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REALISM
• Patryk• Mon 2-4pm• [email protected]
• Srdan• Tues 2.30-4.30pm• [email protected]
• Elaine• Wed 2-4pm• [email protected]
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 you’re
asking
• Kenneth Waltz (1959) Man, the State, and War –3 different levels of analysis (‘images’)• 1st Image: Human nature • 2nd Image: The internal structure of states• 3rd 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 – 5th century BC, the Peloponnesian War• Machiavelli – Italy (15th-16th 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 – 17th 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: “man’s 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 1ST 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
3RD IMAGE EXPLANATION• Structure = Ordering principle + Character of the units
+ Distribution of capabilities1) 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 state’s 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.” • Waltz’s theory does not seek to explain the foreign policy behaviour of
states• Not an accurate description of reality
NEXT WEEK’S READINGS
• Kenneth Waltz (1964) “The Stability of a Bipolar World”• Stephen Walt (1985) “Alliance Formation and the
Balance of World Power”
