Summaries Tutorial 1
Summery YouTube clip: theory in action: realism
Realism looks at things with half-empty glass idea, they see the world in tragedy
and evil
Realism= states seek power and security because they exist in a self-help system
seek power, security, and mostly autonomy
Realism: all against all (everyone out for themselves) danger of war is always
lurking around
You can never trust anyone, so autonomy is important, because In such a world, you
don’t want to be interdependent today’s friend could be tomorrow’s enemy (so
never trust anyone) you can never have enough power
National interest
Important actors: states
Summery YouTube: theory in action: liberalism
Liberalism= international system creates opportunities for cooperation and con ict
(so: opportunities for bad things to happen but also for good things), and it’s up to
the states and other global political actors to take advantage of those opportunities
Mutually bene cial and cooperation
Important actors: states (some more than others), but also businesses, religion,
social movements, political movements, other sorts of organizations etc.
Liberals see the world full of opportunities (to pursue goals that are bene cial to
everyone)
Con ict is big component in the international system, but that’s not all that is there
(which realist believe that IS all that is there)
Not necessarily opposed to war or using force, but rst exhaust every other option
before getting to military con ict (usually one of these other options will work, so no
need to military con ict)
Collective security
Many current international institutions are based on liberalism many of those were
made after WW2, with the idea “how do we make sure that doesn’t happen again”
Summery YouTube: Theory in Action: Constructivism
Constructivism= the world is something that we built out of the way we relate to each
other
The idea of something is what makes it “real” if everyone decides tomorrow that
the US doesn’t exist anymore, it doesn’t exist because US is a concept in itself
Change the rules that the world is based endless cycle we are constantly
changing these rules in little ways that are themselves framed by ways and rules that
the world already works
You need to have a set of ideas in order to have international relations
,Longer time scales than liberalists or realists
At some level, it is the choices we make that create the world we live in
Many things in this world are simply just constructs many things aren’t real of
itself, they only exist because we give them reality through social agreement
Summery EU external action from Realist Perspective – Hyde-Price (chapter 10, pp.
151-164)
Subject: IR realism
State in realism: main actor/only important actor
End of cold war: Europe entered into liberal optimism & the idea that EU can shape
external world through soft power and normative power rather than hard power
Soft power= ability of political actors to attract and convince others to be
like them (instead of using coercion and payment aka hard power)
With Soviet collapsing, EU could expand eastwards
Currently: great power rivalry and geopolitical competition has returned and liberal
world order is being challenged from inside and outside (ex: China, “America First”)
Defense and geopolitics is becoming more important to EU
Strength realism in EU external action:
- It focuses on structure of international system in which EU is situated
- It places emphasis on material factors that shape international politics / hard
power (other ex: geography, diplomatic relations, size, etc. instead of soft
power)
- It can be used in challenging some in uential liberal idealist approaches
(which have dominated EU external action)
- It can thus help to correct imbalance in study of EU external action by new
contributions to discussion
Types of realism:
- Classical realist (aka human nature realism): drew on history, philosophy and
political theory assumption of egoism and self interest in human affairs
- Neorealism (aka structural realism):
o Defensive realism
o Offensive realism (power maximizers)
- Neoclassical realism: integrates structural analysis of international system
with domestic level variables (ex: state capabilities, strategic culture and
domestic politics) in order to develop realist theory of foreign policy analysis
neoclassical realism is becoming more popular
Strands of realist international theory:
- Philosophical mood pessimism
, - Guide to action need to distinguish between what is desirable and
achievable given the structural constraints of international system (so against
moralism in foreign policy)
- Scienti c knowledge practical knowledge is concerned with how we can
affect and change the world in order to meet our needs and desires, scienti c
knowledge is an impulse for rational understanding
Important focal points of realism in IR:
- power and unequal power distribution
Different powers: military, economic, soft power
Power, wealth and in uence also unequal distribution in Western Europe
more as opposed to in eastern/central Europe
- States are most important actors in international system (not organizations)
Reasons:
▪ State possesses capabilities that international organizations lack
▪ States are strongest social cohesion nationalism
States establish EU rules for ex.
Realism doesn’t totally disregard international organizations (like EU) but believes
that it only works when there is a shared pursuit of common interest of MSs and
shared concerns
EU and Russia realist perspective:
EU’s approaches to Eastern neighbors doesn’t work because they don’t take into
account a shifting balance of power in the region they didn’t recognize political
and geostrategic importance of Ukraine to Russia (and believed eastern expansion
would be good for anyone)
Collective purposes for expansion east:
- Promotion EU norms and values
- Collective milieu-shaping EU commercial regulations, business practices,
etc.
