Theoretical perspectives

Theoretical perspectives
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Theoretical perspectives
There are 3 key international relations theories: constructivism, liberalism and realism. The theory that explains most accurately the present dynamics of international system is constructivism. This is primarily because constructivism theory is concerned with the way in which ideas define global structure, the way in which this structure defines the identities as well as interests of countries, and how non-state actors and state actors recreate this structure. Moreover, this theory presupposes that global politics is shaped by social identities, collective values, culture, as well as credible ideas. Constructivism theory also maintains that global reality is constructed socially using cognitive structures that provide significance to the material world (Baylis, Smith & Owens, 2011). Presently, ideas, social identities, values and culture are at the core of the dynamics of international system. Therefore, the theory of constructivism is the one which explains most accurately today’s dynamics of international system
The theory of realism basically holds a number of suppositions. It supposes that country-states are unitary actors within an anarchic global system without power beyond ability to regulate interactions between countries since there is no proper authoritative global government. It also presumes that sovereign nations are the main actors in world affairs, and not multi-national corporations or non-governmental organizations. Therefore, as the highest order, countries are competing with each other (Baylis, Smith & Owens, 2011). The weakness of realism is that it has ambiguity of terms such as state interest and power. Secondly, it asserts that countries only pursue their own power using global organizations and that war is unavoidable, this is not true. Thus, the theory of realism does not accurately apply to today’s dynamics of international system.
The theory of liberalism maintains that preferences of a nation are the key determinants of behavior of that country, instead of capabilities of that nation. This theory, contrary to realism, allows for plurality in the actions of nations, hence preferences would differ from one nation to another depending on aspects like type of gove...