A lot of theories in just one world

It is true that we have one world yet we have a lot of theories. Before we had the discussion, I already have a background about some of the theories, like realism and liberalism, though there are a lot of things that I still do not know about these theories. For realism, I always think about that states are the main actors, gaining of power, and there is no room for cooperation that may lead to war. While for Liberalism, non-state actors are also important because they can promote cooperation that can lead to economic integration, and of course there is democracy. And lastly, constructivism which the article said that it is deeper than realism and liberalism because it does not just accept what is given, it asks questions, and it is based on values and norms.

So after the discussion, I acquired more knowledge about theories. One of those is that even though a country believes in a theory, it does not mean that they apply it purely to its interests. For example, the United States of America, they are a liberalist country but they failed to cooperate with other states by not signing the Kyoto Protocol and Copenhagen Agreement because their interest is more of profit maximization than the environment. Another is the Democratic Peace Theory which states that democratic countries does not go to war with each other, I somewhat believe with this theory though not all democratic countries do not go to war with each other, one of the example is the Iraqi war 2003. Also, for the constructivist, the truth is changing since the context and policy are changing. And lastly, I learned about Positivism and Post-positivism and their differences, positivism is more of realism and there is only one Truth and it is power, while post-positivism is under constructivism that believes that there are many truths and interprets issues and concerns within a society.

Indeed, we have a lot of theories, and I believe that a country cannot stick to just one theory, because there will be times that the theory that it is applying may be a hindrance to achieve its national interest so it will set aside its theory because national interest is more important for them.

Expectations

What are your expectations in this course? This is a very typical question posted by the professors every start of the term. And the usual answer by the students is to learn in fun and easy way. Yes, it is also my usual answer. But what I also expect to this course is not to know every little thing about Philippine Foreign Policy but just to know an overview about it, what really is it all about, to be aware of the some of policies of our country and if it is effective or not and to learn lessons that will be useful for me for my future career. Also, I expect that there will be more light discussions, like the one we had last session, it seems that the whole class was just having a talk at the same time we are learning. And of course, I’ll be expecting good grades and I’ll be doing my best to have a high grade at the end of the term.