prof. Praveen Jha writes in his article “ Causes of poverty in developing countries” “Although the fact of persistent mass poverty in developing countri es
is a stark one, investigations into its causation as well as policy initiatives to
remedy/eliminate it have often led to highly controversial arguments ”.

3 Ibid 1
4 Particularly Imperialism: Theoretical Directions (Amherst: Humanity Press, 2000); and the
chapter, "Theories of Imperialism", in Theories of Comparative Political Economy , ed. Ronald
Chilcote (Boulder: Westview Press, 2000).
5 Ibid munotes.in

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121Chapter 4: ssues in Human Security
During the economic reform, there has been a substantial increase of poverty in
many low -income co untries, and some of the increase may be on account of the
neoliberal economic policies that have been on the ascendancy worldwide. Not
only the Third World, but also some of the leading advanced industrialized
economies have witnessed increased poverty , and often substantial increases in
inequality during the last couple of decades, giving a severe jolt to the complacent
conventional wisdom which suggested that, after a certain stage in their development, countries gradually grow out of poverty.
As regard s countries belonging to the erstwhile so -called socialist bloc, for many
of them, including Russia, the dramatic descent into poverty for millions of
families since the early 1990s is well -known, and this again has some clear
organic linkages with neolibe ral economic policies. Thus it is quite clear that in
several regions of the world recent trends relating to poverty, both in the absolute
and in the relative sense, are far from encouraging, and the global total of the
number of poor (even if defined in the narrow sense mentioned earlier) may have
increased at least marginally during the last decade and a half. This position states
that nineteenth -century European imperialism, directed at the Third World (particularly India undergoing British conquest and consolidation), was largely a
progressive force, for it served to break down the perceived immobility of feudal
and pre -capitalist modes of production and to force the societies in question into
the capitalist world economy.
A.4.3: Aid and D ebt: New Imperi alism?
Nations like China, Russia and United States have always utilized the instrument
of Food aid and other genres of dole outs with intent to keep the receptacle
nations dependent on the central provider nation state. Also, the stratagem of Aid
diplomac y, initiated through the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan initiated by
the United States in the aftermath of the World War II came to stay in the geo
economics of Europe and later on the larger world reflected by the receptacle
nation states in the povert y ridden states of Asia and Africa. The Marshall Plan
initiated by the United States of America in a post World War II scenario can be
surmised as below.
A renowned American history portal reminds us and enumerates that , “In the
immediate post -World War I I period, Europe remained ravaged by war and thus
susceptible to exploitation by an internal and external Communist threat. In a
June 5, 1947, speech to the graduating class at Harvard University, Secretary of
State George C. Marshall issued a call for a c omprehensive program to rebuild munotes.in

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122APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONSEurope. Fanned by the fear of Communist expansion and the rapid deterioration of European economies in the winter of 1946 –1947, Congress passed the Economic Cooperation Act in March 1948 and approved funding that would
event ually rise to over $12 billion for the rebuilding of Western Europe.”6
The US History portal further informs us that, “Thus the Marshall Plan was
applied solely to Western Europe, precluding any measure of Soviet Bloc cooperation. Increasingly, the economi c revival of Western Europe, especially
West Germany, was viewed suspiciously in Moscow. Economic historians have
debated the precise impact of the Marshall Plan on Western Europe, but these
differing opinions do not detract from the fact that the Marshall Plan has been
recognized as a great humanitarian effort. Secretary of State Marshall became the
only general ever to receive a Nobel Prize for peace.
The Marshall Plan also institutionalized and legitimized the concept of U.S.
foreign aid programs, which have become an integral part of U.S. foreign
policy.”7 Thus, it was deft and strategically safe and effective initiation of the
American nation and its leaders to lift the European counterparts out of war losses
and damages caused by the violent and dead ly conflict which nearly engulfed the
entire international system with US being a slight exception to the rule.
Thus, the war have impoverishment heaped on the international comity of states
had to be countered which began with the poverty eradication and equity
enhancing instrumentalities of the order of World Trade organization and the
International Monetary fund. Thus, power engenders the spread of resource
richness and heady and gainful pelf and prosperity as one can discern the tirade of
the plight of the nations of the order of Great Britain, France, Scandinavian and
other player states in Europe as they geo - economically hobbled on from a Allied
victory.








6 The Marshall plan https://history.stat e.gov/milestones/1945 -1952/marshall -plan ( Online: Web),
Accessed on 10 May, 2021
7 Ibid 1 munotes.in

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123Chapter 4: ssues in Human Security
Check Your Progress Exercise -1
Note: i) Use the space given below for your answer.
1) Can your drive the connection between Imperialism and Development?
Kindly Elaborate
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A.4.4: Development: Introduction
The centre periphery theoretical construct initiated by the scholar of the order of
Chilcote sheds prominent and usef ul light upon the idiom of Development in the
international context. As an instance, the central theme of Development is home
to being the central agenda of governance in the regular domestic narrative of the
nations, the world over. Development ranges fro m the Maglev trains crossing
China in Tianjin and the rotting accelerator in a Bethseda metro station which
reflects the rise of china and the infrastructural challenges faced by United States
of America.
The term has been used frequently in the last centu ry and in 21st centuries too, but the concept has existed in the West for far longer. Modernization, Westernization and especially Industrialization are other terms often used while
discussing economic development. Historically, economic development polici es focused on industrialization and infrastructure, but since the 1960s, it has increasingly focused on poverty reduction.
Development has always been a high octane issue which has initiated interest
among the Politicians, Bureaucrats and the academics ali ke. The thir d world
nations and the LDC’s ( Least Developed nations) are the benchmark over here
whose catching up trail with the first world connotes the central pace of the theme
of development. Development can also be defined as the new change in the
developing and transforming situation and scenario. In the economic study of the
public sector, economic and social development is the process by which the
economic well being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or
an individual are impr oved according to targeted goals and objectives.8

