The Realist and Liberalist Perspectives on International...

The Realist and Liberalist Perspectives on International Relations and US Policy Stance Toward Iraq There are two prominent stances in International Relations. The schools of thought are commonly referred to as realist and liberalist. There are various names that they are called, and they can also be split further into subdivisions. However, for the purposes of this question I will just refer to the main schools of thought, and the main aims of both the paradigms. At a first glance at this question, my gut feeling is that the United States aims to achieve the same as the liberalists, that of world peace. But the current stance of the US policy is to achieve this utopia by realist methods, pre-emptive†¦show more content†¦The Iraq question has proven that with the emphasis on security, living in fear of attack, the realist stance brings us closer to war. States wishing to arm themselves against attack may be seen as mobilising for war. This happens because there is no distinction between offensive and defensive weapons. In such a case a security dilemma is raised.[2] Such a question has been raised over Iraq; is Saddam Hussein arming for war against the West or for defence against the West? This is difficult to show because of the lack of distinction between offensive and defensive weapons. The mutual distrust of Iraq and the United States of America can be explained by the fact that under the realist paradigm power is a chief aim. This power is achieved by defending themselves against possible aggressors and also at the expense of their rivals. In the current climate, the United States is defensive and aggressive towards Iraq and vice versa. With the struggle for power, or at least a balance of power, it is inevitable that there will be a number of small wars that ensue. The realist viewpoint proved this pre-1914 when the intricate alliance systems of the Ententes of France and Britain, the Dreikaiserbund of Germany, Russia and Austria-Hungry. These two alliances produced several minor wars that helped maintainShow MoreRelatedPeace Negotiations in International Security1477 Words   |  6 PagesPost-Cold War era is marked by the dominance of peace negotiations in international security, and Middle-east (ME) being a conflict area for a long time, got adequate focus. Tale of oil rich ME is a story of conflicts having Israel-Palestine issue at the core, and the stability and peace of this region largely hinged on to the solution of this issue. So far, a number of unsuccessful initiatives have been taken by world community for the solution of the issue. ‘Roadmap for peace’ was one of such