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Us Grand Strategy Must Be Built Upon Liberalism Rather Than Realism

1323 Words6 Pages

Response to Question Two:
“Given the nature of the current and likely future international security environment, U.S. grand strategy must be built upon liberalism rather than realism. Realism is insufficient; it may not even be necessary.” Agree or disagree (or both) and explain why. While many believe that realism holds a diminished relevance today, as David L. Anderson notes in Christopher Layne’s The Peace of Illusions, “realism is not beyond criticism, but since the time of the Greek historians it has provided a behavioral paradigm of rational cost-benefit calculations of the national interest in an essentially anarchical international environment.” 1 As such, realism has dominated western political thought for centuries and its longevity …show more content…

If liberalism was the correct interpretation of the world, international institutions would prohibit states from maximizing their pursuit for power. After all, international institutions facilitate interaction amongst nations, and liberalism supposedly emphasizes the importance of international institutions in constraining state power and preserving peace. To this end, Posen and Ross note that the United Nations and European Union remain weak institutions, and while they are comprised of democratic, peace-loving states, it does not mean that they will always cooperate to settle disputes at the margins of traditional national interests. 8 Thus, irrespective of intentions, power reigns supreme. However, liberalism is disadvantaged as it overvalues states’ commitment to liberal values and ignores the role of power and its effect on these institutions. For the liberalist, security and stability, both domestic and international, is interconnected with these institutions. While proponents of liberalism agree with realists that the main actors are states, their concern for power is overridden by political considerations. This is problematic as power is the sole factor that drives state’s actions in the international political

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Viewing Ambassador Power’s statements through both the lens of liberalism and realism allows one to better understand the policies and ideas which she presents throughout her speech. The theoretical tradition of liberalism, specifically the neoliberal framing of it, assists in clarifying why it is necessary, in Ambassador Power’s mind, that states both cooperate and create a shared understanding of expectations by abiding to rules which have previously been defined and outlined. Ambassador Power argument shows that it is imperative that states join and posture to prevent Russia from taking any further actions, specifically ones which may jeopardize the security of the United States. Realism explains how the pursuit of power dictates the behaviors of states and the policies which they push. Given that there is a net amount of power, the prevention of another state, in this instance Russia, from gaining power inherently increases the power of all other states while at the same time escalating the security of said states.

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