Introduction to IR & Realism

International Relations

the study of the relations of states with each other with other international organization and entities

Anarchy, Decentralized instruments of violence, self-help, insecurity, war

What is/are present in an international setting?

Hegemon

a political state that has dominant influence or authority over others

Sovereign state

or an independent nation, is defined as a bordered territory, with a permanent population, under the jurisdiction of a supreme government that is constitutionally separate—i.e., independent— from all foreign governments

security, freedom, order, justice, and welfare

5 basic social values

State

leading institution expected to ensure the five basic social values

principle of pacta sunt servanda

agreements must be kept

states are expected to uphold international law

to keep their treaty commitments and to observe the rules, conventions, and customs of the international legal order

League of Nations

was established as a legal institution to reduce the risk of war between great powers

United Nations

established after WWII which aims to promote and strengthen international peace and security, as well as support the development of cooperation between states.

October 25, 1945

official date of the establishment of the UN

Traditional view of the state

States are valuable and necessary institutions: they provide security, freedom, order, justice, and welfare; People benefit from the state system

Radical or Revisionist View of the state

States and the state system are social choices that create more problems than they solve; The majority of the world’s people suffer more than they benefit from the state system

Realism

normative approach to the study of IR which focuses on the core political values of state survival & national security

Core values of Realism

1. a pessimistic view of human nature

2. a conviction that international relations are necessarily conflictual and that international conflicts are ultimately resolved by force

3. high regard for the values of national security & state survival;

4. a basic scepticism that there can be progress in international politics which is comparable to that in domestic political life

Basic assumptions of reakist://

Hans Morgenthau

leading classical realist thinker of the 20th century

IR theory of Morgenthau

men and women as having a ‘will to power’; They desire to be in the driver’s seat. They do not wish to be taken advantage of

Thucydides, Machiavelli, Hobbes, and indeed all classical realists

believe that the acquisition and possession of power, and the deployment and uses of power, are central preoccupations of political activity

power politics

an arena of rivalry, conflict, and war between states in which the same basic problems of defending the national interest and ensuring the survival of the state, and the security of its people, repeat themselves over and over again.

anarchical

Core assumption of the international state system accdg. to the realists

anarchy

a system with no higher, overarching authority; there is no world government

State

pre-eminent actor in world politics

main point of Foreign Policy

to advance and defend the interest of the state

great powers

most important states in the world

IR understood by the Realists

primarily a struggle between the great powers for domination and security.

National Security & State Survival

Normative core of realism (core political values)

State

considered to be essential for the good life of its citizens

State

seen as a protector of its territory, of the population, and of their distinctive and valued way of life

national interest

final arbiter in judging foreign policy

Machiavelli in his book, the Prince

Who stated that “The only fundamental responsibility of statespeople is to advance and to defend the national interest by whatever means”

Si vis pacem, para bellum

‘If you want peace, prepare for war’

groups (primarily states), struggle for security, and domination in an anarchic international system

fundamental characteristics of IR in the realist theory

classical realism and social science realism

the most general distinction of realism

Classical Realism

is one of the ‘traditional’ approaches to IR and is a normative approach that focuses on the core political values

Social science realism

is a scientific approach that includes strategic, structural, & neoclassical realism

two important realist claims of Thucydides

the structure of the international system affects relations between states and that moral reasoning has little bearing on relations between states

the inevitable competition and conflict between ancient Greek city-states and between Hellas and non-Greek monarchies and empires

How did Thucydides see international relations?

theory of hegemonic war

‘the idea that the dynamic of international relations is provided by the differential growth of power among states’ (Gilpin)

power & deception

two essential means for the conduct of foreign policy

national liberty (libertas)

supreme political value accdg. to Machiavelli

to seek the advantages and to defend the interests of their state and ensure its survival

main responsibility of rulers (Machiavelli)

a lion and a fox

Accdg. to Machiavelli, the rulers must be both ____

national liberty (libertas)

supreme political value

theory of survival

the classical realist IR theory accdg. to Machiavelli

the world is a dangerous place

the overriding Machiavellian assumption

conduct of foreign policy

an instrumental or ‘Machiavellian’ activity based on the intelligent calculation of one’s power and interests as against the power and interests of rivals and competitors

Machiavelli

Who has been identified as among the first to put forward and defend the autonomy of politics from e.g. ethics & religion

Machiavelli’s realist writings

What are portrayed as ‘manuals on how to thrive in a completely chaotic and immoral world’

ordinary, private morality

to what is political responsibility differentiated from

normative heart of classical realism generally

the dependence of the people upon their ruler, and specifically upon the wisdom of their foreign policy, is owing to the fact that the people’s fate is entangled with the ruler’s fate

state of nature

an extremely adverse human circumstance in which there is a permanent ‘state of war’ ‘of every man against every man;

Thomas Hobbes

who believed that we can gain a fundamental insight into political life if we imagine men and women living in a ‘natural’ condition prior to the invention and institution of the sovereign state

creation and maintenance of a sovereign state

the escape route from the state of nature into a civilized human condition accdg. to Hobbes

passion (emotion)

men are driven to institute a sovereign state not by their reason (intelligence) but rather by

