Alternatives to Realism: Pluralist Liberalism and Globalism

Pluralism 1. Waltz is wrong to focus on security and conflict. (“Nice Guys” of IR: Keohane, Nye, Caporaso, Ruggie, Krasner) 1. Waltz is wrong to focus on security and conflict. 2. Other types of interaction are vital to understand the international system (e.g., economic) --Leads to mutual interdependence

Pluralism (continued) 3. Add economics to achieve an “analytical clean-up” of neo-realism. 4. Account for economic interests, not just security interests

Pluralism (continued) 1. If states are bad, let’s curb them. Disown Hobbes and downplay the state. 2. Create “regimes” 3. John Ruggie (1975) 4. Stephen Krasner (1982)

Pluralism (continued) A regime is a “set of expectations, rules and regulations, plans, organizational energies and financial commitments, which have been accepted by a group of states” (Ruggie, 1975)

Pluralism (continued) Regimes as “Social Institutions” They consist of implicit or explicit: 1. Principles 2. Norms 3. Rules and decision-making procedures Examples--GATT and OPEC NB: Regimes are made up of states

Pluralism (continued) Regimes as Intermediate Factors They help to account for cooperation and discord. Behavior is limited by the norms and rules of the regime. Regime theory de-emphasizes the state.

Pluralism (continued) The Wall Begins to Crumble Attacks on the State as the Unit of Analysis: “Turbulence” Rosenau (1990) “Region States” Ohmae (1995) Non-Traditional Threats: terrorism, drugs, crime Information Revolution Technology and Finance

Globalism A More Radical Critique (Wallerstein, Polanyi, etc.)

Globalism (Continued) Rejection of liberalism and neo- classical economic theory View of the International System: Integrated capitalist world economy Ceaseless quest for accumulation

Globalism (Continued) Countries Belong to One of Three Categories: 1. Core (capital intensive) 2. Periphery (labor intensive 3. Semi-periphery (mixture)

Globalism (continued) External Behavior Core States maintain the world economy by military or other means Change in the World Economy 1. Economic contraction and expansion 2. Upward and downward mobility of states

Globalism (summary) 1. The behavior of states is governed by the anarchic structure of the world economy. 2. Conflict is natural in the world economy. 3. Geographically-based actors are central. 4. State behavior, however, is not rational. 5. Nation-states consist of capital, labor, and the means of coercion.

Dependency Theory Emphasis on the internal consequences of dominance relations

Dependency Theory (Continued) “Penetration”by a dominant society and its forces Transnational corporations Military forces Political advisors and missionaries

Dependency Theory (Continued) Penetrate weak, dependent societies Drain local resources Transfer economic surplus to dominant society Distorts the economic and social structure

Dependency Theory (Continued) Policy Implications Self-reliant development Encourage counter-structures, policies, and values