Amara Rojo
September 20th,2015
International
Relations 170
Syria: To be a Realist or to be Liberal
There is no doubt that the most pressing
humanitarian crisis going on right now is that of the Syrian refugees. Over 11
million people have been displaced since the crisis began four years ago and
now with refugees fleeing into Europe, often by the most dangerous means
possible, the fatality rate is appalling. Many countries, especially those in
western Europe, were seemingly xenophobic until just a few weeks ago, when the
photo of a young boy named Aylin Kurdi changed
the viewpoints of many people around the world—and their countries policies
quickly reflected a more liberal shift towards the moral ideals mirrored in
their citizens.
Immediately, European states began to react with humanitarian
efforts by proposing expanding quotas to take in more refugees. The use of this
reason and rationality was welcomed by the combined coalition of France and
Germany and presented to the European Union in hopes of procuring a shared responsibility
to the crisis.
Realists would argue that the Syrian state and de facto the
Syrian people should be resolving their issue through self help and that by
other countries taking in more refugees, this would ultimately hurt their
economies. And while survival is a key tenet of realism, if a state’s population
is reacting strongly to an issue, in order to preserve the national identity
with content citizens, the state should act in favor of the population to satisfy
these trends.
Ultimately, the reality is that while keeping the state in its
norm is noble, if the population is demanding change, the state should cohere
to those movements. Self preservation can only last as long as the people are
satisfied, so while a more liberal viewpoint may not fit a state’s realist beliefs,
it could be incredibly beneficial to the state in the long term.
Hey Amara!
ReplyDeleteI like the approach you took to writing this blog, because this topic is so relevant right now..as you said, only a few weeks ago, this subject matter was brought back into the spotlight. I agree with your points on how a realist would react in this situation, but can you go into more detail of how you think a Liberal would react in this situation?
A liberal would certainly intervene and grant the refugees asylum. Humanitarian issues drive liberals to send aid as they are compelled to help those in need.
DeleteHi Amara,
ReplyDeleteI like your application of realism to a humanitarian crisis, and agree that the Syrian refugee crisis is very pressing and also a very interesting while Europe's open boarders and copious social programs could potentially be at stake. It will be interesting to see how Europeans react if their social programs are strained by these new residents and citizens. If the crisis strains European social programs the point where they become inefficient due to lack of funds causing quality of life to go down, then the European population could potentially adopt a more Realist point of view to this crisis.
Thank you for your feedback! Your point about the social programs being strained is a major concern and as some programs in countries are already faced with problems with their current population, we could see a shift toward realist ideals in the near future.
DeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteThis blog post really made me think because I've been keeping up with the Syrian Refugee crisis all summer and how upsetting it is. I agree with ben in the sense that I think both theories could be applied to the handling of this crisis.
I like how you identified the turning point when Europe took on a more LIberal stance to step in and take in Syrian refugees. I agree that the issue of the Syrian state taking care of itself is a very interesting Realist issue, but it also makes me think of Locke and Hobbs statements about when to flee/reform ones government when they start failing to protect the citizens. I also find the timeless facet of realism fascinating in this case because people fleeing whatever crisis is currently ongoing in a country, in search of a better life, has been a reoccurring theme throughout history.
ReplyDeleteI, unfortunately, do not keep up with world events as much as I should. The information I do get is from the Twitter feeds of CNN and my local news station back home. I knew the basics of the story, but did not know about Aylin Kurdi's photo. I had to do a little research after reading your blog post, so thank you for exposing me to this. I agree with you that realists would say that the key is self-preservation. I think that constructivists would now say that it is time for a change and a major change at that. Just because of the way that the state of Syria has acted in the past does not mean other states should continue to act the way they always have towards them.
ReplyDeleteHi Amara,
ReplyDeleteI like how you delivered your realist argument and I agree with your assessment that a realist would expect Syria to help and rely on themselves to handle this situation. But, do you think Syria has the capacity to fix this problem on their own as a realist would do? I also agree with Amanda's comment about reforming the government in order to protect their citizens. I also thought it was good how you presented the liberal side through the European Union, and that collectively they could help with the refugee problem.