The constructivist turn in IR marks a shift from the material determinants of international politics to ideational factors, such as beliefs, ideas, and norms. The two dominant theoretical schools in IR, neorealism and neoliberal institutionalism (NLI), share several key assumptions regarding the anarchic nature of the international system, states are self-interested, rational actors, driven by material interests in power/survival (neorealists) or security (NLI). In addition, neorealism and NLI both rely on a rational choice framework borrowed from microeconomics that assumes cost-benefit analysis and utility maximization as the impetus behind state’s political calculus. Although conditioned by the same assumptions, neorealists and NLI reach vastly different conclusions regarding the potential for conflict and cooperation in international politics.…
Anytime a person runs for political office, they are essentially risking their life. There will always be a certain person who does not agree with a set of opinions a politician has and that can have dire consequences not only for the politician but for everyone around them as well. In history, there have been countless assassinations for this reason alone. Senseless acts of violence against innocent people affect our society negatively like in prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and Roman politician Julius Caesar’s assassination because their consequences not only leave people mourned, traumatized, and rallied for revenge, but they also shape the next generation of people growing up in this kind of world. Yitzhak Rabin was the prime minister of Israel from 1974 to 1977 and 1992 to 1995 and was assassinated because he was responsible for a peace initiative between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, also known as the Oslo Accords.…
As World War I came to an end, there would be a rise in a fascist totalitarian regime that emphasized the need for a strong central government led by a single ruler. “Leaders who embraced fascism, such as Mussolini and Hitler, claimed that they were striving to build a new community on a national – not an international – level. Extreme nationalists, and often racists, Fascists glorified war and the military.” The development of such political philosophy influenced the ideas and beliefs of Adolf Hitler – a German Nazi dictator and National Socialist Party (NAZI) leader and founder. Ultimately, there would be an emphasis on war, nationalism, and even racism, that entailed the purification of the body of the nation.…
When they do this, more Palestinians get forced out of their own home to make way for the Israelis. The main problem is whenever an agreement is tried to be made, extremism on either side make that impossible. Because why would either side want to make a settlement when there are innocents being killed due to the actions of the other side. The extremist engages in horrible acts of terrorism to express their hatred and try and achieve a political change. These acts of terrorism occur with both the Israelis and the Palestinians.…
On October 30, 1991, in the Salon de las Columas at the Royal Palace in the Spanish capital, the Madrid Peace Conference was held. Hosted by U.S. President George H.W. Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, attendees included Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad, King Hussein of Jordan, and the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Yasser Arafat. Bush stood before the delegates of the Middle East, in an unprecedented meeting that many hoped would help resolve a conflict that had been in existence since 1948. President Bush, in his opening remarks, stated the “objective must be clear and straightforward. It is not simply to end the state of war in the Middle East and replace it with…
Prime Minister Netanyahu made it clear that he was opposed to the Oslo accords. Not only did Netanyahu want to postpone the process for the time being he had an end goal of putting a complete stop to it all together (Lesch 2008). “Netanyahu himself repeatedly denounced the accord as a violation of the historic right of the Jewish people to the land of Israel and as a mortal danger to their security” (Fawcett, 2015). In the two and a half year span that Netanyahu was in power he tried to screw up the peace process at every opportunity he got. Prime Minister Netanyahu took advantage of the legally non-mandatory clause of the Oslo Accords.…
Since the mid-twentieth century, Jews have been migrating to the land of Israel, known by the Arabs as Palestine, to escape the discrimination and persecution they had been facing in Europe for centuries. The Zionist movement began to grow as a result of the Holocaust, as the Jews believe they have a right to their own Jewish state where their holy sites are. However, the Arabs have been living in Palestine for generations, and they are unwilling to accept the formation of a Jewish state because of the Palestinian cultural and ancestral ties that exist in that land. Because both the Palestinians and Jews are obdurate and will not forswear the land they both feel they have a right to, the Arab-Israeli conflict is an incredibly complicated issue.…
Realists do not believe that the states should achieve in perpetual peace and harmony in the world. Actors needed to be faced with the fact that the world is a diverse place and one must accept and live by it. Power to them is the centerpiece of a political life ensuring one’s safety in an environment with no central government protecting them from others. On the other hand, liberalists argue that realism is an outdated justification where the increase of globalization, the rise of communication technology and international trade are resources that cannot be relied on militaristic power. It is the international system that offers a collaboration within the political actors and states.…
The problems in Israel will not fix themselves. The only way to fix them is to intervene in the issue, and get to the source of the problem. Over the course of this paper, there is information that shows some of the things that need to be looked at. There is a lot of the brutality that exist in this country. Throughout the paper there are quotes directly from stories about their human rights violations, also there is stories directly from people that have lived these horrific tragedies.…
Prominent in realist theory is the concept of anarchy. Anarchy in international politics is defined by Mearsheimer as a system of ‘independent political units (states) that have no central authority above them’ (Mearsheimer 1994). Such a system promotes the concepts of self-help, statism and survival which suggest that war is the result of independent states fighting for power and national interest in order to survive. Given that the world has only been at peace for 8% of all of recorded history (Hedges 2003), these concepts are of great significance to realist in order to dissect war and understand why it is so prominent in international politics. Therefore, the bases of this essay will be formed using the aforementioned concepts to outline…
According to this theory, states should try to build order under anarchy. Anarchy is essentially a state that is without authority and in realism, due to anarchy they cannot rely on their allies to survive, and instead use an international system of checks and balances among states. The stronger the state, the more power they have to impose order on weaker states; essentially pushing their beliefs onto weaker states. (Shiraev and Zubok.41). Real politik is a policy that is based on realist assumptions that the foundation of a nation’s security is power and the threat of its use- a policy that staes no international order is perfect or lasts forever, when one falls, another rises.…
Joanne, we can with certainty agree that Israel is a resilient nation fueled by their national power influenced by a strong spiritual infrastructure.1 I do appreciate your illustrations of how the all those who assume various leadership roles in Israel work together to protect and serve the people by teaching them survival skills. The Middle East has been a tinderbox almost since the beginning of time due to original sin. I do agree that the animosity between Israel and Palestine is political; however, there is animosity contributed to Muslims (Islam) contending that the descendants of Ishmael rightly own the land; whereas, Israel (Judaism) was promised the land, since God’s covenant was with Isaac (Genesis 17:19). I wrote about resilient…
Every country is at a different level of globalization as well as has been affected by globalization in a different way. A countries level of globalization can be measured by various factors. Israel and Palestine is a unique case as their level of globalization depends on each other’s actions. Their advancement in globalization depends on each other’s economic, social, environmental and political actions. This is because Palestine and Israel share a “country” and there is a lot of conflict between them.…
Realists and Liberalist are often times conflicting on how they think about different issues and the way they go about constructing their own nations. But, institutionalism bridges a gap between the both of them. Institutionalism functions as a neutral territory that aims to diffuse potentially competing and conflicting issues. Realism, being the oldest International Relations theory gives a pessimistic view of human nature. Realists believe that.…
I/ Introduction: This paper was commissioned by Ms Xiang Gao, a lecture at International Pacific College (IPC). Its purpose is to examine and analyse the conflict between Palestine and Israel in Middle East. The conflict between Israel and Palestine can be considered the most intractable conflict in the world.…