The Failure of International Relations Theories to Predict the End of Cold War

The birth of the International Relations Theories signaled the end of the thirty years war between the two conflicting parties in the world. It is through the development of these theories when the warfare, which almost put the whole world into great chaos and human miseries, has been put to an end.
It can be considered that the war was a struggle between two main parties  the universalists and the particularists.

Universalists include the emperor and the Spanish king who were both loyal to the Church of Rome. The emperor and the Spanish king were both loyal to the leader of the Church of Rome  the Pope. This means that the Popes authority is essential to the decision-making and form of government of a particular state. The church has a direct participation to the activities of the government or state.

On the other hand, the particularists include Denmark, the Dutch Republic, France, Sweden and the German princess who were against imperial overlordship and the authority of the Pope. These countries are against the direct participation of the church to the decision-making process of the state or government. They do not like to acknowledge the power and authority of the Pope since they believe that the Pope should have its power only for the church and not for the state or government.
Nevertheless, amidst the dramatic end of the war of the various countries for so many years, the world has yet to settle for eternal peace as another war has begun  the cold war.

Cold war is said to be a result of the conflict of the ideas and interests of the different countries to many aspects such as philosophy, economy, politics and the like. But eventhough this type of war does not require fight and violence among the countries, there is still a great danger as such this may lead to a real war to the conflicting parties. Along with this worldwide pressing concern, the issue on human security which focuses on individual welfare, international understanding and state sovereignty, is likewise put at stake. 

Because of this, a lot of International Relations (IR) Theories have been trying to explain and come up with the various possible solutions but until now all of the major theories are considered to be a failure to predict the end of cold war. This is associated to the conflicting ideas of the different theories in International Relations.

International Relations theories are described as an attempt to attempt to provide a conceptual framework in which the international relations can be discussed and analyzed. These concepts are useful in analyzing the causes and rationale about the details of the war in many countries.

With regards to International Relations, there are three major theories which have tried to explain and discuss the details about the cold war. The first theory is the so-called realism which believes that states have the innate desire to dominate other countries. This is indeed prevalent to most of the countries in the world in terms of economic, political, religious, and many other aspects. For instance, in the economic aspect, it is natural that countries will have a competition for progress and prosperity. Everyone will have its effort to uplift its own economic condition. This is why we have the trade and exporting of goods of one country to another for economic gain and profit. The same holds true with the political, religious and other aspects of a particular country. Hence, there should be an in-depth understanding that competition, which is eminent through cold war, is a natural phenomenon within the states.

Liberalism, on the other hand, generally regards states as the central player in the international conflict. There are three main points that are essential in this IR theory. First, economic interdependence discourages states to have warfare because it would put their economic prosperity at stake. This means that warfare will most likely not to happen if economic interdependence is active within the countries. Second, according to this theory, democracy is the key to world peace. Democratic form of government is better than authoritarian as far as this theory is concerned. Third, cooperation is a great help to overcome selfishness among the states.

The Marxism theory, nevertheless, greatly disputes capitalism as such it is the considered main cause of the international conflict. Capitalism causes international conflict because it is only advantageous to the rich and developed countries. This means that the main beneficiaries for this scheme of economic structure are only those who have the money and power while the underdeveloped and poor countries remain poorer and poorer. This is thus the reason why Marxism or constructivism is against to the virtue of capitalism.

The attempt of these three IR theories to scholarly explain and discuss the cold war is indeed commendable but the effort is still not enough to predict the end of the said war for several reasons.
First, it can be considered that the purpose of the IR theories is not clearly utilized as such their attempt to explain and discuss well the details of the cold war most likely to become a clash between their opposing ideas and opinions. Since these three theories have their own genuine principles, they have the tendency to compete on which principle is the best. Because of this, the original purpose of the theories was altered.

Next, ending the cold war among the countries is very difficult to achieve because it is the nature of the people and the states to have a competitive spirit in so many aspects. It is a common phenomenon that people seek ways for the betterment of their own condition in life and the country as a whole. Hence, the cold war will happen intentionally or unintentionally even without the intervention of someone.
Another is the fact that capitalism is not the perfect solution for the total elimination of the cold war. Capitalism cannot eliminate competition in the states or among the people of the country since it is their nature. Capitalism will only hinder the drive of the individuals for progress and development. Though capitalism is also considered to be advantageous for it promotes development in some aspects, it is still not enough to put cold war into halt.

Furthermore, cooperation is not a total guarantee for the avoidance of the competition and cold war. There is also a big possibility to have cold war even if there is cooperation among the countries.
This is mainly because of the competitive nature of the people and the state. Nevertheless, cold war is not really bad as long as it will not lead to warfare which will damage life and properties. Thus, it can be considered that silent competition is good if and only if it will be used for the improvement and progress of the structures of a particular country and not for the destruction of others. Cold war will not become disadvantageous if the competition will serve as positive output in terms of the development of the economic, social, political and other aspects of the countries.

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