Alternative Approaches to International Theory
John Baylis
Chapter – 10
Table of Contents
Introduction
- The previous chapters overviewed the four dominant theories of international relations: Realism, Liberalism, Marxism, and Constructivism, along with the contemporary debate between neo-realism and neo-liberalism.
- Social Constructivism is relatively new compared to the other approaches, which have governed the discipline for the last fifty years.
- The inter-paradigm debate between Realism, Liberalism, and Marxism has defined key disagreements in international theory.
- Despite its influence, the inter-paradigm debate does not cover all the issues that contemporary theories of world politics need to address.
- The debate has become a conservative political move, appearing open-minded but in reality maintaining Realism’s dominance.
- One reason Realism dominates is its commonsense portrayal of the world, allowing alternative views to be dismissed as value-laden.
- In the last decade, two major changes have occurred:
- A neo-neo debate between neo-realism and neo-liberalism.
- The emergence of new approaches to understand world politics.
- The end of the Cold War undermined Realism, especially neo-realism, which relied on the stability of the bipolar system.
- Other reasons for the rise of new approaches include:
- The resurgence of Liberalism in the form of neo-liberal Institutionalism, challenging Realism’s dominance.
- The need to address global issues like the rise of non-state actors, identity politics, transnational social movements, and information technology.
- Major developments in social sciences and philosophy of social science critiquing positivism, which was the underlying methodology of Realism.
- As a result, new approaches to international relations have emerged to address the complexities of the twenty-first century.