International relations part 2

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
IDEOLOGIES & THEORIES
By Amin Sadeghi

Political Realism
Politics is divided into the ‘international’ and the ‘domestic’. ‘Economic might’
eventually translates into ‘military might’. A country good at home will not
necessarily show the same sets of behaviours against its neighbours.
Survival is the behaviour states demonstrate in an ‘anarchic’ system. The root
cause of survival substantiates the following divide amongst academicians:
 Human nature realists (Hans Morgenthau): It is hard-coded in Human nature
to pursuit power.
 Structural realists (Mearsheimer; Waltz): It is the architecture of the
international system, not human nature that causes states to engage in
security competition (pursuit of power).
Note that there are other modes of classification, such as the distinction
between neorealism (an attempt by realists to theorise in more
methodologically rigorous ways) and classical realism.
Previously we learned that…
Introduction Realism Liberalism Marxism Critical Theory Constructivism Feminism Other

Political Liberalism
Whereas realists focus on the ‘high politics’ of power struggle, liberals focus on
the ‘low politics’ of interdependence.
On a domestic scale, focus is on national political economy:
 Politics: Self-interested people assign people to form a government in order to
protect their lives, liberty and property (John Locke).
 Economics: Specialisation and exchange together weave a social division of
labour, mediated by an invisible hand (demand and supply in a market
economy) (Adam Smith).
On an international scale, focus is on the interconnectedness of the following
(envisioned by Immanuel Kant):
 Democracy
 Globalisation
 Intergovernmental Organisations (International Organisations)
Previously we learned that…

State capabilities are measurable. Their intentions, on the other hand, are hard
to discern.
States, in the Realist approach, portray the following three forms of behaviour:
• States in the international system fear each other;
• States operate in a self-help system;
• The best way to survive in this system is to be really powerful.
USA had four peer competitors threating its regional (world) hegemon title in
the twentieth century: Imperial Germany, Imperial Japan, Nazi Germany, and
the Soviet Union.
A state increasing its defensive capabilities is translated to what adversarial
states perceive as offensive capabilities.
Why China Cannot Rise Peacefully, October 17, 2012
John Mearsheimer @ The University of Ottawa
Updates on Mearsheimer

By the time this presentation was delivered, the Democratic party was running
a close competition between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. Some of the
examples here go back to March 2016, which were intended to keep the
students up to date with the latest political events related to our course. As
those examples seem timeless to this author, this late publication does by no
means undervalue their worth.
Hitherto students have shown a great interest in refurbishing their knowledge
with examples from the other social sciences. The online version at
SlideShare.net has surprisingly been viewed more than a thousand times from
over 50 countries over a course of 5 months. These heart-warming comforts
motivate me to continue this journey and make more slides. May a single
student find them useful, my time was not put to squander.
I also suggest you follow me on SlideShare.net to get the latest submissions. You
may contact me directly on Facebook (link available in my profile) if you are
interested in conversing with me regarding any issue related to these slides.
Foreword

Marxism provides a powerful analytical tool based on Hegelian logic that
changed the traditional way of analysis of the social sciences after 2,000 years.
Several approaches to IR that consider themselves ‘critical’ have roots in
Marxism, in the sense that they analyse IR’s mainstream approaches with
critical assumptions and conclusions.
Therefore, a thorough understanding of Marxism is clearly important to fully
fathom Constructivism as well as Critical ideologies in International Relations.
For example, Marxism and Constructivism both share the precept that much of
what we consider ‘objective knowledge’ about how the world works is in fact
human and social in origin.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Marxism survives as an analytic tool and a critique of capitalism, and it will
continue to survive as long as those flaws of the capitalist system emphasized
by Marx and his followers remain: the “boom and bust” cycle of capitalist
evolution, widespread poverty side by side with great wealth, and the intense
rivalries of capitalist economies over market share.”
Gilpin & Gilpin, 2001
Marxism

US Presidency candidate, Bernie Sanders, has been talking about socialism, and
is not shy to call himself a Democratic Socialist. Hillary Clinton, on the other
hand, calls herself “a progressive who likes to get things done”, which she
believes distinguishes her from Bernie.
“A progressive is someone who makes progress, and that’s what I intend to do.”
Hillary Clinton, Feb. 4, 2016
Sanders believes that Clinton represents the establishment whereas Clinton
accuses Sanders of trying to dismantle the American political and social
progress. Clinton advocates an onward movement which takes the current
progress at 80% and leads it forward to 100%.
Democratic Debate: Hillary Clinton VS Bernie Sanders - New Hampshire Feb. 4, 2016
When the word “Socialism” goes back to Marxism, and Marxism is more than
often associated with ‘revolution’ by American writers, the question that comes
to mind is: Is Bernie Sanders looking forward to start a revolution?
Bernie Sanders’s Socialism

