Hello. Today we will talk about so-called critical theories of international relations. Above all and precisely we'll talk about constructivism, post-modernism, and feminism as the most prominent examples of the critical theories. Why are they called critical? What brings them together and differs them from the other theories of international relations. They're called critical not because of their importance, of course they are important, but because they criticize the classical or basic theories of international relations. They identify certain gaps in the classical theories in Realism, Liberalism, and Marxism, and they cite that on many issues, these classical theories, they oversimplify the reality. They that in fact the reality is much more complex, then the classical theorists show it. But unlike the classical theories these critical theories, they do not provide the comprehensive theory of their own. They do not aspire to give the all encompassing explanation of development of the international system of the courses of behavior of states. So, they certainly feel certain gaps, they criticize, they claim that on these or that aspects, the fundamental notions and assumptions of the classical theories are misplaced, are wrong, but these critical theories are unable to substitute the classical theories of international relations in providing us with the general picture of how the world functions, what are the major drivers of the behavior of states, and so on and so forth. At the same time, there is certain advantage of critical theories. And the major advantage of the critical theories that they explain diversity and dynamism in the international system. Because indeed the majority of classical and or nearly all the classical theorists are kind of static and universalist. All the classical theories provide the universalist explanation to the causes of behavior of states. Right? Realism claims that it's all about power, and all states try to maximize their power in the international system or preserve the power that they have in the structure of the international system. Liberalism claims that all states pursued benefit, they want to make profit, and they all create rules, norms of behavior, and pursue the common good. Marxism claims that it is economics that drives the behavior of all states and all states want to exploit all other states. So the classical theories provide a kind of universalist all encompassing explanations to the behavior of states and thus evolution of the international system. But critical theorists claim that it is not always the case, that states behave differently in different situations, and what is applicable to some states might not be applicable to the other states. What is applicable today was not applicable yesterday and probably will not be applicable tomorrow. So international system is actually much more diverse and complex than it is usually assumed by the classical theories, and critical theories help us to understand this complexity and diversity of the international system. And since now on, we will talk in more detailed way about constructivism, post-modernism, and feminism.