My Interest In Further Studies Of International Relations
The first age of globalization ended in 1914. The present globalization is unlikely to end in interstate war but it could end up in unexpected casualty of a system of interdependence, if the result of that search is to close down borders that previously were opening up. We are witnessing decline of Globalisation through Trump’s ‘America First’ policies. And in stark contrast to this, the rise of China backed by their unprecedented economic growth and economic aspirations as the One Belt One Road. Couple this with Europe’s refugee crisis, you get a hot mess of stretched economic resources and radicalized politics. This rise of politics of “us vs. them” has set into motion a debate on ‘societal security’ in parliaments across the European and American peninsula.
Recognition of the growing possibility and necessity of a multilateral world has swept across the globe. So, why did we rally behind a system that we knew had shortcomings as early as in 1990’s through figures alike Dani Rodrick? And if we did, should we not work for its corrective mechanism rather than reverting back on our steps assuming it never happened? With every new question emerging in my head, I feel an innate desire to study and understand International Relations. I am intrigued by the continuous evolution of power dynamics within each society and similarly beyond it. Exploring the ‘realist’ critique of E. H. Carr, in ‘The Twenty Years’ Crisis’, I understand how liberal internationalism’s doctrine of the harmony of interests might have glossed over the real conflicts between the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’. However, I disagree that it was a completely incoherent doctrine, because of what it symbolizes today in the form of strong democratic institutions and common values across the spectrum. Similarly with Hobbes, I see him arguing in his Leviathan that every man is equal and ‘ought to endeavour peace’, a convincing alternative to ‘the strong exercising their power over the weak’ in Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War.
For me, it becomes a contradiction of why cannot ‘counterbalancing of power’ exist and why does the system becomes a state of anarchy? I find analogous friction within internationalism as well. Mill’s support for enlightenment to be exported to “backward” countries goes against the idea that institutions across the board have to be respected and imposing the will of the strong takes away from the moral calculus behind the establishment of prosperity. With the recent waves of terrorism and realism failing to provide a cogent analysis on non-state actors, I figure that these ideas are not set in stone and subject to the changing environment around us. Each new discovery then propels me to ponder over how world leaders actually implement moulded realities of these conflicting ideas. Growing up in Pakistan, I saw half-baked political narratives constituting a crumbling political structure. I scrutinized how the military industrial complex exploited the nationalistic narratives to form a mechanism of a constant ‘threat perception’ through our ‘notorious’ neighbours. But, having learned through studying Biology and Chemistry in my O and A-level, I just had to change the magnification of the lens of a microscope viewing a specimen.
Quickly I saw that it was the effect of solely employing realism on the way a society functioned on an interpersonal level. It went from people distrusting each other to always trying to quantify their relations. It was the ‘conflicting interests’ of others that made into the spotlight, while their ability to act morally remained hidden. It was, however, my active role in Dramatics, during the time which I won several national level awards, which clearly helped me get into the minds of contrasting stakeholders: how they think and act in distinct situations, giving an understanding of this sociological take on international relations. Changing the magnification again, we then fathom how psychological tendencies influence the way political leaders like Putin or Kim Jong Un act the way they do, helping us to tailor our international policies as such. Studying World History in my A levels enabled my ability to employ ways to find comparative solutions for problems across the timeline. Correspondingly, studying Mathematics taught me how a hypothesis is tested with experimentation, logic and sample assessment. It is quite similar to how politics intrinsically relies on using logic to develop patterns of behaviours and analysis of the decision making rationality of a nation through understanding its psychological aspects as is the case with sample assessment. For me it was not just to unravel political complexities, but to be an active part in its corrective mechanism.
At first I thought how helpless I was, a boy in a country where questioning the political elite was a notion feared immensely. Soon however, for me it became a passion to help others question the notions that we had taken to be the norm. It manifested while being part of the student council as the Senior Prefect and President of Debates Society, representing Pakistan at Winter Holidays Open in Croatia for parliamentary debates, or while spearheading Aqwaa Foundation to provide free of cost education to the underprivileged. While trekking at over 16,000 feet in the Himalayan range, in the Hunza district, I saw the real life implication of the ‘Balance of Power’ as explored by Waltz. Bhutto, Pakistan’s foreign minister in 1963, gifted part of the Shaksgam valley, in the hunza district which had not been given the provincial autonomy by Pakistan and was claimed by multitude of neighbouring countries, to China to bolster our relations. This was done in the face of a row with the USA after it had declined Pakistan’s offer of establishing a naval base in Gwader port: a practical manifestation of the idea of counterbalancing alliances. In the UK, I’ll be at the epicentre of these political decisions and be better equipped to understand what’s in store for the liberal democratic values that had been previously propagated by the western world with the increased influence of unfair Chinese economic policies.
