Realist and Liberal Approaches to International Politics

Realist and Liberal approaches to international politics, although the most prominent views on global politics, are conflicting in their ideologies. Realism in politics is the assumption that human nature is ultimately based on selfishness and on international terms, state-egoism leading to a potential for international anarchy. However, Liberalism although recognizing there is a development of selfishness, believes there is generally a basis for which harmony is found in common interests and cooperation rather than conflict.

Firstly, Realism can be related to the Billiard Ball Model as it demonstrates how nation-states collide and cause conflicts with one another rather than relying on interdependence. It is the belief or realists that international anarchy would ensue leading to bloodshed, conflict and open violence if not for the balance of power. The realist view, theorized by Thomas Hobbes is followed by theorists such as Kenneth Waltz (1924-2013) and Hans Morgenthau (1904-1980) describing the "political man as ultimately selfish, wishing to dominate others" and advocating the pursuit of national interest above moral values internationally. Realists believe state sovereignty should lie within the head of state.

Liberals, however, is a philosophy that promotes the idea of liberty and equality among nations closely linked to the Cobweb Model which illustrates how nation-states are connected and interdependent, this is the Liberal idea that is key to peacekeeping on a global level. Although since stripping the 'idealist' qualities since the 1970's, the Liberal approach is reliant on co-operation among states, using discussion, debate and negotiations with war only being the last resort. Theorists such as Thomas Paine (1737-1809) believed that "Government, in it's best state, is but a necessary evil" and promote the spread and influence of democratic power. Liberals believe that sovereignty should lie within IGO's or Intergovernmental Organizations as this is a way of ensuring interdependence and co-operations between nations and furthering liberal approaches such as collective security of global groupings such as NATO, and commercial liberalism in Trade Blocs such as the EU. Liberals believe in free trade and an open market as a "means of united and shared values among a common commerce culture." Furthermore, liberals also believe that democracy is key to peacekeeping as "two democratic states have never gone to war." (outlined in the Democratic Peace Thesis).

In comparison, there is an agreement between liberals and realists revolving around the values of mainstream politics, concerning that there is always an element of competition between states implying that sovereignty must always remain decentralized.

Ultimately, Liberal and Realist views are in stark contrast to one another, although there is a distinct idea that in modern politics, Liberalism is becoming very indistinct from Realism as the ideology evolves, the beliefs are still differing in their views on human nature, interdependence and global politics.

What is the political status of Palestine? (The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict)

Gaza has been a popular topic in recent news regarding the conflict between Palestine and Israel, this is a long standing fight based on religion and territories, particularly since the creation of Israel and has been a global political issue for on and off for decades.

Palestine has been a part of global political history as a place of conflict and turmoil, being the birthplace multiple conflicting religions, cultures and political ideologies over recent years and past centuries. The region has been in a tug of war of control since it' conception. In most recent times, the territory has been controlled by Israel and Judaism. Israel was created in May 1948 as a home place for the Jewish settlers, but was not internationally recognized until 1st May 1949.

The United Nations, dominated by the United States is responsible for the establishment of the state of Israel and came up with the original partition plan that separated Israel from the Palestinian Gaza Strip and West Bank. In the past, before World War I, the Turkish Ottoman Empire had control of Palestine which was eventually taken over by the British Empire, however, this caused problems due to the ongoing conflict between the Jewish and the Arabs. Eventually, it was decided by the United Nations after World War II against the condemnation of the Arab leaders, that Palestine would be split between the two factions, with Jordan occupying the West Bank and Egypt in Gaza, this caused the original declaration of war.

After the Six Day War in 1967, Palestine lost it's political status even further as Israel gained both the West Bank and Gaza. In 1987, uprisings began once again in the Palestinian areas in response to Israeli occupation and attacks. But as an effect of international efforts in the early 1990's, agreements were made in co-operation leading to the Oslo Accords of 1993. This was successful as it allowed the birth of the Palestinian National Authority which meant that Palestine had gained a certain amount of sovereignty over it's own population.

However, in the year 2000, conflict began between the Israel Defense Force and the Palestine National Authority due to rising tensions and the increase of radicalism on both sides, this lasted around 5 years and caused thousands of fatalities. The Hamas leadership in Gaza since 2006 after the 2005 disengagement caused sanctions against Gaza, eventually leading to rocket attacks and violence on the ground using tunneling.

