Liberalism is the theory that the human rights of life, liberty and property is a top priority to the government. For this reason, liberalist believe that power is to be given to the people through democracy, furthermore they believe that authoritative power should be divided in many forms. As a result, many institutions are formed in order to protect the basic human rights of the people. The way this is connected to international relations is that the actions of a state abroad can affect the liberty of it’s own people. In the reading of, “Introducing Liberalism in International Relations Theory”, it states that war requires a strong military. This power while it can be used to fight foreign states it can also be used to oppress it’s own people. This is why whenever a state chooses to go to war, the liberty of it’s own people are at risk.

This is an interesting point because in my perspective, no matter which side starts the war. Where there is war, the basic human rights are always put at risk. Furthermore, if the military was controlled by the people, what would happen if there is a division of interests in the state. This could lead to a civil war. Which is why, I strongly believe that there needs to be an authoritative power that can decide for the people even if it may risk the rights of the people during war times.

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