• Jean-François Lyotard, Roland Barthes, Judith Butler, Gilles Deleuze, Luce Irigaray, Paul Feyerabend, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault and Richard Rorty are among the writers that made valuable contributions to post-modernism.
• Thomas Kuhn and Richard Rorty, contemporary representatives of pragmatism, also point out that a paradigm can only be valid as long as it can solve the problem. For Kuhn, survival of a paradigm depends on its problem-solving capacity.

Pragmatism

“The [realist] tradition focuses on the nationstate as the principle actor in international relations and its central proposition is that since the purpose of statecraft is national survival in an hostile environment, the acquisition of power is the proper, rational and inevitable goal of foreign policy (Evans and Newnham, 1998: 465). In this view, international arena is the scene of power politics and power, in that matter, it is conceptualized as both a means and an end in itself. In other words, international actors, nation-states notably, seek to gain power and it is this power what helps them survive in this environment in which reigns homo homini lupus est (man is wolf to another man) principle.

According to realist philosopher Thomas Hobbes, in the state of nature, individuals lived together out of fear and they had the right to do anything necessary for survival in their struggle for life. This rather pessimistic view is at a distance from liberal ideas on state of nature and natural rights of human beings. In the Hobbesian (realist) tradition, for order in social life, obedience to law is important and the sovereign has the authority to use power. In terms of liberty, people are under complete subjection by the sovereign so through liberal lenses, their rights are not safe. Hobbes’ ideas have provided the philosophy behind the growth of the realist tradition in IR.

Following the liberal tradition; democratic peace theory is based on

(1) faith in human rationality, 

(2) capability of maintaining peace, 

(3) ability to overcome anarchy and power politics,

(4) peace enhancing effects of trade. Correct answer is E. 

In liberalism, the political and economic behaviors cannot be separated from each other. It is impossible to categorize them as two distinct issue areas. The liberal reading of IR is composed of both conflictual and cooperative behaviors of states, non-state entities and individuals. Also, liberalism has criticized realism’s inadequacy to explain international cooperation and argues that the realist analyses are confined with the limits of narrow definitions of the national interest. The liberal scholars were affected by the international circumstances around them such as the Cold War or the increasing effects of globalization. Correct answer is C. 

Given classical realist point of view that sees “all politics” whether international or domestic, as a “struggle for power” and its distinction between “high” and “low” politics, it can be claimed that “the difference between domestic politics and international relations”, in classical realist thought, “are of degree, not of kind” (Halliday, 2012: 25).

The socialist revolutions in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe led to greater equality and freedom. 

The  United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000 has a total of eight goals revealed within this program were eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and empowering women, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, combatting fatal diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability, and developing a global partnership for development. The correct answer is D.

Realist approaches focus on the security problems of the states in the anarchical nature of the international system, and pluralists research on how to realize peace and cooperation in the face of multi actors and their interdependent relations in terms of economic, political and social fields. Globalism tries to explain war and peace through economic reasons, war and conflicts emanate from contradictions of capitalism. The correct answer is A.

realists

Mearscheimer claims that states seek hegemony; they all want to become, ultimately, regional hegemons. His theory, as it is called, offensive realism is built upon the assumption that “[G]reat powers… are always searching for opportunities to gain power over their rivals, with hegemony as their final goal” (Mearsheimer, 2001: 29). The correct answer is E.

Internalization of a country’s economy leads to a higher standard of living.

Politics

Classical liberals oppose to the Kantian cosmopolitanism on the ground that there is no need for a universal enforcer, separate nation states could realize this alone and together, since a universal enforcer itself would be a threat to liberty.

By the same token, classical liberals valued sovereignty of nations, and humanitarian intervention was not their concern. They believed that the developed countries could be models for less free countries through international trade and cultural exchange. States communicate and negotiate through diplomacy and this maintains the stability. In the Grotian view, diplomacy is the bond between members of international society that converge around common norms and goals that is international law (rule of law at international level). Due to the anarchical nature of the international system that lacks a central authority, international law is enforced by the states themselves and the different interpretations of rules may lead to conflicts. Generally, states recognize that it is in their interest to conform to international law. According to classical liberalism, international law must be restricted to the international protection of individual rights. This has been the ground for the establishment of the international governmental organizations since the nineteenth century.

For defensive realists, international structure incites states to maintain the existing balance of power, the present status quo. So, in this regard, main goal of international actors is to preserve their relative power not to increase it. However, in offensive realist perspective, common belief is that it is extremely rare to find states that are content with the existing status quo. That is because the international structure compels them to maximize their relative power as it is the only way to maximize their security. In that sense, their aggressive actions should be considered as an implication of their natural desire to survive.

Joseph A. Schumpeter argued that international conflicts certainly precede advanced capitalism and the emergence of advanced capitalist states. Hans J. Morgenthau argued that it is the ruling classes, not the capitalists, in any state who take the decisions to go to war. Raymond Aron, in analyzing the First World War, gives a special importance to the Anglo-German rivalry over arms race and sphere of influence, denying that this had much to do with capitalism. Lenin viewed the First World War as a struggle among the advanced capitalist powers for the control of colonies and markets. The correct answer is E.

Neoliberals argue that there is no logical link between anarchy and war, but it is the conditions (prevailing rules and expectations of states) that matter. States use international institutions for reputation and reciprocity in a way for their selfish reasons, but in the end enabling them to have mutually beneficial outcomes. Neoliberalism is criticized for its lack of a development-centered approach where the developed North should have moral responsibilities to the underdeveloped and developing South, by for example realizing redistributive policies towards them.