main ideas of realism

Question 1

Who are the most important actors in the global system, according to realists?

Answer 1

states

Question 2

How does selfish human nature lead to selfish states?

Answer 2

• people will pursue their own interests above others
• states seek to promote their national interest
• states act selfishly when there is uncertainty about other states intentions

Question 3

What is the Prisoners’ Dilemma?

Answer 3

• Two members of a criminal gang, A and B are arrested
• The police question them separately and offer them both a Faustian bargain
  ~ if A and B both betray, they serve 5 years
  ~ if A denies but B betrays, B gets no time and A gets 20 years (vice-versa)
  ~ if A and B both deny, they serve three months

Question 4

How does the Prisoners’ Dilemma link to selfish human nature and selfish states?

Answer 4

• states cannot trust other states
• the safest strategy is to expect betrayal, and pre-empt it by betraying first
• states don’t know each others intentions and have no means of guaranteeing cooperation
• not working together becomes the best strategy
• competition is inevitable and leads to a clash of interests -> war

Question 5

How are states rational?

Answer 5

• engage in dispassionate calculations of their interests
• relations with other states are determined by the relative value of the costs versus the benefits

Question 6

How are states unitary actors?

Answer 6

• no division of opinion within the state as to what constitutes its interests
• some realists believe culture and the nature of regime of a state may affect its interests
• others think interests are fixed, as the main interests are always increasing power and security

Question 7

How are states amoral?

Answer 7

• they don’t act according to concepts of justice,rights or religious morality
• states only act according to their own interests

Question 8

How do states seek power?

Answer 8

• motivated by the pursuit of the national interest (realists think this is power)
• realists argue the safest thing for a state to do is become hegemon (dominant power)
• must compete with each other in a zero-sum game
• states naturally seek a balance of power to curb the hegemonic ambitions of more powerful states to avoid conflicts

Question 9

International anarchy and its implications according to realists

Answer 9

• states are the principal actors in international systems = no higher authority
• states cannot be held accountable for their actions
• some realists claim that selfish human nature causes states to act selfishly = leads to conflict, other realists believe that the anarchy is allowing states to get away with acting selfishly

Question 10

How is the international system like Hobbes state of nature?

Answer 10

• as states can act with impunity
• states in the world are like individuals in the state of nature, they are no subject to higher authority and as they are ruled by human beings they act selfishly

Question 11

What is Hobbes State of Nature?

Answer 11

• a device used in political philosophy to imagine what life might have been like for people before the establishment of society + government
• individuals are self-governing autonomous actors
• no rules and nobody in a position to enforce them
• individuals free to do as they will
• according to hobbes, life is ‘nasty,brutish and short’

Question 12

Why do realists think war is inevitable?

Answer 12

• in a world where people and states are selfish, there is bound to be disagreement and competition for resources
• lack of adherence to moral principles and the pursuit of power is bound to lead to misunderstandings and disharmony between states
• limited power in the world means all states pose a threat
  ~ Randall Schweller, even if there is not war, there is ‘always the danger of war lurking in the background’

Question 13

What is a security dilemma?

Answer 13

• the actions that one state takes to increase its security causing other states to follow suit = increases the likelihood of conflict even if its not desired
• e.g Ukraine wanting to join NATO, but Russia can’t invade if they do as they will lose against NATO

Question 14

How did the recognition of the security dilemma lead to a refinement of realist theory?

Answer 14

• Kenneth Waltz argued that states become obsessed with security because of the anarchy in the international system
• a states action to increase its own security decreases other states security = leads to ‘bandwagoning’/arms race

Question 15

What is an example of states cooperating to escape the security dilemma?

Answer 15

Cuban Missile Crisis

Question 16

What is the Cuban Missile Crisis?

Answer 16

• happened in 1962
• brought the USA and the Soviet Union to the brink of war
• photographs were taken that showed the soviet had been deploying nuclear missiles in Cuba
• the US imposed a naval blockade of the island to prevent a deployment of further missiles
• the Russians backed down with assurance the US wouldn’t invade Cuba and would remove their nuclear missiles in Italy and Turkey

Question 17

How does the Cuban Missile Crisis support the idea of cooperating to escape the security dilemma?

Answer 17

• because each state is doing what will make them look more powerful and therefore more dominant even if that means not going to nuclear war

Question 18

Why are some realists pessimistic about institutionalised and permanent forms of co-operation?

Answer 18

• they believe that selfish interests and the desire for the power will lead to conflict, as states will always use international organisations to further their national interests

Question 19

Why are all alliances and institutions doomed to fail by realists?

Answer 19

• Allies cannot be trusted
• e.g Hitler breaking the Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact of 1939 by invading Russia in 1941

Question 20

What does Mearsheimer believe?

Answer 20

• He sees no escape from the security dilemma
• No state knows how much power it needs to gain security, the most rational policy is to dominate (global hegemon)
• Therefore there is always a struggle for hegemony and war becomes inevitable

Question 21

What is the Melian Dialogue?

Answer 21

• It is a passage found in the History of the Peloponnesian War by ancient Greek historian, Thucydides

Question 22

What does the Melian Dialogue describe?

Answer 22

• a meeting between representatives of Athens and Melos
• The Meilans were on friendly terms with Sparta, enemies of the Athenian Empire
• They held neutral grounds in the war
• Athens wanted Melos to be part of their empire
• However the Melians stubbornly resisted Athens demands
• Athens immediately attacked Melos and Sparta didn’t come to aid

Question 23

What does the Melian Dialogue show?

Answer 23

• That states are motivated by the selfish pursuit of power
• Athens didn’t care about its actions
• Its only concern was to remove Melos as a threat and secure its power in the region
• It was willing to use any means at its disposal to achieve its ends

Question 24

What was the Iraq War?

Answer 24

• A conflict between the USA and its allies against Iraq in March 2003

Question 25

Why did the Iraq War occur?

Answer 25

• The USA accused Iraq of possessing weapons of mass destruction that it might use against the West
• It was also accused of helping Islamic terrorist groups

Question 26

What would realists say were the real reasons for the war?

Answer 26

• unfinished business from the first Bush administration of 1988-92
• power and security
• American national interest