The United States should definitely elect an ambassador in case of an alien encounter. It in general would be a good idea from my point of view. Because really, if aliens were to land and they wanted to speak with someone who would we send? Not the President, because what if the aliens are here to harm humans? We wouldn’t want to kill off our President. But then again why would we just want to send someone possibly to their death. We would need to elect an ambassador who would risk their life, and be smart and someone well respected so that the aliens do not get offended that we sent some no one to be their peace negotiator. This alien would act as a diplomat linking the United States and their world together. Having encounters with aliens would be a great thing or a bad thing. For example if the aliens were like the Asgards from Stargate SG-1, it would be good to have an alliance with them because they would be friendly and would be able to help our country out.
Well putting my own personal view aside, we can look at how the different IR theories will look at the question: should we elect an ambassador in case of an alien encounter? From a realist point of view they wouldn’t want an alien ambassador. Realists would not mind the aliens but if the aliens were here to ask for help I highly doubt that they would help. Realists are all about power, and putting their own country before anyone else. The only way they would like the aliens were if they were to help them in someway, ie give them advanced technology etc.
Constructivists would like the alien ambassador. Constructivists would put the entire universe before their own country in order to maintain a good reputation in the public's eyes. They put the whole before their part. Constructivists would want to have a positive image to other countries that they support the future aspect of aliens coming.
Although I agree with your point that a realist may be more apt to take the action of appointing an extraterrestrial ambassador if the the new visitor had strategic resources to offer, I have to disagree with your point that that would be the only instance in which a realist state may take a positive interest in the new visitors. In a realist state's attempt to maintain dominance in the world system, wouldn't that state want to monopolize an inter-world relationship in order to prevent other states from forming an alliance that could potentially upset the current dominance of that realist state?
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