8 T Schultz , John Strauss, “Handbook of Developmental Economics,” Elsevier, 2016 munotes.in

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124APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
A.4.5: Challenges of Development
The visage and the contours of development can be best accommodated by the
larger idiom of modernization, Urbanization and industrialization which pave the
way for bettering the standard of living of the citizens in a nation state and amidst
its hoi po lloi and the general citizenry. Apart from the realm of development economics, the larger and novae tenet of growth, GDP can be further comprehended in the larger idiom of freed om. The questions which normatively
arise are that are the growth and modernization indicators in a nation’s society
leading to freedom of expression and a life pattern premised upon egalitarianism
and equity.
• Hunger:
Billions of people across the globe l ive in squalid conditions of hunger,
disease, and desperation. This pandemic poverty represents the world's most
pernicious and deadly scourge. Yet for the privileged minority, the horrors of
poverty seem to be a natural, inevitable part of the geopolitica l landscape. Leaders in the developed world profess their commitment to "poverty eradication," but none are willing to address the systemic causes of poverty.
Furthermore, the political and corporate elites at the helm of the world
economy have a powerful interest in maintaining the economic status quo.
Multilateral institutions devoted to "development" overwhelmingly adhere to
neoliberal growth oriented strategies of capital accumulation, privatization,
and investment. These institutions, including the Wor ld Bank, consistently
ignore evidence that growth does not necessarily alleviate poverty and may, in
fact, exacerbate it. Many concerned NGOs promote small -scale social development programs in poor countries, but as long as systemic economic
and social pol icies continue to favor the rich, global poverty will remain a
stark reality for the majority of people in the world.
• Health :
Health experts, economists and international development advocates cite the
inextricable link between poor health, poverty and und er-development. Global health has increasingly moved to the forefront of the international development agenda since the UN Secretary General commissioned the
Millennium Project in 2002. HIV/AIDS remains a major problem, with 38.6
million infected people wo rldwide according to UNAIDS. Other pressing issues especially in the global south include malaria, tuberculosis, and reproductive health. These challenges are exacerbated by hunger, unclean munotes.in

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125Chapter 4: ssues in Human Security
water, and lack of sanitation, each of which make humans more susc eptible to
disease. Inadequate health standards cause suffering not only for individuals
but can also lead to conflict and social unrest. Bacteria grow increasingly resistant to antibiotics, so diseases and their carriers adapt to measures intended to impe de their spread. Furthermore, new and emerging diseases such as avian flu and SARS threaten to travel quickly across borders, affecting the rich as well as the poor worldwide. This page addresses the
manner that the cycle of poverty, health and development affects political,
social, and economic issues on a global scale.
Loss of livelihood is a developmental parameter where -in, the theme of glaring
income disparity between population segments of a given nation lead to new
analysis and assessment of the deve lopmental parameters of that specific society
and the larger nation on the whole. Angus Deaton contends that, “Does income
inequality lead to higher mortality rates? Several researchers have found such a
link, leading one study to conclude that the loss of life owing to income inequality
is “comparable to the combined loss of life from lung cancer, diabetes, motor
vehicle crashes, HIV infection, suicide and homicide in 1995” (Lynch, Kaplan, &
Pamuck, 1998). Little co relation has been found as part of evide nce that income inequality directly affects mortality. Using data on U.S. states and 287 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) in 1980 and 1990, they find, rather, that
the correlation between inequality and mortality is confounded by the racial
compositio n of cities and states.”9
Check Your Progress Exercise -2
Note: i) Use the space given below for your answer.
1.) What do you understand by the notion of Development in the international context?
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9 Angus Deaton, Darren Lubosky, “ Mortality, Income Ineqaulity and race in Americ a, “
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126APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
A.4.6: Environment: Introd uction
Since the 1950’s in the aftermath of the Whaling Commissions, the process of
environmental and Climate change diplomacy gained ground in the form of the
Stockholm Conference in 1971. As an aftermath, with the milestones of the order
of the Earth Sum mit in Rio, the days of the Brundtland Report and the inception
of IPCC in the nineties, the COP mechanism, (Conference of Parties) took off which resulted in the Climate change confrontations of the, Copenhagen conference, Kyoto Protocol and the Paris con ference. The question that finds
interest happens to be that of how India has responded and participated to the
challenges of Climate change. The Air Act and the Water Act of the eighties is an
indicator of the challenges of pollution and the related dictu m of Climate change.
India as in since the last couple of decades has become an active negotiating side
in the realm of climate change. PM Dr. Manmohan Singh crystallized the nation’s
Climate Action Plan. India has always as a negotiating force, pinpointed about the
twin issues of the order of: sharing of resources, technology and funds for adaptation by the first world powers to the developing nations and the universality of the Global commons under the Go Green dictum of the international geo economics.
A.4.7: Climate Change – Endangered Future
Daniel Bodansky writes that, “The development of the climate change regime in
the late 1980s and early 1990s rode a wave of environmental activity, which
began in 1987 with the discovery of the stratospheric “ozone hole” and the
publication of the Brundtland Commission report, Our Common Future (World
Commission on Environment and Development, 1987), and crested at the 1992
United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio
de Janeiro.” The auth or further informs us that, “An earlier wave of international
environmental activity, culminating in the 1972 Stockholm Conference and the
establishment several years later of the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP), had tended to focus on local, a cute, and relativel y reversible forms of
pollution for example, oil spills and dumping of 10hazardous wastes at sea by
regulating particular pollutants. The more recent cycle of environmental activity
has concerned longer -term, irreversible, global threats, such as depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer, loss of biological diversity, and greenhouse warming.”11

10 Daneil Brodansky, “ The History of Global Climate Change Regime,” The MIT Press, London,
2018
11 Ibid munotes.in

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127Chapter 4: ssues in Human Security
Since the times of the Stockholm Accord on Climate change, an international
Regime of the order of the global cooperation and the gradual internati onal organization of the Climate Change regime and the attendant ameliorative measures happens to be the order of the day. Since then, the Conferences of
Parties or the COPs have taken over the larger narrative and practice of Climate
Change. In Internatio nal Relations, the second greatest battle which is being
fought happens to be that of great and general discord between the Developing
and the Developed nation states in the larger international system.
The biggest battles are being fought in the corridor s of World Bank and the
International Monetary Fund with the second most onuses going to the larger idiom of Climate change through the iterative COPSs. Thus, we reach a framework in Global political economy and International relations which mentions and c onno tes the larger perspective of a Regime as mentioned by
Robert Keohane and other International relations adherents.
The mainstay fracas in the realm of the Climate change realm and the attendant
negotiations happens to be that of adaptation and mitigati on w ith technology and
green tech. transfers being the bone of contention apart from the funding support base to the third world nations. Thus, in a manner, the thaw between the developing nations and the First world states has never been reached and in a
way, this disagreement over the process and function of how to attain a global
consensus on climate mitigation and adaptation needs to be sorted out first, in line
with a global consensus so that the burden sharing occurs between the developed
world and no t too many tangible concerns are placed upon the mantle of Environmental concerns.
As an instance or a case study perspective, one can approach the theme of
Climate change through the details and deliberations upon the Climate Change
protocol of the Kyoto system of climate change deals. “The Kyoto Protocol
defines rights to future emissions levels by countries. By so doing, it defines a
new kind of good in the form of rights to emit greenhouse gases and then
determines initial allocations. The previous sect ions have discussed the equity
implications of adopting one criterion rather than another to determine this initial
distribution. Property regimes define not only the nature of the entitlements but
regulate the transfer either across space, in this case be twee n countries, or through
time, as in inheritance rules. Thus the Kyoto Protocol also had to consider under
what conditions rights could be reallocated or transferred. Elaboration of trading
rules addressed precisely this problem.”12

12 Bodansky, Daniel M. 1995. The Emerging Climate Change Regime. Annual Revie w of Energy
and Environment 20:425 –461. munotes.in

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128APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
It can be further app ende d that, “There has also been considerable study of the
implications of various rules of exchange, and these are as closely tied to equity
considerations as the initial allocation itself.
Spritz writes that, “The Montreal Protocol controls specific ch emic al substances, starting with a smaller set in 1987 and enlarging the range of controlled substances and often accelerating the time frame for phasing them out. Since
developing countries would potentially offset the advances made by industrialized
coun tries in phasing out ozone -depleting substances (ODS), a Multilateral Fund (MLF) was created to channel financial assistance to developing countries. Decisions within the ozone regime are taken by two -third majorities and in the
case of the MLF by a double qualified majority vote that is, two -thirds of
developing and two -thirds of developed countries have to agree to decisions.”13
He further elaborates that, “Furthermore, developing countries are generally
granted a ten -year delay as compared to industrializ ed countries in implementing
mitigation measures. To limit non -participant countries’ chances of undermining
the global treaty, trade in controlled substances with non -parties counts toward
the consumption of the exporting country after an initial starting period. Further
innovations include provisions that adjustments of already -controlled substances
can be made by a two -thirds majority plus more than 50 percent of total
consumption (Montreal Protocol, Art. 2(9)).”14
• Carbon Trading : Carbon trading though in a related context is a matter of
great global concern. What nations do is that they carbon trade as in let’s
assume that Russia dirties some air with CO2 emissions and they do not
have the technology to clean it which is its international responsibility.
Then , what happens? It can be contended that in such a stifling trade
scenario, Russia sells of its carbon deficit along with the fact that United
States of America might buy these climate change liabilities from the
Russians and take upon their well funde d an d technologically advanced
sturdy green shoulders to clean the dirty burden of the Russian furnace of
industries and citizenry consumption.
A.4.8: Environment and Security
Climate change is related to the concerns of world peace and stolidity and
peacenik concerns of the international comity of nations whether they might be
the developed nations and the developing nation states. It has been informed that,

13 Sprinz, Detlef. 1992. Why Countries Support International Environmental Agreements: The
Regulation of Acid Rain in Europe. Ph.D. dissertation. Ann Arbor: Department of Political
Science, University of Michigan.
14 Ibid munotes.in

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129Chapter 4: ssues in Human Security
“The idea that a warming planet threatens stability around the globe is not a new
one. The U.S. N aval War College began studying the topic as early as the late
1980s, and over the past three decades a steady stream of analyses from the U.S.
Defense Department, private think tanks, and other organizations have pointed to
threats that climate change pos es to peace and stability. Climate change is rarely
viewed as a direct cause of instability and conflict, but experts generally regard it
as a “threat multiplier”15 a phenomenon that can worsen or exacerbate other
sources of instability and conflict, such a s competition for natural resources and
ethnic tensions.” Though not directly related to armed conflict and insurgency,
Environmental themes do raise a few themes of consternation and future conflict
between nations and MNC interests as the oligopoly of th e fight for Global
commons such as in the Arctic and Antarctica are pointers in the direction of the
future turn and twist of events..
Global environmental and ecological degradation, as well as climate change, are
likely to fuel competition for resources, economic distress, and social discontent
through 2019 and beyond. Climate hazards such as extreme weather, higher
temperatures, droughts, floods, wildfires, storms, sea -level rise, soil degradation,
and acidifying oceans are intensifying, threatening infr astructure, health, and
water and fo od security. Extreme weather events, worsened by accelerated sea -
level rise, will hit some areas particularly hard including South Asia, Southeast
Asia, and the Western Hemisphere. Water and food insecurity made worse b y
heat waves, droughts, and floods are already increasing the risk of conflict in
Egypt, Ethiopia, Iraq, and Jordan, according to the report.”16
Thus, Climate Change is directly related to the notions of political violence,
insurgency or cross border confl ict as the race for usurpation of natural resources
despite the dictum of common heritage of mankind and “commons theology”
needs to be upended as one of the core trials by the balance of peace and stability
in the global firmament. The ICJ is replete with incidents, where -in, the conflict
over continental shelfs and maritime resources and routes of trade and commerce
already hinder the congeniality of the global or regional maritime space . Also, as
an attendant concluding remark, the sequencing of the hist ory of the climate
change negotiations needs to be the order of the day for the students at a post
graduation level and the backgrounder available to the students as an substratum
of the order of “ Global commons” and the “ Common heritage of the mankind”
can be earmarked as the staple ingredients of Environmental and climate change
concerns.

15 Climate Change and National Securit y https://yaleclimateconnections.or g/2019/07/a -brief -
introduction -to-climate -change -and-national -security/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIl4 -
V0Z6r8QIVlDArCh2oNAwtEAAYASAAEgJlGfD_BwE ( Online: Web), Accessed on June 10,
2021
16 Ibid munotes.in

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130APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Check Your Progress Exercise -3
Note: i) Use the space given below for your answer.
1.) How is the notion of Climate change descriptive of the understanding of
Natura l law?
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A.4.9: References
Allen, Tim and Allen Thomas (2000),“Poverty and Development in the 21st
century,” Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Chari, Sharad and Stuart Cambridge (2008 ),“The Development Reader,” London:
Routledg e.
Chilcote, Ronald H. (2000), “The Political Economy of Imperialism: Critical
Appraisals”. Lanham and New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Dessler, Andrew.E (2019), “ The Sc ience and Politics of Global Climate Change,” Los Angles: CUP Emseley, Emri (2019), “The Global Warming Debate: The Report of the European Science and Environment Forum, ”European Science and Environment
Forum munotes.in

