Introducing The Liberal Approach To International Relations
Liberalism is neither the result of any other person's ideas nor is this concept associated with any era. In fact it is not a philosophy, but a combination of more ideas. It is a life vision, a tendency of the mind till the life course, under which there are many beliefs, ideals and institutions. In sucha situation the interpretation of liberalism can naturally be a difficult task.From Some people consider liberalism to be synonymous with individualism which is not entirely true.Although individualism is an integral part of liberalism, the two are not the same thing. George Sevahar has written that till about 1830 there was no special distinction between these two. Because till that time both these ideologies were opposed to the interference of the state in the life of the individual. But after that the situation changed. Emphasizing on negative freedom as well as positive liberty by liberals like Green, it was said that proper facilities should be arranged by the state for the welfare and development of all the members of the society.If in order to achieve this goal of public welfare interfering in the lives of individuals or by the State If necessary, the state can do so as well. Democracy is often given the name of liberalism, but this is also true in a limited sense.Modern democracy believes in the power of the majority, but liberalism is more conscious of protecting the interests of the minority in the social and political sphere than the majority. Thus liberalism becomes something more than democracy. Liberalism gives the message of change and progress and also individualism and democracy.Are included. Keeping this in view, Mc Geburn says that, "Liberalism as a political theory isa mixture of two different elements. One is democracy and the other is individualism." But liberalism is not only this, so far two types of ideologies have been propounded on the subject of mutual relation between the individual and the state. Such ideologies consider the state as the center of all human life and an end in itself, but the second category of ideologies propound that the individual is the end in the individual and the state. Liberalism is a group of these ideologies of the second type which emphasize that. The center of all human system is the individual. The state, society and other institutions are only the means of welfare of this person and the whole political, economic and social system should be determined by considering the individual as the center.
