International Relations

Liberalism, Realism, and the Traditional Agenda

Using key political theories and social philosophies, scholars within IR attempt to explain and predict interactions within global politics. IR emerged following the conclusion of World War I. This does not mean, however, that the discipline began afresh at this point. IR theorists drew on a long history of writers and philosophers in developing theories of world politics. Liberal internationalists drew on the writings of thinkers such as John Locke, John Stuart Mill, and Immanuel Kant. They also utilized ideas prominent during the Enlightenment, embodied in the French and American revolutions. Liberalism emphasizes the rights of the individual, freedom, and democracy. Liberalism also implies a belief in the continual progression and development of humanity. Out of this conviction developed the idea that war was not a permanent fixture of human existence but could be prevented and eventually eliminated.

The immense devastation caused by World War I gave urgency and drive to this liberal belief in the possibilities for eliminating war. It motivated a generation of thinkers, politicians, and activists who sought to avoid war at all costs. This idealistic goal was a central factor in the establishment of IR as an academic field, its founding purpose being to identify ways and means for preventing and eventually eliminating war.

The first chair of IR was established at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, in 1919. The chair was titled after U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, a significant contributor to the development of liberal international theory and practice in the postwar years. Wilson promoted a view of politics referred to as idealist or liberal. This view included ideas such as collective security, embodied in the establishment of the League of Nations; the promotion of trade among nations to increase cooperation through interdependency; self-determination; disarmament; and the development of international norms and laws that a majority of nation-states agreed to uphold and adhere to in the conduct of politics and war. Many of these ideas were contained in Wilson's Fourteen Points, first articulated in a speech to the U.S. Congress in 1918. Wilson's Fourteen Points were highly influential on global efforts toward peace and on the early development of IR.

...