Similar to the mutually beneficial relationships of wild animals, liberalism is a theory founded on the principles of cooperation and relationships within an anarchic system. The animal kingdom, an undisputed anarchic system, exemplifies an institutionalized relationship between two species. A crocodile will allow an Egyptian Plover bird to clean its teeth, because their symbiotic relationship helps both of them in different ways. The crocodile ends up with a cleaner mouth and the plover bird survives on the food between the crocodile’s teeth, (Small Science). Comparatively, “liberalism stresses the importance of international institutions, constructed by states, in facilitating mutually beneficial policy coordination among governments.” (Keohane
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As long as the United States remains a force in the international system, American constituents will continue to support institutions. Fortunately for realists, the United States pursues power through the channels of the institutional system or by going completely around the institutions themselves. “The most powerful states in the system create and shape institutions so that they can maintain their share of world power, or even increase it. In this view, institutions are essentially ‘arenas for acting out power relationships’” (Mearsheimer 1995). Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) put this practice into perspective. Portraying himself as an institution-loving, liberal, FDR successfully pulled the United States into World War II while framing it in a way that seemed unavoidable. Roosevelt claimed the war had been “thrust upon America.” FDR valued cooperation, but combined the United States’ cooperation in a way that allowed for pursued power, both militaristically and economically, (Kimball 2004). The United States uses institutions to pursue power and characterize possibly combative actions more positively. Even human rights violations give powerful nations the ability to intervene in sovereign states. The pursuit of power is veiled under simulations of morality and warfare is only righteous when a just cause is used as rationale, (Mearsheimer 1995). Without institutions, every action could be retaliated with hostility and cause international waves of chaos. At the same time, the United States does not always listen to international authority and has actually tried to supercede decisions made by prominent international institutions. The United Nations (U.N.), an international organization created by Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, and composed of many established states, provides democratic guidelines and rules for the states involved, (History.com). A security council, composed of the Big Five, (China,
As long as the United States remains a force in the international system, American constituents will continue to support institutions. Fortunately for realists, the United States pursues power through the channels of the institutional system or by going completely around the institutions themselves. “The most powerful states in the system create and shape institutions so that they can maintain their share of world power, or even increase it. In this view, institutions are essentially ‘arenas for acting out power relationships’” (Mearsheimer 1995). Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) put this practice into perspective. Portraying himself as an institution-loving, liberal, FDR successfully pulled the United States into World War II while framing it in a way that seemed unavoidable. Roosevelt claimed the war had been “thrust upon America.” FDR valued cooperation, but combined the United States’ cooperation in a way that allowed for pursued power, both militaristically and economically, (Kimball 2004). The United States uses institutions to pursue power and characterize possibly combative actions more positively. Even human rights violations give powerful nations the ability to intervene in sovereign states. The pursuit of power is veiled under simulations of morality and warfare is only righteous when a just cause is used as rationale, (Mearsheimer 1995). Without institutions, every action could be retaliated with hostility and cause international waves of chaos. At the same time, the United States does not always listen to international authority and has actually tried to supercede decisions made by prominent international institutions. The United Nations (U.N.), an international organization created by Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, and composed of many established states, provides democratic guidelines and rules for the states involved, (History.com). A security council, composed of the Big Five, (China,