War 1. It is very contrasting to Realism, and it is based on morals and values. According to idealists, power is not the central theme. World War 1 left a lot the world destroyed, shocked and horrified. The balance of power that had been more or less been stable through the 19th century was now in shambles. That system had been violently upset by a war that lasted four years and left about nine million soldiers dead1 This made the world leaders realize that there was something fatally wrong with the balance of power system and a new system was required. These leaders came to be known as Idealists. The idealists were behind the formation of League of Nations and other international organizations. Their basic idea was to form organizations of collective security where nations would promote peace and fight for peace together. The leaders believed that just like in the past, people would come together as one, to better their existence in a cooperative society, because as individuals they would not able to survive. There was also a breed of idealists known as neoidealists, who gave special emphasis to building international organizations to promote peace.This is the reason why they are also commonly known as liberal institutionalists. The idealists believe that foreign policy should be made taking into consideration ethics, morals and cooperation. Many of their opposition however believe when taking cooperation and morals into consideration weakens foreign policy and does not favour the countries national interests.Idealists in short, do not believe that the power is the central theme. They believe there is a space for morals in international relations and this should be implied in foreign policy. They believe if morality can work in society then it can work on an international level.They have the strong idea that peace can be achieved through law not force. 1- World Politics,3rd Edition, Bruce Russett & Harvey Starr, W.H.Freeman and Co...
