Reading Paper Mearsheimer-1 PDF

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Reading Paper 3: “The False Promise of International Institutions” (John J. Mearsheimer) Author: John J. Mearsheimer is an American political scientist. He is the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor who specializes in Political Science and the co-director of the Program on International Security Policy at the University of Chicago. John Mearsheimer got his Ph.D. and M.A. in Cornell University (Government), M.A. in University of Southern California (International Relations). His research interests are about security issues and international politics. The article was published in 1995 by a leading American journal, International Security, that provides complex analyses of current historical and security issues. Written after the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union. The world became unipolar. This created a new dynamic of international relations and changed the vision of traditional political theories. Thesis: The article considers the claim, made by three theories of international relations such as liberal institutionalism, collective security and critical theory that international institutions can prevent states from war and lead to peace. Gist: Representatives of liberal institutionalism, collective security and critical theory believe that institutions have an equalizing effect to balance political and military positions, while realists claim that institutes can be used by great powers as a means to realize their national interests. Telling Examples: 1. Liberal institutionalism claims that international institutions such as the EU, the UN, NATO can change state behavior and move states away from wars. The theory focuses on environmental and economic collaboration but it does not address the question of how international institutes can stop conflicts between states. Realists believe that great powers use institutes to realize their self-interested purposes and maximize their relative power positions over other states. For example, NATO played a significant role in helping the West win the Cold War, but at the same time this military alliance was basically an American tool to manage power against the Soviet Union. 2. Critical theory (that includes such theories as constructivism, postmodernism, etc.) believes that it is possible to create a world with increased collaboration among states and true peace between them. Those who support critical theory claim that to alter world politics it is necessary to change the way people think about world politics. The problem with critical theory is that there is not enough empirical support for their theory. It’s not completely clear how changes occur and there are a lot of contradictions. 3. Collective security theory seeks to providing a more effective mechanism for protection against aggressors, as well as to make aggression less likely by changing and improving the competitive international environment. Mearsheimer argued that the theory is unworkable in practice. He gave the Ligue of Nations failure as example of inefficiency of the theory. Realists believe that states are going to initiate war for security reasons. Other times they will be content to stay aside and let two or more opponents to be involved in a conflict. Critiques: There is a big debate between realists and intuitionalists about the role of international institutes in forming global politics. The realists’ arguments in this article are convincing but I’m sure that international institutes are still important. We have some good examples of cooperation among states such as the European Union that secure among members-states. In my opinion, international institutes play an important role in international relations....