scholarly journals Conflict and Cooperation in International Relations: Theoretical Contributions of the Debate between New Realism and Neoliberalism

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 659-670
Author(s):  
Omran Ali
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
International Cooperation ◽  
International Institutions ◽  
Main Issue ◽  
Power Politics ◽  
New Realism ◽  
Conflict And Cooperation

This paper deals with the debate between neo-realism and neo-liberalism within the field of international relations and highlights the most important propositions of the two theories, especially regarding their views on the structure of international relations and whether it is characterized by anarchy and conflict or cooperation. The study of conflict and cooperation in international relations has been one of the main tasks of research and analysis for theorists and researchers of international relations, and this conflict-cooperation nexus has become the main issue in the debate between the two prevailing theories in international relations. Neorealism and neoliberalism are the most influential theories on international relations, and the debate between them has considered one of the most important one in the field of international relations. This research seeks to clarify and explain the theoretical contributions of each of the two theories regarding conflict and cooperation in international relations, and the extent to which neoliberal assumptions, especially with regard to the role of international institutions in increasing international cooperation, has contributed to reducing the dominance of the realistic vision in international relations, especially with regard to conflict and anarchy. It argues that the debate between neorealism and neoliberalism did not significantly contribute to developing the theory of international relations, as this debate did not contribute significantly to reducing the dominance of power politics in international relations and solving the international problems resulting from it.

An international hierarchy of science: conquest, cooperation, and the 1959 Antarctic Treaty System

2021 ◽  
pp. 135406612110338
Author(s):  
Joanne Yao
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
International Institutions ◽  
Social Performance ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
International Status ◽  
Antarctic Treaty System

The Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), created in 1959 to govern the southern continent, is often lauded as an illustration of science’s potential to inspire peaceful and rational International Relations. This article critically examines this optimistic view of science’s role in international politics by focusing on how science as a global hierarchical structure operated as a gatekeeper to an exclusive Antarctic club. I argue that in the early 20th century, the conduct of science in Antarctica was entwined with global and imperial hierarchies. As what Mattern and Zarakol call a broad hierarchy, science worked both as a civilized marker of international status as well as a social performance that legitimated actors’ imperial interests in Antarctica. The 1959 ATS relied on science as an existing broad hierarchy to enable competing states to achieve a functional bargain and ‘freeze’ sovereignty claims, whilst at the same time institutionalizing and reinforcing the legitimacy of science in maintaining international inequalities. In making this argument, I stress the role of formal international institutions in bridging our analysis of broad and functional hierarchies while also highlighting the importance of scientific hierarchies in constituting the current international order.

scholarly journals The Pandemic and the Crisis in the System of International Relations

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 6-19
Author(s):  
Al. A. Gromyko
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
International Institutions ◽  
Competitive Advantages ◽  
Direct Impact ◽  
The Us ◽  
The World ◽  
World Economic ◽  
Strategic Autonomy ◽  
The Eu

The research is focused on several key problems in the system of international relations influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is shown that the events caused by it and broadly identified as a coronacrisis have a direct impact on the world economic contradictions (pandenomica) and political ones, including the sphere of security. These particular aspects are chosen as the main objects of the research. The author contends that the factor of the pandemic has sharpened the competition between regional and global players and has increased the role of a nation- state. In the conditions of transregional deglobalisation, regionalism and “protectionism 2.0” get stronger under the banners of “strategic vulnerability” and “economic sovereignty”. A further weakening of multilateral international institutions continues. The EU endeavours to secure competitive advantages on the basis of relocalisation, industrial and digital policies and the Green Deal. The article highlights the deterioration in the relations among Russia, the US, the EU and China, the unfolding decoupling between Washington and its European allies, which stimulates the idea of the EU strategic autonomy. An urgent need for the deconfliction in Russia – NATO interaction is stated.

