Ideas and Ideology in International Relations

Dr Jonathan Leader Maynard, New College

jonathan.leadermaynard@politics.ox.ac.uk

Scepticism over ideas and ideology

“Frequently [politics’] basic manifestations do not appear as what they actually are – manifestations of the struggle for power […] the true nature of the policy is concealed by ideological justifications and rationalizations […] pretexts and false fronts behind which the element of power, inherent in all politics, is concealed.” – Hans Morgenthau

Reasons for scepticism over ideas

1. Ideas a mere ‘façade’.

2. (Material) structures and power dictate behaviour

3. Competitive processes weed out irrationality

4. Need for parsimony↓

Epiphenomenalism

Five big reasons to assume a role for ideas:

1. Absence of perfect information in politics(Jervis; Walt; Goldstein & Keohane)

2. Diverse interests and rankings of interests(Moravcsik; Finnemore)

3. Need to legitimate to or mobilise domestic/international audiences

(Crawford; Mansfield & Snyder; Nye; Bellamy)

4. Reality is mediated by perception, cognition and discourse

(Berger & Luckmann; Wendt; Hall; Jervis)

5. Critique of the discourse of ‘pragmatism’, and the ‘cryptonormative fallacy’

(George; Habermas)

What sorts of ideas?

Narratives

Perceptions

Road-Maps

Causal beliefs

NormsMemories

Stereotypes

Frames

ValuesInterests

Commitments

Identities

Images

Strategies

Predictions

Expectations

Preferences

Theories

Ideals

Virtues

Etc.

MythsStandard operating procedures

Concepts

A loose taxonomy of ideas

Procedures and

Strategies

Norms and Values

Interests and Objectives

Interpretive Schemes

and PerceptionsCultures/

Ideologies/Identities/ Doctrines

Causal and Consequentialist

Beliefs

Deep interrelation!

‘How does X see the world?’

Frames Narratives Concepts Purported facts Meanings

Robert Jervis, Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, Erving Goffman, Judith Goldstein, Robert Keohane, Michael Mann, Stephen Walt

(1) Interpretive schemes and perceptions

‘What does X want?’

Preferences Commitments Needs Wants Stakes

Andrew Moravcsik, Kathryn Sikkink, Martha Finnemore, Peter Katzenstein, Samuel Huntington

(2) Interests and Objectives

(3) Norms and Values‘What does X see as permissible or praiseworthy?’

Rules Laws Standards Moralities Virtues and Vices Ideal Self-Images

Kathryn Sikkink, Martha Finnemore, Thomas Risse, Stephen Ropp, Neta Crawford, Nina Tannenwald, Richard Price

(4) Causal and Consequentialist Beliefs‘What does X believe will happen if Y?’

Feasibility calculations Predictions Expectations Visions Future Narratives

Judith Goldstein, Robert Keohane, Alexander George

(5) Procedures and Strategies‘What procedures have become standardised, habituated or institutionalised for X?

SOPs Established Policies Memories of success Tactics Doctrines

Alexander George, Graham Allison, Judith Goldstein, Robert Keohane, Irving Janis

Some big effects of ideas

Procedures and

Strategies

Norms and Values

Interests and

Objectives

Interpretive Schemes

and Perceptions

Causal and Consequentialist

Beliefs

1. Perceived terrain of possible actions (Consideration)

2. Desirability of actions (Motivation)

3. Permissibility of actions (Legitimation)

↓PERSONALLY (for X

themselves)

DOMESTICALLY (for domestic audiences)

EXTERNALLY (for international audiences)

Systems of Ideas

CulturesKatzenstein,

Huntington, Lebow

IdeologiesGeorge, Hunt,

Malešević, Cassels, Owen, Snyder

IdentitiesKaldor, Huntington,

Anderson, Katzenstein

Procedures and

Strategies

Norms and Values

Interests and

Objectives

Interpretive Schemes

and Perceptions

Causal and Consequentialist

Beliefs

Three traditions of talking about ideology

1. ‘Pejorative’ tradition

2. ‘Non-Pejorative’ tradition

3. The ‘total mess’ tradition (or inchoate usages)

(Currently dominant in IR)

The Concept of Political Ideology“A set of fundamental beliefs, a belief system that explains and justifies a preferred political order for society, either one that already exists or one that is proposed, and offers at least a sketchy notion of strategy… for its maintenance or attainment.”

