Role of International Relations

The political world has evolved and reshaped itself greatly throughout the history of mankind, with its most important and distinctive change occurring during the period of 1945, the end of the Second World War and 1989 which marked the end of the Cold War. The interaction of nation-states is center of politics on the international level, where the relationships of different nations dictates what events occur in regards to, but not limited to war, peace, economic agreements, and foreign aide involvement. These international interactions are becomingly progressively more distinguished by non-government actors such as the World Bank, and International Monetary Fund, a lesser need for military power and in the decline in the power of the state. The most effective foundation for international politics and the relations between nations and international institutions is to follow a liberal approach to governance with institutionalism as the most direct perspective.

At the end of the Second World War, the United Nations was founded, and began an era of the formation of many international organizations that connected nation-states together along with independent non-governmental organizations for the improvement and security of the global community. Though there has been international and regional conflict with many instances of human rights abuse, the overall quality of human life globally has enhanced as a product of the many international treaties, alliances, and regimes established within the global economy.

Liberal institutionalism emphasizes the importance of international organizations and regimes in the global economy, such examples include the IMF, World Bank, UN, NATO and so forth . Regimes entail principles, values, norms and decision-making procedures for actors within nation-states and international organizations to abide by . The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is an example of such as it is a guideline for member nations of the United Nations to follow as to ensure the protection of human rights.

As regimes are solidified into a common consent among nation-state actors, it reduces the uncertainty some may have about how to proceed with their political actions. By following the liberal regime principles, important issues at hand such as foreign trade, investment and improvement of human life can be accomplished with much greater frequency and effectiveness .

With the higher importance of political focus being on economic matters rather than military issues of the past, there is a far greater need for non-governmental organizations and agencies to facilitate these issues. It is one of the main tenants of liberalism that is this new dominance of economy over military. To allow for greater global prosperity, stronger institutions are needed to ensure cooperation of nation-states globally . As the current world super power seen to be in domination as some would consider a hegemon, the United States of America is best suited to promote a liberal agenda.

As governments such as the United States, send representatives to participate in international organizations, the organization gains autonomy and allow for an independent voice in world affairs . With the creation of the International Criminal Court, greater power of the UN, and the like, international organizations are beginning to out shadow some nation-states in terms of power and begin to affect the way in which nation-states can act through sanctions, treaties, and guidelines .

An issue that may arise with nation-states supplying the many international organizations is that states may have the ability to push their own foreign policy agendas through their representatives within the organizations. States have preferences and will strive to make these prevail over others they see to be unfit for their agenda . This however can be combated with proper checks and balances designed to exist within the organizations structure. With greater international involvement, there will be more nations involved who will ensure that power is evenly distributed throughout the organizations.

Since 1945 the world has evolved immensely, with great power changes and ever-changing economies. Economic activity, in regards to expanded global trade and monetary policies being formed, with the increased communication technology and globalization, has created a widespread global interdependence. Nations rely more now than ever on other nation-states for trade purposes to maintain a consistent cohesion of their economies. With increased global interdependence came a need for institutions to manage and control the actions between nation-states and expand economies into other outlets globally that were seen as foreign such as Asia and some parts of Europe .

Liberal Institutionalism, with the concept of higher need for such organizations as North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), IMF, and the World