1. Mercantilism

Mercantilism was the primary economic system for trade used between the 16th to the 18th century. It was devised as a political, economic concept that would help in the development of wealthy and powerful states.

Among the political assumptions of the theory is that the government should regulate economic activities in a country. The controls and regulations involved include making decisions such as which activity people should focus on, the wages that people should receive among others. There is also the assumption of controlling colonies. This helps to ensure that colonies only trade with the mother country for there to be massive economic gains.

Mercantilism theoretical claims are that there is a finite amount of wealth in the world. This is why a country should aim at immersing as much as possible. There is also a claim that a country can only grow rich at the expense of other countries. The theory also asserts that a country should always aim at maintaining a favorable trade balance by ensuring that exports exceed imports for economic prosperity.

The mercantilism theory is characterized by limiting wages, exclusive trade with colonies, export subsidies, maximizing the usage of domestic resources, promoting manufacturing with research and direct subsidies, and high tariffs among others.

The theory resulted in the expansion of colonialism since the mother states needed to invade the colonial countries in order to derive the available raw materials coupled with cheap labor. Mercantilism also influenced the development of the nation state system by ensuring that states become self-sufficient by way of ensuring there is a balance of trade with other states.

2. Liberalism

Liberalism is more of the ideology of cultural, equality and economic liberty, and governmental that comes with social, classical and economic forms. The central idea of the theory is the enhancement of liberty under the law. Liberal perspective tends to view the states and individuals in a decidedly different light.

Among the political assumptions involved in liberalism is that national states are vital, but they are not the only actors that should be involved in international relations. The theory also tends to assume that states will act in a rational manner and they are a unitary factor.

Theoretical claims include that the government is necessary for the protection of people from being harmed by others, but the government itself can pose a threat to liberty. That is why there is the development of regulations to ensure that the government does not use its powers in the wrong way. Another theoretical claim is that the fundamental tension between the market and the state is a conflict between authority and individual rights, coercion and freedom, rational logic and autocratic dogma.

The characteristics of liberalism include the development of a system that gives the necessary powers to the government to help protect individual liberty but also prevent the government from abusing those powers. Liberalism is also characterized by the establishment of free market economies, a belief in the rationality and goodness of man, a belief in the value of human personality and equality, and a belief that the relations between the individual and the state is contractual among others.

Liberalism influenced the development of the nation state system by ensuring that there is freedom and equality for the people involved. This is because the government is not given the autonomy to control individuals in unjustified ways. The theory also helped to build the current international order by allowing the formation of bodies such as the United Nations, which act as the oversight in many issues affecting the people.

3. Lenin

With regards to imperialism, Lenin asserted that as capitalist economies mature, as profit rates fall and as capital accumulates, capitalist economies are forced to seize colonies and develop dependencies to serve as markets, source of food and raw materials and, investment outlets. They usually divide these colonies among each other in accordance with each state’s strength. Lenin believes that imperialism is just but another portion of the capitalist epoch of history, which the world has to endure on its way to communism. According to Lenin, imperialism is mostly fueled by the growth of monopolies and decline of national economic competition. Lenin’s bottom line was that rich capitalist nations had the ability to delay final crisis by keeping the poor states deep in debt and underdeveloped.

With regards to worldwide socialist revolution, Lenin believed that it was an urgent task to break from social democratic reformism to new revolutionary communist parties. This is because modern capitalism in its imperialist stage managed to create conditions relevant for the transition to socialism.

Lenin’s views influenced independence movements as his principles influenced the subsequent development of communism in the Soviet Union and other nations. He was active in this quest to the extent of being exiled to the effect that he was bringing against the reigning political regime. Lenin also influenced international politics in one way or another. He did this by influencing independent movements in other countries. A good example is India where both the firebrand revolutionaries and peacenik Mohandas Gandhi derived inspiration from Russians’ methods to win freedom from tyranny.

 
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