IDEALISM IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

The course of International Relations is determined by different thinking patterns of global players of the world politics. One of these schools of thought bases its views on optimistic assessment of the human being. Naturally, human beings are good, they can progress through collectivism. The progress in world politics is directly related to the progress of individuals.

After the World War I, idealist thinking, in many Western states, influenced policy-making elite and public opinion. A brief resurgence of liberal sentiment was witnessed at the end of the WWII, especially he bwith tirth of the UN ‘though this phenomenon was short-lived as the Cold War power politics emerged. The end of the Cold War ensued in the rise of liberalism. Western leaders proclaimed a ‘New World Order,’ and the academia provided rationale in support of the inherent supremacy of liberalism over all other ideologies. Sub-ideologies of liberal school of thought are ‘Neoliberalism’, ‘Liberal Institutionalism’, ‘Feminism’, ‘Social Constructivism,’ etc.

Adam Smith’s Social Contract Theory which enunciates that individuals surrender their freedom and, in return, state provides security (from both internal and external threats) and other rights to its citizens.

A fleeting look at the present scenario of world politics reveals that on the basis of provision, protection and promotion of human rights, several states, and even international organizations, meddle into the politics of other stakeholders in international system.

Idealists strongly believe in the affective power of ideas, and deem it possible to base a political system primarily on morality. They opine that the baser and more selfish impulses of humans can be muted in order to build national and international norms of behaviour that foment peace, prosperity, cooperation, and justice. Idealism, then, is not only heavily reformist, but the tradition has often attracted those who feel that idealistic principles are the “next step” in humans’ character evolution.

Idealism is inevitable if the humans aspire to dump the destructive human institution of war, an embodiment of the “old world” and “old thinking”, in history. War, the idealists argue, is no longer a plausible way of achieving goals, as the costs of war, even for the victor, exceed the benefits.

Idealism, in essence, is the decision-making based on ideas rather than other causes such as material self-interest or passion. In international relations (IR), idealism holds that the older models of international interaction, based on the concern for power, can be discarded and states can interact based on things such as human rights, humanitarian concerns or peace. As a result, idealism in IR stresses international cooperation and international law.

The basic idealist position is that humanity cannot afford the continuation of in the realist tradition, especially with the advent of nuclear weapons. International peace means social and economic development; money from military projects can be put into more socially useful infrastructural projects. When the Third World began to shake off colonialism between 1940s and 1960s, it became clear that these impoverished states couldn’t afford large military establishments. In this era, idealism received an additional boost in the development of the poor states of the world.

The idealists seek peace in the ways to promote cooperation and interdependence.

The old realist regime in Europe led to major wars, and ultimately, to the en masse slaughters during two World Wars. Idealism sought to reorient thinking about IR in a way as to stress the irrationality and contradiction of realism and its constant search for security. Primarily, institutions like the United Nations; and more local organizations like the Arab League, developed according to the idealist tradition. Their purpose was to find non-violent means to resolve conflicts.

The idealists, motivated by their desire to prevent war and make peace prevail argued to decide people’s fate by providing them the right of self-determination. After WWI, these principles were propounded by the US president Woodrow Wilson in his famous Fourteen Points which provided basis for the formulation of first international organization, i.e. League of Nations, in 1920. Although it didn’t remain fruitful, yet it paved the way for cooperation in low politics area and resulted in the creation of a new and reformed world organization i.e. the United Nations Organization (UNO) in 1945.

Democracy, today’s most popular governance system, is the by-product of an idealist approach propounded in the ‘Democratic Peace Thesis’. The basic proposition behind this thesis was that the democratic states don’t go to war with each other. This political system is not only opted for at the state level but also in the transnational organizations.

The idealists seek peace in the ways to promote cooperation and interdependence. For them interdependence decreases the level of conflicts and breeds sense of relative gains instead of absolute gains. Economic interdependence can be quoted as the best example towards increased cooperation. Free trade has minimized the role of cross border barriers and has accelerated economic globalization. By this complex interdependence, the economic activities has been regularized and institutionalized by creating World Trade Organization (WTO) the successor of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). For idealist globalization promotes peace and justice.

Idealists suggest measures of ‘collective security’ in contrast to the realistic measure of ‘Balance of Power’. In present scenario liberal/idealist school of thought better explains the concept of ‘Balance of Threat’ i.e. States jump into the bandwagon of powerful state.

The idealist school of thought is contributing in political order by shifting state-centric approach towards international approach. This highlights the ways of cooperation focusing low politics areas like human rights, democracy, environment, free trade, health issues, education, development in science and technology, nuclear non-proliferation and other such areas. The creation of United Nations and its success in preventing another world war is the remarkable truth of liberal contribution to world peace.