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131Chapter 4: ssues in Human Security
Freidman, Thomas L. (2008 ), “Hot, Flat, and Cr owded : Why We Need a Green
Revolution – and How It Can Renew America,” New York: Ferrar, Strauss and
Giroux.
Ramesh, Mridula (2018),“ The Climate Solution: What we can do about it,” New
Delhi Hachette.
Rist, Gilbert (2002), “The History of Development: West ern O rigins to Global
Faith,” London: Zed Books
Sainath, Palagummi (2000) “Everybody Loves A Good Drought: Stories
From India’s Poorest Districts”, New Delhi: Penguin. Schumacher, Ernest (2019), “Small is Beautiful: Econo0mics as if People Mattered,” New Delhi : Penguin.
Schwartzman, Peter (2018), “ The Earth is not for sale: A Path out of Fossil
Capitalism,” Singapore: World Scientific Publishing.
Singer, S Fred (1989), “Global Climate Change: Human and Natural Influences,” New York: Paragon House.
Yunus, Muha mmad (2014) , “ Banker of the Poor”, London: Aurum Press














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132APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
(B) Human Rights, Humanitarian Intervention
B.4.0: Objective
B.4.1: Introduction
B.4.2: History of Human Rights
B.4.3: Natural Rights as Human Rights
B.4.4: Humanitarian Interventions
B.4.5: Concl usion
B.4.6 : References
B.4.0: Objective
The objective of this module is to familiarize students with the concept and challenges of human rights and humanitarian intervention in international relations. After studying this module, you should be able:
• To in culcate an understanding of natural rights and their correlation with
Human rights.
• To inculcate an awareness and initiate learning about the declaration of
Human rights and the American declaration of Independence.
B.4.1: Introduction
Since the hallowed a nd hoary past of the Social contract theorists of the order of
Thomas Hobbes and John Locke along with Jean Jacques Rousseau, the myriad
narratives of human rights of the citizenry have been flagged by both the western
and non western Political thinkers. I n a ma nner, the advocates of social contract ,
contend that the once the rights of happiness, life , liberty and property have been
lent to the citizens of the nations, then the duty of protection and sustenance lies
with the Regime or the leader / King of t he day. This was thus postulated by the
Social Contract theorist, John Locke in the twilight era of liberalism. In a manner
the challenges to the Open societies and its enemies as postulated by Karl Pauper,
rule the roost, where -in, the tyrants and the the orists pummel the national
population. In a way, the fundamental rights have been ably and objectively
enumerated through the postulates of the American Declaration of Independence
along with the French declaration in the context of the French r evolution. The
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) passed in 1948 and the
International covenant of civil and Political rights (ICCPR) along with convention
for ending discrimination against women (CEDAW) , have become the order of
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133Chapter 4: ssues in Human Security
Also, in the context of the Indian constitution, the various Directives of State
Policy and fundamental rights have been echoed repeatedly since the liberal age
of the Renaissance and Reformation in the mid dle ages in Europe.
B.4.2: History of Human Rights
In the immediate aftermath of the World War II, the Colonial and Imperialistic
hegemony of the First world conquistadors was greatly lessened by statues such
as the, United Nations General Asse mbly resolu tion of the Freedom of the
Colonised people and it ran parallel with the anti -apartheid movement in the
world in the context of the Asian -African countries.
The human rights narratives right from the beginning of the UDHR as understood
by the l arger group of nations and humanity in general. The larger context ha s
been brought forth by the UDH R as an aftermath of World War-II where –in, the
often invocation of UDH R now places as part of custom in the larger trajectory of
International Law. A web source info rms us that, i n 1948 the United Nations
General Assembly adopted the UDHR. This was the first time that countries
agreed on a comprehensive stateme nt of inalienable human rights.
The UDHR is not a treaty, so it does not directly create legal obligations fo r States. The Declaration has however, had a profound influence on the development of international human rights law. It is argued that because States
have constantly invoked the Declaration over more than 50 years, it has become
binding as a pa rt of custo mary international law. On the same day that it adopted
the UDHR, the United Nations General Assembly asked its Commission on
Human Rights to draft a covenant on human rights, which could become a
binding treaty. After six years of drafting and debate, in 1952 the General
Assembly requested that the Commission on Human Rights draft two covenants
rather than one.
The covenants, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and
the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rig hts were op ened
for signature in 1966 and entered into force in 1976.”17Thus, it’s a customary
International law in the contemporary context, where -in, the larger good of the oppressed populations, the world over are to be looked in decisively and proactive ly labelled to the functional ambit of human rights. Also, the international legally delves inside the question that to what extent western powers
and United States of America can be made out to be interveners and interlocutors
if an imaginary population i n a besiege d nation State is being harassed and made
to suffer on a grave humanitarian scale.

17 Ibid munotes.in

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134APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
B.4.3: Natural Rights as Human Rights
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO )
has brings the correlation between natural ri ghts and Hu man rights. It can be
postulated that it’s a given and a reality and actuality which cannot be ignored by
the Human rights narrative. Jacques Maritan writes that, “Lastly, a reasonable
concept of natural law allows us to understand the intrinsic difference s
distinguishing natural law as such, the law of nations, and positive legislation. We
then see that any declaration of human rights necessarily involves a concatenation
of rights differing in degree, of which some meet an absolute requirement o f the
natural law, such as the right to existence or the right to profess, without interference by the State, the religion one believes true (liberty of conscience),
others responding to a need of the law of nations, based on natural law, but
modified in a pplication by human law and the requirements of 'common use' or
the common good, such as the right to own property or the right to work – others
again meeting an aspiration or desire of the natural law confirmed by positive
law, but with the limitations r equired by the common good, such as the liberty of
the press or more generally liberty of expression, freedom of exposition, and
freedom of association.”18
Thus, the concept of common good of all and the beneficence of all remains the
core and fundamental of the idio m of Human and natural rights. It’s a much
walked past but still the concerns of self determination such as the violent and
bloody developments of Gaza Strip and Jerusalem point to a status quo , which,
has been reached in the larger context of h uman rights . The question that remains
to be answered is that do we frame such a statute which can delegate powers to
the United Nations or the relevant UN bodies and agencies in order to curb the
grand standing but violent and suffocating interlude of mil itary Junta s and tyrants
down the road in different nations of the international ecosystem of the State.
The author further postulates that, “These last types of liberty cannot be erected
into absolute rights, but constitute rights (conditioned by the comm on good)
which any society that has attained a condition of political justice is required to
recognize. It is modern liberalism's misfortune to have made that distinction
impossible for itself, and thus to have been obliged either to contradict itself or t o
have reco urse to hypocrisy, in order to limit the practical exercise of rights which
it has confused with the fundamental natural rights and which theoretically it
proclaimed as absolute and sacrosanct.”19

18 “ Human Rights and Natural law,” https://en.unesco.org/courier/2018 -4/human -rights -and-
natural -law ( Online: Web), Accessed on June 10, 2021
19 Ibid munotes.in

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135Chapter 4: ssues in Human Security
Leaving aside all heresy and adhering to the com mon world’s narrative of human
rights, one can contend as per the American declaration of Rights that certain
rights are naturally bequeathed to the mankind and these happen to be indivisible
and inalienable human rights. Thus, in the larger narrative of H uman rights , a
sacredness and sacrosanct veneer is automatically attached to the nom de plume
of fundamental rights of man and the citizenry of a nation which is besieged by a
tyrant or an autocrat.
The instance of the stifling of human rights can be cite d in the po licies o f the
Chinese Government in Xinxiang, Hongkong and Myanmar’s junta’s imprisonment of Aung San Suu Kyi , in the context of Myanmar on trifling
bribery and money hoarding charges. In Xin xiang, a Chinese pogrom runs, which
believes the rese ttling of t he Uighur Turks in imprisonment and confine camps
where birth rights and other fundamental freedoms are at a short shrift, thus,
ushering in autocracy and dictatorial rule becoming the official Chinese Domestic
policy.
Thus, natural law and hum an rights c an be equated on the same shelf where –in
the larger duct of humanity can dominate and the civil and political rights of the
oppressed people, where ever they are can be brought forth as a discussion point.
The other debate which persists happen s to be tha t of, “ Whether the ends justifies
the means “ and vi ce versa can become the ordering principle of the larger
narrative of Human rights narrative.
B.4.4: Humanitarian Interventions
Humanitarian interventions have the bone of contention since the inception of the
United Nations Charter with the coming into being of the hallowed corridors of
United Nations as an aftermath of World War II , which bled the European allied
powers blue and even the new super power United States was impacted by the
catas trophe of w ar and international conflict. Humanitarian intervention has been
defined as a state's use of military force against another state, with the stated goal
of ending human right violations in that state. This definition may be too narrow
as it prec ludes non -military forms of intervention such as humanitarian aid and
international sanctions.
Since then US and allied forces have intervened in Afghanistan, Iraq , Lebanon, Yemen and Syria. The criticism which has been heaped on humanitarian interventions is that al l that military maneuver and reconstruction strivings on the
part of super powers such as United States have been carried on in the garb of
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136APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
democratization mission civ il trice of the order of Operation Enduring Freedom in
Iraq have come under the ceaseless scanner of the Global Media , other non
Governmental organizations and the cannons of International Humanitarian law.
India and United States, as a case study, have lived through a checkered relationship since the advent of Indian independence. India and US are two
ardently dreaming nations which can subsist in the veneer of being ‘True Blue
Dreamers’. United States of America was the progenitor element of t he novae
narrative wh ich stayed cocooned in between the protection of the Atlantic ocean
and the Pacific Ocean and the top down benign and weak neighborhood of
Mexico and Canada before intervening in World Wars to end its sequestration
streak as it gradually began t o intervene for themes as wide as promotion of
democracy in communist and authorita rian states to the issue of “Global war on
terror”.
Being Democratic practi tioners and being on the higher moral pedestals of the
larger international system, which seem to be destruct ible values in today’s troubled times, the tangibles too point towards a larger and wholesome partnership. With criticality being fashionably festooned upon int ellectualism, (it)
runs over the Democratic idealism between India and United States. The United
States with its enviable record of moral, economic and military strength has been
stringent in its single minded devotion to its clearly defined national interest
unlike others with humanist fronts. We are not talking about ‘Unipolarity’, which ,
by the wa y, is an international relations exercise in safe morality and delimited
transnational criterion.
The recent North Korean nuclear adventurism has prompted US allies such as
South Korea and Japan to seek higher US presence in the region. The US had
repeate dly said that it would not hesitate to intervene to ensure the security of its
Asian partners and now China has accused the US of militarizing the region. The
persistent Chinese intransigence along with the North Korean temerity in the
region ne cessitates a new response from the United States though India has ruled
out joint patrolling with the regional US naval command keeping in view the
independent inclination of the nation’s security and foreign policy . Though
containment of PRC is not going to be an av owed Indian and American concern,
but, the cooperative -competitive concern would amount to management of the
maritime space with a bilateral twist to the tale. It all sounds like a familiar
“internationale tale ” of disbelief embedded with truism s and globa l lessons.
‘Nuclear Liability’ travails might not belittle the Oregon trail which the twin
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137Chapter 4: ssues in Human Security
As US intervenes with dexterous regularity in the nations and regions and staying
true to the notion and praxis of h umanitarian interventions one can surmise that
Chinese interventions are being countered by a conglomerate of the Quad group
of nations, namely, India, United States of America, Japan and Australia as
recently in June 10, 2021, Japan and Austral ia have issued a joint statement that
the Chinese interventions in the South China seas and over the Senkaku Islands,
or Diaoyu islands. All these arcane sounding words have a common string linking
them. That linkage happens to be that of American interven tions.
The United States of America is a nation par excellence with overgrown and
pending global role -playing responsibilities and popular expectations for yeomanly acts that firm up a difficult -to-live-up-to philanthropic resolve. The
nation reverberates with the b luster and verve of being a quintessential and
stereotypical Regulator nation in the larger international system. This makes the
hyper State; stand tall with its objective of the Global Demo cracies . We need to
ruminate and chew over the debates of the orde r of: Why does United States of America need to democratize the larger neighbourhood? And, what legal, democratic and political legerdemain it needs to adhere to.
The CFR report indicates that, the difference between pre-emptive war and
prevent ive war is not a matter of semantics. Rather, it is a matter of timing that
has implications on International Law Perspective on Pre -emptive War and
Humanitarian Intervention whether an act is justified or not. Traditionally, pre-
emption constitutes a ‘war of necessi ty’ based on credible evidence of imminent
attack against which action is justified under international law as enshrined in the
self-defence clause Article 51 of the UN Charter 2.
Another instance, the UN mission in Rwanda and Kigali was ably l ed by a 300
strong contingent of United Nations Blue berets that is the United Nations Peace
keeping corps drawn from different parts of the global comity of states. The
United Nations Organization’s Policy brief reports us that, “On 6 April 1994, the
deaths of the Presidents of Burundi and Rwanda in a plane crash caused by a
rocket attack, ignited several weeks of intense and systematic massacres. The
killings - more than one million people are estimated to have perished - shocked
the international commu nity and we re clearly acts of genocide. An estimated
150,000 to 250,000 women were also raped. Members of the presidential guard
started killing Tutsi civilians in a section of Kigali near the airport. Less than half
an hour after the plane crash, roadbloc ks manned b y Hutu militiamen often
assisted by gendarmerie (paramilitary police) or military personnel were set up to
identify Tutsis.”20

