Tutorial 2- Realism, Liberalism and Constructivism in the ME PDF

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Tutorial 2: Realism, Liberalism and Constructivism in the Middle East

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Three main theories: realism, liberalism, constructivism. Realism o International system and players within it. o Groupism, egoism and power-centrism. o Scope is anarchy.  Scope conditions = parameters within a given theory is. o Waltz; all states must be prepared to give max power at all times. o Expansionism importance. o By acting in own interests, discourage the interests of other states? o Importance of balance of power within the international system.  External and internal pressures. Liberalism o Began as a reaction to the total-war to the first world war. o See the state as inherently aggressive and always power-maximising. o Reaction to this problem was the formation of the UN. o Liberalists agree with the international system being anarchic.  But disagrees that the world is not a chess board; zero-sum game.  Can be mutual gain so states should seek interdependence and cooperation.  Liberals see cooperation as forced stability.  Bigger loss by defecting than by standing and abiding by the collective action.  Non of the GCC countries gone to war with each other.  However, have disputes over arms and political allegiances to other parts of the world. Constructivism o Emerged as a contradiction to liberalism. o Some aspects of IR are historically-inherent. o Social theory of international politics.  Imposed by human ideas. o Power of the concept of the word ‘anarchy’ comes from its interpretation. o Is the importance of international structures over-emphasised?  Priorities the importance of human consciousness. o Discourse – language, rhetoric and symbols a state uses to emphasise its planned outlook. o Important to recognise factors are bound more than military, economic outlook.  E.g. Arab Spring. Facilitated by media and social network interactions. Overspread of western values? Easy access to alternative media?  Highlights importance of discourse as people restructure themselves and re-evaluate their sense of patriotism.  Led to people questioning what was part of their day-to-day lives.

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Is the Middle East more peaceful and stable in a multipolar or bipolar system? o Argued to be more stable in bipolar as more likely to have stronger alliances. o Bipolar – could become an area for conflict.  More stable in multipolar world? o Bipolar = greater chance of secularism influencing the region. o ME is bipolar and unstable at the moment therefore multipolar may be more appropriate. o Last time world was multipolar was during the colonial period.  Presence of power vacuum = greater chance of conflict. o Would encourage greater cooperation however multipolar environment could lead to greater suspicion upon one another. Rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran – think about the lens that this is looked through. o Importance of the presence of proxy wars. o Now much more suspicious of each other.  Republic v Monarchy. o The fact that only one gets on with the USA is hugely important. o Saudi Arabia buying lots of arms in order to maintain its power within the region.  Iran has to bound with other states in the Gulf region in order to try and match the stature such as Saudi Arabia. o Can agree on some important areas such as oil production.  Both countries cooperate as part of the OPEC organisation.  Both are rentier economies therefore oil is paramount to their economy. o Religion in terms of constructivism.  Saudi is Sunni and Iran is Shi’a. Every year is a clash over Mecca.  Cultural paradigm.  Religious is awakening the political consciousness due to them identifying their religion with their state. o Sectarianism – realist lense.  Fighting as they want to protect their identity.  Shown through allegiances in the proxy wars. o Geopolitics of the area is very ‘conflict-prone’.  Anarchy in the area is very clear. o Importance of economic sanctions being lifted in the region as a result of nuclear agreements. o Asymmetrical warfare as a result of Saudi Arabia’s huge defence budget. o Iran have own weapon-producing capabilities therefore may not be accurate to say what their actual stockpile is. o Saudi Arabia and Iran compete for: oil, regional hegemony, relations with USA, culture, religion, leadership of Muslim world.  World is big enough for both of them to produce oil but they compete in order to have constant customers for oil.

Leadership of Muslim world is symbolic. Who shows toughest reaction to insult to the Quran etc. Competition for who claims the symbolic leadership. o People align themselves according to ideology yet not necessarily religious ones.  Sectarianism was very much present in the region.  Importance of 2003 Iraq invasion and its effects on the Gulf region as a whole.  Iran has allies in strategic positions.  Triggered a sectarian response to the invasion. IR has major problem of over-generalizing. o Do not pay enough attention to the specifics of each country. o Some GCC countries terrified at prospect of becoming over-dependant on Saudi Arabia.  Oman is closer to Iran than Saudi Arabia. o 

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