Last Blog: A Review

So my last blog. What to write about? I honestly have no clue. What I do know is, I'll probably miss blogging a lot. Somewhere along the line it stopped being an obligation and torture (a clever one to get us to do our readings) and became fun. It gave an avenue for me to express myself. It was also far more flexible than writing the usual academic essays which I loved. Clearly I've come a long way from the first class when I was about to drop the course on the mention of blogs.

So onto international relations. To me, it's the most fun topic under political science overall. Philosophy is too distant and political economy is too boring for my taste. IR seems so much more fun especially when I often catch a glimpse of the international news.  It has provided me with a fun tool and different angles to look at the world from.

So, which tradition do I identify most with?

Certainly not realism. Not because I don't think it's a useful framework, I just abhor its pessimism and negativity. Funnily I'm an active rebel against it. Probably because I don't to accept the "reality" it wants me too. That's probably denial but I'll do it to keep myself in my idealistic little bubble.

As for liberalism, it's the opposite. I wish I could put more faith into it but its assumptions are far too weak and unrealistic for me to do so. Especially its overblown optimism about international institutions, which I don't share. To my thinking, these institutions might be good in some aspects (UN's agencies on human development and welfare) but in terms of power politics, they end up more as instruments of the powerful states rather than exert autonomous power over them.

Smaller theories that have sparked my interest are feminism and green theory. We have not done green theory in this class so far but I have studied it previously. To me, we are in dire need of a global movement to preserve and sustain the only home we have. What would be the point of power politics if we have no home to even live in the future? We have caused enormous environmental degradation already so the need is now to counter it. To opt for sustainable development. Also it has to be a global effort with states and transnational movements working together on it because it's about damn time we stop misusing mother Earth or it's going to cost us everything.

As for feminism, I think it is important in IR as it is in any field. Firstly, we need more female academics and writers. Also issues of women with concern to war and socio economic position of women are global in nature and need to be addressed.

Lastly, my favourite: constructivism. (Surprise surprise). The power it gives to norms and ideas and individuals, its challenge of assumptions is inspiring. It's just that simple. It's optimistic, it gives room for change. It completely fits in with my little idealistic bubble. What's not to love about it?

In conclusion, I've learned a quite a lot. One tradition is never really all encompassing, its better to have a multi-theoretical approach. Also, I've loved this course, I love IR even more now and I think I might have found my focus and that is the best possible takeaway from the course.