Political Science

Literature Review
Peace is not simply the absence of war  Ronald Regan
Reflecting on the quote provided by Ronald Regan it is very clear that the context of peace does not imply about problems relating to violence in war but also in other context such as economic stability. Hence, other forms of peace are dependent on the view point of various sectors in a country.

Furthermore, issues within the economy arise in the discussions regarding peacefulness. Thus, in the view of the current international community the concept of neoliberalization had been viewed as the most important theory utilized by different countries. Through neoliberalization, the concept of privatization is introduced which pertains to introducing foreign investors to devote their funds to a certain country to enhance the economic capabilities of such state.

In assumption, states that practice privatization are assumed to have robust economies through the help of foreign investors. Some cases prove that having foreign direct investments in a certain country would improve the state of a struggling economy however, most cases present otherwise. Seeing through a perspective of the developing countries, foreign direct investments could be of help to countries however the current situation of some these countries do not present the growth which had been promised to them. Moreover, there are countries that fail to progress and have a much faster downfall. Hence, there is an assumption that through economic interdependence states that it could provide peace and stability (Barbierre, 2006, p. 31).

During the time of the 1980s, the world was at a downfall wherein the price of gasoline had tremendously increased. Thus, many countries struggle to maintain their economic status. In order to eradicate and somehow mend this situation, the IMF (International Monetary Fund) had provided loans for different countries to recuperate from the collapse of their economy. Hence, after the loans were given various results came about. Seeing the Latin American region, problems had arisen in different countries which led to huge difficulties regarding their economy (Timmer, 2008, p. 1).

One of the main causes of these issues is regarding the cultural and social construct of the country. Given that the IMF and other international organizations which provides funds, these are all handled by developed countries which has stronger economies. Hence, the studies they create are much more applicable for developing nations (Momani, 2006, p. 17). Moreover, international monetary institutions are not able to view the cultural and social perspective of state before providing policies. For culture and society is fluid, certain policies created by these institutions are inapplicable for different developing nations depending on their culture and society. Furthermore, these set of institutions neglected the fact that society is able to manipulate the process of economy hence it must be applicable to the policies of the country (Ayesul, 2008, p. 1098).

One example is the country in Asia, Philippines. For many years, the Philippines had been a developing country due to its economic stature. Provided this, the government of the country is not able to provide subsidy to its agricultural products. Hence, the goods which are locally produced are much expensive (Wooten, 2007, p. 46). On the other hand, developed countries such as the United States of Australia are able to provide subsidy for their products which helps lessen the cost of production. Due to this, products coming from Australia or the United States could be sold cheaper than goods in the Philippines due to the amount of subsidy provided by developing countries to their products. Through this, the competition in production of goods becomes much intense due to the policies which are provided by different countries. Evidently, developed states are able to provide more goods with higher quality due to the technology and subsidy provided. Therefore, economic interdependence is not fully applicable to attaining peace and stability because of subjectivity of culture and society of a country.

Methodology
Based on the literature review regarding the relation of economic interdependence and international peace and stability, it shows that economic robustness is necessary in order to achieve stability and the true meaning of a culture of peace. However, economic interdependence does not always result to international peace and stability because there are instances wherein the economic interdependence of countries resulted to problems, which even leads to conflict. The failure to analyze economic interdependence in the social and cultural context is the main reason as to why economic interdependence does not necessarily lead to international peace and stability. Due to this, the major theoretical approach in international relations, which will be used in this research, is the Social Constructivist approach.

Social Constructivism asserts that the different and important aspects of international relations like peace and stability are not merely inevitable outcomes of human nature and other factors in international politics. The main argument of social constructivist is that the core aspects of international relations are socially constructed in a sense that these aspects emerged and are established through the continuous processes of social practice and interaction. One of the most famous and influential social constructivist theorists is Alexander Wendt. Wendt emphasizes and elaborates on the two basic principles of social constructivism. First, the structures of human association are mainly identified through shared ideas and not by material forces. Second, the identities and interests of the purposive actors in international politics are created by shared ideas rather than their given nature (Jackson and Sorensen, 2007 p.167-169). In this sense, the tenets of social constructivism give due importance to the social and cultural context of respective countries as well as the vital role that it plays in international politics. Being the case, social constructivism would be able to address the weakness of economic interdependence when it comes to the aspect of not giving due importance to the cultural differences of countries in international relations.

The existing problems when it comes to the methodologies of theoretical approaches is that most of it simply focuses on one specific theory in order to examine an issue or subject matter that is related with international relations. There are cases wherein the realist theory would be used in order to study the conflict that exists among countries and it would only use the principles of realism in contrast with other theories like neo-liberalism. However, in this research study, instead of completely criticizing the neo-liberal perspective, the researcher will use social constructivism in order to enhance its argument that economic interdependence is a way by which international peace and stability could be achieved by means of putting economic interdependence in the social and cultural context.

Since the study will deal with enhancing the theory of neo-liberalism when it comes to economic interdependence through the use of social constructivism, this study will contribute on theory rather than policy. By means of enhancing neo-liberalism through the help of social constructivism, this study will also substantially enhance the new methodological approaches in the study of international relations because it will use two theories in order to enhance its principles rather than contrasting and criticizing each other.

Furthermore, there is an ample amount of resources that could be used in order to gather the necessary data for this research. Since the greater interdependence of countries, especially in terms of the economic realm is already greatly observable there are already many studies that are devoted to it. This is exemplified by the various researches and peer-reviewed journals that are available. In addition, the government of different countries are also informing the public of their corresponding policies when it comes to economic relations, which would indeed help in this research in order to analyze the economic interdependence of countries. Being the case, this research will use both primary and secondary sources.