Economic Liberalism
The perspective is also called internationalism, globalism, or Laissez-faire liberalism. Adam Smith states that the key to national power and wealth is economic progression. For the economy to expand there is need for free trade through which goods and services flow freely across borders (Wallack and Srinivasan, 2011). Political leaders should make trade between states to grow and deepen by keeping international trade government interventions at the minimum. It means that exports and imports flourish with limited restrictions. The challenge of this approach is that nations have several methods that they use to restrict the flow of trade between nations, such as quotas, bans, non-tariff restrictions, and tariff barriers. Therefore, domestic groups may resort to different opinions on matters of policy. Also, domestic politics may interfere with the flow of international trade. However, liberalists advance solutions to their perspective. They propose economic interdependence and social-political relations among nations. Regional incorporation and interstate harmonization can solve conflicts and lead to international order.
Economic Nationalism
It is also called Neo-Mercantilism. The perspective is a theoretical development as a criticism to the liberal perspective. It entails the idea that states should compete economically. The proponents of the perspective see organizations as elements of a nation’s power and sovereignty (Wallack and Srinivasan, 2011). They also argue that the aspect of free trade benefits the most advanced and wealthiest nations. In simple terms, free trade helps wealthy nations to remain wealthy and the poor nations to remain poor. They also suggest that the less advanced states should look for an alternative way to acquire wealth, because free trade will not lead them there. For nationalism, the solution to economic growth is not found in free trade operations.
Economic Structuralism
Structuralists apply the Marxist analysis that focuses on how dominant structures in the nation’s economy exploit class relations and interests. In this perspective, one shows the importance of certain institutions and their functional allocation of income among social groups and productive sectors (Wallack and Srinivasan, 2011). The theory considers division of labour as an unfair way of creating categories for the poor and the rich nations. The solution to these challenges is that countries should consider their economic ability and avoid the dominant global economies.
The Most Persuasive Approach
The most persuasive approach for me is Economic Liberalism. Free trade is highly effective in uplifting the economies of many nations. It creates wealth through exports and imports. It inspires stimulation to do more economically. For nations, the main benefit of free trade is the absence of red tape and bureaucracies. Liberalism makes all nations to grow economically and it promotes good international relationships which in return makes nations to co-exist mutually.
- Environmental hazards and pandemics show no respect for national boundaries.
The global environment is faced with a myriad of challenges. The problems are so immense that many people feel that this century is the last and that the human race might not survive to the end of the twenty first century. Environmental challenges include loss of biodiversity, population explosion, depletion of ozone layer, pollution and climate change (Enuka, 2017). Currently, the world faces pandemics such as COVID-19, Ebola and AIDS (Drake et al., 2015). The international community has to act in unity to address the crises. Individuals, governments and business organizations have to take measures and change behaviour in response to environmental changes and to the pandemics. Environmental hazards and pandemic do not honour national boundaries. All nations require working together to fix the challenges at hand and to find a long-lasting solution.
Due to their nature, environmental hazards and pandemics pose a great challenge to the classical notions such as domestic authority and sovereignty in relation to international relations. There are changing patterns of domestic authority and sovereignty with the creation of the disaggregated state concept (Heywood, 2014). States need to be active in the global world through which they participate in wide-ranging collaboration networks and multilateral mutual aid. In this regard, the notion of sovereignty entails shared public authority among national and international players (Biersteker, 2012). However, this does not imply that the individual state declines in anyway. In fact, it strengthens the position of the state in the global system. Environmental challenges and pandemics require international solidarity to solve the crises.
There are various problems that mire international collaboration on health and environmental issues. The world is more unpredictable and complex than ever before. There is evidence of a chaotic global system, since many states desire to apply their sovereignty. It leads to failure of the international community to address environmental and health issues effectively. There is a need for reforms in international institutions, such as the UN that are global-oriented, to be able to handle and manage issues (Enuka, 2017). The emergence of new issues and new global powers point to this direction to avoid disorder and tension in the international system.
There is a close link between the concept of public goods and international collaboration on matters of the environment and health. The benefits of global public goods reach generations and populations across borders (Daniel, 2012). There a growing need for international mutual unions because problems and solutions go beyond national borders. The concept of global public goods is increasingly becoming critical in making international policies. Every nation relies on public goods such as good health, a good environment, security, peace, property rights, and knowledge (Daniel, 2012). Projects to mitigate climatic and health challenges illustrate numerous qualities of a public good. There is need for effective international governance to help offer global public goods that could be undersupplied and to keep watch on states that my practice self-serving behaviours. In this regard, it will give a short rift to challenges that may arise. For equity and effective distribution of global public goods, international relations need to be strong.