International Relations Theory
A New Introduction
Chapter 3
The Liberal International Theory Tradition
Introduction
Five characteristics of liberal thought:





Strong faith in human reason
Belief in possibility of historical progress & reforming
international relations
Focus on state-society linkages & the claim of a close
connection between domestic institutions & politics/
international politics
Claim: Increasing economic interdependence among
states reduces occurrence of conflict & war
Arguments about the positive effect of processes of
institutionalizing international relations
Genealogy
Early 20th century – key concepts and arguments:




War does not benefit anybody – N. Angell (1913)
International anarchy - G.L. Dickinson (1916)
First major instances of liberal institutionalism  League of
Nations
Collective Security
Since Second World War



D. Mitrany (1943) A Working Peace System
Regional integration; multilateral institutions; cooperation under
anarchy
Theorizing non-material structures thoroughly
Currents of Liberal Thought

Interdependence Liberalism


Republican Liberalism


R. Keohane and J. Nye (1977) Power and
Interdependence
I. Kant (1795/ 1983) The Perpetual Peace
Neoliberal Institutionalism

R. Keohane
Kinds of Liberal Theory

Underpinned by normative engagement
American liberals: Behavioural revolution & claim
scientific status for their own perspective

In 1980s liberal thinking & game theory




Rationalist underpinnings


R. Axelrod (1984) The Evolution of Cooperation
R. Keohane (1984) After Hegemony
A. Moravcsik´s liberal intergovernmentalism (1998)
Combination of constructivist meta-theory & liberal
substantive theory

A. Wendt (1999) Social Theory of International Politics
Main Variants of Theories
Democratic Peace Theory
Transnational Theory

Democracies do not fight
wars among themselves
( I. Kant - 18th century)

Look beyond state-state
relations  society-society
relations are equally important
to world politics

F. Fukuyama (1992) : The
End of History and the Last
Man

K. Kaiser (1969)
R. Keohane and J. Nye (1971)
J. Rosenau (1980, 1990), K.
Deutsch (1957), J. Burton
(1972)
T. Risse-Kappen (1995)



Main Variants of Theories
Theory of Cooperation


A. Wendt (1999) Social
Theory of International
Politics
Wendt´s ambition to build a
systemic theory 
emphasizing social rather
than material structures
Liberal
Intergovernmentalism

A. Moravcsik´s (1998)
theoretical framework
synthesizing theories of
domestic preference
formation, strategic
bargaining & institutional
design
Main Intra-Tradition Debates

Neoliberal Institutionalism vs. Liberal Democratic
Peace Theory & versions of Commercial Liberalism

Liberalism/ Adherents of Democratic Peace Theory vs.
Idealism

Liberal version of Rationalism vs. Constructivism
Research Agenda

International institutions & organizations, see
F. Kratochwil, J.Ruggie (1986); R.Keohane (1989)

Multilateralism, see J.Ruggie (1993)

Democratic Peace Theory & democratization
processes
International cooperation  international regimes


Merger between transnationalist perspective with
studies of globalization/ studies of economic and
political processes of globalization
Conclusion

Very rich tradition of thought

The liberal vision to establish a new academic discipline
= International Relation

Three major strands

Some liberals = strongly state-centric

Liberalism has its ups and downs