Realism v. Institutionalism
Realism vs. Institutionalism and the Middle East Crisis
Until fairly recently, the dominant theoretic rubric most analysts of international relations operated under was the theory of realism. The international relations theory of realism holds that each nation-state in the global community operates as a unified, rational actor. Realism as a theory was born and evolved at the same time as the modern conception of the nation-state was coming into its greatest influence in the international community. In contrast, institutionalism, which stresses the need for institutions to broker the peace between warring actors, came into its 'own' as a theory during the second half of the 20th century, well after the end of World War II and the establishment of the United Nations.
According to realism, above all, the nation-state is unified in terms of international affairs and always acts towards its own self-interest. Self-interest, according to realism is defined, by the state's primary goals of ensuring 'its' safety, security, and survival. The state operates almost like a rationally interested person in realism, in contrast to institutionalism where the state is in dialogue with the international environment. Realism holds that in pursuit of national security, states will attempt to amass power, allies, and arms, and that national relations between nation states are an exercise of power juggling rather than true ideological conflicts. Ideology always masks self-interest, according to realism, while institutionalism suggests that brokerage between states is possible, and that states may entertain more idealistic notions of creating peace in non-self-interested conflicts.
Almost immediately, one can see the problematic nature of applying realistic ideas about the nation-state to the Middle East conflict. First and foremost, the Middle East is a tribal community of many different ethnic, religious, and family groups. In Israel, the nation state itself, there are Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform Jews, as well as secularists and splinter groups, with different views of how to conceptualize this nation-state. The Palestinians are not a nation-state at all, but a fairly lose conglomerate of nationals with varying degrees of radicalism, some of whom have never dwelled in their homeland, other of whom live within the borders of Israel. Rather than being an atypical pattern in the state...
Additionally, it is important to note that the perceptual nature of truth, even as it is unexamined does not in itself make truth genuine -- and that all is not relative. Instead: Bhaskar contrasts a relative and developing ethical naturalism with a rational moral realism. Ethical naturalism is at the level of moral rules designed to guide actions, and these change over time with changes in our ethical concepts (for
foreign policy positions President George Bush Jr. President Obama terms realism idealism President George Bush and president Obama have all executed cases of similarities and differences when it comes to management of realism and idealism in the governance. The finest policies touching on foreign management and exemplification of people are determined by the magnitude at which these two leaders managed to ensure economic growth, diplomacy, preservation of the national interests,
history of events in the twentieth century, one might surmise that the twenty-first may not be all that different. Why? Because human nature and the pursuit of self-interest has not changed from one century to the next. To explain what drives international relations, Joshua Goldstein provides a brief history of the world, in addition to information about the geographical features and the consequences of different nation's economies. (Goldstein, 2003)
77). India / Theoretical / Foreign Policy Shyness (Pant, 2009, p. 251). Pant's latest scholarship on India's foreign policies (2009, p. 253) is far more forceful and impactful than the narrative in his 2008 book. He chides India for not letting go of its Cold War foreign policy strategy. "The Cold War officially ended almost two decades ago," Pant writes (p. 253), and yet India continues to debate "the relevance of
International relations studies is the specialization that focuses on the study of foreign affairs and the global events significantly influence the trend of the states that are within the international system. These systems are categorized as governments, countries, organizations and even people who are the main agents of relations and interchange between people within varying geographical locations (WITS University, 2014). There are pertinent issues that are involved in the study
Those countries who have developed their own WMD programs and have not signed various non-proliferation agreements, highlights this hypocrisy that is existing in the international community. Where, no one is willing to force new countries that develop their own WMD programs to commit to such standards. This is problematic, because it telling the world that those countries not committing to various non-proliferation efforts, can maintain their programs (in secrecy) despite
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