Abstract
At the end of World War I, the world was traumatized and will never be the same as it was before. Indeed, the 'Great War' was the first total war, the first large-scale slaughter. President Woodrow Wilson in his 14 points speech represents his hope for a change in international policy. In his speech, he outlines the core ideas of what will be called the idealist discipline of International Relations which included arm reduction, free trade, decolonization, democratization, and promotion of international institutions. It is in this context that International Relations emerged as a formal discipline in 1918 with the creation of the "Woodrow Wilson chair" in Aberystwyth. The essay question leads us to examine the Liberal theory in IR. We will thus have to question the theory of idealism, outlining its core ideas and questioning what the limits of such a theory are. Our reflection can be summed up by the following question: "Is idealism a utopian or naïve theory or is it merely progressive and reformist?
