Liberalism
And foreign policy analysis
January 14, 2014
Overview
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Liberalism
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Liberal foreign relations
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Mitigating trade-offs
Liberalism
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Focused on the importance of the freedom of
the individual, liberalism rests set of three key
rights:
1.
Freedom from arbitrary authority
 Freedom of conscience, free press, free
speech, equality under the law, and the right
to hold and exchange property
 Negative
rights
2.
Freedom for social and economic rights
 Equality of opportunity in education, rights to
health care and employment
 Positive
3.
rights
Freedom of democratic participation or
representation
Liberal foreign relations
Look inside and beyond the state:
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Liberalism highlights how individuals, their
ideas and ideals, social forces and political
institutions can have a direct effect upon
foreign relations

Liberal approaches to foreign policy: contrast
with neorealists about the constraints of
anarchy and state homogeneity
Liberalism and foreign relations

Liberalism opens the box of state
action, allowing for the effects of
varying ideas, interests and institutions

It permits better foreign policy
predictions
1. The liberal zone of peace (peace among liberals)
 Near absence of war
 Peaceful restraint: generally works exclusively in
liberals’ relations with other liberals
 Increasing number of liberal states brings
possibility of a self-enforcing global peace
2. Imprudent aggressiveness (imprudent
vehemence towards non-liberals)
Aggression against non-liberals (liberal
imprudence). Liberal states have fought
many wars against non-liberal states
 Liberal states have also missed opportunities to
negotiate rather than fights with non-liberal states
(in both developed and developing worlds), failing
to construct schemes of accommodation to
prevent the outbreak of war.
 Many wars, however, have been defensive and
thus prudent by necessity. Liberal states have
been attacked and threatened by non liberal
states.
Aspirations for peace
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In President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize
lecture in December 2009, he outlined his
aspirations for a just and lasting peace in
words that resonated with liberal theories
of foreign policy.
War as sometimes necessary
International law and just war doctrines of
self-defense as applicable to all states
Aspirations for peace (cont.)

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Just wars such as humanitarian
interventions
Never war against a democracy by US
Lasting peace must be bolstered with
“economic security and opportunity”
Just War Doctrine

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Right to go to war (Jus ad bellum)
Right conduct in war (Jus in bello)
Right to go to war
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Just cause
Comparative justice
Competent authority
Right intention
Probability of success
Last resort
Proportionality
Self-defense or defending another
Just conduct in war

Distinction
Proportionality
Military necessity
Fair treatment of PoWs
No means malum in se
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Geneva Conventions
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Liberal republics in 1900 and 2000
3. Complaisance (towards threats) and
isolationism
 Failure to support allies
 Failure to oppose enemies (also manifests
as complaisance in reaction to excesses of
interventionism;
 Complaisance characterizes declined or ‘not
quite risen’ liberal states

Rational incentives for ‘free-riding’ on the
extended defence commitments of the
leader of the liberal alliance, also induce
complaisance.

During much of the nineteenth century the
US informally relied upon the British fleet
for many of its security needs. During the
Cold War, the Europeans and the
Japanese, according to some American
strategic analysts, failed to bear their ‘fair’
share of defence burdens.
Liberal foreign policy analysis
 First Image Lockean: human nature
 Second Image Commercial: societal
 Third Image Kantian: republic
internationalist
Liberal foreign policy analysis
Three features of liberal foreign relations:

Representative, republican government
(elected legislative, separation of powers, rule
of law)

A commitment to peace based upon a
principled respect for the non-discriminatory
rights that all humans can rightfully claim

The possibility of social and economic
interdependence (trade and social
interaction, with material incentives for
cooperation)
Taken together: an explanation of peaceful
accommodation among fellow liberals and
suspicion towards non-liberals
Mitigating trade-offs

Preservation
Liberal foreign policy should work to
preserve the liberal zone of peace. Liberal
states will need to work across ideological
divides and strengthen multilateral
institutions such as the UN, IMF, World
Bank and the WTO.

Expansion
Foster the stability, development, and
spread of liberal democratic regimes

Inspiration
Liberalism stands as an example to
emulate (the ‘City on a Hill’)
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Intervention
Means other than military intervention must
be considered
Intervention must minimize casualties
Discussion Question
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Use a liberal perspective to argue for
or against the US invasion of Iraq
Objective: consider when a liberal
foreign policy perspective would
military intervention
Discuss in small groups with the
people sitting next to you
– Be sure that you can explain your
reasoning
Conclusion
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Strong tendency for peace among liberal
states
However, same factors that help create
peace among liberal states makes them
suspicious of non-liberals
– More aggressiveness with non-liberals
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Liberal states still have to deal with issues
and problems of international competition
and cooperation - have not solved these