Pointers on answering Chapter 16 case study questions

1. What are the weaknesses of realist and liberal understandings of international order?

For realists analyses of the international order since World War II have largely been premised on considerations of polarity. This moved from bipolarity to unipolarity after the Cold War to a conception of the contemporary moment as increasingly a return to multipolarity. The latter resonates with Pre-War conceptions of international order that remain, however, both Eurocentric and state-centric.

For liberals the international world order since WWII was largely premised on a hierarchical structure dominated by US hegemony and liberal governance, though with significant institutionalized access to US power for secondary states. The election of Donald Trump was seen as a major wake-up call for liberals, though it is important to stress that Trump marks the consequence rather than cause of a prior declining liberal international order, which was from its inception closer to a ‘Club of the West’ than a distributive and inclusive framework.

Both realism and liberalism as well as other IR theories are premised on Eurocentric views of world order that cannot account for multiplicity of actors located beyond the (conceptual) confines of the West (p. 18-19). They see current world order largely as a return to multipolarity that resonates with pre-WWII understandings of a largely European international order

2. What can Global IR perspectives bring to the table in understanding order and change in international politics?

Global IR perspectives address such limitations through the idea of multiplexity, rather than multipolarity (p. 19). Multiplexity is premised on the idea of a decentered and pluralistic world order with a multiplicity of actors including institutions, corporations, extremists, and social movements using material and ideational resources. It stresses political, social and cultural diversity, yet economic interdependence such that a diverse group of actors holds the ability to influence order and/or disorder at the international level.