PERSPEKTIF REALIS

PERTEMUAN 2
MATA KULIAH EKONOMI POLITIK GLOBAL
PRODI HUBUNGAN INTERNASIONAL
FISIP UNIVERSITAS PEMBANGUNAN NASIONAL VETERAN JAKARTA
 HISTORY OF REALISM

• REALISM IS CLOSELY RELATED TO MERCANTILISM BECAUSE IT ALSO EMPHASIZES THE EFFORTS OF THE
STATE TO ACHIEVE SECURITY
• REALISM OR MERCANTILISM IS A WORLD VIEW OF ECONOMIC NATIONALISM THAT AIMS TO DEVELOP
A RICH COUNTRY.
• ADAM SMITH, THE EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY LIBERAL ECONOMIST AND PHILOSOPHER, USED THE TERM
MERCANTILISM TO REFER TO ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND PRACTICE THAT PREVAILED IN EUROPE FROM
ABOUT 1500 TO 1750
• ADAM SMITH COINED THE TERM "MERCANTILE SYSTEM" TO DESCRIBE THE POLITICAL, ECONOMIC
SYSTEM THAT SEEKS TO ENRICH THE COUNTRY BY CURBING IMPORTS AND ENCOURAGING EXPORTS.
• THIS SYSTEM DOMINATED WESTERN EUROPEAN ECONOMIC POLICY FROM THE 16TH CENTURY
TO THE END OF THE 18TH CENTURY.
• MOST MERCANTILISM POLICIES ARE THE RESULT OF RELATIONS BETWEEN GOVERNMENTS AND
THEIR MERCANTILE CLASSES.
• DOMESTICALLY, THE GOVERNMENT WILL PROVIDE CAPITAL FOR NEW INDUSTRIES, FREE UP
NEW INDUSTRIES FROM GUILD AND TAX REGULATIONS, ESTABLISH MONOPOLIES OVER LOCAL
AND COLONIAL MARKETS, AND PROVIDE CERTIFICATES AND PENSIONS TO SUCCESSFUL
PRODUCERS
• IN TRADE POLICY, THE GOVERNMENT HELPS LOCAL INDUSTRIES BY IMPOSING TARIFFS,
QUOTAS, AND A BAN ON THE IMPORT OF GOODS THAT COMPETE WITH LOCAL PRODUCERS.
• REALISTS SEE THE INTERNATIONAL ECONOMY AS AN ARENA OF CONFLICT BETWEEN
CONFLICTING NATIONAL INTERESTS RATHER THAN AREAS OF COOPERATION. INTERSTATE
ECONOMIC COMPETITION IS A ZERO-SUM GAME WHERE A COUNTRY'S PROFITS ARE A LOSS
FOR ANOTHER COUNTRY.
 BASIC TENETS OF THE REALIST PERSPECTIVE

• REALISTS SEE THE STATE AS THE PRINCIPAL ACTOR IN IR, AND THEY EMPHASIZE THE NEED TO
PRESERVE NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY
• REALISTS SEE GLOBALIZATION MAINLY AS AN ECONOMIC PROCESS THAT DOES NOT AFFECT
THE BASIC INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL STRUCTURE IN WHICH STATES ARE PREDOMINANT.
• GLOBALIZATION INCREASES ONLY WHEN STATES PERMIT IT TO INCREASE, AND THE LARGEST
STATES CAN EITHER OPEN OR CLOSE WORLD MARKETS TO IMPROVE THEIR POWER POSITIONS
VIS-À-VIS WEAKER STATES.
 REALISM AND THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

• MERCANTILISM WAS A PREINDUSTRIAL DOCTRINE, AND THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION GAVE NEW IMPETUS TO
REALISTS WHO VIEWED INDUSTRIALIZATION AS ESSENTIAL FOR A STATE’S MILITARY POWER, SECURITY, AND
ECONOMIC SELF-SUFFICIENCY.
• THE REALIST THINKERS WERE ALEXANDER HAMILTON (1755–1804), THE FIRST U.S. SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY,
AND FRIEDRICH LIST (1789–1846), A GERMAN CIVIL SERVANT, PROFESSOR, AND POLITICIAN WHO WAS
IMPRISONED AND EXILED FOR HIS DISSIDENT POLITICAL VIEWS.
• HAMILTON’S 1791 REPORT ON THE SUBJECT OF MANUFACTURES “CONTAINS THE INTELLECTUAL ORIGINS OF
MODERN ECONOMIC NATIONALISM AND THE CLASSIC DEFENSE OF ECONOMIC PROTECTIONISM.”
• HAMILTON’S IDEAS, ALSO EMPHASIZED THE IMPORTANCE OF MANUFACTURING FOR A STATE’S ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT.
 REALISM IN THE INTERWAR PERIOD

• MANY SCHOLARS WROTE ON ECONOMIC NATIONALISM DURING THE INTERWAR PERIOD, AND
STATES SOUGHT TO PROTECT THEIR NATIONAL INTERESTS WITH TRADE BARRIERS, COMPETITIVE
CURRENCY DEVALUATIONS, AND FOREIGN EXCHANGE CONTROLS
• THE EXTREME NATIONALISM AND PROTECTIONISM CONTRIBUTED TO THE GREAT DEPRESSION
AND WORLD WAR II AND GAVE LEADERS AT BRETTON WOODS THE IMPETUS TO ESTABLISH A
LIBERAL ECONOMIC SYSTEM
 REALISM AFTER WORLD WAR II