- Well-governed countries in Eastern Europe is bene cial to EU
Problem with ENP (European neighborhood policy) from realist perspective:
- MSs have different/con icting goals, objectives, interests and preferences
(which with ENP kind of gets disregarded)
- ENP was made to stabilize neighborhood and transform it, but change in
general is almost always destabilizing and disruptive
- EU lacks clear and credible strategy for managing complexities and risks
- EU fails to recognize importance of geopolitics
Realist theory highlight importance of continued importance of geopolitics
Ukraine crisis from realism: shows that great powers are always sensitive to potential
threats near home territory
Realism is based on materialism and what the world is (not what should be) + (hard)
power
, Summery Liberal intergovernmentalism and EU external action – Moravcsik and
Emmons (chapter 12, pp. 181-196)
Subject: Liberal intergovernmentalism (LI) IR theory
State in liberal intergovernmentalism: rational actors pursuing national interests
through intergovernmental bargaining and construction of common functional
institutions that help overcome collective problems
In EU external action LI isn’t used as often
EU has much impact on global affairs, international trade, world’s development and
humanitarian aid, support global international law and institutions
But EU external action is ineffective, incoherent, not good gap between
expectations and capabilities
Integration (of EU external action) emerges in three stages:
1. States de ne basic substantive preferences / national preferences
national preferences are speci c to issues (ex: external goals in trade
policies are different than goals in human rights) issue-speci c theories of
preferences
2. Bargain among themselves (intergovernmental) to reach agreements (with
asymmetric interdependence)
improve ef ciency
LI assumes that states engage in cooperative Nash bargaining (= relative
bargaining power depends on distribution of potential gains from agreement
relative to outside option or BATNA) aka states that care about an issue
are more likely to offer side-payments or linkages to persuade others
asymmetrical interdependence
3. Create (or adjust) regional or domestic institutions to implement those
outcomes
two collective action problems:
▪ Coordination problems
▪ Collaboration problems
LI turns to international regime theory (international institutions are
instruments to help states implement, elaborate, enforce and extend
incomplete contracts under conditions of uncertainty
Collective action problems can also be resolved without sovereignty. Alternatives:
- States pursue their interest by forming non-EU coalitions of willing through UN
or on their own
- Embed negotiations and enforcement in domestic law, bureaucratic practices
and social expectations Europeanization
- Informal norms and procedures
Foreign policy and domestic is embedded in economic, social and cultural
interdependence (according to LI)
In LI: institutionalization creating coherence and actorness
Summery YouTube clip: theory in action: realism
Realism looks at things with half-empty glass idea, they see the world in tragedy
and evil
Realism= states seek power and security because they exist in a self-help system
seek power, security, and mostly autonomy
Realism: all against all (everyone out for themselves) danger of war is always
lurking around
You can never trust anyone, so autonomy is important, because In such a world, you
don’t want to be interdependent today’s friend could be tomorrow’s enemy (so
never trust anyone) you can never have enough power
National interest
Important actors: states
Summery YouTube: theory in action: liberalism
Liberalism= international system creates opportunities for cooperation and con ict
(so: opportunities for bad things to happen but also for good things), and it’s up to
the states and other global political actors to take advantage of those opportunities
Mutually bene cial and cooperation
Important actors: states (some more than others), but also businesses, religion,
social movements, political movements, other sorts of organizations etc.
Liberals see the world full of opportunities (to pursue goals that are bene cial to
everyone)
Con ict is big component in the international system, but that’s not all that is there
(which realist believe that IS all that is there)
Not necessarily opposed to war or using force, but rst exhaust every other option
before getting to military con ict (usually one of these other options will work, so no
need to military con ict)
Collective security
Many current international institutions are based on liberalism many of those were
made after WW2, with the idea “how do we make sure that doesn’t happen again”
Summery YouTube: Theory in Action: Constructivism
Constructivism= the world is something that we built out of the way we relate to each
other
The idea of something is what makes it “real” if everyone decides tomorrow that
the US doesn’t exist anymore, it doesn’t exist because US is a concept in itself
Change the rules that the world is based endless cycle we are constantly
changing these rules in little ways that are themselves framed by ways and rules that
the world already works
You need to have a set of ideas in order to have international relations
,Longer time scales than liberalists or realists
At some level, it is the choices we make that create the world we live in
Many things in this world are simply just constructs many things aren’t real of
itself, they only exist because we give them reality through social agreement
Summery EU external action from Realist Perspective – Hyde-Price (chapter 10, pp.