The recent Gaza-Israel conflict broke out on the 8th July 2014, sparking bombardments and attacks between the states which resulted in over 2000 deaths, mostly that of Palestinians. The war was based around an Israeli crackdown on Hamas, attempting to destroy the underground system connecting the countries with an eventual ceasefire on 26th August 2014.

To conclude, it is evident that despite it's Observer Nation status to the UN, Palestine is very much subject to discrimination as a nation-state and has very little political influence or sovereignty anymore, Israel being favored on an international scale and in terms of political status.

Rise of The State and the Nature of State Centric International Politics

The Rise of the State is a development of the world that has taken centuries and is still a concern in modern politics. However, the beginning of this concept started back in the 1500's. To set the scene, life and politics in the 16th Century would be very different. There were no boundaries or maps drawn up and people were less connected and knew less about the outside world, it was not a matter of concern. The development of the State could said to be a result of globalisation and the issues it creates. But, in the 1500's there was less structure to a country, with no governments, the country relied on both the Feudal Lords and the Monarchy which led to major differences in practice of laws etc. throughout Europe and the rest of the world.

Firstly, a state is described as "a nation or territory considered as an organized political community under one government." while a nation state is of a similar description but emphasizes the "unity of the population by factors of the nation, for instance language or descent." The former began specifically in Europe where Henry VII was a notable figure in English history. His victory at the War of The Roses in 1485 and his role as King resulted in a development of the nation state as he looked towards the beginning of foreign policies and alliances, trade, and the separations of power so beginning the rise of the English nation state and changed the way states began and interacted. Furthermore, 7 years later in 1492 it followed that Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain expelled the Muslim's from the country and consolidated Spain as a state. The first Russian nation state was created by Ivan The Terrible by 1584, when an absolute monarchy was created in France in the late 17th to early 18th Century, a 'dominant power' was founded in Europe. By the late 19th Century, the states of both Italy and Germany emerged as new nation states.

In 1648, The Treaty of Westphalia was established developing one of the first maps of Europe, emphasizing the importance of sovereignty of state over internal affairs legally. This Treaty not only ended the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) within the Holy Roman Empire and the Eighty Years War (1568-1648) between the Dutch Republic and Spain. Held in Osnabruck and Munster (modern day Germany) the treaty involved around 194 states including Kingdoms of France, Spain, Sweden, Denmark and many other territories. As well as allowing the independence of Sweden from Austria and the Netherlands from Spain, the Treaty also noted the importance of a states authority and sovereignty over it's own territory and disallowed the interference of other states in internal matters, therefore, strengthening the idea of the nation state and propelling state centrality further towards the modern day.

A Treaty of Westphalia era map of Europe as sovereign
 states are created in 1648.

 This is the point where State-Centric Politics come into action as it is decided that a state has the ability to govern it's own people with legitimacy without state intervention from other nations. The term 'state centric' is based on an approach that identifies "International relations that the main participants in the international arena are states and that decision making processes are done by the states as the active actors."

As study of modern Politics became more established a number of theories and models were created to record and exemplify how states interact as they develop and grow as powers and nation states. For example, the 'Billiard Ball Model' founded in the 20th Century is supportive of 'global interdependence' and is a realist theory, it determines that the distribution of power among states is relative to a pattern of conflict and cooperation between nation states. The Billiard Balls translate as hard shells that do interlink only touching each other, with only leaders and officials as points of relation and contact. Despite there being common legalities and formalities between states, it has been noticed that some states are simply more powerful than others. This is called the billiard ball model due to the fact that balls collide and deflect with different effects. However, this idea is under pressure and is debated with the emergence of superpowers and globalisation, interdependence is prevalent as states begin to rely on each other increasingly, based on the influences of economic power and trade, nuclear weapons and military and the introduction of deadly diseases and sources of non-renewable energy in some cases.

