International relations

1. Unit Three
Approaches to
the study of
International
Relations

2. WHAT ARE THEORIES?
Theories can be viewed as a kind of abstract or generalized thinking that seeks
to explain, interpret or evaluate something.
Theories serve three purposes:
Explanatory theory= Descriptive/ Emperical- Explains why
Interpretive theory= Constitutive- imposes meaning on events and issues,
attempt to understand rather than explain the world
Normative theory= prescriptive/political- deals with what ought to be rather
than what is.

3. REALISM
 Became prominent during WWII
 Associated with Hans Morgenthau,
Thomas Hobbes and Niccolo Machiavelli
 Emphasises competitive/conflictual
sides of IR
 Principle actor being the state
 Other bodies such as individuals and
organisations have limited power
 Leaders primary concern is national
interests

4. REALISM
CONTINUATION…
 Realists overlook other actors as the
highest goal is the survival of the state
 States behaviour is guided by survival
of the fittest
 Realists perceive the international
system anarchic hence states have no
permanent friends/enemies
 States behaviour is dictated by national
interests which at times override
values and norms such as human rights,
democracy and rule of law
 Realism perceive international
economic cooperation as a zero-sum
game
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U
nKEFSVAiNQ

5. LIBERALISM
 Used interchangeably with Idealism
 Gained momentum after the WWII
 Associated with scholars such as John Locke and the
building of an optimistic utopian world view
 Concerned with constructing institutions that protect
individual freedom
 Liberalism recognises that there is a sphere of
individual rights that should be respected.

6. LIBERALISM
CONTINUATION…
 Focus on how best we can create a just and peaceful
international order
 In IR, liberalism offers a more optimistic worldview
 Liberals emphasis the wellbeing of individuals as the
fundamental building block of a just political system
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZbDMUaqwE8

7. MARXISM
 Associated with Karl Marx and
Frederick Engels
 Communist manifesto 1948
 Dominated IR after the end of the Cold
War
 Makes use of historical materialism and
asserts that human beings including
their relations with each other and
their environment are determined by
material conditions
 Marxism argues its not about state
survival but the reproduction,
technologies and labor

8. MARXISM
CONTINUATION…
 Society is divided into 2 socio-economic
groups
 1. Bourgeoisie- ‘The Haves’, owns
means of production
 2. Proletariat- ‘The Have-Nots’, sells
labor to the bourgeoisie who own the
means of production
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W
0GFSUu5UzA

9. FEMINISM
 FEMINISM
 feminist theory has challenged women near complete
absence from traditional IR theory and practice.
 Feminist approaches to International Relations have
introduced gender as an essential tool for analysing
the interactions between states in the international
framework. However, in spite of these efforts to
construct a better International Relations Theory,
feminist analysis has had little impact on international
politics; policy-makers and decision-makers seem
confident in dismissing feminist ideas
 Feminist analysts argue that perhaps this lack of
feminist ideas in international politics has been
because for many years it has been thought that the
international politics elite is just for men. Therefore,
only men and not women are capable of dealing with
the issues of international politics, under those
circumstances, foreign policy actors and decision-
makers are male (Enloe, 1993).
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajAWGztPUiU
 https://www.e-ir.info/2018/01/04/feminism-in-interna
tional-relations-theory/