Archive for Free Content

Dominant Issues in Free Trade and the International Economic System

February 10, 2013 Free Content, International Relations, Intl. Political Economy No comments

Jeff Dwiggins:    Kapok Tree Diplomacy. All rights reserved. March 2010.

Dominant Issues in Free Trade and the International Economic System –  FREE CONTENTDoha Round

This study will analyze some of the most important themes of global trade beginning with the effects of globalization and interdependence on developed and developing countries and the benefits of trade liberalization.  Institutional leadership and governance are discussed, and the argument is made for free trade over protectionism with the caveat that protectionism may have a place in the strategies of developing countries.  The paper reviews the advantages of bilateral over multilateral agreements, the impact of technology on the diversification of trade, and how the elimination of barriers to trade and agreement on certain agricultural issues and subsidies would open up free trade to more players. The paper concludes by offering differing opinions on how best to help developing nations.

The views and opinions expressed in this paper are completely my own and do not represent the views or opinions of the Department of Defense (DoD), the Department of the Navy (DON) or any of the Armed Forces.

Section One – Globalization and Interdependence

The National Intelligence Council (NIC) describes globalization as a “growing interconnectedness reflected in the expanded flows of information, technology, capital, goods, services and people throughout the world” (“2020 Project”). One way this growing interconnectedness has manifests itself is in the sheer size of the world economy and the number of new economic powerhouses rising to prominent places on the global stage. The NIC states, “The world economy is projected to be about 80 percent larger in 2020 than it was in 2000, and average per capita income to be about 50 percent higher” (“2020 Project”).   Read more

Beyond Anarchy: How Wendt’s Social Constructivism and Cox’s Historical Materialism Redefine the International System and State Identities While Explaining Structural Transformation

February 3, 2013 Free Content, International Relations, IR Theories No comments

Jeff Dwiggins – Kapok Tree Diplomacy – Feb. 2010 – All rights reserved.Jeff in Singapore

FREE CONTENT

The dominant and mainstream theories of world politics explain both changes to the international system and the unique identities, interests and actions of its actors in context to the conditions of anarchy, rationality, the system’s particular structure, and the material capabilities or preferences of its actors. While realists, neorealists, liberals and neoliberals have their differences, they all explain structural transformation and state identity without appealing to social forces or domestic politics in a significant way.

Alexander Wendt’s theory of “social constructivism” and Robert Cox’s “historical materialism” provide alternative perspectives that assign greater importance to social forces which address the fundamental structure of the international system and their potential to shape the identities, interests and actions of actors.

How do these alternative theories redefine the international system and state identities and explain structural transformation? This essay will answer that question by analyzing the views of Wendt and Cox in detail, explaining how they differ from realist, neorealist and neoliberal views, and determining whether or not they improve upon those theories.  I will begin with Wendt’s theory of social constructivism. Read more

The Extent That Theories of Cooperation Harmonize With Reality in Contemporary International Relations

January 24, 2013 Free Content, International Relations, IR Theories No comments

January 30, 2010 – Jeffrey R. Dwiggins, Copyright, Kapok Tree Diplomacy –

FREE CONTENT

The Extent That Theories of Cooperation Harmonize With Reality in Contemporary International Relations

International relations theorists have presented distinctly different views on both the prospects for cooperation among states and the environmental and structural constraints impeding it for decades. This essay will explain and analyze the main views put forth in Robert Keohane‘s Regime and Complex Interdependency Theory, Bruce Russett’s Democratic Peace Theory, David Held’s democratization of global politics, and conclude with Robert Jervis’s ideas on the effectiveness of creating institutions to increase cooperation.

The views of Jervis will bring us full circle with realist and neo-realist views of cooperation. Throughout the essay, I will assess to what extent the arguments of these theorists are convincing. Do these theories of cooperation harmonize with reality in contemporary international relations? The following essay will explain how and why they do, and in other cases how and why they do not.

Theories of Cooperation

Keohane – Regimes and Complex Interdependency Theory.  Keohane defines cooperation as occurring when “actors adjust their behavior to the actual or anticipated preferences of others, through a process of policy coordination” (“Cooperation” 491).  The definition leaves some room for why actors would adjust their behavior at all.  Keohane implies that the answer is found in mutual interests that are of equal importance (“Cooperation” 490). When such mutual interests are present, actors will want to bargain and negotiate as opposed to the manipulation and coercion that prevail under divergent interests and lead to strife. Read more

Kapok Tree Diplomacy Slowly Emerges

January 21, 2013 Free Content, Kapok Tree Introduction No comments

Kapok_tree_HonoluluWelcome to Kapok Tree Diplomacy. The kapok tree is a towering and majestic tree native to tropical rainforests, rising to heights of over 150 feet, and providing food and shelter to hundreds of plants and animals dependent on the sunlight found above the canopy. The aim of this foreign affairs-related site is to provide a similar source of light and resources in the form of detailed inquiry into the complex issues of international relations as analyzed through the worldview and prism of the theistic Christian worldview. As a student and practitioner of international relations as well as a Christian, I tend to follow in the footsteps of a far more accomplished scholar who was well known for blending the Christian worldview into his own keen analysis of foreign affairs – Reinhold Niebuhr.

Accordingly, this site will have many branches, some concerning foreign affairs and diplomacy; some concerning other ideals such as democracy and liberty; and still other branches on things like Art, Culture, Entertainment, Religion and Science. It was Niebuhr who said, “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”  I reject the God-complex that man can fix the world and all of its ills armed with merely his own abilities, reasoning and knowledge apart from God.

Like Niebuhr, I enjoy challenging many of the accepted ideas and opinions of the established academic, journalistic and philosophical elites, especially the presuppositional planks of the worldviews upon which those ideas and opinions are built. I welcome all to the site – young and old, men and women, religious and non-religious, the students, academics and practitioners of international relations, and the curious and undecided. The site is currently in its infancy, so I ask for your patience as I slowly build it over time.

Enjoy the site and remember, “Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we are saved by love.”  Niebuhr

Jeff Dwiggins
January 2013

Be sure to check out my website as well.

* The posts, views and opinions expressed on this site are completely my own and do not represent the views or opinions of the Department of Defense, the Department of the Navy or the Armed Forces.

  Recent Entries »
%d bloggers like this: