Week 1 - Realism

Question 1

What does the study of International Relations focus on?

Answer 1

It is a discipline that focuses on the relations and interactions between actors on the world stage and actions and processes at the international level

Question 2

Who were the three initial ‘fathers’ of Realism?

Answer 2

Thucydides, Machiavelli and Hobbes

Question 3

Outline the background of Thucydides

Answer 3

He was a Greek historian who documented the Peloponnesian War (5th Century BC) - Athens vs Sparta. He focused on the idea that power is central and the winner will write history; links to his quote ‘The strong do what they have the power to do and the weak accept what they have to accept’.

Question 4

Outline the background of Machiavelli

Answer 4

He was a Florentine intellectual and in the 15th Century he wrote the Prince - which was a book detailed on how to run a state. It looked to state expansion and survival as a fundamental element, which emphasised that there are no moral limits but only effective actions and therefore the Prince must be cunning and use religion instrumentally/

Question 5

Outline the background of Hobbes

Answer 5

Was alive during the English Civil War and in the 17th Century, wrote Leviathan. He believed that the State of Nature is ‘nasty, brutish and short’ and the only way to escape is by agreeing/submitting to a state that increases internal peace.

The three postulates was suggested: Men are equal, Men interact in anarchy and men are motivated by competition, diffidence and glory.

Therefore, in the absence of government, these conditions lead to a state of war, therefore, to avoid this, men have agreed to give up part of their freedom to their state so they do not live in anarchy.

Question 6

Outline the key points of Realism

Answer 6

• Economic systems are a choice of state power, and therefore they will choose the economic system that will benefit and maximise our state power
• International agreements and institutions are not important and are treated instrumentally
• There are no moral constraints at the international level and therefore there is no one to over look power
• Power is key and this links to the idea of power maximisation, emphasising that a quest for security and survival is the highest goal
• States are the primary actors and when self - interested actors interact in anarchy, generalised conflict is more common but can also be predicted
• An aggressive view of human nature - human nature and social organisation are static. This links to the idea that human beings are selfish and if left ungoverned they will act like animals. Therefore within the states, egoism is restrained by hierarchical political rules and the law.

Question 7

What is Structural Realism?

Answer 7

It is a new form of Realism and has been prominent since the 1970s.

Question 8

What are the basic views of Structural Realism?

Answer 8

• The structure of the International System has constraining impacts on the interactions that take place between the States
• International Politics is a struggle for power, but this is not dependent upon human nature
• Coalitions are the product of particular interests at a particular time; they are done only to benefit particular actors
• There is structural distribution of power between the states, but this is unequal. Resultantly, weaker states fear for their security whilst the stronger states compete for hegemony. Therefore, if a balance of power is created, stability will prevail and this can be done through developing one’s own power or building a coalition
• The world is a zero - sum game i.e if other states increase their power, then my relative power and security will decrease. Therefore what matters is not absolute power, but relative power compared to other actors.

Question 9

How was the Arms’ Race of the Cold War an example of the ‘Zero - Sum Game’

Answer 9

Because the USSR and America took turns in nuclear development - they both took turns in becoming more powerful which subsequently cancels out your threat - people race to achieve the most power.

Question 10

According to J. Gaddis, how did ‘Natural Bipolarity’ both cause the Cold War, and contribute to it’s ongoing peace?

Answer 10

It caused the Cold War because there were two superpowers who wanted to increase their power relative to each other.

Nevertheless, these attempts to ‘increase’ power ultimately meant that there were two equal powers that have no advantage over another - thus enabling peace as neither unit wanted to make the first move

Question 11

What is the Prisoner’s Dilemma?

Answer 11

It is a theory that highlights how decision - making; when both parties are unaware of how the other will choose - will affect the outcome of a decision.

Question 12

Describe the role that the Prisoner’s Dilemma played in the Cold War

Answer 12

It influenced the decisions that were made by the USSR and the USA because they did not know what the other would do

Question 13

What is MAD?

