The Roots of International Relations Conflict in Iraq - Term Paper Example

 Business Executive Summary; The paper aims to reflect at the conflict of Iraq projecting various theories of international relations. A brief description of the theories of International Relations are projected and interlinked to situation of Iraq from various perspectives. These include analysis from System Level perception, State Level analysis, Organizational Level analysis and Individual Level analysis. The review from each point determines war of Iraq more a political conflict aroused from cause – effect reaction of supreme power. The detail of the statement is illustrated in the later part of the paper with adequate supporting evidences. Introduction to International relationships: Rules and regulations play an in evident role in the development of a society. A productive output of a society witnesses successful adheres of rules and regulations. Thus, the system provides the base of an efficient society complementing productivity in a peaceful environment by following legislations commercially and individually. The development of society is closely interlinked with the development of business of an economy. The interrelation between the two in a microenvironment (Social, economical, political, technological) is that of a stake holder. Business is the keystone that supplements the development of a society and spares funds for necessary resources to permit the development and welfare of society. Hitherto, control of power through legislation enhances the capacity of conjunctional development for uniform advancement. The point of view is attempted to be illustrated with the help of diagram illustrated below; Two way shared understanding of Legislation The reputation, innovation, competiveness and growth of society and business are interdependent upon corporative adherence to legislation by the two. Imbalance of each unit can cast massive negative impact on maturity of microenvironment. The contemporary era is a period of rapid international growth supporting the features of globalization resulting in constant evolution of traditional concepts. Journalist Thomas L. Friedman, in The Lexus and the Olive Tree defines “globalization’ as[Fri00]: …the inexorable integration of markets, nation-states and technologies to a degree never witnessed before—in a way that is enabling individuals, corporations and nation-states to reach around the world farther, faster, deeper and cheaper than ever before, and in a way that is enabling the world to reach into individuals, corporations, and nation-states farther, faster, deeper, and cheaper than ever before. The origin of the study of International relations aroused from the effects of the globalization such as pluralism and regional integration. Pluralism is the political philosophy which acknowledges diversity and supports methodological metropolitans. A society can be regarded as pluralistic on the basis of the fact multicultural aspect of the country because of the residents of different tastes, values and beliefs.[Joh11]. The thought behind the formulation of the study of International Relations was to determine social constructivism based on human awareness rather than materialism.[Jac07]. Hitherto, the theories of International Relations can be categorized into Realism, Idealism and Constructivism. The idea that resolves the scope of the three fields is the projection of the ground concept of power and its execution in the social world. Realism; The school of scholars that support realism theory previews International relations as anarchical, which studies and propose model for distribution of power among states. [Gri99] Idealism: The theory of idealism emphasizes on law and a law regulatory body that advocates the interdependency of the entities of common interest and values and derives focus on common interests. Constructivism: This theory states that every country have its dissimilar state based on political culture, policies and history. Furthermore, it also suggests ways in which these in equalities could be overcome. [Gri99] The purpose of this paper is to understand and relate the conflict of Iraq on the theories of international relations. Back ground and Existing Scenario of Iraq: Iraq is a country that has been facing continuous political instability since long. In early days the country was in strong ties with Britain till 1958, when Kinship of King Faisal II was severed by a left-wing nationalist regime. The political instability exceeded in the era of Iranian Islamic revolution in 1979 due to war between Iran and Iraq until the cease fire in 1988. However, it was just a pause of Gulf war, as in 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait. This action fetched major consequences in the shape of resolutions by UN Security council and bombing by United State & allied forces till the surrender of Iraqi forces and declaration of cease fire. However, the country reactions were still considered non cooperative under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussain resulting in a regular instability in the country’s political state.[WPnd] Iraq had been deduce of the twin tower catastrophe happened on September 11th, 2001 on the grounds of suspicion against Taliban head by Osama Bin Laden. America declared a “war against terror” with the support of its allies after the statement by President George W. Bush that states that military action should be the destiny of a country that breed terrorists. By the middle of December, the Taliban had been defeated and Hamid Karzai had assumed power as the head of the interim government but the plan of action was still in the direction of political and military enforcement. Root Cause; Tthe topic is complex in its nature as there are various theories that shed light over the origin of the conflict of Iraq in the broad spectrum. Hence, seemingly the most relevant description is the one stated in the 47th Session of the General Assembly, 1994 “A humanitarian crisis in a country, region, or society where there is a total or considerable breakdown of authority resulting from internal or external conflict which requires an international response that goes beyond the mandate or capacity of any single agency and/or ongoing UN country programme”.[Fra98] The war in Iraq if studied from the lens of international relations can be regarded as a cause – effect impact of State behavior. Hence, the various theories of state behavior are illustrated below for reference. Classical realism; the theory of classical realism in International relations is considered most influential and often quoted in relation to power politics. This theory focuses and investigates on reality rather than Utopian goals.[Pas07] Neo Realism; The theory of neo realism in International relations locates causation in the anarchic international system[Ara09] Neo- classical realism; This theory of International relation studies country’s related material power as a major factor that determines the scope and component of foreign policy of a country.[Ros98] Liberalism; the aspect of liberalism in International Relation is considered a contrary of realism. The chief characteristic of the theory of liberalism is the idealistic and optimistic perception leading to aversion of war and faith in human nature.