His proposal for change was radical: revolution. Marx believed that the engine
of human history is class conflict. Society is made up of two social classes, he
said, and they are natural enemies: the bourgeoisie (the capitalists, those who
own the capital, land, factories, and machines) and the proletariat (the
exploited workers, who do not own the means of production). Eventually, the
workers will unite and break their chains of bondage. The revolution will be
bloody, but it will usher in a classless society, one free of exploitation. People
will work according to their abilities and receive goods and services according
to their needs.
Marxism is not the same as communism. Although Marx proposed revolution
as the way for workers to gain control of society, he did not develop the
political system called communism. This is a later application of his ideas.
Marx himself felt disgusted when he heard debates about his insights into
social life. After listening to some of the positions attributed to him, he shook
his head and said, “I am not a Marxist”.
James M. Henslin, American Sociologist, 2010
Karl Marx (1818-1883)

Capitalism was a promise to free individuals. It let each individual to develop
him- or herself, and was announced as the celebration of individualism to end
feudalism. The French Revolution is an example of revolt against in 1789.
By 1850, half a century later, people in Europe discover that instead of the lord
and the serf, there is the capitalist and the proletariat. And they are not getting
more and more equal, but getting further and further apart. So, there begins a
criticism of Capitalism.
Socialists fell into two groups back then. One group sought ‘spilling blood’, and
taking over, mimicking what capitalists did in the French Revolution
(revolutionaries), and the other group, afraid of capitalists’ power of force (the
army), suggested forming political parties and campaigning for votes. Socialists
who took a Parliamentarian approach to run for office are known are
evolutionaries.
Richard D. Wolff, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, May 2015
Revolutionary vs. evolutionary takeover of the state

Either a revolutionary or an evolutionary, capturing the state is a means to
rearrange the society as an end. To think that capturing the state – as an end –
is a socialist act is a grotesque mistake.
Richard D. Wolff, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, May 2015
Lenin was a socialist who captured the state in a revolutionary way. All other
attempts failed to capture any other state; therefore, leading a group socialists
to this conclusion that Lenin’s way – revolutionary uprising against the state –
is the only way. Others refused to take the revolutionary approach. Thus,
revolutionary socialists split, and to underscore their view, they took a new
name. All communist groups are formed in 1920-21.
Ibid.
Socialism vs. Communism

As we saw earlier, Marx proposed revolt in a dictatorship, where capitalists
had all the money and all the power. The army was in the service of the
bourgeoisie after all.
Scholars should note that the works of thinkers should be examined in their
own time and under the circumstances they were in.
Marx would have been shocked to see the democracy that we have today. The
current capitalist economic system that we live in today would indeed have
been scrutinised by him: an evolutionary, parliamentary entrance into the state
in order to redistribute wealth amongst people, to promote liberty, equality and
fraternity.
And so are Bernie Sanders’s intentions:
“I don’t believe government should take over the grocery store down the street,
or own the means of production … ”
Bernie Sanders Defines Democratic Socialism in Georgetown Speech, November 19, 2015
If Marx were alive today

Socialism and Communism existed long before Marx. The young Marx thought
that the French Revolution was the greatest thing that ever was. Liberty,
equality, fraternity, were the things that he wanted, and thought that
capitalism was to bring them to the people.
The young Marx did not see a problem with the French Revolution, but
believed that Capitalism was the wrong vehicle to bring liberty, equality and
fraternity. Together with Friedrich Engels, they spent time decoding a possible
solution to achieve those three slogans. So on one hand they had ownership of
wealth and commodities (not power, or authority) in the hands of few, and on
the other, they had serfdom, … and exploitation.
Egalitarian, libertarian, brotherhood
Socialism and Communism

Hegel wrote on the eve of the industrial revolution and did not envisage the
modern industrial state with its large bureaucracies and modern means of
communication. These developments, Morgenthau argues, allow the power of
the state to feed on itself through a process of psychological transference that
makes it the most exalted object of loyalty.
Dunne, Kurki & Smith, 2013
*Service society, Technology society
The Industrial Revolution
Prior to 9000 BCE 9000 BCE -
3000 BCE
18th & 19th centuries 2001 or 2005
Hunting and
gathering societies
Agrarian, rural
societies
(Agriculture)
Industrial, urban
societies
Information Society*
or Manuel Castells’s
Network Society (Sociology)
Neolithic revolution Industrial revolution Rise of the Internet