John Herz

coined the term ‘Security dilemma’

security dilemma

The very act of instituting a sovereign state to escape from the fearful state of nature among individuals simultaneously creates another state of nature between states. The creation of a state is necessarily accompanied by the condition of national and international insecurity that is rooted in the anarchy of the state system

international state of nature

a condition of actual or potential war; there can be no permanent or guaranteed peace between sovereign states—no international peace

Morgenthau

who quoted that “men and women are by nature political animals: they are born to pursue power and to enjoy the spoils of power”

aminus dominandi

human lust for power

the independent state

the ultimate political space within which security can be arranged and enjoyed is

power politics

heart of Morgenthau’s realism

the anarchical system of states

what invites international conflict which ultimately takes the form of war

struggle between states

leads to the problem of justifying the threat or use of force in human relations

central normative doctrine of classical realism

there is one morality for the private sphere and another and very different morality for the public sphere

prudence, moderation, judgement, resolve, courage, etc.

cardinal virtues of political ethics

Six principles of political realism accdg. to Morgenthau

• Politics is rooted in a permanent and unchanging human nature which is basically self-centred, self-regarding, and self-interested.

• Politics is ‘an autonomous sphere of action’ and cannot therefore be reduced to morals (as Kantian or liberal theorists are prone to do).

• Self-interest is a basic fact of the human condition. International politics is an arena of conflicting state interests.

• The ethics of international relations is a political or situational ethics which is very different from private morality. In exercising political responsibility, a political leader may have to violate private morality to defend national security. Not only would that be justifiable, it may be absolutely necessary.

• Realists are opposed to the idea that particular nations can impose their ideologies (e.g., democracy) on other nations. It is fundamentally unwise as, ultimately, it could backfire and threaten the crusading country.

• Statecraft is a sober and uninspiring activity that involves a profound awareness of human limitations and human imperfections

Kenneth Waltz

leading neorealist thinker

Waltz

he departs from the tradition by giving no account of human nature and ignoring the ethics of statecraft

Waltz’s definition of theory

‘A theory is a picture, mentally formed, of a bounded realm or domain of activity.’

1. the theory merely identifies a set of structural constraints

2. specific predictions require that some of the factors that the theory has abstracted away from are taken into account

reasons why theories are of little use in predicting international outcomes

the best IR theory accdg. to Waltz

one that focuses centrally on the structure of the system, on its interacting units, and on the continuities and changes of the system

the structure of the system that is external to the actors (i.e., relative distribution of power)

what is the central analytical focus in neorealism

ideal type

a mental construct that rescues the observer from drowning in a complex reality by simplifying it; it does not describe reality but abstract from it to capture its essence

job of the IR scholar

Accdg. to Waltz, the _______ is to identify the circumstances that made the real-world outcomes differ

the decentralized structure of anarchy between states

According to Waltz’s neorealist theory, (presented in TIP,) what is a basic feature of international relations?

varying capabilities

Accdg. to Waltz, states differ significantly on in regard to their greatly ______

international change

what occurs when great powers rise and fall and the balance of power shifts accordingly

multipolarity

a system with more than 2 great powers

bipolarity

a system with only 2 great powers

bipolar system

Which system does Waltz consider to be more stable and provides a better guarantee of peace and security than multipolar systems

economic markets

to what did Waltz compare the structure of international political systems to

too static and too narrow

the two main objections of the neorealist theory

• aggregate power

• geographic proximity

• offensive military capabilities

• aggressive intentions

the four factors wherein the level of threat the states impose to one another is decided upon (Walt)

defensive realism

offensive realism

rests on the assumption that great powers ‘are always searching for opportunities to gain power over their rivals, with hegemony as their final goal’

own region

Where can the states only become a hegemon accdg. to Mearsheimer

Neoclassical realism

it acknowledges the significance of the structure of the international state system and the relative power of states, while drawing upon classical realism by emphasizing the importance of domestic factors.

strategic culture, the images and perceptions of foreign policy decision makers, domestic institutions, and state-society relations

four clusters of domestic variables

theory of underbalancing

the failure to respond adequately to dangerous accumulation of power by other states; it happens when there are important divisions within society due to low social cohesion and/or divided elites

classical realists

IDENTIFY WHOSE THOUGHT: “probably the greatest responsibility of statesmen is to maintain a balance of military power among the great powers to prevent any great power from getting out of control and attempting to impose its political and military will on everybody else.”

neorealists

IDENTIFY WHOSE THOUGHT: “the balance of power is virtually what defines the international system”

classical realists

IDENTIFY WHOSE THOUGHT: “the balance of power is a valued political objective that promotes national security, upholds order among great powers, and makes the independence of states and their peoples possible.”

hard balance of power

is the classical realist concept of military balance between major powers

soft balance of power

is a more recent, liberal conception of a many-faceted and more diverse balance of power

research programme; particular theory

Realism is best seen as a general ________ rather than a _________

Neorealism

is an attempt to explain international relations in scientific terms by reference to the unequal capabilities of states and the anarchical structure of the state system, and by focusing on the great powers whose relations determine the most important ‘outcomes’ of international politics

Neoclassical realists

seek to combine the structuralist argument of Waltz with the classical realist emphasis on domestic factors. They also seek to incorporate the concepts of domestic statehood and society, which are a characteristic feature of liberalism

TRUE

the different strands of realism have encountered different criticisms