The theoretical roots

23 Jun The theoretical roots

The ideological doctrines of realism and liberalism provide different approaches to how our strategic and economic systems operate and what principles they manifest. For realists, the sovereign state is the supreme actor in an otherwise lawless international landscape. Liberalists, on the other hand, see the world system as one of interdependence rather than anarchy and believe that states and peoples can cooperate for mutual gain. These analytical approaches are fundamentally in competition with each other; however, taken together they provide valuable insights into world affairs. The contemporary variants of these doctrines are, “neoliberalism” and “state  capitalism” and their most significant practitioners are the United States and China.