International Liberalism in relation to Nuclear Assets

International Liberalism
International liberalism in this paper is identified as the movement from freedom of the individual from nature to the international context where individual interests are reflected as an appeasement of all State and national interests. Under the guise of an international governing body that is able to effectively and legitimately implement policy and employ regulatory tools to ensure that individual rights to security and safety can be facilitated. This is done to ensure that the rights to security and safety of the international society are not jeopardised.

Man has the choice to become apart of international society, either directly by becoming a member of either a State or non-state actor operating within the international system or indirectly by maintaining membership within either a nation or State based society. As a member, man benefits from the advantages provided by being apart of a society and leaves both man and the State representing him with the moral obligation to consent to obey the utilitarian decision making, regulations and rules attributed to the international governing body that represents the international society. Liberalism employed in this international context is both classical and modern in form.

Appeasement is facilitated to a level of understanding only between States, non governmental organizations and multinational corporations, as further application of an over arching appeasement structure for maintaining a stable international system within a nuclear age. To ensure that the chance of a nuclear incident is reduced, this appeasement between traditional actors (the States) and the new actors (non government organizations and multinational corporations) needs to be managed by an independent international governing body. These new actors do not necessarily represent a national interest, as is associated with State representation but provide an alternative view as they represent the common interests of groups, whether they be based on nationality, ethnicity or ideology or are economically motivated. Their motivation can either by being representative of civil society or representative of financial investors.

In relation to nuclear technology and resources, it allows for States to pursue nuclear civilian and military programs, enhancing their ability to progress economically. This facilitates cooperation and coordination of resources between States and allows for States to manoeuvre around current restrictions placed on them by the current international institutions governing the nuclear issue. The nuclear NPT is a tool representative of the realist theoretical approach for managing international relations and a tool that has not been able to enforce the regulations and restrictions that it represents within an international system. The international system can be described today with the current complex web of interdependent interaction as liberal in form.