IEA Foundations - 1: Human Nature and World Affairs

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Where do classical liberals stand on international relations? Does this differ from their views on domestic policy? And how does this stance vary from other liberal schools of thought? Here, author Edwin van de Haar draws on the writings of major classical liberal thinkers such as David Hume, Adam Smith, Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek to create an insightful and comprehensive overview of the classical liberal approach to foreign affairs. He delineates how classical liberals embrace a realistic view of human nature, recognising the basic social nature of individuals, yet acknowledging their propensity to quarrel, fight and use violence - and how this has consequently become an inevitable feature of international relations. He compares and contrasts this thinking with other forms of liberal thought, such as libertarianism, social liberalism and conservatism. And he also examines the much bigger difference between classical liberalism and non-liberal thinking on international relations. He argues that classical liberalism has a distinct, timeless and universalist approach to international relations - and that the unique ideas developed by classical liberal writers can, and should, be applied to contemporary world affairs.