Tuesday, November 14, 2017
IR 210: International Relations
TA: Kyuri Park
Word Count: 909 words
Compare & contrast John Ikenberry's " "The Rise of China and the Future of the West: Can the Liberal System Survive?” and Stephen Walt's "The Collapse of the Liberal World Order"
Liberalism can be denoted as a form of political philosophy that is based on the idea of equality and liberty. This has led to the formation of a liberal political ideology and more so a system of governance made up of representatives who are freely and fairly elected. This doctrine which was founded in the west has been adopted by many countries all over the world. However, due to growth and development of several countries that are not liberal or have never …show more content…
According to Walt, liberalism will soon collapse because what it stands for is not what is being applied (Walt, 2). In other words, he claims that not all aspects of liberalism can be achieved realistically. In his view, the ideology makes countries vulnerable to some issues which might be of negative impact to the nation. On the other hand, Ikenberry argues that liberalism can just be maintained if the primary power holders and controllers of the ideology manage to make the other superpowers incorporate it. To support this, he gives an example of Germany which during the World War II was not liberal in any way, but after adopting liberalism it became one of the most progressive countries in the world (Ikenberry, …show more content…
On the other hand, Ikenberry’s argument is persuasive and realistic because, based on the real idea of Western Order which has sunk in many countries and population minds, it is next to impossible to change things just in a second. Therefore, it is not that easy to just turn a sunk idea at once, but it is easier for one to incorporate it and move on.
In summary, liberalism, as explained by both documents, is a political ideology which has long roots and a long history. Many countries have adopted this political ideology, especially in the Americas and Europe and former colonies. Therefore, it is hard to change it because to some extent it is more or less a culture and changing a culture is not that easy. In this case, even with countries like China coming up so well, there are high chances that a maximum point will be reached and negotiations made to make things work. In short, liberalism seems to have a long