Approaches to the Study of International Relations
Realist Approach to World Politics
Key Actors View of the Individual View of the state View of the international system Belief about Change
International system, sovereign states Power-seeking, selfish antagonistic Seeks power, unitary actor with a defined national interest Anarchy, stability thru balance of power system Potential for change slow; structural change also low
Theorists
Thucydides, St. Augustine, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Morganthau
Liberal Approach to World Politics
Key Actors View of the Individual View of the state
States, non governmental groups, international organizations Basically good, ability to cooperate and compromise Not an autonomous actor, many different interests and actors in the system
View of the international system Belief about Change Theorists
Interdependence among actors, international society, anarchy Probable and desirable process Montesquieu, Kant, Wilson, Koehane
Marxist Approach to World Politics
Key Actors
Social classes, transnational elites, MNC’s
View of the Individual View of the state
Actions determined by economic classes
State is agent of international capitalist class Highly stratified and dominated by international capitalist classes Radical change and revolution sought
Marx, Lenin, Hobson, Wallerstein
View of the international system Belief about Change Theorists
Indicators of World Inequality
One-fifth of the world's population are living in extreme poverty. 70 per cent of the world's poor and two-thirds of the world's illiterates are women. One-third of the world's children are undernourished.
Half the world's population lacks regular access to the most essential drugs. 100 million children live or work on the street
In 1998 the 4 least developed countries attracted less than $US3 billion in direct foreign investment, 0.4 per cent of the global total.
The combined wealth of the world's 200 richest people reached $US 1 trillion in 1999; the combined income of 582 million people a living in the 43 least developed counties is $US 1.46 billion
More than 30,000 children die a day from easily preventable diseases. Since 1980 more than $US 1.3 trillion has been transferred from less developed countries to more developed countries in debt interest payments, yet a size of total debt has not decreased.
Each year the developing world pays the West nine times more in debt repayments than it receives in aid. In 1996 Comic Relief in the UK raised an estimated 26 million in the world's biggest telethon. This is roughly what Africa pays out in debt in one day.
To achieve universal provision of basic services in developing countries would cost $80 billion/ year. (Sources: World Health Organization, United Nations,World Bank, Jubilee 2000