REALISM

Patryk
Mon 2-4pm
patryk.marek.majewski@gmail.com
Srdan
Tues 2.30-4.30pm
srdan.uljevic@nus.edu.sg
Elaine
Wed 2-4pm
poletsy@nus.edu.sg
LECTURE OUTLINE
General characteristics of realisms
Levels of Analysis
Classical Realism
Structural or Neo-Realism
REALISM(S)
Wight: blood, iron and immorality
See international relations as inter-state relations
International anarchy
Believe in continuity
Power politics and conflict
But the reasons they reach these conclusions are very
different
LEVELS OF ANALYSIS
Levels of analysis
The level at which you locate explanations for the questions youre asking
Kenneth Waltz (1959) Man, the State, and War 3 different levels of
analysis (images)
1
st
Image: Human nature
2
nd
Image: The internal structure of states
3
rd
Image: Nature of international system
Additional levels of analysis?
E.g. regionalism, bureaucratic structures and politics within the state
CLASSICAL REALISM
WHAT IS CLASSICAL REALISM?
Long history of realist thought
Thucydides 5
th
century BC, the Peloponnesian War
Machiavelli Italy (15
th
-16
th
century)
for how we live is so far removed from how we ought to live, that he who abandons
what is done for what ought to be done, will rather learn to bring about his own ruin
than his preservation The Prince
Hobbes 17
th
century English philosopher, the English Civil War

THUCYDIDES
Wrote history of the Peloponnesian war (431-404 BC)
The Melian Dialogue Athens negotiating with Melians (Melos =
island colony of Sparta)
Athens was waging war against Sparta
WHAT THE ATHENIANS SAID
Our opinion of the gods and our knowledge of men lead us to
conclude that it is a general and necessary law of nature to rule
whatever one can.
the standard of justice depends on the equality of power to compel
and that in fact the strong do what they have the power to do and the
weak accept what they have to accept
The Athenians had to conquer because that those who still preserve
their independence do so because they are strong, and that we fail to
attack them it is because we are afraid. So that by conquering you we
shall increase not only the size but the security of our empire.
Warns Melians not to be like those who miss the chance of
saving themselves in a human and practical way, and, when
every clear and distinct hope has left them in their adversity, turn
to what is blind and vague, to prophecies and oracles and such
things which by encouraging hope lead men to ruin.
the Spartans are most conspicuous for believing that what they
like doing is honourable and what suits their interests is just. And
this kind of attitude is not going to be of much help to you in your
absurd quest for safety at the moment.

THOMAS HOBBES
The Leviathan (1651)
Social contract theorist
State of nature
Individuals not subject to government
Men are driven by competition (gain), diffidence (safety) and glory
(reputation)
Uncertainty and insecurity
The state of nature is a state of war of every man against every man
The life of man is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short
State needed to provide security
An international state of nature/war?
HANS J MORGENTHAU (1904-1980)
Politics Among Nations (1948)
Flawed human nature the elemental bio-psychological drives
Critique of rational liberalism
The tendency to dominate, in particular is an element of all human associations
Therefore, all politics is a struggle for power
Power: mans control over the minds and actions of other men.
a psychological relation
Power can be exerted in a number of ways
through orders, threats, persuasion, the authority or charisma of a man or of an office, or a
combination of any of these.
The aspiration for power being the distinguishing element of
international politics, as of all politics, international politics is of
necessity power politics.
Difference between the domestic and the international
Morgenthau: The essence of international politics is identical with
its domestic counterpart. Both domestic and international politics
are a struggle for power, modified only by the different conditions
under which this struggle takes place in the domestic and in the
international spheres.
Morgenthau: If the desire for power cannot be abolished
everywhere in the world, those who might be cured would simply
fall victims to the power of others.

BLOOD AND IRON?
The importance of legitimacy and the avoidance of force
Thucydides: We do not want any trouble in bringing you into our empire,
and we want you to be spared for the good both of yourselves and of
ourselves. You, by giving in, would save yourselves from disaster; we,
by not destroying you, would be able to profit from you.
Morgenthau: When violence becomes an actuality, it signifies the
abdication of political power in favour of military or pseudo-military
power.
Use of force only to serve the national interest
Morgenthau The political objective of war itself is not per se the
conquest of territory and the annihilation of enemy armies, but a change
in the mind of the enemy which will make him yield to the will of the
victor.
IMMORALITY?
Leaders have a responsibility to provide for national security
Morgenthau: The individual may say for himself: Fiat justitia, pereat mundus
(Let justice be done, even if the world perish), but the state has no right to say
so in the name of those who are in its care.
The value of prudence
Morgenthau: There can be no political morality without prudence; that is,
without consideration of the political consequences of seemingly moral action.
SOME SURPRISING ELEMENTS
Morgenthau the only way to durable world peace is the creation of a
world state
But this is not possible
No world community
Few willing to die for world government
Constant threat of civil war in a world government

SUMMING UP CLASSICAL REALISM
State-centric
International anarchy
Flawed human nature
Power politics and national interest
Statesmanship and prudence
Continuity instead of change in international relations
STRUCTURAL REALISM (NEOREALISM)
KENNETH WALTZ (1924-2013)
Some important works
1959 Man, the State and War
1979 Theory of International Politics
States = main actors
States are instrumental, rational, unitary actors
Assumption: States want to survive


CRITICISMS OF 1
ST
IMAGE EXPLANATIONS
Jean Jacques Rousseau
Social contract theorist
Man in the state of nature is neither good nor bad
How can we judge human nature based on human behavior?
Humans do both good and bad things
Rejects theory based on unit-level attributes & focuses on structure
Units change all the time
Generalizable
Value of parsimony



3
RD
IMAGE EXPLANATION
Structure = Ordering principle + Character of the units +
Distribution of capabilities
1) Ordering Principle - Anarchy
Domestic Hierarchy
Anarchy leads to uncertainty
The stag hunt
Cooperate to hunt a stag, or hunt a rabbit on your own?
2) Character of the Units
Are states functionally differentiated?
Within states specialise
Hierarchy
States provide security and certainty
International realm self-help
Interdependence is vulnerability need to depend on others
3) Distribution of capabilities
States are alike in the tasks that they face, though not in their
abilities to perform them. The differences are of capability, not of
function.
Capabilities: GDP, size of army, national unity, natural
resources
Role of great powers
How capabilities are distributed across the system
RELATIVE GAINS
States are worried about survival
A stronger state could use force against them
States are worried about relative gains instead of absolute gains
This makes cooperation very difficult
States rational behaviour leads to a suboptimal outcome
THE SECURITY DILEMMA
A states attempt to increase its security leads to greater
insecurity
Increase capabilities
Triggers a reaction from other state
No one gains
A dilemma that cannot be solved
CRITICISMS OF WALTZ
Too pessimistic?
Inaccurate?
International cooperation and interdependence
The other determinants of state behaviour
Assumption of state survival
IN DEFENCE OF WALTZ
Morality
Moral behavior is one thing in a system that provides predictable
amounts and types of security; another thing where such security
is lacking. Man, the State and War, p.207
Anarchy is not so bad!
A world state might be more prone to conflict
THE ROLE OF THEORY
Analogy to microeconomics
Profit-making assumption
Abstracts from complex reality
Waltz: Structures encourage certain behaviours and penalize those
who do not respond to the encouragement.
Waltzs theory does not seek to explain the foreign policy behaviour of states
Not an accurate description of reality
NEXT WEEKS READINGS
Kenneth Waltz (1964) The Stability of a Bipolar World
Stephen Walt (1985) Alliance Formation and the Balance of
World Power