Answer 13

Mutually assured destruction is the idea that if there was a nuclear war, there would be complete annihilation of both the attacker and the defender

Question 14

According to Mearsheimer, how is the possibility of nuclear war a keeper of peace?

Answer 14

Nuclear weapons are beneficial if they can assure that deterrence works. A combination of both the Prisoner’s Dilemma and MAD mean that because both sides are not aware of the other - they will not want to strike first and risk damage to themselves

Question 15

What are the 3 key points of a Realist interpretation of National Interest?

Answer 15

• States have a single motive which is the will to survive, and at minimum, states seek their own preservation and at maximum they drive for universal domination. Some realists admit that sometimes, states have goals that they value more than survival, such as wealth and sovereignty. They take national interest as a given and national interest = power maximisation.
• Realists are sceptical about the power of norms, values and morality: norms are simply reducible to material interests and states respect norms or international law only because it is in their interest. Morganthau commented that “the actions of states are determined by considerations of power, not by moral principles and legal commitments”.
• National Interest can encompass moral foreign policy objectives i.e. humanitarian. It can be linked to morality from, a realist perspective and this is because it may be in the interest of States to act morally and moral objectives can go along with power objectives i.e. humanitarian intervention in a country with oil

Question 16

What are the generalised weaknesses of Realism?

Answer 16

Realists are prone to oversimplification and the Realist model should be taken as an ideal - type and furthermore, Realism cannot simply explain the vast majority of what happens in International Relations

Question 17

Outline the Disciplinary Preoccupations?

Answer 17

Dominant Actors: traditionally this was sovereign states, but the list now includes transnational corporations, transnational classes and casino capitalists, international organisations such as the WTO, international non - governmental organisations, new social movements and ecological movements as well as international terrorist organisations

Dominant Relationships: strategic relationships between the great powers traditionally, but also in recent years, trade relations between the advanced industrial societies, the liberal peace, relations of dominance and dependence between the core and periphery in the capitalist world economy and forms of solidarity within society.

Empirical Issues: the distribution of military power, arms control and crisis management but also globalisation, global inequality, identity politics and national fragmentation, the human rights culture, the plight of refugees, gender uses, environmental conservation, transnational crime and global drugs trade

Ethical Issues - the just war, humanitarian intervention, the case for and against global redistribution of power and wealth, duties to nature, to future generations and to non - human species, respect for cultural differences and the rights of women and children

Issues in the philosophy of social sciences: methodological disputes about the possibility of a science of international politics, competing epistemological and ontological standpoints, the nature of causation and the idea of a historical narrative

Question 18

For Realists, what is the World System seen as?

Answer 18

It it seen a self - help system in which states must rely on their own military resources to achieve their ends - most of the time this can be resolved through cooperation, but the potential for conflict is ever present

Question 19

What is Statism?

Answer 19

The State is the legitimate representative of the collective will of the people

Question 20

For Realists’, what is the Duty of the Head of the State?

Answer 20

To calculate rationally the most appropriate steps that should be taken so as to perpetuate the life of the State in a hostile and threatening environment

Question 21

What are Offensive Realists?

Answer 21

Argue that the ultimate goal of all states is to achieve a hegemonic position in the International System - states will always desire more power and are willing, if the opportunity to arises, to alert the existing distribution of power into their favour.

Question 22

What are Defensive Realists?

Answer 22

Argue that states have security as their principle interest and therefore seek only the requisite amount of power to ensure their own survival. In this view, states are profoundly defensive actors and will not seek to gain greater amounts if power if that means putting their own security at risk

Question 23

In the International System, why is War a possibility?

Answer 23

Because there is nothing that can prevent a state from using force against another State - security can therefore only be realised through self - help.

Question 24

What is the Security Dilemma?

Answer 24

When the military preparations of one state create an unresolvable uncertainty in the mind of another as to whether those preparations are for defensive purposes only, or whether they are for offensive purposes.