20 URL: https://www.un.org/en/preventgenocide/ rwanda/historical -background.shtml (Online:
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138APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
The time line further showcases that, “On 7 April, Radio Television Libres Des
Mille Collines (RTLM) aired a broadcast attributin g the plane crash to the RPF
and a contingent of UN soldiers, as well as incitements to eliminate the "Tutsi
cockroach". Later that day the Prime Minister, Agathe Uwilingiyimana and 10
Belgian peacekeepers assigned to protect her were brutally m urdered by Rwandan
government soldiers in an attack on her home. Other moderate Hutu leaders were
similarly assassinated. After the massacre of its troops, Belgium withdrew the rest
of its force. On 21 April, after other countries asked to withdraw troops, the
UNAMIR force reduced from an initial 2,165 to 270.”21
The Report can be further cited and it contends that, “On June 22, the Security
Council authorized French -led forces to mount a humanitarian mission. The
mission, called ‘Operation Turquoise ’, saved hundreds of civilians in South West
Rwanda, but is also said to have allowed soldiers, officials and militiamen
involved in the genocide to flee Rwanda through the areas under their control. In
other areas, killings continued until 4 July 1994 when the RPF took mi litary
control of the entire territory of Rwanda.”22 The Rwandan genocide was a
consequence of the western neglect and failed help which did not arrive when in a
Cinematically presented trai l, Hotel Rwanda, the desperate Hutu manager attempts to save the li ves of westerns and others who had sought shelter in the
Hotel Rwanda in Kigali. Still, the Belgian masters from Europe did not take heed
of the pleas emanating from the slew of philanthropists seated in a crisis stricken,
Kigali that is, Rwanda ’s capital. The US President Bill Clinton later on visited
Kigali in 1996 and commented very emotionally that, “As the UN and US staffers
and diplomatists were busy typing on their word processers the people were
hacked and burnt alive in Rwanda and all th at the west ern colonial masters could
manage to do was to collect at their office coffee vending machines in order to de
stress and discuss Rwanda as the genocide between Hutus and Tutsis raged on
sanctimoniously.
B.4.5: Conclusion
We can delve inside the notion of Just War and Just Cause in order to comprehend the raison d’etre behind humanitarian interventions. Article 51 of the
United Nations Charter elucidates upon the conceptual bulwark of interventions
by responsible powers in the terrain and business of recalci trant states such Iraq
led by Saddam Hussein and Syria led by Bashar Al Assad. The blame lies on the
American defence establishment for intervening in states such as Iraq and

21 Ibid
22 Ibid 1 munotes.in

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139Chapter 4: ssues in Human Security
Afghanistan with the cause of terminating the menace of non state acto rs such as
Al Qaeda and Islamic State (IS) in these two receptacle states. Also, as an
attendant fact, we need to delve inside the consent of the receiving failed State
ensuring that the democratization mission of s tates such as United States is not a
forceful act by the western powers in the spread of Democracy, liberal world
order and rule of laws in these west Asian and South Asian and African states.
The American concept of Just war take from the cannons of International Law
come into narrative play as United stat es and other nation states intervened in
various regions and nations of the Global polity in order to render asunder the
atrocities of conflict strewn lands and nations with the United Nations remaining
as a mute and handicapped witness to these very many conflict zones attaining
genocide .
Check Your Progress Exercise
Note: i) Use the space given below for your answer.
1.) When were the ICCPR and UDHR framed and under what international
context?
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2.) What was the Rwandan genocide all about? Give details.
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140APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
B.4.6 : References
Chopra, Geeta (2015), “Child Rights in India: Challenges and Social Action,”
Delhi: Springer
Dallaires, Romeo (2004), “Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity
in Rwanda,” Boston: Da Capo P ress
Despande , Bhagyashree.A (2019), “Human Rights: Law and Practice,” New
Delhi: Central Law Publication
Gupta, Namita (2021), “Social Justice and Human Rights in India,” New Delhi:
Rawat Publication
Joseph, Sarah (2000), “The International Covenant on C ivil and Poli tical Rights:
Cases, Materials,” Oxford: Oxford University Press
Juss, Satvinder (2020), “Human Rights in India,” London: Routledge
Kalantry, Sital (2017) , “Women’s Human Rights and Migration,” Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania Press
Reddy, P. Chinna (2008) , “Human Rights: Armed Conflicts,” Hyderabad: ICFAI
University Press, 2008













