Essay - 'History Ends, Worlds Collide' by Chris Brown Journal Review
Coursework – Theoretical Review
‘History Ends, Worlds Collide’ by Chris Brown
Neorealists argue that the end of Cold War was purely a reoccurring event which marked the point of international restructuring, but it was of no great importance. This journal responds to this view as its writer attempts to convey the importance of that time, as it marks the end of a two century interregnum in which the world is transformed from the Ancien Règime of monarchical powers towards a new world order. This journal contains a wide collection of work, from which the writer portrays that the world has two possible endings in terms of its international structure. Both ends seem rather bleak and in essence describe the fate of liberal internationalism, first ending focuses on the indefinite liberal homogeny whilst the other looks into a more pluralist world system.
First story, though presented with various versions, describes the world in the eyes of Francis Fukuyama who views the liberal-democratic empire as the winning side that would exist because of ‘the total exhaustion of viable systemic alternatives to Western liberalism’. Although the journal acknowledges that the period is ‘indefinite’ it seems that such story is rather far fetched as boldly claiming that ‘the real campaign is over’ seems rather optimistic as realistically there are many non-liberal states who would not give into the idea of market economy and representative democracy, but ‘mopping-up’ such states may prove difficult. For example both China and Russia follow an alternative mixture of ideologies and don’t fully align themselves with liberal values, reformation of their views could prove difficult making a claim of victory rather rapid.
Furthermore on the notion of liberal triumph portrayed by Fukuyama, the journal seems to further lean towards liberalism because of its description of Vaclav Havel as being ‘naturally enough… democrat and a political
‘History Ends, Worlds Collide’ by Chris Brown
Neorealists argue that the end of Cold War was purely a reoccurring event which marked the point of international restructuring, but it was of no great importance. This journal responds to this view as its writer attempts to convey the importance of that time, as it marks the end of a two century interregnum in which the world is transformed from the Ancien Règime of monarchical powers towards a new world order. This journal contains a wide collection of work, from which the writer portrays that the world has two possible endings in terms of its international structure. Both ends seem rather bleak and in essence describe the fate of liberal internationalism, first ending focuses on the indefinite liberal homogeny whilst the other looks into a more pluralist world system.
First story, though presented with various versions, describes the world in the eyes of Francis Fukuyama who views the liberal-democratic empire as the winning side that would exist because of ‘the total exhaustion of viable systemic alternatives to Western liberalism’. Although the journal acknowledges that the period is ‘indefinite’ it seems that such story is rather far fetched as boldly claiming that ‘the real campaign is over’ seems rather optimistic as realistically there are many non-liberal states who would not give into the idea of market economy and representative democracy, but ‘mopping-up’ such states may prove difficult. For example both China and Russia follow an alternative mixture of ideologies and don’t fully align themselves with liberal values, reformation of their views could prove difficult making a claim of victory rather rapid.
Furthermore on the notion of liberal triumph portrayed by Fukuyama, the journal seems to further lean towards liberalism because of its description of Vaclav Havel as being ‘naturally enough… democrat and a political
Bibliography: Journals: Brown, Chris (1999), ‘History Ends, Worlds Collide’, Review of International Studies Vol. 25 (Special Issue): 41-57. General Information: The Globalization of World Politics – An introduction to international relations, 4th Edition, 2008, by John Baylis, Steven Smith and Patricia Owens.