Chapter 2 Learning Objectives

Theory is Everywhere

  • Identify five theories that help to improve our understanding of global politics and to interpret the behavior of states, societies, and individuals.
  • Explain the principles of realist theory and the focus on the self-interest and promotion of the state and nation.
  • Outline the principles of liberalism and how the world has moved in this direction during the past century.
  • Discuss world systems theory and its challenge to the paradigms of realism and liberalism.
  • Describe constructivism in the context of international economic policies.
  • Discuss feminist theory and the way in which global politics is structured around socially constructed conceptions of gender and the intersection with political and economic power.
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