According to the international relations theory of Liberalism, absolute gain is what international actors look at in determining their interests, weighing out the total effects of a decision on the state or organization and acting accordingly. The international actor's interests not only include power but also encompass the economic and cultural effects of an action as well. The theory is also interrelated with a

non-zero-sum game Zero-sum game is a mathematical representation in game theory and economic theory of a situation which involves two sides, where the result is an advantage for one side and an equivalent loss for the other. In other words, player one's gain is e ...

which proposes that through use of

comparative advantage In an economic model, agents have a comparative advantage over others in producing a particular good if they can produce that good at a lower relative opportunity cost or autarky price, i.e. at a lower relative marginal cost prior to trade. Comp ...

, all states who engage in peaceful relations and trade can expand wealth. This differs from Realist International Relations theories that employ

relative gain Relative gain, in international relations, is the actions of states only in respect to power balances and without regard to other factors, such as economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, ...

, which seeks to describe the actions of states only in respect to power balances and without regard to other factors, such as economics. Relative gain is related to

zero-sum game Zero-sum game is a mathematical representation in game theory and economic theory of a situation which involves two sides, where the result is an advantage for one side and an equivalent loss for the other. In other words, player one's gain is e ...

, which states that wealth cannot be expanded and the only way a state can become richer is to take wealth from another state.

References

International relations theory Liberalism {{diplomacy-stub