Compare And Contrast Three Theoretical Traditions

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Compare and contrast three theoretical traditions of International Relations, evaluating in particular the effectiveness which you think they relate to the contemporary agenda of world politics. Compare and contrast three theoretical traditions of International Relations, evaluating in particular the effectiveness which you think they relate to the contemporary agenda of world politics. Introduction International Relations can be described as the way that countries of the world, groups of people, and even individuals within those countries, interact with and affect one another. International Relation Theory (IR) presents a simplified picture through Realism, Liberalism, the English School and other theories on how states, groups and individuals relate to each other in the international arena. Each of them has, at various times, been in and out of vogue and each is constantly competing and challenging for the pre-eminent theory of IR. Waltz, a prominent neo-realist and key contributor to IR, argues that you need to simplify out the complexities to develop the fundamentals which explain the sequences and theory of IR. Realism is one such family of theories. In essence it describes the international environment as hostile, with every state working out their own best position in pursuit of their national security because no one else is going to ensure their wellbeing. In the Realism world there is no higher authority then the sovereignty of individual states. They operate in the realm of anarchy where power, especially military and economic power, determine the order of states and their relationships with each other. This view contrasts with Liberalism theory of IR. It argues that states, especially democratic states, cooperate and tolerate each other for their mutual advantage in trade and commerce and find that war is costly, destructive and essentially
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