Realism

• Realism


  A theory that states that States are constantly seeking power, and by extracting wealth they consequently create exploitation
• IR theories that talk about exploitation

  • Marxism
  • Dependent Development
• Liberalism


  Its main components are free-market economy, democracy, and individual rights
• The US justifies themselves saying they want democracy on one hand, and open markets on the other. However, not all countries with open markets are wealthy, rather some become poorer because of these policies
• Colonialism


  The period of colonial rule in Africa came late and did not last very long. Africa was conquered by European imperial powers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. By the 1960s-it was mostly over, but it greatly affected African history, as colonial rule was threatening and essentially just exploitation
• Colonialism is highly criticized in Africa and is based on many of the ideas of rejection that many nations feel when dealing with African countries
• Interest in Africa' colonial past has waxed and waned, and resurged recently. Colonialism was not just about the actions of the Europeans, it was also about the actions of the Africans and what they thought
• There was extreme abuses on the African people, even within themselves. In the Kongo empire, Leopoldo the third would cut off people's hands if they did not meet the production threshold he desired from them
• Key issue

  Africans don't trust European agreements or treaties because a lot of abuses have been done to them
• Military colonialism


  The countries that have the most military bases in the world are located strategically where the control over access of the Mediterranean trade routes is found
• Empires


  • British: controlled land (territorial), trade, exploitation of natural resources (wealth)
  • Spanish: controlled land, exploitation of natural resources (wealth), but not as much trade
  • Dutch: they focused mostly on trade and exploitation of natural resources (spices from Asia, India, Madagascar)
  • French: territorial and exploitation of natural resources (wealth), not so much trade
• China and the US: they're trying to have power in trade, not necessarily territorial power
• Market Colonialism


  Instead of wanting control of the land and the riches, they want to control the economy and the politics
• The BRI and International Trade


  China is building infrastructure in Peru, Panama, Singapore, Nairobi, Suez, Lagos, and many other places around the world to extract resources (making it easier to take all the goods those places can produce). They are giving money to different countries so that they will develop ports all around the world. They want these so they can extract resources, and that's why they need the infrastructure. Most of the construction takes place in the Middle East and Africa
• This is because China's main challenges are that they do not produce their own energy and have very little land to cultivate (8% of territory only)
• People in the US are in favor of their own country
• People in Africa don't trust the American, Chinese, nor Russian models because in the past all of the empires have abused them. The money being invested doesn't matter, the Africans aren't responding to it because they know that they're doing it to exploit their resources, same as in the past
• In Africa, the most powerful foreign military forces fighting there are France and Russia
• Colonialism is important to international relations because

  It reflects the realism theory (it´s the struggle for power and the extract of wealth = exploitation), apart from Marxism and Dependent Development, which also talk about exploitation. Both are based on you take power and use weak states to extract their wealth to have more power, and those weaker countries will become weaker
• Liberalism has to do with colonialism


  It talks about open markets and democracy. They justify intervention in other countries' economies and politics because they will benefit from it (resources in the Middle East)
• Realists


  Believe we live in an anarchy, and therefore we need to be prepared to fight. They believe war is perpetual, that human nature is always going to be war, so one must be prepared for it. They think war is not a bad thing, it allows you to maintain/grow in power. They are pessimistic, they believe peace is logically impossible. So, the only option you have is to manage the frequency and intensity of war
• Alliances are necessary in Realism, however we've seen this theory fail in history (in the World Wars thousands of people died even after alliances were made)
• Realism is a good theory to explain the past (struggle for power between Nations) but in the future it might not be as useful
• Marxism


  Argues that there are social classes that are in constant conflict, one exploiting the other. They use the penetration of multinational corporations to extract the wealth of others. They say the State is the servant of the Bourgeoise, these people govern all the political interests for the rest of the community. So, they propose a worker's government (dictatorship), that through the use of violence (revolutions) they can achieve power. Hierarchical: the leaders decide and the rest of the people follow. They say all these things have caused Imperialism: a group of people that try to control not only another country, but the rest of the world
• Dependency theory


  Countries that are industrialized dominate over developing countries. The international arena is controlled by the more powerful States. The states that are dominated end up being underdeveloped
• WWII-> The US grew in economic power
• The first British settlers in America did not survive, they completely disappeared
• Thanksgiving commemorates the graciousness Native American's showed towards the English colonizers that arrived to America, they fed them and helped them survive
• There was no gold or silver, no grain production, but they had gunpowder and high-quality wood which allowed them to conduct business and remain afloat
• The British were inclined to abandon the colonies because it was no good business
• The people in the North of America (British) survived by trading with people in the Caribbean, they could only survive through commerce
• This is why all of the US exterior political policy can be explained by economic interests, because in its DNA is the necessity of surviving through trade like they had in the past
• The Spanish model: you had to be born in Spain to attain a higher position in the military (like general) and if you were born outside of Spain you didn't have the same rights as Spain-born Spaniards. This created a new social class called Mestizos, which are the individuals that were behind the whole movement of Independence because they wanted equal opportunity and access than those born in Spain
• That's why the premise they stem from in terms of independence was "no taxation without representation", they wanted someone in parliament to represent this part of society
• The US has used war as an instrument to maintain and expand its power, which is in accordance to the Realism theory
• Although they're "antiimperialists" because they were born from fighting against European empires, they have soon begun to behave like them
• The problem is that the US internal policies are extremely different than its foreign policy
• Equality leads to democracy and the rule of law
• Before, the British were able to go into any home and take your property/decide to stay there. The Americans were the first to establish that they have no right to go into a house unless there's a judge sentencing that it is allowed (warranty)
• The right to bear arms is born from this, I should have the right to defend myself if someone comes into my house to try to steal from me