The Contemporary Transformation of the International System
Professor John Wilton
Lecture 8
Evaluation of the models of world order within the context of the contemporary international
system, and the challenges from other theoretical constructions

Lecture 8
THE ‘INTERNATIONAL’
     ____

 POLITICAL    ECONOMIC     CULTURAL     TECHNOLOGY

States-system     liberal free       identity (‘feeds’ Transmits             market
nationalism - values &
historically       or being eroded information
  specific       by cosmopolitan
INTERACTION values?) facilitates net- work growth

Lecture 8
1)examine, analyse and interpret elements within it;
2)Examine, analyse the ‘whole’
The international system today?
- realist
- liberal
- constructivist
- marxist

Lecture 8
-Immanuel Kant’s ‘liberal theory of transformation’ (1795)
- international society should be based upon:
1) a constitution based on the civil right of individuals within a nation;
2) a constitution based on the international right of states in their relationships with one
another;
3) a constitution based on cosmopolitan rights

Lecture 8
-‘a pacific federation of states’ based on notion of cosmopolitan rights
-to preserve and secure the freedom of each state
-AND this would lead to ‘perpetual peace’
‘Articles of a Perpetual Peace’
- gradual abolition of standing armies
- prohibition of intervention in the constitutional and governmental affairs of other states

Lecture 8
Kant’s theory:
1) critical theory – transform relations between states from ‘might’ to ‘right’
2) a universal theory – based on universal principles of reason and rationality

Lecture 8
Feminism and the question of standpoint:
- realist, liberal. marxist, constructivist models are all based on a patriarchal world view
(heirarchy and uniformity)
- reductionist approach
Feminist ‘standpoint’ = ‘holistic picture’ (greater attention to diversity and inter-connectedness)
- a ‘plurality of standpoints’ (contrasts with ‘false universals’ of liberal and patriarchal ways
of thinking)

Lecture 8
THE ‘INTERNATIONAL’
     ____

 POLITICAL    ECONOMIC     CULTURAL     TECHNOLOGY

States-system     liberal free       identity (‘feeds’ Transmits             market
nationalism - values &
historically       or being eroded information
  specific       by cosmopolitan
INTERACTION values?) facilitates net- work growth