151-164)
Subject: IR realism
State in realism: main actor/only important actor
End of cold war: Europe entered into liberal optimism & the idea that EU can shape
external world through soft power and normative power rather than hard power
Soft power= ability of political actors to attract and convince others to be
like them (instead of using coercion and payment aka hard power)
With Soviet collapsing, EU could expand eastwards
Currently: great power rivalry and geopolitical competition has returned and liberal
world order is being challenged from inside and outside (ex: China, “America First”)
Defense and geopolitics is becoming more important to EU
Strength realism in EU external action:
- It focuses on structure of international system in which EU is situated
- It places emphasis on material factors that shape international politics / hard
power (other ex: geography, diplomatic relations, size, etc. instead of soft
power)
- It can be used in challenging some in uential liberal idealist approaches
(which have dominated EU external action)
- It can thus help to correct imbalance in study of EU external action by new
contributions to discussion
Types of realism:
- Classical realist (aka human nature realism): drew on history, philosophy and
political theory assumption of egoism and self interest in human affairs
- Neorealism (aka structural realism):
o Defensive realism
o Offensive realism (power maximizers)
- Neoclassical realism: integrates structural analysis of international system
with domestic level variables (ex: state capabilities, strategic culture and
domestic politics) in order to develop realist theory of foreign policy analysis
neoclassical realism is becoming more popular
Strands of realist international theory:
- Philosophical mood pessimism
, - Guide to action need to distinguish between what is desirable and
achievable given the structural constraints of international system (so against
moralism in foreign policy)
- Scienti c knowledge practical knowledge is concerned with how we can
affect and change the world in order to meet our needs and desires, scienti c
knowledge is an impulse for rational understanding
Important focal points of realism in IR:
- power and unequal power distribution
Different powers: military, economic, soft power
Power, wealth and in uence also unequal distribution in Western Europe
more as opposed to in eastern/central Europe
- States are most important actors in international system (not organizations)
Reasons:
▪ State possesses capabilities that international organizations lack
▪ States are strongest social cohesion nationalism
States establish EU rules for ex.
Realism doesn’t totally disregard international organizations (like EU) but believes
that it only works when there is a shared pursuit of common interest of MSs and
shared concerns
EU and Russia realist perspective:
EU’s approaches to Eastern neighbors doesn’t work because they don’t take into
account a shifting balance of power in the region they didn’t recognize political
and geostrategic importance of Ukraine to Russia (and believed eastern expansion
would be good for anyone)
Collective purposes for expansion east:
- Promotion EU norms and values
- Collective milieu-shaping EU commercial regulations, business practices,
etc.
- Well-governed countries in Eastern Europe is bene cial to EU
Problem with ENP (European neighborhood policy) from realist perspective:
- MSs have different/con icting goals, objectives, interests and preferences
(which with ENP kind of gets disregarded)
- ENP was made to stabilize neighborhood and transform it, but change in
general is almost always destabilizing and disruptive
- EU lacks clear and credible strategy for managing complexities and risks
- EU fails to recognize importance of geopolitics
Realist theory highlight importance of continued importance of geopolitics
Ukraine crisis from realism: shows that great powers are always sensitive to potential
threats near home territory
Realism is based on materialism and what the world is (not what should be) + (hard)
power
, Summery Liberal intergovernmentalism and EU external action – Moravcsik and
Emmons (chapter 12, pp. 181-196)
Subject: Liberal intergovernmentalism (LI) IR theory
State in liberal intergovernmentalism: rational actors pursuing national interests
through intergovernmental bargaining and construction of common functional
institutions that help overcome collective problems
In EU external action LI isn’t used as often
EU has much impact on global affairs, international trade, world’s development and
humanitarian aid, support global international law and institutions
But EU external action is ineffective, incoherent, not good gap between
expectations and capabilities
Integration (of EU external action) emerges in three stages:
1. States de ne basic substantive preferences / national preferences
national preferences are speci c to issues (ex: external goals in trade
policies are different than goals in human rights) issue-speci c theories of
preferences
2. Bargain among themselves (intergovernmental) to reach agreements (with
asymmetric interdependence)
improve ef ciency
LI assumes that states engage in cooperative Nash bargaining (= relative
bargaining power depends on distribution of potential gains from agreement
relative to outside option or BATNA) aka states that care about an issue
are more likely to offer side-payments or linkages to persuade others
asymmetrical interdependence
3. Create (or adjust) regional or domestic institutions to implement those
outcomes
two collective action problems:
▪ Coordination problems
▪ Collaboration problems
LI turns to international regime theory (international institutions are
instruments to help states implement, elaborate, enforce and extend
incomplete contracts under conditions of uncertainty
Collective action problems can also be resolved without sovereignty. Alternatives:
- States pursue their interest by forming non-EU coalitions of willing through UN
or on their own
- Embed negotiations and enforcement in domestic law, bureaucratic practices
and social expectations Europeanization
- Informal norms and procedures
Foreign policy and domestic is embedded in economic, social and cultural
interdependence (according to LI)
In LI: institutionalization creating coherence and actorness