[Unind] Neo liberalism; this sphere of International Relations exerts the opinion that organization play an evident role in the construction of behavior and impacts to influence preferences.[DrDnd1] Cognitive theories; the approach of this theory is inclined towards exploration of advanced models to support the study if International relations.[Jef02] Constructivism; this theory has been defined in the words of Alexander Wendt as a concept of assembling of systems through a process of self determination of constituents as stated in his book 'Anarchy is what states make of it'.[IRTnd] Project Objectives; The object of this paper is to justify and trace the roots of conflict in Iraq illustrating the underpinned theory of International Relations applied for understand this conflict. Information Gathering; The information for the project was primarily collected through electronic sources focusing on the underlying features for accuracy and authenticity. Authority: This refers to recognition of information evaluating the source of knowledge through stated facts and opinions. Objectivity: The objectivity of the information was focused to filter bias information or reflect on the sponsorship impact or perception. Authenticity: The authenticity of the information was duly examined to dig the origination of information for accuracy. Reliability: the trustworthiness of the source of information was scrutinized to consider the motive to gain transparency of information. Timeliness: The timeframe of the information was specifically emphasized to cross verify applicability of information. Relevance: The sources of information were thoroughly reviewed to attain relevant information with necessary breadth and depth to add value to opinion. Efficiency: The efficiency of information was tried to be enhanced by appropriate positioning of information with relevant argument.[Tea11] Findings and discussion: Theory and practice are the two entirely different elements but often the two elements intersect each other depicting the point which balances realism and liberalism. Keeping in mid the same theory we can investigate on the application of the theories of International Relations over Iraq and its political state. Although evident is the fact that such theories have never been succeeded in predicting the future for the good of world community but the fact which cannot be under estimated is that IR theories (liberalism) have provided stands to the field entities (realism). Hence, this intersection keeps breeding the theoretical approaches which assist in cultivating refinement in both the areas of study.[Tomnd] The perspective approach on International relations and foreign Policy of Iraq; There could be a number of ways to determine the approach of the state of Iraq from its practices framed on the theories.[Dav04] Hence, a minute observation on each level will be derived to analyze state behavior in the light of international relations and foreign policy. i. System Level ii. State Level iii. Organizational Level iv. Individual Level System Level; the system level analysis of international system aims to determine the State behavior as a reaction to changes in international system. The key variable of this formula is the supreme power of state within a system that determines the power of other states of the system. Precisely, the conflict of Iraq can be illuminated by shedding light of the cause and effect theory on the system level because [Muz08]Hence, the war of Iraq can be studied as a strategical act of US to achieve the state of hyper power for determining Uni polar system.[Pernd] The war of Iraq is defined by the scholar of International relations as an effect of neo realism because of the reason that only two major powers were left on board by the end of World War II. Therefore, the aim behind Cold War was to enhance power source through captivating that of other countries like Iraq. [Bilnd] State Level; an examination of state level connection to International relation theories determine the behavior of state as an influence of surrounding countries. Hence, the state level foreign policy behavior of Iraq is embedded in its cultural features encompassing religion, historical legacy, geographic nature, economic condition and social attributes. Together these elements construct the mode of foreign policy behavior of a country particularly in the case of Iraq the Cold war could be categorized as the intervention of Supreme power (US) to practice the strength and quality of missionary. Therefore, the same theory of cause –effect illustrated in System level can be referred in here determining the state level as the next feature of Uni polar system. The purpose of US intervention derives the focus over the International Relation foreign policy of the state which is clearly idealistic and tilted towards democracy and worldwide emersion of free market economies. [Bilnd] Organization Level; this refers to the analysis of the organizations of a country to impact the foreign policy of the state. Hence, in this analysis the prime deriving factor that determines the foreign policy behavior of a country is the major organizations of the country that determines their level of compromise amongst each other through foreign policy. The conflict of Iraq from the lens of this theory can be studied again in the hierarchy of US exploitation emerged from missionary interest amongst the department of military, defense, state department and Central intelligence agency of US that bargained their interests and formulated the foreign policy of the state. Hitherto, the foreign policies of Iraq were determined after taking the impact of the after effects. [Bilnd] Individual Level: The individual level analysis focus on people and their behavior that influence in determining the foreign policy of the state. The leaders of a country play the role of determining public sphere in this analysis by utilizing cognitive theories.[JEF02] Again president Bush conception of suspecting Iraq as the leader of 9/11 incident determined their foreign policy that gave rise to conflicts with Iraq. Therefore, the behavior of Iraq can be regarded as an influence of cause- effect theory. [Bilnd] Conclusion (Political war); In conclusion, after reviewing the conflict of Iraq and its reasons from numerous angles, we can declare the global political war as the root cause of this conflict. The referred war was further intensified after the incident of 9/ 11.[Nur05] Later on, the foreign policy international relations of US suppressed with social and political measures. Thus, we can declare the cold war more a political conflict of modern times and its subsequent reactions from Iraq through foreign policy and international affairs. References; Fri00: , (FRIEDMAN, Thomas L., 2000), Joh11: , (HUI, John, 2011), Jac07: , (JACKSON, Robert H., S²rensen, Georg, 2007), Gri99: , (GRIFFITHS, Martin, 1999), WPnd: , (WP, nd), Fra98: , (STEWART*, Frances, 1998), Pas07: , (MALOUIN, Pascal, 2007), Ara09: , (ARASH, 2009), Ros98: , (ROSE, Gideon., 1998), Unind: , (UNI-MUENSTER, nd), DrDnd1: , (GALBREATH, Dr. David, nd), Jef02: , (JEFFREY, 2002), IRTnd: , (THEORY, IR, nd), Tea11: , (TAP, Teacher, 2011), Tomnd: , (LANSFORD*, Tom, nd), Dav04: , (CHANDLER, David, 2004), Muz08: , (*, Muzaffer Ercan YlLMAZ, 2008), Pernd: , (PERSONHIGHERED.COM, nd), Bilnd: , (NEWMANN, Bill, nd), JEF02: , (IKIAN, J E F F R EY D. BEREJ, 2002), Nur05: , (NURUZZAMAN, Dr. Mohammed, 2005), Read More