Industrialisation & Urbanisation
(from a Sociological point of view)
Gemeinschaft, community, personal
Gesellschaft, association, indiv., rational, calculative relationships
Gemeinschaft Gesellschaft
Social structures Community Association
Era Pre-industrial Industrial
Social relationships Personal, emotional,
traditional
Impersonal, rational,
contractual

International Political Economy perspectives:
 Historical change is ultimately a reflection of the economic development of
society.
 Capitalism is the main driving force of world economic relations.
 In a capitalist society there is class conflict between the bourgeoisie and the
proletariat.
Smith, El-Anis & Farrands, 2011
Keywords: dialectical social philosophy, Antonio Gramsci, critical
interpretation of capitalism, historical materialism, self-interested individuals
(Adam Smith) vs. relational and process-oriented view of human beings
(Marx), organic solidarity (the natural world; social relations and institutions;
human persons), alienation,
Main Assumptions

Plato saw as the ultimate form of society a community in which social func-
tions would be rigidly separated and maintained; society would be divided into
definite functional groups: warriors, artisans, unskilled laborers, rulers.
[Marx] was a social scientist in the full meaning of the phrase. The heart of his
system was based on the idea of human production. Mankind, Marx asserted, is
a totally autonomous species-being, and as such man is the sole creator of the
world in which he finds himself. A man cannot be defined apart from his labor:
"As individuals express their life, so they are. What they are, therefore,
coincides with their production, both with what they produce and with how
they produce."
Marx’s analysis of the division of labor is remarkably similar to Rousseau’s.
Both argued that the desire for private property led to the division of labor, and
this in turn gave rise to the existence of separate social classes based on
economic differences.
Gary North, Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), 1969
Division of Labour

World-Systems Theory
Through the world-systems theory, the world is divided into core countries and
periphery and semi-periphery countries. The core countries are those that are
responsible for higher-skill work and production of the most capital. The
periphery and semi-periphery country are the poor areas of the world,
providing manual labor, as well as raw resources, to support the wealthier core
countries. The status of individual countries is not static, though. Countries are
able to change between core and periphery countries and vice versa. Immanuel
Wallerstein expanded on this theory with his world-systems analysis. His
system essentially states the world is built on a premise where surplus materials
are distributed from the periphery countries to the core countries.
internationalrelationsonline.com
Top Marxist IR theories

Historical Materialism, Religion
German Philosophy

Dependency Theory
The dependency theory of international relations Marxism is similar, but there
are differences as well. Like Wallerstein’s theory, dependency theory focuses on
the redistribution of raw materials from poor countries to the wealthier
countries of the world. This creates benefits for the wealthier, industrialized
countries and takes away from the resources of the underdeveloped countries.
While some theories indicate that underdeveloped countries are simply in a
position of the earlier stages of developed countries, dependency theory
believes differently. According to this theory, the poor, underdeveloped
countries simply have their own structure. These countries are dependent upon
the wealthier countries for their sustainability. The industrialized countries
control this dependency with military force and economic regulations.
internationalrelationsonline.com
Top Marxist IR theories

Starting with Paul Baran (Baran 1957), dependency theorists have tended to
dismiss the possibility that the Third World state may act as an agent of
growth.
Alice H. Amsden, Good-bye Dependency Theory, Hello Dependency Theory, 2003
The development of “state-ism”—although Baran does not use this term—is
well handled. The state attempts to counter the growing tendency to
underconsumption that plagues monopoly capitalism. It fosters a “full-
employment” policy through government investments hoping to avoid major
crashes and prevent major depressions. It invests huge sums for both
productive and unproductive purposes. It raises these sums through deficit
financing or high taxes or “deficit without spending” or one or another
combination of these policies.
Paul Baran’s book review by Theodore Edwards, 1957
Authors to check: Paul A. Baran, Paul Sweezy, and Andre Gunder Frank.
Paul Baran

“While the most radical analyses accept the existence of a world capitalism system, they
differ on how to understand the basic dynamic of this system and on how to describe
the relations between the more- and less-developed relations within this system.
Again, while most, but not all, radical analyses question whether the present economic
structures of LDCs* will allow development, they differ with regard to how to
characterize the barriers preventing growth.
Radical interpretations also disagree in terms of how much is to be accepted from the
theories of Marx and the Marxist tradition. The spectrum runs from what might be
considered orthodox Marxist theories of development to theories that, while
acknowledging the importance of Marx, in effect reject nearly all of his important
claims about the status and development of the colonial world.”
Some of these analyses include: “Dependency theory as formulated by André Gunder
Frank, the Modes of Production school, and the theory of Samir Amin”.
*Least Developed Countries
Development and Globalization, F. Ruccio with Lawrence H. Simon, 2011
Marxian theories of Development

“Ha-Joon Chang effectively criticizes the mainstream approach to the institutions of
development, on theoretical, empirical and historical grounds. He also creates an
opening for a different kind of discussion about institutions and development, between
heterodox institutional and Marxian economics. But he overlooks the opportunity to
analyze the relationship between class and the institutions of development.”
“Chang’s critique of and alternative to the orthodox approach to institutions has been
developed over the course of the past 30 years or so at
 The University of Massachusetts Amherst, and in
 The journal Rethinking Marxism.”
David F. Ruccio, Journal of Institutional Economics, 2011
School of Postmodern Marxism

“Yves Guyot (1843-1928) was one of the leading French laissez-faire economists
at the end of the 19th and in the early 20th century.” One hundred years after
the French revolution of July 1789, “in 1889 he was appointed Minister of Public
Works.”
Online Library of Liberty (http://oll.libertyfund.org), 2015
“A mere four years later, … Yves Guyot, lost a re-election bid precisely because of
his antisocialism.” “While socialists talked endlessly, in those heady days before
they got a stranglehold on power, about freedom and the concerns of labor,
Guyot’s own explanation of what freedom of labor means stands worlds apart:
It is the substitution of voluntary for servile labor; it is the right of each man to
employ or not to employ his muscular or intellectual strength as he pleases; it is
the placing of his own destiny, and that of those dependent of him, in his own
hands; it is the enlargement of responsibility and the sphere of action.
The Tyranny of Socialism is a fine example of accessible writing in the French
liberal tradition against statism.”
Timothy Wirkman Virkkala, foreword to Guyot’s The Tyranny of Socialism, 2015
Yves Guyot’s antisocialism

The field of our science is human action, not the psychological events which
result in an action. It is precisely this which distinguishes the general theory of
human action, praxeology, from psychology. The theme of psychology is the
internal events that result or can result in a definite action. The theme of
praxeology is action as such.
The psychoanalytical subconscious is a psychological and not a praxeological
category. Whether an action stems from clear deliberation, or from forgotten
memories and suppressed desires which from submerged regions, as it were,
direct the will, does not influence the nature of the action.
The term “unconscious” as used by praxeology and the terms “subconscious”
and “unconscious” as applied by psychoanalysis belong to two different systems
of thought and research. Praxeology no less than other branches of knowledge
owes much to psychoanalysis. The more necessary is it then to become aware
of the line which separates praxeology from psychoanalysis.
Human Action, Ludwig von Mises, 1940 (1949)
Praxeology

“Debates about capitalism and socialism sometimes proceed as if we are
choosing between two equally viable economic systems. As Ludwig von Mises,
Friedrich von Hayek, and other economists writing in the Austrian tradition
have shown, rational economic calculation requires prices. Prices can only
emerge through exchange, and exchange can only take place if private
property rights are secure.”
Main texts:
Hans-Hermann Hoppe, A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism
Ludwig von Mises, “Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth“
Friedrich Hayek, Individualism and Economic Order
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party
Mises Institute online courses, 2011
Capitalism vs. Socialism today
(from a Libertarian point of view)

Milton Friedman showed, in one of the most influential economic papers of all
time, that there exists a "natural rate of unemployment," or the number of jobs
a given economy can support.
Business Insider, 2012
According to Friedman, there are two types of rate of unemployment:
Some examples of changes in the natural rate of unemployment:
Legal minimum wage rates and the strength of unions make the natural rate
of unemployment higher than it would otherwise be.
Improvements in employment exchanges, in availability of information about
job vacancies and labor supply lower the natural rate of unemployment rate.
Milton Friedman, The Role of Monetary Policy, AER, 1968
Employment rates
“Natural” rate Real forces Man-made and policy-made
“Market” rate Monetary forces Policy-made

