Page 5 - Azerbaijan State University of Economics

Salah Salimian, Mahdi Movahedi Beknazar, Kiumars Shahbazi, Zahra Khalilzadeh Silabi: The Role
of Investment in the Equilibrium of International Political Economy (Game Theory Approach)

INTRODUCTION
The issues of peace and war in the international arena have always been considered
by states and their scholars. If we take a glance at the political history of countries
throughout the world so many disputes and wars can be seen, to such an extent that
by just naming some examples at an international and regional level will constitute a
st
very long list. The world in the 21 century, after two world wars, still witnesses
numerous military wars and expeditions and in general, political tension in various
parts of the world. With these conditions, achieving peace and sustainable security
has turned into the main concern and objective in the international arena.

In an effort to achieve this objective, the intellectual approaches of scholars from
different sciences have tried to provide new solutions proportionate to the world’s
revolutions to maintain international peace and stability and avoid war and conflict.
In the meantime, “economics” has turned into an important variable in political
equations and international relations mainly because of considerable revolutions and
changes. A main part of the world's economy is devoted to trade and mutual
investment in line with “globalization” and the global conditions are now inclined
toward more interdependency of industries and production of countries. Under the
circumstances expanding economic cooperation between countries and their relation
with world peace and stability is of upmost importance. In recent decades, and in the
era of economic globalization, the assumption that “Liberal economy prevents war”
has become very popular (Kazemi, 2005).

In other words, the economic principles of peace become as important as of its
political principles, if not more (Egger, 2005). Therefore, one of the issues that needs
to be considered is the investigation of the possibility of economic collaborations such
as trade and mutual investment despite the political and military conflicts and the
effect of such cooperation on the promotion of peace and prevention of war. In this
regard, various researchers, especially in the liberal tradition, seek to examine the
possibility of establishing trade relations despite differences in other areas as well as
to study the side effects of economic cooperation on the peace and stability of
countries (Kazemi, 2005).
The interesting point is that "economic grounds for peace and the effect of trade and
international investment in preventing war have serious opponents, too". In fact,
despite the approach of liberalism, where the liberal economy could prevent war and
guarantee the sustainability of peace, realists neither consider liberal economy as a
barrier against war, nor do they consider it as triggering war. Marxists consider the
liberal economy as inherently prone to war and believes that world peace and security
is always threatened due to the presence of capitalism (Qanbarlou, 2016).

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