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Classical Liberalism: A Comparative Analysis

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Recommended: Realism in international relation

In 1970, the international tension that occurred confirmed the idea of realism to an extent. Hitherto, with the on-going inter-state collaboration and cooperation, a new philosophy emerged in the early 1980’s that completely changed the view of international system. The convolutions of contemporary world has led to the emergence of these two most prominent theories, as they can help resolve the complex issues of a globalized world. (Broad Historical Overview of International Relations', 2016).
Realism:
Realism is the predominant theory in International Relation. Realist believe in states, being the only actor, have the authorities to decide their behavior towards other states and their behaviors are logical. Power, especially Military Power …show more content…

Realist main focus is History. And for survival the competition is important. There are three types of Realism:
1) Classical Realism: Any action from the state in the International politics is due to the human nature.
2) Structural Realism: The International politics depends on International system i.e. states are in Anarchy.
3) Neoclassical Realism: The actions of the states in international politics cannot be explained just through human nature and system, it needs methodical variables- distribution of power and threats from other states as well as domestic institutes.

Liberalism: Liberalism is another leading theory in International relations. According to liberals, states are in anarchical system and there is a perception of pluralism of other actors that play important role in international politics and policies. Liberals also emphasizes on mutual welfares of the states and international collaboration. International institutes have a big impact in mutual welfare. For the mutual welfare diplomacy plays an important role to establish nonviolent behaviors. Liberalism’s main focus is peace which can be achieved through states interdependences. The primary goal of a state is the interaction of states in order to develop in a peaceful world, where security is not a concern (Hall, …show more content…

Moreover Liberals believe that the state’s system should carry other actors as well in order to build strong international relations whereas realism adhere to unitary.
2) Power: Power is the main and most important concept in both theories. Liberalism and Realism define power in different ways.
According to realist the power mainly refers to military capability. The state is strong and powerful if it has strong military with advance weapons and it can survive in the condition of war. The states are always trying to pursue as much power as possible, due to the security paradigm, in order to ensure their survival in such an anarchistic world.
Solid power is usually seen in cases where power is measured by the military power, so United States is considered as a super power, because it has the strongest and biggest military of the world. (Jervis, 1999).
In liberalism the power is not only military capabilities rather power can be defined as financially, cultural and technological capabilities. As quoted

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