Neoliberal Institutionalism & International Politics

In this general background, the purpose of the present report is to consider the strengths and weaknesses of neoliberal institutionalism. The prisoner's dilemma is significant in this discussion in that it holds that each player gains when both cooperate, but if only one cooperates, the player who defects gains more. Robert O. Keohane argues instead that a mutually cooperative outcome can occur in equilibrium in an infinitely repeated prisoner's dilemma if the actors do not discount the future too much.

The fundamental difference between realists and neoliberal institutionalists is that neoliberal institutionalists see cooperation as essential in a world of economic interdependence and the belief that shared economic interests create a demand for international institutions and rules. Realists, in contrast, emphasize the role played by states as the dominant actors in international relations. Rea

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lems, including coincidence, coercion, and co-adjustment. Lisa Martin argues that institutions play a vital role in furthering the cooperative agenda and that institutions play a role that states cannot play alone. Institutions, for example, provide a mechanism whereby economic sanctions against a country can be applied by a broad coalition of nations rather than a unilateral hegemon or a hegemon acting with somewhat limited support. Weaknesses Any number of weaknesses can also be identified in neoliberal institutionalism. Joseph Grieco, for example, notes that neoliberal institutionalism fails to give adequate attention to the fact that states have incentives to protect the autonomy of their own country: "states will not want their economy to be too dependent on others: being dependent puts the country's security at riska Too much exposure to the world market can crater dangerous dependencies." Despite what institutions may do, nation-states pursue both relative and absolute gains with relatively limited concern for other actors. What realism dislikes about neoliberal institutionalism is the latter's failure to recognize that states are the major actors in world affairs. Neoliberal institutionalism fails to recog
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Approximate Word count = 2443
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)