Liberalism

1. Liberalism And foreign policy analysis January 14, 2014

2. Overview Liberalism Liberal foreign relations Mitigating trade-offs

3. Liberalism Focused on the importance of the freedom of the individual, liberalism rests set of three key rights: Freedom from arbitrary authority Freedom of conscience, free press, free speech, equality under the law, and the right to hold and exchange property Negative rights

4. Freedom for social and economic rights Equality of opportunity in education, rights to health care and employment Positive rights Freedom of democratic participation or representation

5. Liberal foreign relations Look inside and beyond the state: Liberalism highlights how individuals, their ideas and ideals, social forces and political institutions can have a direct effect upon foreign relations Liberal approaches to foreign policy: contrast with neorealists about the constraints of anarchy and state homogeneity

6. Liberalism and foreign relations • Liberalism opens the box of state action, allowing for the effects of varying ideas, interests and institutions • It permits better foreign policy predictions

7. 1. The liberal zone of peace (peace among liberals) Near absence of war Peaceful restraint: generally works exclusively in liberals’ relations with other liberals Increasing number of liberal states brings possibility of a self-enforcing global peace

8. 2. Imprudent aggressiveness (imprudent vehemence towards non-liberals) Aggression against non-liberals (liberal imprudence). Liberal states have fought many wars against non-liberal states

9. Liberal states have also missed opportunities to negotiate rather than fights with non-liberal states (in both developed and developing worlds), failing to construct schemes of accommodation to prevent the outbreak of war. Many wars, however, have been defensive and thus prudent by necessity. Liberal states have been attacked and threatened by non liberal states.

10. Aspirations for peace • In President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize lecture in December 2009, he outlined his aspirations for a just and lasting peace in words that resonated with liberal theories of foreign policy. • War as sometimes necessary • International law and just war doctrines of self-defense as applicable to all states

11. Aspirations for peace (cont.) • Just wars such as humanitarian interventions • Never war against a democracy by US • Lasting peace must be bolstered with “economic security and opportunity”

12. Just War Doctrine • Right to go to war (Jus ad bellum) • Right conduct in war (Jus in bello)

13. Right to go to war • Just cause • Comparative justice • Competent authority • Right intention • Probability of success • Last resort • Proportionality Self-defense or defending another

14. Just conduct in war • Distinction • Proportionality • Military necessity • Fair treatment of PoWs • No means malum in se • Geneva Conventions

15. Liberal republics in 1900 and 2000

16. 3.Complaisance (towards threats) and isolationism Failure to support allies Failure to oppose enemies (also manifests as complaisance in reaction to excesses of interventionism; Complaisance characterizes declined or ‘not quite risen’ liberal states

17. Rational incentives for ‘free-riding’ on the extended defence commitments of the leader of the liberal alliance, also induce complaisance. During much of the nineteenth century the US informally relied upon the British fleet for many of its security needs. During the Cold War, the Europeans and the Japanese, according to some American strategic analysts, failed to bear their ‘fair’ share of defence burdens.

18. Liberal foreign policy analysis First Image Lockean: human nature Second Image Commercial: societal Third Image Kantian: republic internationalist

19. Liberal foreign policy analysis Three features of liberal foreign relations: Representative, republican government (elected legislative, separation of powers, rule of law) A commitment to peace based upon a principled respect for the non-discriminatory rights that all humans can rightfully claim

20. The possibility of social and economic interdependence (trade and social interaction, with material incentives for cooperation) Taken together: an explanation of peaceful accommodation among fellow liberals and suspicion towards non-liberals

21. Mitigating trade-offs Preservation Liberal foreign policy should work to preserve the liberal zone of peace. Liberal states will need to work across ideological divides and strengthen multilateral institutions such as the UN, IMF, World Bank and the WTO.

22. Expansion • Foster the stability, development, and spread of liberal democratic regimes • Inspiration • Liberalism stands as an example to emulate (the ‘City on a Hill’)

23. Intervention Means other than military intervention must be considered Intervention must minimize casualties

24. Discussion Question • Use a liberal perspective to argue for or against the US invasion of Iraq • Objective: consider when a liberal foreign policy perspective would military intervention • Discuss in small groups with the people sitting next to you • Be sure that you can explain your reasoning

25. Conclusion • Strong tendency for peace among liberal states • However, same factors that help create peace among liberal states makes them suspicious of non-liberals • More aggressiveness with non-liberals • Liberal states still have to deal with issues and problems of international competition and cooperation - have not solved these