Conclusion

2021 ◽  
pp. 206-228
Author(s):  
Stephen E. Gent ◽  
Mark J. C. Crescenzi
Keyword(s):  
Market Power ◽  
Caspian Sea ◽  
International Institutions ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Conflict Behavior ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Gray Zone ◽  
The Caspian Sea ◽  
Power Politics

This concluding chapter addresses some additional aspects of market power politics and outlines several implications of this study for scholars and policymakers. First, to complement the previous case studies of violence and strategic delay, it provides a brief discussion of Russia’s decision to abandon a delay strategy and agree to a settlement of the long-running dispute over the Caspian Sea. It then outlines a set of questions for future research on market power politics. Next, the chapter reflects upon how the research in the book informs an understanding of international relations. It highlights some important lessons concerning the effects of market structure on conflict behavior and the limitations of international institutions. It then contemplates the future role of gray zone tactics by countries like Russia and China. The chapter concludes with a discussion of some of the policy implications that follow from this research.

Helsinki Syndrome: The Parachronistic Renaissance of Finlandization in International Politics

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tapio Juntunen
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
International Affairs ◽  
Power Politics ◽  
Original Process ◽  
The Past ◽  
Great Power Politics ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Ukraine Crisis ◽  
International Anarchy

The ongoing conflict in Ukraine has produced a number of commentaries that have tried to grasp the crisis through the comforting lens of historical analogies. One of the most perplexing of these has been the revival of Finlandization, or the idea of the “Finnish model” as a possible solution to the Ukraine crisis. In this article I interrogate these arguments, firstly, by historicising the original process of Finlandization during the Cold War. Secondly, I argue that the renaissance of Finlandization is based on parachronistic reasoning. In other words, the Finlandization analogy has been applied to modern-day Ukraine in such a way that the alien elements of the past context are, to paraphrase Quentin Skinner, “dissolved into an apparent but misleading familiarity” in the present re-appropriation of the idea and its contextual prerequisites. Indeed, the reappearance of Finlandization in the context of the Ukraine crisis reinforces the idea that the real drivers of international affairs can be reduced to the axioms derived from the transhistorical logic of international anarchy and the iron laws of great power politics. Thus, this article makes a novel contribution to the theoretical discussion on the role of analogies and myths in International Relations.

Reciprocity, Bullying, and International Cooperation: Time-series Analysis of the Bosnia Conflict

1997 ◽  
Vol 91 (3) ◽  
pp. 515-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua S. Goldstein ◽  
Jon C. Pevehouse
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
International Cooperation ◽  
Evolution Of Cooperation ◽  
Response Patterns ◽  
Strategic Response ◽  
Conflict And Cooperation ◽  
Regional Conflicts ◽  
Neoliberal Institutionalism ◽  
Events Data

Although the role of reciprocity in international cooperation is central to neoliberal institutionalism, empirical understanding of the concept remains weak. We analyze strategic response patterns—the use of reciprocity or inverse response (bullying)—in the Bosnia conflict from 1992 to 1995. We construct weekly time series of conflict and cooperation among the parties to the Bosnia war, using machine-coded events data. Time-series statistical analysis identifies several important patterns of strategic response, both reciprocal and inverse. These include bilateral responses, which are central to the concepts of reciprocity and evolution of cooperation, and triangular responses, which are central to the debates on containment versus accommodation in regional conflicts. Specifically, Serb forces displayed inverse triangular response, cooperating toward Bosnia after being punished by NATO. Outside powers displayed triangular reciprocity, increasing hostility toward Serb forces after Serbian attacks on the Bosnian government.

Choosing anarchy: institutional alternatives and the global order

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moonhawk Kim ◽  
Scott Wolford
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
International Institutions ◽  
International System ◽  
International Relations Theory ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Global Order ◽  
Political Units ◽  
Self Enforcement ◽  
Interaction Density

The international system may be anarchic, but anarchy is neither fixed nor inevitable. We analyze collective choices between anarchy, a system of inefficient self-enforcement, and external enforcement, where punishment is delegated to a third party at some upfront cost. In equilibrium, external enforcement (establishing governments) prevails when interaction density is high, the costs of integration are low, and violations are difficult to predict, but anarchy (drawing borders) prevails when at least one of these conditions fail. We explore the implications of this theory for the causal role of anarchy in international relations theory, the integration and disintegration of political units, and the limits and possibilities of cooperation through international institutions.

