Editing International relations (section)

====Liberal institutionalism====
{{Main|Liberal institutionalism}}
{{Further|Complex interdependence}}

[[Liberal institutionalism]] (some times referred to as neoliberalism) shows how cooperation can be achieved in international relations even if neorealist assumptions apply (states are the key actors in world politics, the international system is anarchic, and states pursue their self interest). Liberal institutionalists highlight the role of [[International organization|international institutions]] and [[Regime theory|regimes]] in facilitating cooperation between states.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Axelrod |first1=Robert |last2=Keohane |first2=Robert O. |date=1985 |title=Achieving Cooperation under Anarchy: Strategies and Institutions |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/world-politics/article/abs/achieving-cooperation-under-anarchy-strategies-and-institutions/706B24B2FB4525D661BEB5E954D6DC49 |journal=World Politics |language=en |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=226–254 |doi=10.2307/2010357 |issn=1086-3338 |jstor=2010357|s2cid=37411035 }}</ref>

Prominent neoliberal institutionalists are [[John Ikenberry]], [[Robert Keohane]], and [[Joseph Nye]]. Robert Keohane's 1984 book ''[[After Hegemony]]'' used insights from the [[new institutional economics]] to argue that the international system could remain stable in the absence of a hegemon, thus rebutting hegemonic stability theory.<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal |last=Keohane |first=Robert O. |date=2020 |title=Understanding Multilateral Institutions in Easy and Hard Times |journal=Annual Review of Political Science |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=1–18 |doi=10.1146/annurev-polisci-050918-042625 |issn=1094-2939 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

=====Regime theory=====
{{Main|Regime theory}}

[[Regime theory]] is derived from the liberal tradition that argues that international institutions or regimes affect the behaviour of states (or other international actors). It assumes that cooperation is possible in the anarchic system of states, indeed, regimes are by definition, instances of international cooperation.

While [[Realism (international relations)|realism]] predicts that conflict should be the norm in international relations, regime theorists say that there is cooperation despite anarchy. Often they cite cooperation in trade, human rights and [[collective security]] among other issues. These instances of cooperation are regimes. The most commonly cited definition of regimes comes from [[Stephen Krasner]], who defines regimes as "principles, norms, rules, and decision-making procedures around which actor expectations converge in a given issue-area".<ref>Krasner, Stephen D., ed. 1983. "Structural Causes and Regime Consequences: Regimes as Intervening Variables." In ''International Regimes'', Ithaca: Cornell University Press, pp. 1.</ref>

Not all approaches to regime theory, however, are liberal or neoliberal; some realist scholars like [[Joseph Grieco]] have developed hybrid theories which take a realist based approach to this fundamentally liberal theory. (Realists do not say cooperation ''never'' happens, just that it is not the norm; it is a difference of degree).