« So Which Number is It? by John Lott | Home | Happy Birthday, Mr. Libertarian by Jeff Riggenbach »
Classical Liberalism and International Relations by Edwin van de Haar
By jbcobb | February 28, 2010
The following is based on a wonderful book entitled Classical Liberalism and International Relations Theory: Hume, Smith, Mises, and Hayek by Edwin van de Haar.
Classical liberal ideas apply between states as well as within states, explains Edwin van de Haar
Questions of war and peace, or foreign policy in general, are among the most dramatic issues in politics. It is no wonder that classical liberal think tanks publish papers and articles on international affairs. Often these are reactions to current issues. They hardly ever clarify how their points of view relate to classical liberalism as a political philosophy. This begs the question: Does a classical liberal approach to international relations exist?
This article will argue in the affirmative, that it is possible to judge current foreign policy standpoints from a classical liberal perspective and to develop a classical liberal foreign policy agenda. Based on a study of four important classical liberal thinkers, David Hume, Adam Smith, Ludwig von Mises, and Friedrich Hayek, it will show that classical liberalism is applicable in international as well as domestic politics.(1)
Academic international relations theory is dominated by American-style liberalism, which has much in common with European and Australian social democracy. One effect of this is the equation of liberalism with Immanuel Kant and Woodrow Wilson inspired calls for a world federation of the brotherhood of man, cosmopolitanism, a belief in the goodness of people and the possibility of abolishing war, optimism about the peace-enhancing outcomes of increased intergovernmental international organisation, international free trade, and so forth.(2)
Classical liberals often disagree on its precise definition, but most regard classical liberalism as the political theory characterised by a firm belief in individualism, negative freedom, non-religious natural law, spontaneous order, a limited state, and the rule of law.(3) In this article these ideas will be briefly introduced and then applied to international relations, thus sketching the contours of a classical liberal approach to world politics. In the process it will become clear that liberalism in the American sense differs substantially from classical liberalism.
JB: You can read the rest of the article at the Policy magazine website. Policy is amagazine published in Austalia and New Zealand, and is sponsored by theThe Centre for Independent Studies, Australasia’s leading independent public policy research institute or ‘think-tank’.
Topics: Economics, Foreign Policy, International Relations, Diplomacy, and Wars, Literature | No Comments »