Liberal theories proposed by different philosophers has provided us with a holistic view of the characteristics of a purely liberal state. For that it is important to understand what exactly liberalism is. Liberalism is most commonly characterized by values of liberty and equality, An interesting dimension studied under liberalism is its involvement with war. Many argue that states use the principles of liberalism to hide their actual intentions and explain agression through liberal reasons. Come to think of it, if the United states is such a liberal state, then how will it explain their involment in Afghanistan and Iraq. If the United states was such a true believer in the principles of freedom of speecg, equality etc. then techinically it had no right invading these countries especially Iraq. However it just not about wars, United states continued attempts to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons is just another example how they do not believe in equality. One could however obviously argue that it is necessary to maintain peace, but that still does not give United States the right to sanction states looking to develop nuclear weapons.
Another interesting fact which can be seen through certain examples is that liberal states promote peace with other liberal states. United states strongest allies mostly infact are liberal states while on the other hand the two major wars mentioned above have been against non-liberal ones, But the question then arises that how effective is liberalism. It is somewhat evident that liberal states might not be able to co-exist with non-liberal states which can be a dangerous scenario in the international arena. That leaves me with only one question in mind at the moment. Is liberalism a good enough school of thought?
Every school of thought has its shortcomings and strengths but perhaps liberalism's main loophole lies in the idea that it has not been implemented in the right way especially when we look at the U.S.A's dealings in Iraq. American political culture is liberal but there is a clear dissonance in its domestic vs. foreign policy.
ReplyDeleteI don't think they can't coexist. They do co exist.
ReplyDeleteAs for liberalism being a good enough school of thought, I think it is. It presents a good challenge for realism to evaluate itself and for the IR discourse to grow as well. Liberalism plays a sufficient role in world politics, examples include the UN, NATO and many other alliances between liberal states and their workings.
Oh Samay, how I wish you grounded your stream-of-conscious writing in the literature that we've been reading. While you raise some good points about the paradox of liberal states, you exclusively focus on the US. The US is a hegemonic state and perhaps the rules are different for it.
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