• U.S. REALIST SCHOLARS AFTER WORLD WAR II FOCUSED ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY ON SECURITY
ISSUES. SECURITY WAS A MAJOR CONCERN WITH THE EMERGENCE OF THE COLD WAR, AND
ECONOMIC ISSUES SEEMED TO HAVE LESS POLITICAL IMPORTANCE.
• THUS, REALIST SCHOLARS CONSIDERED ECONOMIC ISSUES TO BE “LOW POLITICS” AND NOT
WORTHY OF MUCH ATTENTION.
• FINALLY, AMERICA’S SUPERPOWER STATUS LED U.S. REALISTS TO FOCUS SO FIRMLY ON THE
STRUGGLE WITH THE SOVIET UNION THAT THEY “OVERLOOKED THE ECONOMIC RELATIONS
BENEATH THE FLUX OF POLITICAL RELATIONS
 THE REVIVAL OF REALIST IPE

• TWO FACTORS CONTRIBUTED TO THE REVIVAL OF REALISM AS AN IPE PERSPECTIVE.

• FIRST, THE DECLINE OF THE COLD WAR AND INCREASING DISARRAY IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY
INDUCED MANY REALISTS TO SHIFT SOME ATTENTION FROM SECURITY TO ECONOMIC ISSUES.
• SECOND, REALISTS RETURNED TO IPE BECAUSE THEY CONSIDERED LIBERAL AND MARXIST IPE
STUDIES TO BE ECONOMISTIC; THAT IS, THEY EXAGGERATED THE IMPORTANCE OF
ECONOMICS AND UNDERESTIMATED THE IMPORTANCE OF POLITICS.
 HEGEMONIC STABILITY THEORY

• HEGEMONIC STABILITY THEORY ASSERTS THAT THE INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC SYSTEM IS MORE
LIKELY TO BE OPEN AND STABLE WHEN A DOMINANT OR HEGEMONIC STATE IS WILLING AND ABLE
TO PROVIDE LEADERSHIP, AND WHEN MOST OTHER MAJOR STATES VIEW THE HEGEMON’S POLICIES
AS RELATIVELY BENEFICIAL.
• HEGEMONIC STABILITY THEORISTS BELIEVE THAT THE INTERNATIONAL ECONOMY IS MORE LIKELY TO BE
OPEN AND STABLE IF THERE IS A HEGEMONIC STATE. A HEGEMON PROMOTES OPENNESS AND
STABILITY BY HELPING CREATE LIBERAL INTERNATIONAL REGIMES, OR “SETS OF IMPLICIT OR EXPLICIT
PRINCIPLES, NORMS, RULES, AND DECISION-MAKING PROCEDURES AROUND WHICH ACTORS’
EXPECTATIONS CONVERGE IN A GIVEN AREA OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS.”
 REALISM AND NORTH–SOUTH RELATIONS

• THE REALIST AND LIBERAL PERSPECTIVES ON NORTH–SOUTH RELATIONS DIFFER IN SEVERAL

RESPECTS.
• WHEREAS LIBERALS SEE LDCS AS SEEKING WEALTH AND PROSPERITY, REALISTS ARGUE THAT
LDCS SEEK INCREASED POWER AS WELL AS WEALTH.
• IN THE REALIST VIEW, LDC PROBLEMS RESULT NOT ONLY FROM THEIR POVERTY BUT ALSO
FROM THEIR WEAK POSITION IN THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM; THE SOUTH CAN DECREASE ITS
VULNERABILITY TO THE NORTH ONLY BY INCREASING ITS POWER.
 CRITIQUE OF THE REALIST PERSPECTIVE

• REALISTS SHARPLY DIFFERENTIATE DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL POLITICS, AND ASSUME THAT STATES
RESPOND TO EXTERNAL THREATS AS RATIONAL, UNITARY ACTORS.
• HOWEVER, LIBERAL AND CRITICAL THEORISTS ARE MORE ATTUNED TO THE IMPORTANCE OF DOMESTIC
VARIABLES SUCH AS THE HISTORY, SOCIAL STRUCTURE, AND CULTURAL VALUES OF A STATE IN DETERMINING ITS
ROLE IN IPE
• REALISTS ALSO PLACE MORE EMPHASIS ON RELATIVE GAINS BECAUSE OF THEIR CONCERN WITH STATE
SURVIVAL AND SECURITY IN AN ANARCHIC SELF-HELP SYSTEM. RELATIVE GAINS ARE OF PRIMARY CONCERN IN
SOME INTERSTATE RELATIONSHIPS, SUCH AS U.S.–SOVIET RELATIONS DURING THE COLD WAR; BUT ABSOLUTE
GAINS ARE OFTEN OF GREATER CONCERN IN INTERDEPENDENT RELATIONSHIPS AMONG STATES THAT DO NOT
THREATEN EACH OTHER WITH FORCE.
• THE PREOCCUPATION OF REALISTS WITH RELATIVE GAINS CAUSES THEM TO BE HIGHLY
SKEPTICAL ABOUT THE INFLUENCE OF INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.
• IF STATES ARE ALWAYS FEARFUL OF GAINING LESS THAN OTHERS, THEY WILL NOT TRANSFER
AUTHORITY TO IOS. HOWEVER, THE IMF, WORLD BANK, WTO, EU, AND NAFTA ALL HAVE A
SIGNIFICANT EFFECT IN IPE.
• THANK YOU