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141Chapter 4: ssues in Human Security
(C) Migration
C.4.0: Objective
C.4.1: Introduction
C.4.2: The Meticulous Migration -Pandemic connection
C.4.3: Reverse Migration
C.4.4: Types of Migration
i. Immigration and Emigration
ii. In-migration and Out -migration
iii. Gross and Net Migration
iv. Internal and External Migration
C.4.5: Concepts Relating to Migration
C.4.6: Migration and Human Security
C.4.7: Conclusion
C.4.8 : References
B.4.0: Objective
The objective of this module i s to familiarize students with the concept and
challenges of migration . After studying this module, you should be able:
• To inculcate an understanding of the idiom of migration in the context of
domestic Politics and the interna tional setting.
• To make the s tudents understand the concept of human security.
• To make the students learn about the Syrian refugee crisis since the last
decade.
C.4.1: Introduction
Migration is a process of transfer of the location, place of work and res idence
which can take place in ternally in a nation or may take place internationally due
to a natural cat astrophe such as famine, flood and pandemic or due to the telling repercussions of political conflict and violence. Internal migration can be exemplifi ed by the internal displacemen t of migrant labour which occurred from
the metropolis such as Mumbai to the rural hinterland and their homes. As in, the
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142APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
nation in April March, 2020 a nd in 2021 so as to contain th e corona virus
pandemic or the Covid 19 Detla strain in 2021. Migration thus occurred as the
livelihoods of the migrant labourers ended as all local and small scale enterprises
were shuttered and the migrant labour had no othe r option to return to their ho mes
in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan to make themselves and their family
members survive. This is about internal migration and internal displacement of
population.
Globally, Migration was witnessed in places such as Syri a, Libya, Lebanon and
Venezuel a. Syria witnessed the outage when the Regime head, Bashar Al Assad
was caught in a war and internal conflict with the rebels supported by the Western
powers and United States of America. Russia supported the Damascus Regime
led by Bashar Al Assad. Syrians fled in millions to the Turkic water points or sea
ports and travelled hundreds of miles through Eastern Europe and sought illegal
residence in nations such as France, United Kingdom and Italy and Germany and
it’s here only t hat the German Centrist Right Chancellor, Angela Merkel welcomes the migrants with open arms and provided employment, camps and
further sustenance to them.
Millions of people are rendered homeless and bereft of employment and thus all
these sordid and cri tical developments lead to mis ery and countless suffering for
people staying in their original and homeland nations and lands. The threat of
migration led to a worry and political and administrative concern that migrants
might be linked to groups and insur gents and might lead to a dest abilizing
influence upon the receptacle state or the receiving state’s population. The UN
Migration Agency (IOM) defines a migrant as any per son, who, is moving or has
moved across an international border or within a state away from his/her permanent place of residence, regardless of (1) the person's legal status; (2)
whether the movement is voluntary or involuntary; (3) what the causes for the
move are; or (4) what the len gth of the stay is.
C.4.2: The Meticulous Migration -Pandemic connection
In the age of globalization, the free trade and travel, has, integrated the world in
such a way that, if, anything happens in any country, it engulfs the whole world.
The Corona -virus origin is linked to China and the outbreak of the pandemic is
linked to China’s connection to all the countries of the world. However, it is not
for the first time that the dreaded pandemic has occurred due to the au -currant
migration factor. Trade and com merce had been the basis of migration in earlier
periods of history and diseases and pandemics had a close connection with
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143Chapter 4: ssues in Human SecurityBetween 1820 and 1939, roughly 60 million Europeans immigrated to the area/ countries like Argentina, Latin American coun tries; Australia, New Zealand
as well as the United States and Canada ( Hatton and Williamson, 1998 , 2005).
There are 272 million int ernational migrants in the world today, roughly 3.5% of the world’s population. The international mobility had led to the spread of infectious and chronic diseases several times in the earlier period of history.
After the development of steam ships, millio ns of Europeans started shifting to
the US and any disease in Europe could easily spread to the transatlantic
countries. Similarly Cholera, which originated in British colony , had, spread on
every continent through the Britis h traders and officers. Smallpo x epidemics
played a crucial role in the US since Columbus’s days. Yellow fever crept up
repeatedly from the Caribbean and Central America to other parts of the Southern
US. In 1889, the first modern influenza pandemic sprea d rapidly from Russia to
North America. All these factors show that pandemics or diseases always had
linkage with migration.( David Fickling 2020). In the age of globalization, the
world has become a global village and migration between and within nations , has,
become so colossal, that, any disease can easily spread to the whole world at a
very fast speed as we have witnessed in Covid -19 pandemic.
The migration of people has been rampant due to the income disparities, varied
degree of development and various levels of urbanization in countries. During the
Covid -19 pandemic, most of the countries had shut down their borders and
imposed restrictions on travel from other countries and had suspended
international flights to prevent people's entry from other countries. This action is
perceive d as a challenge to the liberal theory of globalization and the revival of
the conventional view that states have power to control their borders and have
rights to control immigration. However, it is done in the support of public health
security. Even the nationals returning home had to abide by the regulations
introduced by the state. For instance each tourist had to go through the process of
thermal screening and had to observe 14 days isolation .Earlier in history, also
one found a close connection betwe en immigration restrictions and public health
measures. Historic ally, New York Harbor , known for migration , had designated
various islands like Ellis Island and Liberty Island as quarantine stations.
Therefore, it is the state that decides about the polici es of migration and also to
handle the effects of migration if any. In the following section, the migration
theories are discussed to understand the divergent perspectives on the issue of
migration. The impact of post-Covid 19 on future migration policies is also taken
into consideration.
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144APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
C.4.3: Reverse Migration
Reverse or Return migration is an important phenomenon , but, often neglected
component of the immigration process. The trem “Return” refers broadly to the
act of going back from a country of prese nce to the country of previous origin.
There are numerous sub-categories of return which can describe the way it takes
place, e.g., voluntary, forced, assisted or spontaneous return. Voluntary return is
based on an informed decision freely taken by the individual . Ease of transport,
globalization, economic opportunities and disparities, are, drastically
transforming human mobility into an increasingly complex and multidirectional
phenomenon. Instead of migration being a one time journey, migrants and their
families often subsequently move to a second or third country of destination.
While each person has the right to return to his/her own country, migration is not
necessarily to the final stage in the migration process. The corona -virus pandemic
has triggere d massive reverse migration in the country.
Where return takes place, it may be of a permanent or temporary nature, keeping
open the possibility of renewed out-migration (IOM, 2008). The main motivation
for emigration is generally economic, the reasons for return are numerous,
complex and sometimes contradictory. Both individual and societal factors play a
role in effecting the homeward flow of emigrants. Returning home does not
necessarily mean the end of the migration pathway nor is it always final. Retu rn
migration describes a situation where migrants return to their country of origin by
their own choice, often after a significant period abroad (Dustman and Weiss,
2007).
International Organisation for Migration (IOM) espouses that return migration
can have a positive impact in the form of creating new businesses by the returnees
and help improve the functioning of markets in their home country . The issue of
return is at the heart of the debate on international migration management and an
understanding of the phenomenon, is, still fragmentary, because of the difficulties
encountered in the ideas of measurement and the lack of comparative data. Return
migration, is, a major component of migration flow and migrants plan their
migration pathway and their retur n in light of their individual and family
objectives and many other factors. Sahay (2009) pointed out that in all of the
literature on return migration, there exist some underlying assumptions about
return: the first assumption views return as temporary, the second as permanent
and lastly where return is chosen owing to different factors like failure or
homesickness. Migration studies relating to return draw our attention to the
different typologies of return migration keeping in mind the differences betwe en
migrants intending their departure to be permanent and also those who intend it to
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145Chapter 4: ssues in Human Security
C.4.4: Types of Migration
Migration is of the following order types:
(i) Immigration and Emigration
When peopl e from one country move permanently to another country, for
example, if people from India move to America, then for America, it is
termed as i mmigration. In contrast, if a person moving from one city to
another city of India, it is termed as Emigration.
(ii) In-migration and Out -migration
In-migration means migration occurring within an area only, while out -
migration means migration out of the city. Both types of migration are
called internal migration occurring within the country. Migration from Bihar to Benga l is I n-migration for Bengal, while it is O ut- Migration for
Bihar.
(iii) Gross and Net Migration
During any period, the total number of persons coming in the country and
the number of people going out of the country for residing is called gross
migration. The d ifference between the total number o f persons coming to
live in a country and going out of the country for living during any period is
termed as net migration.
(iv) Internal and External Migration
Internal migration means people's movement in different states a nd regions
within a country from one place to another. On the other hand, external or
international migration refers to the movement of people from one country
to another for permanent settlement.
C.4.5: Concepts Relating to Migration
As noted in Gene ral Assembly resolution 66/290, "Hum an security is an approach
to assist the member states in identifying and addressing widespread and cross -
cutting challenges to the survival, livelihood, and dignity of their people." It calls
for "people -centered, compr ehensive, context -specific, and prev ention -oriented
responses that strengthen all peop le's protection and empowerment ". The human
security approach is a proven analytical and planning framework supporting more
comprehensive and preventive responses by the United Nations, cutting across
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146APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
help realize a world free from fear, want, and indignity. Besides, the following
ideas are used in migration:
• Migration Stream
Migration stream refers to the number of migrating f rom one region to
another or from one country to another for residing during a period. It is
related to people's movement from a common area of origin to a common
area of a destination. For example, the Migration of Indi ans to America
during a time interva l.
• Migration Interval
Migration may occur continuously over some time. But to measure it
correctly, the data should be divided into intervals of one to five or more
years. The division relating to a particular period is known as the migration
interval.
• Place of Origin and Place of Destination
The area in which people leave is the place of origin, and the person is
called an out -migrant. On the other hand, the location of the destination is
the place where the person moves , and the person is called an in -migrant.
The link between migrations and (in )security has been an awful, mainly from the
attitude of the securitization schedule. Political, policy, and media discourses
often gift migration as a risk to countrywide soverei gnty and country protection.
More ge nerally, migrants are regularly provided as a risk to the monetary, social,
and cultural properly -being of host populations, successively generating emotions
of lack of confidence that can undermine relationships between settled
populations and new arrival s. Many of these rules and debates make assumptions
about the motivations, expectations, and aspirations of migrants, yet they rarely
consist of their views or voices.
By that specialize inside the character, in prefere nce to the nation, the notion of
human security provides a possibility to develop our expertise of the financial,
social and political challenges associated with migration, from the region of
origin, to transit, arrival and (re)agreement all through a bran d new region. The
selection emigrate s referred to as a way for countering human insecurities (both
actual and perceived). Still, it's also related to insecurities of its own: all through
the adventure, in nations of settlement, and for those left in the ba ck. This panel
will discover those s tories and what they inform us about the link between migration and human protection drawing, specifically, on the voices and perspectives of migrants themselves. munotes.in