The idea of interdependence and global groupings has also been highlighted as a viable and increasing approach to global politics, the 'Cobweb Model' is an important development that has put the 'Billiard Ball Model' on the back burner as outdated. The metaphorical cobweb indicated that nation states are closely connected and rely on links to one another to establish strength and power as a nation state. This is evident through global groupings, particularly that of the relationship between the state and intergovernmental organizations (IGO's)  and non-governmental organizations (NGO's) such as the UN, G7, EU, NATO which often revolve around international decision making and distribution of global wealth and power, this has becoming very important in a constantly developing world that changes in patterns of both these factors.



The evidence shown based on approach to global politics models and nation states and treaties throughout history are all contributing factors to how the world has moved forward politically and globally and how the development of nation states, leading up to how the interconnected states work today, is an engine for the globalized world we live in today. This is clear in the links between global powers, global patterns of co-operations and conflicts and the global ties and groupings affected by this.

How were the 9/11 attacks a major turning point in Global Political History?

The events of September 11th 2001 had a number of consequences both within America and internationally in both long and short term consequences, the attacks on the World Trade Center were undoubtedly a point at which the political landscape began to change regarding foreign policy, anti-terrorist legislation and social change.

The 9/11 attacks were carried out on four American Airliners which are known to have been hijacked by the Islamic terrorist group, Al-Qaeda, killing at least 3,000 people and causing $10 billion worth of damage to property and infrastructure. The devastation the attacks caused was quickly met by the American government with aggression that resulted in what George.W. Bush described as the "War on Terror", however, in recent years under the pressure of a public that no longer support the war in the Middle East, the government under President Obama has tried to stop intervention in countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

In the US, the immediate response to the attacks was to prevent further occurrences, causing a major turning point in terms of US security measures. For instance, The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was set up to protect the territory and airspace of the United Space as well as response to disasters, it is responsible for the screening of cargo and baggage, preventing terrorist threats, screening passengers etc. Furthermore, The USA Patriot Act was signed by George. W. Bush and passed by Congress to change the terms of a number of laws to make it easier for the US in their counter-terrorism effort, e.g. allowing a court order to gain information on suspected criminals, helping law enforcement to track the terrorist without a tip-off as well as the use of technology and further surveillance to detect crimes of terror. Ultimately, the US undertook a tough anti-terrorism legislation to prevent further terrorist attacks, which although effective has changed political history in terms of security and surveillance.

The aftermath of the 9/11 attacks has been of global influence, particularly resulting in conflict within the Middle East. The War in Afghanistan was sparked by the belief that Afghanistan was harboring Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden under the Taliban militant group. Quickly gaining the support of UK in a bombing campaign, future support is also given by Canada, Australia, Germany and France. However, the war began to be critiqued when the US did not take an active enough role in a battle resulting in the escape of Al-Qaeda, the war has now been ongoing for 13 years and although there is a withdrawal of US and UK troops, Afghanistan is still a heavily unstable country with little reliance on government despite attempts at implementing democracy.

Since the 2001 attacks, Public trust in Government has severely declined, as seen in the Line Graph it is shown that during the Bush administration and the years following which highlight the public's doubt in the credibility of the war in the Middle East, which is still not recovering in 2014 as a permanent solution to the conflict and terrorism across the world is not eradicated with the rise of groups such as Islamic State and Al-Shabaab the effects of the terrorism can be seen to reach a tipping point in the September 11th Attacks with an increasing number of countries being targeted particularly in the West, Middle East and Africa.

In societies all over the world, attitudes have changed in regards to immigration, multiculturalism and diversity. The 9/11 attacks have ignited further issues in many countries which record more violence, hate crimes and racial profiling. For instance in the US anti-Muslim hate crimes increased by 1600%, similarly, rising by around 60% in the UK. This is important in global political history as it is a measure of the public's opinion on the events and how the political implications have affected the population.

However, media has played a major part in the turning point occurring on September 11th with news articles for the past 13 years, internet and television, the influence of the attacks would inevitably be worldwide. This has both caused an awareness of the threat that terrorism of this scale poses to the rest of the globe, but it also has been shown to aid the growth of terrorist organizations in the past such as the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and most recently ISIS as it spreads there propaganda and widens the sphere of influence.

To conclude, the 9/11 attacks and their aftermath have been extremely influential to Global Political History and as highlighted, the consequences of the disaster are still being felt now as a tipping point at which the War in the Middle East, Global Terrorism and Social Changes based on race, religion and immigration are all contingent to bringing the effects into the modern day.