International Cooperation Theory and International Institutions

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinyuan Dai ◽  
Duncan Snidal ◽  
Michael Sampson
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Rational Choice ◽  
International Cooperation ◽  
21St Century ◽  
International Institutions ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Past ◽  
Game Theoretic

The study of international cooperation has emerged and evolved over the past few decades as a cornerstone of international relations research. The strategy here for reviewing such a large literature is to focus primarily on the rational choice and game theoretic approaches that instigated it and have subsequently guided its advance. Without these theoretical efforts, the study of international cooperation could not have made nearly as much progress—and it certainly would not have taken the form it does in the 21st century. Through this lens, we can identify major themes in this literature and highlight key challenges for future research

Conceptualizing interstate cooperation

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
Moritz S. Graefrath ◽  
Marcel Jahn
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
International Cooperation ◽  
Joint Action ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Policy Coordination ◽  
Interstate Cooperation ◽  
General Consensus ◽  
Conceptual Foundations

Abstract There seems to exist a general consensus on how to conceptualize cooperation in the field of international relations (IR). We argue that this impression is deceptive. In practice, scholars working on the causes of international cooperation have come to implicitly employ various understandings of what cooperation is. Yet, an explicit debate about the discipline's conceptual foundations never materialized, and whatever discussion occurred did so only latently and without much dialog across theoretical traditions. In this paper, we develop an updated conceptual framework by exploring the nature of these differing understandings and situating them within broader theoretical conversations about the role of cooperation in IR. Drawing on an array of studies in IR and philosophy, our framework distinguishes between three distinct types of cooperative state interactions – cooperation through tacit policy coordination (‘minimal’ cooperation), cooperation through explicit policy coordination (‘thin’ cooperation), and cooperation based on joint action (‘thick’ cooperation). The framework contributes to better theorization about cooperation in two main ways: it allows scholars across theoretical traditions to identify important sources of disagreement and previously unnoticed theoretical common ground; and the conceptual disaggregation it provides grants scholars crucial theoretical leverage by enabling type-specific causal theorization.

Podmiotowość państwa we współczesnym świecie. Globalizacja a sterowność

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 73-81
Author(s):  
Piotr Rutkowski ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Political Science ◽  
State Power ◽  
Theoretical Concept ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Power Politics ◽  
The Social ◽  
Network Power

Paper examines place and role of states in the modern world. Firstly the concept of globalization will be shortly analyzed. It is a notion that, especially in the social sciences, has a lot of meanings, because it has many aspects and levels. Author will try to localize the main issues that makes globalization a complex notion. Secondly, problem of paradigm crisis in political science will be presented. Classic meanings of politics and power has been outdated, because of new phenomenons that are consequences of globalization. That means that we should try to look for notions and methods that will help us to understand surrounding world and socio-political sphere, especially when it comes to state, power, politics and international relations. Then the concept of “the art of rule” invented by Jadwiga Staniszkis will be presented. Author will emphasize that this theoretical concept will be helpful in analyzing subjectivity of states in the age of globalization. Then author, basing on this concept, will try to examine the subjectivity of state in modern world. An attempt will be also made to show what is network power and its consequences, point out the subjects that will replace state that is losing its position and think about the future of the states.

The Other in European self-definition: an addendum to the literature on international society

1991 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 327-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iver B. Neumann ◽  
Jennifer M. Welsh
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Dominant Role ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Billiard Table ◽  
Power Politics ◽  
Sovereign State ◽  
Cultural Variables ◽  
Vertical Division ◽  
Game Plan

The dominant role of the realist paradigm in international relations theory has left little room for the study of the role of cultural variables in world politics. The two central tenets of the realist theoretical game-plan—the primacy of the sovereign state system, and the autonomy of that system, from domestic political, social and moral considerations—focus our attention on the vertical division of the world into sovereign states, rather than on the horizontal forces and ties that cut across state frontiers. The result is the metaphor for the interaction of states as the mechanical one of the billiard table, with power politics as the primary dynamic.

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