- A. George (1987)

“A distinctive system of normative, semantic and/or reputedly factual ideas, typically shared by members of groups or societies, which underpins their understandings of their political world and shapes their political behaviour.”

- J. Leader Maynard (2014)

“Explicit ideas and implicit assumptions that provided frameworks for understanding the world and defining action in it.”

- D. Engerman (2010)

Allison, G., & Zelikow, P. (1999). Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis (Second ed.). New York: Longman.

Anderson, B. (2006). Imagined Communities. London: Verso.

Bellamy, A. J. (2012). Mass Killing and the Politics of Legitimacy. Australian Journal of Politics and History, 58, 159-180.

Berger, P. L., & Luckmann, T. (1967). The Social Construction of Reality. New York: Anchor Books.

Cassels, A. (2002). Ideology and International Relations in the Modern World. London: Routledge.

Crawford, N. C. (2002). Argument and Change in World Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Engerman, D. C. (2010). Ideology and the origins of the Cold War, 1917-1962. In M. P. Leffler & O. A. Westad (Eds.), The Cambridge History of the Cold War (Vol. 1). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Finnemore, M. (1996). National Interests in International Society. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

George, A. L. (1987). Ideology and International Relations: A Conceptual Analysis. The Jerusalem Journal of International Relations, 9(1), 1-21.

Goffman, E. (1986). Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience. Boston: Northeastern University Press.

Goldstein, J., & Keohane, R. O. (1993). Ideas, Beliefs and Foreign Policy: Beliefs, Institutions and Political Change. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Hall, J. A. (1993). Ideas and the Social Sciences. In J. Goldstein & R. O. Keohane (Eds.), Ideas, Beliefs and Foreign Policy: Beliefs, Institutions and Political Change. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Hunt, M. H. (1987). Ideology and U.S. Foreign Policy New Haven: Yale University Press.

Huntington, S. P. (2002). The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. New York: Free Press.

Janis, I. (1982). Groupthink. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Jervis, R. (1976). Perception and misperception in international politics. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Kahneman, D. (2012). Thinking, Fast and Slow. London: Penguin Books.

Kaldor, M. (2012). New and Old Wars (3rd ed.). Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Katzenstein, P. (Ed.). (1996). The Culture of National Security. New York: Columbia University Press.

Leader Maynard, J. (2014). Rethinking the Role of Ideology in Mass Atrocities. Terrorism and Political Violence 26/5: 821-841.

Malešević, S. (2010). The Sociology of War and Violence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Mann, M. (2005). The Dark Side of Democracy: Explaining Ethnic Cleansing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Moravcsik, A. (1997). Taking Preferences Seriously: A Liberal Theory of International Politics. International Organization, 51(4), 513-553.

Morgenthau, H. J. (1993). Politics Among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace. Boston, MA: McGraw Hill.

Nye, J. S. (2004). Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics. New York: Public Affairs.

Owen, J. (1997). Liberal Peace, Liberal War. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Price, R., & Tannenwald, N. (1996). Norms and Deterrence: The Nuclear and Chemical Weapons Taboos. In P. J. Katzenstein (Ed.), The Culture of National Security.

Risse-Kappen, T., Ropp, S. C., & Sikkink, K. (Eds.). (1999). The power of human rights: International norms and domestic change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Sikkink, K. (2011). The Justice Cascade: How Human Rights Prosecutions Are Changing World Politics. New York: WW Norton & Company.

Snyder, J. (1984). The Ideology of the Offensive: Military Decision Making and the Disasters of 1914. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1974). Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases. Science, 185(4157), 1124-1131.

Wendt, A. (1999). Social Theory of International Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.