POLITICAL THEORIES

Political Theories

Political Theories

Introduction

Considering their profound impact on our daily lives, it is of utmost importance to organise one's thinking about world events. Many of us regularly read news stories related to US foreign policy towards Israel, US policy in Iraq and Iran, suicide bombings in Afghanistan, Iran allegedly making nuclear bomb, the impact of Democrat's dominance in the US Congress, and US support for free international trade and democracy. Each of these stories is apparently related to a unique issue, yet all of these stories can also be understand in the larger context (Rourke, 2007, pp. 18-33). In order to develop a better understanding of these and other stories related to international events, one should seek help from either the historical or the theoretical context. For the former option, one may consult the history, especially the immediate one, of a particular event or issues. And the latter i.e. the theoretical perspective is an important way of organising events and issues in the larger context (Rourke, 2007, pp. 18-33).

A political theory can be understood in terms of an idea of a set of mutually interconnected ideas about why and how world events happen and are related to one another. Theory helps a great deal in enabling us to understand that these events are not single plants, rather they should be viewed as part of the a large forest. There are several advantages of thinking theoretically (Rourke, 2007, pp. 18-33). First and foremost of all, it immensely helps us develop an understanding of looking into things in an organised manner. If we restrict ourselves to seeing each issue and event as unique and isolated, then we would end up making the events of our past and present a complex and hard-to-comprehend tumble of apparently random events (Rourke, 2007, pp. 18-33).

Moreover, theoretical thinking enables us looking for particular patterns in seemingly random events that would help us understand in clearer manner what actually has happened and, perhaps, to even predict what will follow. Secondly, theoretical thinking is also a great tool for evaluating policy (Carlsnaes, et al., 2012, pp. 101-133). For example, considering the debate whether United States should support and promote democratic form of government in the Middle Eastern states and elsewhere in the world where dictatorial and authoritarian rule is the prevalent form of government. As democratic peace theory states that democratic states seldom if ever go to war with one another. If this theory is correct, then it is not wrong to support world democratisation (Slaughter, 2011, pp. 2-25).

In order to develop a theoretical perspective about world events, it is essential to explore the major political theories. This paper aims at discussing and comparing the theories of realism, liberalism and constructivism in order to assess which one of these theories holds more promise as a general explanation of contemporary politics.

Discussion

Before comparing the three major political theories identified in the earlier section, some considerations need to be taken into account. First, it should be understood that none of ...