International relations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

International relations - Essay Example After all, since the adoption of the UN Charter in 1945, the world has seen plenty of wars that the world body failed to avert. At the same time, however, students of the UN are inclined to give it the credit for the decreasing intensity of the wars. Although realists see the laws of power politics as relatively timeless and unchanging, liberal theorists generally see the rules of IR as slowly, incrementally evolving through time and potentially becoming more and more peaceful. (Joshua S. Goldstein and Jon C. Pevehouse. â€Å"International Relations, 8/e†. 2008) This evolution results primarily from gradual buildup of international organization and mutual cooperation (reciprocity) and secondarily from changes in norms and public opinion (identity)†¦ â€Å"We are not doomed to a world of recurring war but can achieve a more peaceful world,† says Goldstein and Pevehouse. For example, in recent years a strong trend toward fewer warts has become evident (Human Security Centre. Human Security Report 2005: â€Å"War and Peace in the 21st Century; 2006). For instance, to many Americans the world seems more war-prone and violent than ever because the United States is at war on a scale not seen since Vietnam. Yet, for the world as a whole, the current period is one of the least warlike ever, with fewer and smaller wars than in the past. â€Å"In the first half of the 20th century, world wars â€Å"killed tens of millions and left whole contents in ruin; in the second half, during the Cold War, proxy wars killed millions, and the world feared a nuclear war that could have wiped out our species. Now, in the 21st century, wars like those in Iraq and Sudan kill hundreds of thousands.† (Goldstein and Pevehouse) The late 1990s and the early 21st century saw termination of vestigial remnants of Cold War era, such as in Angola, Northern Ireland, Guatemala, and southern Sudan, following South Africa and Mozambique earlier in the 1990s. Most wars that erupted after the end of