Political Stability or Political Disorder

Even before taking PHIFOCY, I already have an idea about realism, liberalism and constructivism because these three theories were discussed by my professor in INTRELA but applying these three on the issues like 9/11 is what I don’t know. Theories in IR are very important because it provides us further explanations on the real and critical issues happening around the world. One theory differs from another theory, one country may not easily adapt the system of government that another country has and this is what the two articles; One World, Rival Theories by Jack Snyder and One World, Many Theories by Stephen Walt have introduced and explained.

First, in the realist theory what I only know is the importance of power in all states. Yes, every state desire to gain more power and to have control over other states, this competition may create large gaps between states which may eventually lead to wars that can cause a lot of casualties; this is what we call “security dilemma”. It states that if all states are powerful then all states can be a threat to your country as well.

Second theory is the liberalist theory which focuses on the economic interdependence of the states and the spread of the democracy. If in realism, it is only the state who acts on everything as the unitary, principal and rational actors, in liberalism the non-state actors play a very important role because they are responsible for economic integration which is also in the interest of the state.

Last is the constructivist theory, where the ideologies, norms and culture play a major role in world politics. It keeps on analyzing and criticizing other ideas and theories without producing anything. In short, there is no assurance on the learning it provides for the states follow their own interest in the end.

After three hours of listening to my classmates and my professor, I have gained an additional information that I can use to my other subjects and which I can apply to different issues that have been happening at present just like what have been discussed in our class, the never-ending conflict between South Korea and North Korea, the countries that protect territorial integration as well as the competition over territories and one of the best example mentioned was the South China Sea and even if many countries claim it, China is still has the strongest claim for this because of the “Middle Kingdom” basis which is considered a historical argument.

I thought of all the three theories, liberalism is the most acceptable theory because of the assumption it has. One of the best example that contradicts the statement "democracies don't fight each other" would be the 9/11 attack. I thought if two countries are democratic, there is a less chance of getting into war but I was wrong. The democratic idea fuels political conflicts no matter how long-established the democracies because, usually, a large gap separates democratic ideas and the actual functioning of democratic political institutions. Thus, even in countries with impressive histories of democratic institutions, citizens may invoke the democratic idea to demand that their government be more responsible and accountable.

If there is one question that I would want to be answered it would be whether democratic institutions contribute to political stability or on the contrary, to political disorder?