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147Chapter 4: ssues in Human Security
C.4.6: Migration and Human Security
Human Security has been mentioned and elaborated upon as the idiom of a
collective, all pervading and comprehensive understanding of the way mankind
and nations progress towards an objective of peace, prosperity, pelf and
tranquility. Till now, the hard security component used to rule the roost, where -in,
the larger idea was that military strength and effectiveness is the “all essential”
element and component of the understanding of national security. But right from
our Vedas and Sanatan Dharma to the deliberations in the United Nations General
Assembly and United Nations Security Council initiated by the Swiss, the
Canadians and the Japanese became the ordering narrative of the day.
Human security includes the objective of the attainment of the eight SDG’s
(Sustainable Develo pment Goals) where in the softer concerns of international
Governance of the order of Law and Order, Education, Health, Infrastructure
along with Gender empowerment and Poverty eradication become the nom de
plume narrative of the entire ecosystem of the larger international system. Thus,
in a manner migration and displacement of populations besieged by natural
disasters along with political strife become the order of the day.
• The Syrian Refugee Crisis
The Syrian refugee crisis is the result of a March 2011 violent government
crackdown on public demonstrations in support of a group of teenagers
who were arrested for anti-government graffiti in the southern town of
Daraa. The arrests sparked public demonstrations throughout Syria which
were violently suppresse d by government security forces. Conflict quickly
escalated and the country descended into a civil war that forced millions
of Syrian families out of their homes. Ten years later, the number of
Syrian refugees has hardly declined and more than 13 million people still
need humanitarian assist ance - including 6 million who are in acute need.
The United Nations Refugee Agency, UNHCR informs us that,
“Torrential rains, strong winds and floods have been lashing the country’s
northwest region this winter, destroy ing tents, food supplies and leaving
tens of thousands of displaced Syrian families homeless during the coldest
months. More than 140,000 people have been affected and at least
25,000 tents have been destroyed.” The UN Portal further informs us that
pithil y, “Outbreaks of violence in Idlib in December 2019 and February
2020 forced an additional one million people to flee their homes. The
majority – about 80 percent – of those who have fled Idlib and the
surrounding areas are women and children.”23

23 “Syrian Refugee Crisis Explained, “URL: https://www.unrefugees.org/news/syria -refugee-
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148APPROACHES AND EMERGING ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

The UNHC R websites further enumerates that, “Syrian refugees have sought
asylum in more than 130 countries, but the vast majority live in neighboring
countries within the region, such as Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt.
Turkey alone hosts the largest popul ation - 3.6 million.”24 The further portal’s
narrative is of the order of, “Approximately 92 percent of refugees who have
fled to neighboring countries live in rural and urban settings, with only roughly
five percent living in refugee camps .
C.4.7: Concl usion
However, living outside refugee camps does not necessarily mean success or
stability. More than 70 percent of Syrian refugees are living in poverty, with
limited access to basic services, education or job opportunities and few
prospects of returning home.”25 Tales of repression and dehum anization have
emerged from the auspices of these refugee camps harboring Syr ian and North
African nations a want of adequate shelters, security, hygiene and a palpable
want of medical and infrastructural facilities mak e life and the search for a new
livelihood, a ponderous and difficult one for the refugees as far as Syrian
migrants and other migrants to Europe are concerned. As it has been seen and
reams have been written on it that, the migration of Bangladeshi popula tion
from Dhaka has led to a humanita rian disaster in India and the undocumented
nature of these populations also pose a well defined security and national
interest threat as has been posited by Indian intelligence agencies since the
inception of the migra tion of the Bangladeshi Refugees.

24 Ibid
25 Ibid munotes.in

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149Chapter 4: ssues in Human Security
Check Your Progress Exercise
Note: i) Use the space given below for your answer.
1.) How is domestic migration different from the Global scourge of Migration and a refugee crisis?
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C.4.8 : References
Ahmed, Dora (2019), “The Penguin Book on Migration: Departures, Arrivals,
Generations and Returns,” New Delhi: Pengui n Classics
B.B Kumar (2006 ) “Illegal Mi gration from Bangladesh ”, New Delhi: Concept
Publishing .
Bui, Thi (2019),“The Best We Could Do: An illustrated Memoir,” London:
Abaram and Chronicles Books
Chavez, Sergio (2016), “Border Lives: Frontirezos, Transnation al, Migrants
and Commuters in Tijuana”, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lucelli, Valeria (2019), “Lost Children Archive,” New York: Fourth Estate.



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