Week 6 - Reflection

The class discussion on Thursday was about whether or not we should pay attention to the marginalized, not just to those with power. It seems like the majority of our class agreed on that we should pay attention to them because they can have a large impact on International Relations.

I think, from a realist view, one of the only reasons why we should pay attention to those that are marginalized is to build a philanthropist image in order to gain more power in the world of international relations. Also by doing so, we can keep the amount of discontentment down so that they won't revolt or what not. Thus it can be easy to keep the central power powerful. Even though those do not necessarily have powers, they can be dangerous and threatening to the stability of a state when the state fails to satisfy their very minimum level of need. If they acts as a whole group, those in power cannot have it under control and the marginalized's act as a whole can overpower those with power.

We also talked about how we can help the marginalized voice their opinions. From a Utopian point of view, we should seek to satisfy and take in everyone's desire and needs and equally distribute power as horizontal. Since usually, uneducated, low-income class have less or no power, some people suggested to give them more opportunity of education and so on, so that we can at least get closer to horizontal distribution of power.

In my opinion, that is totally unrealistic and impossible: e.g. the idea of socialism is wonderful-equal distribution of wealth, but the problem with it is that it is impossible to fully carry it out and practice as it is meant to be. If those marginalized people gained voice and power through education and wealth, they would ultimately become those WITH power and there would be newly-formed marginalized people. We will never be able to equalize power to everyone. There always will be people with power, and also people on the margins with less or no power at all. The best option we have is to figure out the efficient way to incorporate both sides into the world of IR.