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Three Major Theories Of International Relations

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Many international relation scholars use the three main schools of thought, realism, liberalism and constructivism, to understand and analyze states’ behaviors in the international arena. Each of the three theories uniquely explains the reasons behind a state’s behavior in times of peace or during a conflict. Realism is the school of thought that believes that the international system is anarchic and thus the states try to gain material power. On the other hand liberalism focuses on the power of institutions, which are founded on common values and goals of the state, in the international system. The last theory constructivism believes that state goals are a reflection of social norms, values and history of a state. Many scholars today use …show more content…

The states that joined NATO were willing to put their personal state goals aside to cooperate and achieve a goal for the common good; in the case of the Cold War defeating the Soviet threat based on its communist ideologies (Walt, 1998). During the Cold War NATO strengthened the trans-Atlantic relations between the countries while simultaneously deterring the Soviet threat through its various institutions (Webber, 2009). Many of NATO’s members had common economic, political and social values thus the connection between the countries was strong, and I believe that this was a driving factor in the outcome of the Cold War. In the late 1980’s, toward the end of the Cold War, Gorbechuv realized that the Soviet Union’s economy was failing and was unable to keep up with NATO so he created liberal policies that were inline with NATO’s policies and ideologies (Doyle, 1996). These new policies led to even further weakening of the Soviet Union, economically and politically and as a result there were revolutions against the communist governments of many of the Warsaw Pact alliance member (Doyle, 1996). By viewing NATO as an institution, it is clear that NATO was able to win the Cold War because it’s member states believed in achieving a common goal even if it meant giving up on their individual state needs or goals. While the member states of NATO had a strong bond connecting them, the Warsaw pact was an alliance whose member states (civil societies) did not give up on their personal interests for the common

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