Block 1.- Theories. 1.- REALISM Main authors: Thucydides, “Peloponnesian war”. Hans Morgenthau, “Politics among nations” Main points: Community. Order and Stability: the authority. Balance of power: the military capabilities. Interest and justice. The example of R2P (Responsibility to Protect). Change. Change and modernization. RMA (Revolution of Military Affairs) Restoring order under a new paradigm: revolutionary moments and stability. 2.- Structural Realism Main authors: Kenneth Waltz and John Mearsheimer. Object: from power to Survival. Two schools: defensive realist. Waltz. Structural factors limit how much powers states can gain. offensive realist. Mearsheimer. System’s structure encourages States to maximize their power, to include pursuing hegemony. Five Assumptions Anarchic system. All states possess some offensive capability. Uncertainty. Main goal is survival. States are rational actors, though they can miscalculate. The security Dilemma. 2.1.- Defensive realism vs. Offensive Realism. Defensive: Strive for an “appropriate amount of power”. Effects of gaining power: Balancing. Offence-defense balance. Few hegemonic powers and no central wars. Offensive: Balancing is inefficient. Buckpassing. Offensive capabilities vs. Deterrence. 2.3.- Liberalism. Main authors: Immanuel Kant (“Perpetual Peace Treaty”), Robert Keohane, Michael Doyle. Evolution of idealism – liberalism – neoliberalism – other liberal theories (institutionalism, globalism). Three elements in the prevention of international conflicts: Republics (democracies) as stability guarantee. International organizations. Economic exchanges or commercial interactions. The three elements interact between themselves and with the internal side of political system in the “Kantian triangle”. 2.4.- Neoliberalism Main authors: Robert Keohane and Joseph Nye. Other schools as institutionalism, globalism or interdependence school. Shift in balance from state to corporations and international organizations. Shift in tools for deploying power, from military tools (hard power) to economic, political, ideological tools (soft power). Impact of new communication and information technology in economy, politics and decision making processes, and international dynamics. Increasing role of international organizations/corporations, especially in current globalised world (Globalism vs. Globalization). Declining role of armies and war as political tools 2.5.- Structuralism Based on marxist theories of economics and social relations between capitalist owner and oppressed laborer. Second half of XIX Century. International Relations are interpreted as economic and capitalist relations, where developed countries oppress developing and underdeveloped ones based on considerations as natural resources or the Price of labor hand. This theory has its centers of gravity on State as units of the system and human resources as cheap labor hand. Two main schools. Dependency school. Henrique Cardoso. World-System theory. Immanuel Wallerstein. “Core” vs. “Peryphery” 2.6.- Constructivism. Alexander Wendt: “Anarchy is what states make of it”. Revisionist theory in the “fourth debate” framework. International politics are “a world of our making”, a social construction made by agencies through processes of interaction. Agencies (actors) make choices in the process of interaction, bringing underlying historical, cuttural and political realities into being. The process of interaction is based, thus, in a meaningful world and not only in a rational way. Since the social construction is not static, neither are the international politics. Influence in schools as marketing, propaganda, political and information warfare, et cetera. 2.7.- Feminist approach. Part of the revisionist debate in the last decades. Revision of the mainstream theories: realism/neorealism, liberalism/institutionalism, and structuralism: reinterpretation of the role and impact of women under these theories. Realism/neorealism: dynamics of power at the public and private level defining gender roles. Liberalism/neoliberalism. Impact of women identity in cooperative relations both at internal and international levels Structuralism: oppression dynamics in public and private spheres between man and women. In a constructivist way, gender roles differ from one culture to another.
