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Liberalism: Neorealist Or Structural Realism?

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Realism
The so called Realists sometimes referred to as “Neorealists” or “Structural Realists”, argues that everything outside ones borders is defined by anarchy and the total absence of any authority. The international system is comprised of autonomous thus sovereign states and realists believe that there cannot exist an inherent structure or society between them. The state power is the key in the anarchic system, the variable of interests and the only way to defend oneself and survive.
According John Mearsheimer does the realist’s world view rest on four assumptions. First, Realists believes that the ultimate goal of every state is survival, the largest threat to any state is foreign invasion and occupation. Second, all states are rational …show more content…

The theory says that the national states behavior is sharply connected to the international relations. One of the most discussed developments within the theory is “democratic peace”, which argues that democratic states are not very likely to go to war with each other. The liberalism does not describe states as machines that simply wants to survive and succeed in a system characterized by uncertainty, Liberalism argues that international institutions minimize “uncertainty” in the international system. States are not only concerned of power they also have commercial interests or ideological beliefs, if war is too costly will the state calculus mean that states are less likely to military …show more content…

Meanings are constructed from a mix of history, norms, beliefs and ideas which one must understand in order to examine state behavior. Constructvist emphasizes the social context in which the events of international relations occur, how states perceive each other is a key determinate of their actions.
Behind the western international promotion of democracy is the idea of self-determination, the notion that believes that any political collective should have the opportunity to choose its own future. The self-determination is result of using the carrot instead of the stick, one cannot force people into becoming free. The theory follows the assumptions that everyone wants to be free and dictate one owns life, the best way of accomplish this is to become a liberal

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