Liberalism and Neoliberalism

1. Introduction to Liberalism:

• Liberalism is a defining feature of modern democracy –
• However, liberalism – when discussed within the realm of IR theory – has evolved into a distinct entity of its own. Liberalism contains a variety of concepts and arguments about how institutions, behaviors and economic connections contain and mitigate the violent power of states.
• Liberalism has been the traditional counter of realism in IR theory as it offers a more optimistic world view, grounded in a different reading of history to that found in realist scholarship.
• The main concern of liberalism is to construct institutions that protect individual freedom by limiting and checking political power. While these are issues of domestic politics, the realm of IR is also important to liberals because a state’s activities abroad can have a strong influence on liberty at home
• For liberals, the core problem is how to develop a political system that can allow states to protect themselves from foreign threats without subverting the individual liberty of its citizenry.
• Inspired by John Locke – Liberals think any form natural order must be defined by justice, if it is to survive as unjust orders are inherently unstable and white rebellion.
• The essence of Lockean justice is the security of each person’s personal possessions – as a right based on the law of nature / individual liberty.
• A prescriptive theory which recommends specific policy action, in pursuit of a just global order.
• Liberalism views military conflicts as evidence of failure of social institutions.
• A Normative theory – concerned with what ought to be rather than simply describing what is.
• Different variants of liberal theory in social sciences. However, they are not identical, for e.g. economic liberalism and liberal institutionalism.
• Has a distinguished pedigree → rooted in ideas of John Lock, Immanuel Kant, Adam Smith
• Stimulated by 18^th century enlightenment optimism → a theoretical belief that contribution of a man towards scientific revolution can be turned towards economic, political and social research.

2. Definition of Idealism:

“The early strand of Liberalism called for the creation of an international rule of law. Similarly, to which existed in the domestic jurisdiction of states.”

• Leading Causes of the failure of this theory –

1. Status quo which prevailed between 1919-39
2. Thus, Idealism is also known as liberalism 1.0.
3. Liberalism:

• Liberalism is one of the oldest theoretical schools of IR, which focus on the best way to create a more just and peaceful international order.
• Liberalism is based on the moral argument that ensuring the right of an individual person to life, liberty and property is the highest goal of government.

4. Neoliberalism:

An ideology and policy model that emphasizes the value of free market competition and role of international institutions to bring peace and prosperity among states.

5. How to differentiate between Liberalism and Neoliberalism:

• Classical liberalism is a political philosophy which holds individual liberty as the most important value
• Neoliberalism is more about laissez faire economics and more focused on the markets

6. Assumptions:.

• Man is rational
• Democratic peace theory is perhaps the strongest contribution liberalism makes to IR theory. It asserts that democratic states are highly unlikely to go to war with one another.
• First, democratic states are characterized by internal restraints on power, as described above.
• Second, democracies tend to see each other as legitimate and unthreatening and therefore have a higher capacity for cooperation with each other than they do with non-democracies.
• Third point is that while democracies are unlikely to go to war with one another, some scholarship suggests that they are likely to be aggressive toward non-democracies – such as when the United States went to war with Iraq in 2003
• Efficacy of democratic peace theory – 2 case studies: Germany & Japan case in the post second world war, a success story. Whereas, Afghan-Iran war in the 21^st century raise questions on this principle of liberalism.
• Interdependence – “a condition in which two or more international actors rely on each other for the provision of essential goods and services. Ranging from security to food to investment.
• Harmony of interest – shared goals that can be achieved through cooperation. Absolute gains VS relative gains pursuit debate.
• Regimes – “are problem solving tools that make it easier, for international actors to pursue collective actions to solve shared problems. E.g. codified laws, treaties, charter, and agreements which are consciously designed to address specific issues.”
• Effective global institutions – liberals advocate effective global governance, not global government.
• International Law
• International trade and absolute gains
• International Norms
• Human Rights
• Democracy
• Rule of law

7. Analysis:
8. Liberalism sets a clear normative goal to establish conditions for a sustainable peace in the otherwise anarchic international arena.
9. An effective tool to understand the complex relationship between regimes and domestic jurisdiction of a state. The prime example in this case is the UN which is dedicated to global governance, rather than global government.
10. Proposed solutions to international problems – ecological crisis, economic downturns, violation of copyrights and pandemics.
11. Despite many success since 1945 – liberalism fails to answer many of the most pressing questions:
12. Why so many states have resisted the pull of liberal democracy?
13. Why have the benefits of global governance been so unevenly distributed among the actors of the world?

• How can liberalism hope to cope with the threats from deeply illiberal actors? – ISIS, Syria, Iraq or elsewhere.

8. Conclusion:

A core argument of liberalism is that concentrations of unaccountable violent power are the fundamental threat to individual liberty and must be restrained. The primary means of restraining power are institutions and norms at both domestic and international level. At the international level institutions and organizations limit the power of states by fostering cooperation and providing a means for imposing costs on states that violate international agreements. Economic institutions are particularly effective at fostering cooperation because of the substantial benefits that can be derived from economic interdependence. Finally, liberal norms add a further limitation on the use of power by shaping our understanding of what types of behavior are appropriate. Today, it is clear that liberalism is not a ‘utopian’ theory describing a dream world of peace and happiness as it was once accused of being. It provides a consistent rejoinder to realism, firmly rooted in evidence and a deep theoretical tradition.

References:

JWT’s Book – essentials of IR