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Structural Realism Vs Neo Liberalism Essay

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Structural realism vs neo-liberalism
In the course of international relations some of the schools that we learnt are realism and liberalism. Realism is known as political realism and it’s sometimes contrasted with other schools such as idealism or liberalism, which is concentrated on cooperation (Sheku, pg.1-9). Regarding realism, there are 4 proposals that realists assert: first of all international system is anarchic, states are considered as the most important actors and are unitary as well, and the last but not least is that survival is the main concern for all states (Sheku, pg.1-9).Realism has many types within its school and one of them is neorealism or in other words structural realism, which tries to explain why states that are equal do not act similarly (Joulukuu, 2008). Structural realists are called as realist because the realists assert that the ambition of a country’s foreign policy is based upon their power …show more content…

Neoliberals ideas or assumptions are that states are key actor and there should always be a cooperation among them. To have cooperation the states must have mutual gains and interests (Sterling, chapter 6). Some of the factors that the cooperation may fail are the misperception among states, the lack of trust, cheating, uncertainty and so on. Norms and rules are used to solve such problems (Sterling, chapter 6).
Comparing neoliberalism and neorealism, it should be mentioned that this two theories have some similarities as well as differences that they share on their assumptions. Both of these two theories consider that states are key actors, the international system as an anarchic system and that states act in regards to the rational choice model.
There are many differences that should be mentioned when it comes to compare neoliberalism and

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