Liberalism

The practice of international relations has not been accommodating to liberalism. Whereas the domestic po-litical realm in many states has witnessed an impressive degree of progress, with institutions providing for or-der and justice, the international realm in the era of the modern states-system has been characterized by a precarious order and the absence of justice. The introductory section of the chapter will address this dilemma before providing a definition of liberalism and its component parts. The second section con­siders the core concepts of liberalism, beginning with the visionary internationalism of the Enlightenment, through to the ide-alism of the inter-war period, and the institutionalism that became dominant in the second half of the twenti-eth century. The third and final section considers liberalism in an era of globalization: in particular, it contrasts a status quo reading of the liberal project with a radicalized version that seeks to promote and extend cos-mopolitan values and institutions.

Introduction

Although realism is regarded as the dominant theory of international relations, liberalism has a strong claim to being the historic alternative. In the twentieth century, liberal thinking influenced policy-making elites and public opinion in a number of Western states after the First World War, an era often referred to in academic international relations as idealism. There was a brief resurgence of liberal sentiment at the end of the Second World War with the birth of the United Nations, although this beacon of hope was soon extinguished by the return of cold war power politics. In the 1990s, liberalism appeared resurgent as Western state leaders proclaimed a new world order and intellectuals provided theoretical justifications for the inherent supremacy of their liberal ideas over all other competing ideologies. After 9/11, the pendulum has once again swung towards the realist pole as the USA and its allies have sought to consolidate their...