Making Sense of International Order(s): Contending Theories.

• Author: Ozturk, Ozgur

Orders of Exclusion: Great Powers and the Strategic Sources of Foundational Rules in International Relations

By Kyle M. Lascurettes

New York: Oxford University Press, 2020, 327 pages, [pounds sterling]25.99 (paperback), ISBN: 9780190068554

A World Safe for Democracy: Liberal Internationalism and the Crises of Global Order

By G. John Ikenberry

New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2020, 408 pages, $24.00 (paperback), ISBN: 9780300271010

Culture and Order in World Politics

Edited by Andrew Phillips and Christian Reus-Smit

Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2020, 379 pages, $34.99 (paperback), ISBN: 9781108718936

Introduction

The international order is a central theme that policymakers debate, advocate, and sometimes challenge in private or public. The concept is also often the subject of conspiracy theories that may dangerously influence public opinion on global issues such as migration, environment, and disease. Thus, it is important to understand why policymakers put international order on their agendas, why conspiracy theories are interested in the concept, and the essential meaning of international order. That initiative necessarily invites interested ones into the distinct universe of international relations theories. Fortunately, the three books under review offer readers sophisticated, contested, but helpful theoretical frameworks, namely realism, liberalism, and constructivism, to which we can resort to understanding international order(s). This review article aims to bring these books together and illuminate how contending theories make sense of the concept and challenge each other.

International Theories in a Nutshell

Realism, liberalism, and constructivism are contending international relations theories. Each has different and contending epistemological, ontological, and methodological bases, while the first two share pretty close convictions. These theories offer accounts of why things happen, and any debate over international relations depends on which theory one employs, consciously or not. Realism focuses on recurrent themes of power politics in which great powers operate. Anarchy and material capability condition the realm of international relations, and states act strategically to survive within that realm. Cooperation is difficult if not possible. Today's friends can cheat and gain absolute advantage and, as a result, become tomorrow's enemies. Liberalism is in accord with the realist premise that anarchy and material capability are essential. However, it challenges the latter in several respects. First, economic interdependence stimulates cooperation. Second, democratic states refrain from conflict-prone relations with each other. Third, international institutions can eliminate the cheating problem and facilitate cooperation even under anarchy. For liberals, a world with a high degree of economic interdependence, an increasing number of democratic states, and functioning international institutions is destined to be peaceful. Constructivism criticizes the underlying positivist epistemology and material ontology of realism and liberalism and suggests an intersubjective interpretation of international relations. Norms and ideas matter most, and one's interests depend on his/her constructed identity. The external environment is far from being determined by preexistent material conditions. The answer to the question of who we are precedes the questions of what we are surrounded by and what our interests are. International relations are far from being strategic; states act according to the logic of appropriateness rather than the logic of consequences. In sum, norms and ideas matter, and international relations are what we make of them.

International Order Building as a Continuation of Power Politics

Orders of Exclusion provides a realist understanding of why states build international orders. Kyle M. Lascurettes argues that there is a "striking continuities between the origins of past and present orders." Great powers create international orders "to weaken, leave out, or hold back perceived rivals and competitors" (p. 4). The international order is conceptualized as "a set of observed rules among the units of a system" (p. 20). Rules consist of behavior and membership ones, and "observed rules are those that are both widely recognized and widely practiced" (p. 20). For Lascurettes, great powers find themselves with preponderant capacity and preponderant legitimacy in momentous shocks to the international system, such as major war and the sudden death of great power. Accordingly, these shocks "present unique opportunities for great powers which are in search of international order changes (p. 31).

Lascurettes tests hypotheses and concludes that the ordering-to-exclude theory has the most explanatory power relative to the alternative explanations such as binding, importing, and learning. The universe of cases consists of nine major shocks to the international system, such as the Thirty Years' War, the War of the Spanish Succession, the world wars in the 20th century, and the death of the Soviet Union. In...