Realism

Question 1

classical realism not

Answer 1

precise in defining its core assumptions- that human nature is what drove the international system

Question 2

Key classical realists

Answer 2

Thucydides, Machiavelli and Hobbes.

Question 3

Loas of realists

Answer 3

look at how individual actors/agents influence the state and state actions

Question 4

Neorealists focus on structure to

Answer 4

explain state behaviour

Question 5

core ideas of realism

Answer 5

1. anarchy, in a way, dangerous enviro
2. States are understood as unitary actors.
3. Survivial (Governments striving for survival had to follow the principle of self-help).
4. Self-help (This makes cooperation neither likely nor stable and, therefore, not reasonable. ) security dilemma. 5. Core interest: relative gains (compared to other rival states), not in absolute advantages (as NL believe)

Question 6

20th century classical realists

Answer 6

Morgenthau, Schelling and others.

Question 7

Neorealist thinkers

Answer 7

Waltz and Mearsheimer.

Question 8

Thucydides

Answer 8

Melian Dialogue (Peloponnesian War)- highlighted human nature’s innate egotistical drive for power as an explanation for why IP is characterised by power & governs state behaviour. (also Machiavelli)

Question 9

WHo reveals a belief in the primordial character of power and ethics, emphasising that patriotism is necessary for states to survive?

Answer 9

Thucydides

Question 10

Hobbes viewed that

Answer 10

humans were egocentrical and that conflict would always arise unless there was a system for peaceful existence

Question 11

Hobbes

Answer 11

established the social contract theory in Leviathan

Question 12

Hobbes

Answer 12

established the social contract theory in Leviathan

Question 13

Main critiques of realism

Answer 13

1. Globalisation- very problematic to assume that states are the key actors
2. Failure to predict & explain CW
3. the unitary actor thesis is hardly “realistic”. Still, there are some interesting contributions from neo-realist thinkers. The prediction in the early 1990s that the bipolar Cold War system was more stable than the new (dis) order that replaced it has some merit.

Question 14

economic policy of realists

Answer 14

they don´t like free trade, they believe the importation of foreign goods pollutes that state, and that in terms of self’intrests states should not engage in that much free trade.