Re-Reading Rousseau in the Post-Cold War World

While the study of world politics before and during the Cold War was dominated by the competing paradigms of `idealism' and `realism', the post-Cold War world requires different approaches. This essay suggests that Jean-Jacques Rousseau's writings on war and peace may serve as a vantage-point for a paradigm which goes beyond the two orthodox perspectives. It argues that Rousseau is not the unambiguous representative for the `realist' approach that he is so routinely assumed to be. Rousseau developed a unique analysis which accentuates historical change, dialectical paradox and the tendency for interdependence to foster inequality and conflict. This analysis of interstate relations provides a useful starting-point for understanding both the global transformations which are now occurring before our eyes and the many challenges that lie ahead. First, this essay reconstructs from the many scattered pieces which Rousseau wrote about history and world politics a clear and consistent international relations theory. Then, it uses this theory to examine some of the most common assumptions about the nature of the post-Cold War world. It discusses whether the liberal-democratic values of the First World will emerge triumphant in the 21st century; whether the nations of the (former) Second World will experience prosperity and peace; and whether the struggle for liberation and justice in the Third World will finally be crowned with triumph.