There are widespread lies about the economy that make little sense, but have
many subscribers – most of all in politics. The worst one? “The economy is
about maximizing employment.”
It sounds good that everyone gets a job, but if this were true we should really
aim to be as efficient as possible for as little as possible. In other words, work all
day long and get almost nothing out of it. But you only get to work a lot, for
little result. That’s the best way of maximizing jobs. It’s poverty.
The economy is really about production toward satisfying unmet needs and
wants. The best way of doing this is to work as efficiently as possible – with the
greatest result. If we think about value production rather than jobs, we’d get as
much as possible out of resources (think environment), get as much value as
possible out of work (think prosperity), and will have time and resources to
meet more needs and wants.
Continued >
Value production vs. job creation

There is never a lack of things to do, only a lack of well-paying jobs. But there’s
a lack of well-paying jobs because we don’t focus on value, but on jobs. If we
focus on value production instead, it will lead to a situation where we can
afford to work less, lead better lives, and spread the wealth.
So next time you hear someone talk about maximizing employment, call their
bluff: it’s not jobs we want, it’s value. And with value production come well-
paying jobs.
Seeking work for the sake of work, not to produce value, is the road to
employed poverty not a road to progress and prosperity.
Dr. Per Bylund, Twitter (@PerBylund), 15 Feb. 2016
Recommended by Mises Institute
Value production vs. job creation

for Economics students:
The difference between GDP and GOP. Where in IR are they used?
What is the best way to measure Development? GDP, GOP or the H-Index? Explain why.
What is Bernie Sanders’s stance on economics? Is it Keynesian? If yes, then how?
What are the limitations of Bernie’s “political revolution”?
for IR students:
Analyze Sanders’s vision of democracy as well as his foreign policy, then compare and contrast it
with Clinton’s.
Homework

References
2U Inc. (2013). International Relations Marxism. Retrieved July 26, 2016, from International Relations Online:
https://internationalrelationsonline.com/international-relations-marxism/
Amsden, A. H. (2003). Comment: Good-bye Dependency Theory, Hello Dependency Theory. Studies in Comparative International
Development, 38(1), 32-38. doi:10.1007/bf02686320
Bylund, P. (2016, February 15). Per Bylund (@PerBylund). Retrieved July 26, 2016, from Twitter: https://twitter.com/PerBylund
Caden, A. (2011). Capitalism and Socialism. Retrieved July 26, 2016, from Mises Institute: http://academy.mises.org/courses/capitalism-and-
socialism/
Dunne, T., Kurki, M., & Smith, S. (2013). International Relations Theories (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.
Edwards, T. (1957). Review of The Political Economy of Growth by Paul Baran. International Socialist Review, 18, 131.
Friedman, M. (1968). The Role of Monetary Policy. The American Economic Review, 58(1), 1-17.
Gilpin, R., & Gilpin, J. M. (2001). Global Political Economy: Understanding the International Economic Order. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton
University Press.
Henslin, J. M. (2010). Sociology: A Down to Earth Approach (10th ed.). Pearson.
Liberty Fund. (2015). Yves Guyot . Retrieved July 26, 2016, from Online Library of Liberty: http://oll.libertyfund.org/people/yves-guyot
Mearsheimer, J. (2012, October 17). Why China Cannot Rise Peacefully. Retrieved July 26, 2016, from YouTube channel: Centre for
International Policy Studies uOttawa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXov7MkgPB4
North, G. (1969, January 1). Marx's View of the Division of Labor. Retrieved July 26, 2016, from Foundation for Economic Education (FEE):
https://fee.org/articles/marxs-view-of-the-division-of-labor/
Ruccio, D. F. (2011). Development and Globalization: A Marxian Class Analysis. New York, NY: Routledge.
Ruccio, D. F. (2011). Development, institutions and class. Journal of Institutional Economics, 7(4), 571-576.
doi:10.1017/S1744137411000269
Sanders, B. (2015, November 19). Sen. Bernie Sanders Speaks at Georgetown . Retrieved from YouTube channel: Georgetown University:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9OP0gfmPgA
Smith, R., El-Anis, I., & Farrands, C. (2010). International Political Economy in the 21st Century: Contemporary Issues and Analyses (1st ed.).
Routledge.
Virkkala, T. W. (2015). Foreword. In Y. Guyot, The Tyranny of Socialism (Kindle Edition). Laissez Faire Books.
von Mises, L. (1940). Human Action: A Treatise on Economics.
Wile, R. (2012, September 20). The 20 Most Influential Economic Papers Of All Time. Retrieved July 26, 2016, from Business Insider:
www.businessinsider.com/these-are-the-20-economics-papers-that-you-must-read-2012-9
Wolff, R. D. (2015, May 13). YouTube channel: RichardDWolff. Retrieved from Global Capitalism: May 2015 Monthly Update :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjWOwa0IHBk

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