R3

Question 1

Who are the classical thinkers behind Realism?

Answer 1

• Thucydides – • Showed that fear, power, and self-interest drive conflict
• Famous idea: “The strong do what they can, the weak suffer what they must.”
• Machiavelli – • Leaders should do whatever is necessary to maintain power and stability
• Morality is secondary to state survival

• Thomas Hobbes – state of nature, “war of all against all.”

• Kenneth Waltz – Neo‑realism, system structure

• John Mearsheimer – Offensive realism
• States don’t just seek security — they seek maximum power
• Great powers try to dominate their region

Question 2

Who are the main thinkers behind Liberalism?

Answer 2

• John Locke – optimistic view of human nature.
States and people can cooperate under rules and law

• Immanuel Kant – perpetual peace, democratic peace theory.
Peace through democracy + institutions

• Robert Keohane – neoliberal institutionalism (After Hegemony).
• International institutions reduce uncertainty
• Rules and regimes help states coordinate and trust

• Joseph Nye Jr. – complex interdependence, soft power.
• Military force is not always the main tool
• Soft power = influence through culture, values, diplomacy (not force)

Question 3

Who are the key thinkers in Neo‑Realism?

Answer 3

• Kenneth Waltz – structure of the international system, distribution of capabilities.
• John Mearsheimer – offensive realism, states seek maximum power.

Question 4

Who are the key thinkers in Neo‑Liberalism?

Answer 4

• Robert Keohane – institutions reduce uncertainty, enable cooperation.
• Joseph Nye Jr. – interdependence, regime theory.
• Susan Strange – structural power in global political economy (means the power to shape the systems and rules that others must operate within)

Question 5

Who are the key thinkers in Marxism (critical theory)?

Answer 5

• Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels – class struggle, materialist interpretation of history.
• Justin Rosenberg – critique of globalization, continuation of capitalist social relations.

Question 6

Who are the key thinkers in Post‑Colonialism?

Answer 6

• Edward Said – Orientalism, critique of Eurocentrism (Treating western perspectives as standard or superior model)
• Gayatri Spivak – subaltern studies (focuses on the voices and experiences of marginalized people )
• Homi Bhabha – hybridity, identity.
• Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o – decolonisation of language.
• Walter Mignolo, Aníbal Quijano, Robbie Shilliam – colonial legacies in knowledge/power.

Question 7

Who are the key thinkers in Feminism (IR)?

Answer 7

• Cynthia Enloe – The Big Push, patriarchy and militarism.
• V. Spike Peterson – gender as social construct in IR.